Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death?

Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death? PDF

Author: Sandra J. Godde

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-04-01

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 1666795518

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At the forefront of science and technology there lie competing ideologies as to the nature of humanity and the future of human flourishing. Will technology become the ultimate savior, or has the work of salvation already been accomplished? Are we only creatures of mind and body or are we spiritual beings at our core? Reaching for Immortality bravely examines the agenda and ideals of the transhumanist movement, and compares and contrasts these with the biblical vision of a physical resurrection and a divine upgrade of the entire created order. Which vision of the future will inspire you, and capture your allegiance? This book is a primer to provoke deep thought about the impact of technological change on human personhood, and asks crucial questions facing our age: -What does it mean to be human, in light of exponential technological growth? -What is transhumanism and where is it leading us? -How important is embodiment for our personal identity? -How would the biblical understanding of personhood survive in a posthuman future?

Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death?

Reaching for Immortality: Can Science Cheat Death? PDF

Author: Sandra J. Godde

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-04-01

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1666736740

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At the forefront of science and technology there lie competing ideologies as to the nature of humanity and the future of human flourishing. Will technology become the ultimate savior, or has the work of salvation already been accomplished? Are we only creatures of mind and body or are we spiritual beings at our core? Reaching for Immortality bravely examines the agenda and ideals of the transhumanist movement, and compares and contrasts these with the biblical vision of a physical resurrection and a divine upgrade of the entire created order. Which vision of the future will inspire you, and capture your allegiance? This book is a primer to provoke deep thought about the impact of technological change on human personhood, and asks crucial questions facing our age: •What does it mean to be human, in light of exponential technological growth? •What is transhumanism and where is it leading us? •How important is embodiment for our personal identity? •How would the biblical understanding of personhood survive in a posthuman future?

The Immortalization Commission

The Immortalization Commission PDF

Author: John Gray

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2011-03-29

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9781429953917

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A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title At the heart of human experience lies an obsession with the nature of death. Religion, for most of history, has provided an explanation for human life and a vision of what comes after it. But in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such beliefs came under relentless pressure as new ideas—from psychiatry to evolution to communism—seemed to suggest that our fate was now in our own hands: humans could cease to be animals, defeat death, and become immortal. In The Immortalization Commission, the acclaimed political philosopher and critic John Gray takes a brilliant and frightening look at humankind's dangerous striving toward a scientific version of immortality. Probing the parallel faiths of Bolshevik "God-builders," who sought to reshape the planet and psychical researchers, who believed they had evidence of a nonreligious form of life after death, Gray raises fascinating questions about how such beliefs threaten the very nature of what it means to be human. He looks to philosophers, journalists, politicians, charlatans, and mass murderers who all felt driven by a specifically scientific and modern worldview and whose revolt against death resulted in a series of experiments that ravaged whole countries. An urgent examination of Darwin's post-religious legacy, The Immortalization Commission is an important work from "one of Britain's leading public intellectuals" (The Wall Street Journal).

The Immortalization Commission

The Immortalization Commission PDF

Author: John Gray

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780141041889

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John Gray's The Immortalization Commission- The Strange Quest to Cheat Death raises vital questions about the 'truths' science can offer, the technology we are still exploiting for immortality - and exactly what it means to be human. At the heart of all human experience lies our obsession with death. For many years, we turned to religion for our answers, but at the turn of the twentieth centuries ideas from evolution and politics seemed to suggest that our lives - and afterlives - were in our own hands. These ideas would have both trivial and terrible effects, from the nightmares of H. G. Wells's science fiction and the wild, sweeping craze of seances to the murder of millions in the Stalinist terror. 'Our sharpest critic of utopian fantasies skewers the crazed but enduring dream of cheating age, time and death' Boyd Tonkin,Independent 'Elegant ... He is on to something important regarding the delusion that science consists of indefinite progress' Sunday Telegraph 'One of the most important and insightful polemicists currently writing in English... humanism's most vocal critic' Financial Times 'Gray is an engaging writer, an entertaining historian and a controversialist whose opinions can never be taken for granted' New Statesman John Gray has been Professor of Politics at Oxford University, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics. His books include False Dawn- The Delusions of Global Capitalism, Black Mass- Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopiaand Straw Dogs- Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals. His selected writings, Gray's Anatomy, was published in 2009.

The Book of Immortality

The Book of Immortality PDF

Author: Adam Gollner

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-09-30

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1439109435

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An exploration of one of the most universal human obsessions charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions and enters the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality.

Immortality, Inc

Immortality, Inc PDF

Author: Chip Walter

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1426219806

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"Veteran journalist Chip Walter takes us deep inside Silicon Valley's boardrooms and the world's most advanced biomedical labs to reveal the incredible new science of extending human lifespan. Here are the bold business moves funded by Google and made by Apple chairman and Calico CEO Arthur Levinson; the pioneering stem cell techniques developed by scientist Robert Hariri; the transformative enterprises established by genomics genius Craig Venter; and the mind-bending future envisioned by thought leader Ray Kurzweil--all pointing toward a time not too long from now when we will live without disease or diminished faculties far beyond the age of 100. It's an audacious cast of characters, and through their stories you will come to understand how groundbreaking discoveries in gene therapy, molecular biology, and artificial intelligence are cracking the aging process--and could even lead to immortality. As Walter reveals, the quest to cheat death isn't science fiction anymore. It's real, it's serious, and it will change absolutely everything--including our definition of what it means to be alive."--Dust jacket.

"A Curious Machine"

Author: Arseny Ermakov

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-09-28

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 166676261X

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In his sermon “What Is Man?,” John Wesley spoke of the human being as a “curious machine,” reflecting the eighteenth-century view of the person as a set of complex mechanisms animated by the soul. The rapid rate of technological development in recent decades is opening toward a future in which the centrality and uniqueness of human beings is undergoing a shift. Developments in robotics, artificial intelligence, surveillance, autonomous weapons, human enhancement, and genetic modification raise an array of questions for the Christian tradition. The awareness of the negative impact of human activity on the natural environment is challenging the traditional view of humanity as having a uniquely privileged role at the heart of creation. This collection of essays addresses Wesleyan and broadly Christian voices that explore the theological, philosophical, biblical, ethical, and practical implications of emerging technologies, their impact upon different aspects of human life, and the possibilities that are opening up toward a posthuman future.

The Debilitating Duo

The Debilitating Duo PDF

Author: Roche Coleman

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-10-02

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1666770655

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Is it possible to violate God's moral law without experiencing guilt and shame? Can a person silence their conscience from the strange emotions that emerge when one sin? An examination of the original design of humanity in the imago Dei suggests one cannot sin and avoid the debilitating duo. Humanity is created to live within the moral structure established by God. Therefore, a violation of the divine laws, which is sin, leads to guilt and shame. The strange emotions were innate sensation imparted to humanity to stop rebellion against the moral laws and to compel an offender to acknowledge the offense through the confession of sin. Unconfessed sin debilitates the physical and mental functions of a person created in the image of God. Guilt and shame are the strange emotions that serve as mental guardians for an individual as well as for the society in general. The duo was given as silent deterrents to immoral behaviors.

How to Live Forever or Die Trying

How to Live Forever or Die Trying PDF

Author: Bryan Appleyard

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Published: 2008-10-14

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9781416522836

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A dazzling, funny, alarming, entertaining and thought–provoking look at immortality and how some believe it will soon be within our reach. ‘I want to live forever’ sang the kids from FAME — and they are not alone. The search for immortality has been a constant human refrain throughout history. But medical science has improved at an exponential rate in recent decades and there are those who believe that the ability to cheat death will soon be within our reach: the first person to live to be 1, 000 years old has, they say, already been born. What has happened to get people so excited about the prospect of eternal life? And if they are right, what would it mean for us as human beings? If death became negotiable, would we still fall in love or have children? Would we still, in fact, be human? How to Live Forever or Die Trying tackles these and myriad other questions with impressive skill. Funny, thought–provoking and often profound, it manages to grapple with the big issues of existence without blinding the reader with science, and sheds new light on why we are the way we are.

Immortality

Immortality PDF

Author: Stephen Cave

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2012-04-17

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 184954347X

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There is a cloud-capped peak where gods and immortals while away their infinite days, and since the dawn of humanity everyone - whether they know it or not - has been trying to climb that mountain. But there are only four paths up its treacherous slope. Throughout history, people have wagered everything on their choice and fought wars against those who've decided differently. Each of these four paths - simply staying alive indefinitely, through magic or medicine; being resurrected; persisting as a soul; or living on through one's legacy - is revealed to us by a historical figure who serves as our guide. It is through these diverse individuals - such as the Egyptian queen Nefertiti; vitamin-obsessed Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling; author Mary Shelley; and Alexander the Great - that we come to understand how many of civilisation's greatest achievements have been born of our need to see our essence endure. As optimistic about the human condition as it is insightful, Immortality takes the reader on an eye-opening journey from the beginnings of civilisation to the present day. Bringing together history and philosophy, this fascinating book both enlightens and entertains, investigating whether it just might be possible to live forever, and whether that's something we should actually aspire to. But its most powerful and arresting argument is this - that it is our very preoccupation with defying mortality that has made our civilisation what it is.