X-Message-Number: 21758 Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 22:04:57 -0400 From: Francois <> Subject: Eternity, in response to Yvan Eternity as I see it is exactly what the word implies, an infinite time interval. It is correct to say that 10^38 years are infenitesimal compared to it. It is also correct to say that the Universe will be a very cold and empty place long before it gets to be 10^38 years old. So what? Many possible escapes routes have been charted by modern physics. One could use wormholes to move into younger, more hospitable Universes. One could manufacture a Universe by creating a false vacumm bubble out of a few kilograms of mass and letting it expand exponentially like our own Universe did about 15 billion years ago. One could move into a black hole and use the ever collapsing singularity at its center to create a local Tipler omega point. Obviously, one would have to undergo a radical change in physical makeup in order to enter this type of existence. There are still other ways, many of which probably can't even be dreamed up right now, and all of them will require technology on a galactic, or even on a Universal scale. The journey into eternity must be done one step at a time. There is a scene in the movie 2010 when Floyd asks the Bowman entity if it is indeed Dave Bowman. The entity responds "I remember Dave Bowman, and everything about him". I believe something similar awaits anyone moving toward eternity, myself included. Sooner or later, I will have to grow up, change and evolve into something different. But that something will remember me and remember having been me, just like I remember having been a 5 years old boy, although I am not that 5 years old boy anymore. And I will no doubt undergo many such changes. However, I cannot look that far. I must first deal with the limited lifespan of my current form. Cryonics may be a way to do it, the brain scanner you are attempting to build may be another. But this will only be the first step. I will deal with the next one if and when I get there, and then the next one, and the next one after that. And I guess I will be doing that forever. Isn't that what eternal life is all about? Francois --------------------------------------------------------------------- No lifespan shorter than eternity is acceptable --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21758