Extended lifespan: living through the next 1,000 years

By Dick Pelletier

      

    If anti-aging scientist Aubrey de Grey's prediction that life extension technologies will soon provide humanity with a 1,000-year lifespan is correct, one wonders what life might be like in this long-range future. What can we expect as the millennium unfolds?

    Of course, no one can predict the future with certainty, but if we consider expected science and technology breakthroughs; then blend in a few positive possibilities, an amazing future appears.

    During the next two decades, stem cell therapies and genetic engineering promise to eliminate most diseases including aging. By mid-2030s, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence advances are expected to unravel the mysteries of consciousness and increase human intelligence a billion-fold, enabling replacement of much of our biology with "immortal" nano-tissues, organs and brains.

    In The Singularity is Near, futurist Ray Kurzweil says people will soon be able to reshape their own physical, emotional and cognitive characteristics as they see fit. This could make tomorrow's humans – circa 2050-2100 – as different from us today, as we are to our caveman ancestors.

    Astronomer Nikolai Kardashev devised a way to rate future civilizations based on energy consumption, and other future-thinkers forecast how these civilizations will advance.

    Type-1 utilizes all the energy on their planet; they control the weather and have transformed their populations from groups of quarreling nations into a peaceful global village.

    Type-II harnesses all the power in their solar system. Their focus includes building space colonies and exploring nearby stars.

    Type-III derives energy from stars throughout their galaxy. This advanced civilization can format wormholes that allow instant access to vast distances in space and time-traveling systems that reveal information on the past and future. They quickly become the dominant galactic force and organize Star Trek Federation-like groups.

    So, where is today's Earth in this rating system? Physicists' place us at Type-0.7, but with advancing technologies; forward-thinkers believe we can reach Type-I by 2100, Type-II by 2200, and Type-III by 3000.

    Using this timetable, 1,000-year-old humans will enjoy Type-III civilization benefits. In Parallel Worlds, physicist Michio Kaku writes, "By the time civilization reaches Type-III, it will access energies 10-billion-times-10-billion those found on Earth today."

    Looking into this distant future, humans will one day enjoy bodies that can change physical appearance on command. With intelligence multiplied trillions of times, tomorrow's humans will be able to change body types using just their thoughts. Imagine, wishing for a radically different body; maybe add wings so you could fly; or surround yourself with an invisibility cloak. The possibilities are endless.

    While establishing space colonies, humans will meet many aliens. Some may seem strange to us, but we all share common traits. All life-forms are made of similar atoms and governed by the same laws of physics. If our new-found friends have eyes and clear skies, they will gaze at the same stars and galaxies we do, and we all trace our origins to the same point – the Big Bang.

    Could this amazing future occur in just ten centuries? Although it took two million years for us to abandon the forests and build a modern civilization, it may take only a few centuries to leave our planet and begin this wild adventure to the stars.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.