From: Michael Fuchs                  Jul 19, 01 02:31:15 AM -0700
To: cpoplawski@yahoo.com (Chad Poplawski), sc@ewav.com,
        alex@heublein.net (Alexander Heublein),
        jfk@stanfordalumni.org (Jeremy Kassis),
        jlaltrel@us.ibm.com (Joe Laltrello),
        ali.henry@talk21.com (Alison Henry),
        HilaryGrant2001@aol.com (Hilary Grant),
        snitch@zonker.stanford.edu (Shawn Tseng),
        ryan_canolty@yahoo.com (Ryan Canolty), fife@sludgefest.com (Ryan Fife)
Subject: No More Death? / Camus

So, it suddenly occurred to me, very clearly and seemingly self-evidently,
that WE ARE GOING TO CONQUER DEATH. As Jeremy will explain to you, aging is
just an engineering problem--one which not only can, but WILL be solved (at
some point). The components of our bodies that decay and fail are just
mechanical parts (albeit protein-based ones), and that process of decay is
a physical process, which can be understood--and countermanded.

Highly relatedly, we're going to solve all of these miserable ailments
which currently plague us: Parkinson's disease, lower back pain,
quadriplegia, blindness, leukemia. People everywhere will no longer be
betrayed by their bodies.

Including, as noted above, the total loss of their bodies. When this (a
working science of immotality) happens, we will truly have achieved escape
velocity from the cruel mortal coil we were born into, the one with the
"universal death sentence." We will be, in a very real sense, masters of
the universe, no longer its subjects.

I was thinking about this as the same time I was reading some Camus. In
L'HOMME REVOLTE (or, THE REBEL), Camus makes a number of comments related
to this, and that also call to mind Chad's search to--and I realize this is
what it is now--avoid nihilism. [Camus handily defines nihilism as A)
believing there is no meaning to this life, which entails B) nothing we do
matters--anything is justified.] He writes:

        "Human insurrection, in its exalted and tragic forms, is only, and
        can only be, a prolonged protest against death, a violent
        accusation against the universal death penalty . . . The rebel does
        not ask for life, but for reasons for living. He rejects the
        consequences implied by death. If nothing lasts, then nothing is
        justified; everything that dies is deprived of meaning. To fight
        against death amounts to claiming that life has a meaning . . . The
        rebel obstinately confronts a world condemned to death and the
        impenetrable obscurity of the human condition with his demand for
        life and absolute clarity. He is seeking, without knowing it, a
	moral philosophy or religion."

From all of this, I conclude that medical research is probably the most
important current human endeavor.

Responses?

Michael

P.S. I'm thinking about going into business selling t-shirts and
bumperstickers with the logo "Darwin Found God." You'd all buy one, right?
(The original version was, "Evolution Through Natural Selection Is The One
True God, And Darwin Is His Prophet." But "Darwin Found God" is much
pithier, I think. And emminently accurate.)