Thread: The Immortal Mind: Theorectical Operation of Perpetual Sentience

This is mainly a mathematical question I think, but if anyone knows anything about cellular degradation over the course of an organisms lifespan or the effects of entropy on complex analytical systems I'd appreciate any help.

Had an idea for a sort of sci-fi space travel story thing a few days ago and wondered if any of my thoughts made any sense. The basic premise being that humanity figures a way to turn off aging and sends a bunch of undying spacefarers into the great beyond. As I thought about the concept of an eons long trek across the stars undertaken by immortal beings I surmised that the most likely cause of failure would be the inherent instability of all complex systems, specifically the human mind.

I'm referring to the mind as a metaphysical entity in this case, as I suppose with sufficient knowledge of genetics and cellular manipulation you could keep cellular degradation to a workable minimum and fix any large scale problems that might occur.

So, in defining the major cultural norms of these immortal astronauts I figured that the eventuality of entropy would force some sort of extreme societal control to be enforced. I thought that some kind of "memory wipe" would be the most likely method. So every few centuries or so these people would "reset" their experiences and return to a static personal starting point in their memories.

Failure to reset would likely lead to increased psychological problems and general mental instability which in turn would present a threat to the rest of the society.

I guess my main question, if anyone knows, is do you think this is a feasible hypothesis?

Is this a feasible hypothesis? To the best of my knowledge, no. Even if we put ourselves in the maximum freezing temperature possible to have our bodies frozen, the degradation still exists because of oxygen and carbon. As long as oxidation exists, its impossible for aging to be stopped. It can be slowed, yes, but not stopped.

Your theory on memory wiping is also unlikely, though not impossible. Amnesia is a naturally-occurring idiopathic symptom in many psychotic illnesses. If somehow there could be a way to trigger the amnesia, without bringing in the rest of the dementia, then memory wiping could exist. As you may know, it is the destruction of the neurons and its inability to create a synapse, or rather maintain one, is the cause of memory loss, so if you can trigger this, without destroying other things related to synaptic process (affect, cognition, mood), then there's your memory wiping.

On another thought, the clincher is that brain cells do not regenerate or reproduce. If you manage to do the memory wiping, chances are you destroyed some neurons to do it. These neurons do not regenerate or reproduce, as I've said, and thus, to keep wiping out the memory reduces their life span anyway.

In retrospect, it would be better to create an energy field so powerful that it can bend space-time. The theory is, if we can bend space-time, we can travel through the galaxies without the need to worry about lifespan. Imagine a piece of paper. If we want to go from one end to the other, we would have to cross the paper's length, right? What if we have the capability to fold the paper in half? That way, we reach the destination without moving at all. At least, that's the theory.

I was working under the rather fantastical assumption that cellular regrowth (namely neurons) was possible due to large leaps in genetic engineering. Some kind of refresh procedure maybe that eliminates the effects of aging and restores a human body to youthfulness. Of course this kind of thing isn't feasible with current technologies but this is a sort of far future story idea.

Also the main impetus for the idea was presupposing the fact that faster than light travel is impossible. I was trying to come up with a viable alternative that didn't require bending space time since it might not even be possible.

My main question concerns the inherent instability of complex self organizing systems and whether or not entropy will inevitably destroy any self contained system (such as a human mind) regardless of safeguards.

Originally Posted by Glass Pencil

I was working under the rather fantastical assumption that cellular regrowth (namely neurons) was possible due to large leaps in genetic engineering. Some kind of refresh procedure maybe that eliminates the effects of aging and restores a human body to youthfulness. Of course this kind of thing isn't feasible with current technologies but this is a sort of far future story idea.

So in your idea, you say that neurons can regenerate? That's fantastical indeed. Neurons contain memories, ideas, patterns of mood and synaptic processes that dictate our personality. If such a regrowth was possible, then experience is no longer needed to shape our beliefs, yes? But this is fiction, and as long as you can keep the reader's WillingSuspensionofDisbelief, then by all means, go ahead. I have to admit, that could be a very interesting read. Be sure to drop a draft of the story here in WF!

Originally Posted by Glass Pencil

My main question concerns the inherent instability of complex self organizing systems and whether or not entropy will inevitably destroy any self contained system (such as a human mind) regardless of safeguards.

Simply put, entropy will inevitably destroy any self-contained system regardless of safeguards.