FAQ - Physical Immortality
1. Frequently Asked Questions about Immortality 2. What is the goal of an immortalist? 3. What do you mean by "physical immortality"? 4. Is physical immortality possible? 5. Why is physically immortality important? 6. How does one become an immortalist? 7. Does immortality have anything to do with religion? 8. Is there an afterlife? 9. Are Immortalists selfish people? 10. What about the overpopulation problem? 11. What about the natural cycle of life? 12. What about the problem of boredom? 13. Is immortality only for the rich? 14. Do Immortalists want to take over the world? 15. What is the Singularity? 1. Immortality FAQ The Immortality FAQ attempts to fill in gaps in knowledge about the about the possibility of human physical immortality. The FAQ is written from the perspective that humans have two choices for the future: oblivion or physical immortality. "Without the 'safety net' of any mystic or magic you are left with the pure fact that there is nothing after death. So you had better either do something to preserve yourself and you had better do something to help preserve what we have, because everyone else is looking forward to their gold bricked roads in heaven." - Lionel Vogt [5] Scientists from around world are learning more about our genetic code. Anti-aging breakthroughs are routinely discovered. Michael Rose, a UC Irvine evolutionary biologist who has spent more than 10 years studying fruit-fly genetics, helping the flies more than double their previous life span, says: "I am now working on immortality... It is an Einsteinian revolution compared with what we used to do. Twenty years ago the idea of postponing aging was weird and off-the-wall." - Michael Rose [6] 2. What is the goal of an immortalist? Our goal is to usher in a new era of prolongevity thinking, one that embraces all life as important and worthy of existence. Immortalists accept and foster individual choice to live forever as credible and possible. "To get everyone in a small town or large city engaged in a dialogue about physical immortality and personal mastery is an intelligent contribution to your own survival. But it is not necessary or perhaps even feasible to persuade anyone to be immortal. Some people desire to die and they deserve this right. However, everyone deserves the right to choose life or death." - William O'Rights [7] We will use technology and scientific knowledge to stop aging and extend healthy lifespan. "Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us.... Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become." - Edward O. Wilson [8] Immortalists are embracing a new paradigm of infinite possibility fueled by technological advancement. We aim to achieve a sustainable existence beyond our biological bodies. "Biology is not destiny. It was never more than tendency. It was just nature's first quick and dirty way to compute with meat. Chips are destiny." - Bart Kosko [9] Nick Bostrom, founder of the World Transhumanist Association, believes humans are only the beginning. "Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthumans, beings with vastly greater capacities than present humans." - Nick Bostrom [10] Anders Sandberg, researcher and Transhumanist, notes the importance of augmentation for immortality. "One of the most important tasks of Transhumanism is the pursuit of Life Extension and eventual immortality, since aging and death represents two of the most immediate hinders for total self-transformation and personal freedom. Overcoming death is also a social and psychological problem, since most of human culture is based on the assumption of the eventual death of every person. A final argument for the pursuit of Life Extension and Cryonics is that many of the visions of Transhumanism will probably not be possible within our (unaugumented) lifetimes." - Anders Sandberg [11] Artificial Intelligence pioneer Ray Kurzweil thinks we will upload our software (our minds) and upgrade our hardware (our bodies) to become immortal. Kurzweil explains in a recent article, Living Forever--Uploading The Human Brain...Closer Than You Think: "The development of computers that match and vastly exceed the capabilities of the human brain will be no less important than the evolution of human intelligence itself some thousands of generations ago. Current predictions overlook the imminence of a world in which machines become more like humans-programmed with replicated brain synapses that re-create the ability to respond appropriately to human emotion, and humans become more like machines-our biological bodies and brains enhanced with billions of "nanobots," swarms of microscopic robots transporting us in and out of virtual reality. We have already started down this road: Human and machine have already begun to meld. By the close of the next century, nonbiological intelligence will be ubiquitous. There will be few humans without some form of artificial intelligence, which is growing at a double exponential rate, whereas biological intelligence is basically at a standstill. Nonbiological thinking will be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than that of its biological progenitors, although it will be still of human origin." - Ray Kurzweil [12] In FAQ Part I we'll address philosophical issues concerning the prospect of immortality and shed light on the reasoning behind immortality as a super goal. "We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecule known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment." - Richard Dawkins [13] 3. What do you mean by "physical immortality"? Physical immortality in not a spiritual or religious immortality, but a real immortality of this time and for this world. Science fiction author and computer programmer Greg Egan makes an elegant point: "That's what immortality means. Not: 'Dying after a very long time.' Just not dying, ever." - Greg Egan [14] Many health books tout "immortality" but then, when you read the fine print, they say you'll die at some later date because of old age or accident. The physical immortality we're referring to is forever. Immortality is a personal choice. It is a personal commitment and a way of life. The choice to become immortal comes from within. "Since the newest mechanism of evolution is inside individual people, the will to immortality is now not only desirable, but also evolutionarily demanded. Since ultimate goals cannot be derived, only chosen, it is not possible to justify the will to immortality as the ultimate goal for people, or to assert it as dogma, as traditional religions do. Rather it must be the free, creative act of each individual." - C.

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Joslyn, V. Turchin, F. Heylighen [16] Sustaining a healthy body is important, however, the goal of an immortalist is to shed our biological bodies. "Speaking specifically, however, about the form of life of which we are part, it is not clear whether it is possible to modify it in such a way that our bodies become immortal. Contemporary biology does not give, as yet, a definite answer to this question. It is possible that the mechanism of aging is built-in on such a deep level, that you cannot switch it off without radically altering the whole machinery of bodily life." - V. Turchin [17] 4. Is physical immortality possible? The 120 year lifespan is often cited as a barrier. However, George Webster, in his book Hello Methuselah!: Living to 100 and Beyond, examines anti-aging research with optimism. "To a scientist, there is nothing impossible about it. Something is impossible if it violates a physical law. If it doesn't, it's possible. This is a basic tenet of science. Living 300 years doesn't violate a physical law, so it has always been possible. It is a human failing to think that something we haven't done is impossible. Instead of following facts to their logical conclusion, we follow intuition, which tells us that the earth is flat and a heavy thing, such as an airplane, can't possibly fly” - George Webster Ph.D. [18] Webster explains that while we may not be able to stop aging now, the time will come. "Before we speak about control of aging, remember that there is no substance available today that has been proven to stop human aging. There are hundreds of claims that drugs, herbs, hormones, extracts, or processes will stop you from aging. Each claim lacks proof that it stops, or even slows, aging. This does not mean that science will never be able to stop us from aging. It will, and people who claim that control of aging is impossible are speaking nonsense. Control will come. How quickly it comes depends on how quickly we understand the aging process and develop drugs to stop it." - George Webster Ph.D. [18] Physical immortality is possible because it breaks no laws of science. Terry Grossman explains in his recent book, The Baby Boomers' Guide to Living Forever: "As an official member of the Baby Boomer Generation, I really and truly do not believe that it was intended for us to die. Death, if and when it occurs, clearly will represent a mistake of some kind. While I am no official spokesperson for the Boomers, I feel I do accurately express the hubris of my generation. According to my interpretation of the master plan, the Baby Boomers will be the first generation ever to have the option of immortality." - Terry Grossman [19] Proof that immortality is possible can be found in our DNA. Haseltine explains: "We should remember that the fundamental aspect of life itself is immortality. DNA is a molecule that's been on this earth for about 3.9 billion years. It is immortal in that sense -- as immortal as our planet, at any rate. And therefore, our task is to couple individual immortality to the essential immortality of life itself..." - Dr. William Haseltine [20] Respected scientist and business leaders believe immortality is possible. Shaun Jones, who manages advanced biotech research programs for Darpa[21],

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 recently organized a meeting called NextMed 2 for SmithKline Beecham and the Global Business Network. They discussed what he believes could eventually be the grand unified theory of human biology. "Human longevity is an issue of convergence...Human genomics, C. elegans, plant genomics - you have an enormous number of these explorations without mastery. But all of it will converge. This situation has created a consensus at NextMed 2 that our generation may be the last to have to accept death and taxes as inevitable." - Shaun Jones [22] 5. Why is physically immortality important? Simply put... LOA - Life Is The Only Alternative DEO - Death Equals Oblivion LOA and DEO, two acronyms used often in the forums and chat room at Imminst.org, are shorthand for the importance of immortality. Oblivion is the driving force behind why life and immortality are necessary. We must embrace life and hold on forever. "Mankind will postpone human aging substantially in the future, doubling the human lifespan at least, when we have accomplished this we will be ashamed that we did not work on it much sooner." - Michael Rose [24] Stay healthy now to enjoy the benefits of technology tomorrow. "After all, the trick to immortality is to continually survive until the next increase in life expectancy. Unfortunately, historically such increases have always been more than one lifespan apart. Today though, medical science is picking up speed and there’s a very real possibility that my generation will be the first to live forever--or the last to die." - Robert Vroman [25] Ben Best, author of a paper entitled Why Life Extension? or Why Live At All?, makes the argument in favor of life. "To me, discussing the value of life extension with people uninterested in extending their own lives is a great deal like suicide counseling. I see no easy way of translating my positive attitudes about life into other people having a positive attitude about life. I have come to believe that if a person does not value life, or believes that the value of life has an expiry date, the matter is beyond discussion. And I mean this not in the sense of difficulty of communication, but in the sense that what is of value to me may not be of value for someone else. I like strawberry and she likes vanilla. I want to live to be a thousand years old, and he doesn't care whether he is alive in five years. Personal choices." - Ben Best [26] 6. How does one become an immortalist? There will never come a day when we wake up and proclaim, "Eureka, I'm immortal!" The possibility of this happening anytime before exponentially accelerating technology, referred to as the Singularity[15], is unlikely. Even after the Singularity, the quest will be ongoing so long as risks exist. In a post-Singularity world new possibilities may completely eliminate all risks, but, until that time, every opportunity will be taken to reduce the possibility of death. "Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it." - Somerset Maugham [27] If you want to live forever, consider some practical life extension methods. One proven method to extend life while retarding diseases and aging is caloric

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 restriction. Also, limit environmental risk factors. Don't smoke or drink and get plenty of exercise and sleep. "With reasonably good luck and careful management, you can survive to the year 2010. If you can live that long, scientific progress in the interim should have advanced to the point where it can keep you going until you’re 140. If civilization still exists at that time, and if science has not been eclipsed by religion, you should be able to renew your lease as often thereafter as you wish. To an extent far greater than you may have dared to hope, it’s up to you. You don’t need help from the man who wears high-pointed hats and lace-fringed dresses. Barring accidental causes of death, immortality is within your reach." - Frank R. Zingler [28] The first major hurdle to immortality is coded into our genes. DNA has programmed us for death. "A useful way to look at this problem [death] is Dawkins's "Selfish Gene" picture of evolution, where the fundamental unit to be maintained by natural selection is not the individual, nor the group or the species, but the gene. Individuals are merely disposable vehicles for the replicating information contained in the genes. As long as the genes survive (that is, are replicated in offspring before the individual dies), the survival or death of the individual is not very important." - Francis Heylighen [15] Cryonics is a safety net. So long as there are risks, a backup plan is needed. Ben Franklin in a letter to his friend, Jacque Dubourg, wrote these prophetic words from London in 1773. "Your observations on the causes of death, and the experiments which you propose for recalling to life those who appear to be killed by lightning, demonstrate equally your sagacity and your humanity. It appears that the doctrine of life and death in general is yet but little understood... I wish it were possible... to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But... in all probability, we live in a century too little advanced, and too near the infancy of science, to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection..." - Ben Franklin (Apr 1773) [29] 7. Does immortality have anything to do with religion? Physical immortality has nothing to do with reincarnation, karma, channeling, angels, vampires, or some kind of spirit that lives on after death. The base cause for all religion is the fear of death. Perpetual fear of death has made religion ubiquitous in human society. Simply because an idea is readily accepted and widespread does not make it true. Religion and spiritual belief are derived under the stress of imminent death. No wonder so many people believe in an afterlife, until now there hasn't been a viable option. "'Fear,' as the Roman poet Lucretius said, 'was the first thing on earth to make gods.' Our conscious minds hunger for a permanent existence. If we cannot have everlasting life of the body, then absorption into some immortal whole will serve. Anything will serve, as long as it gives the individual meaning..." - Edward O. Wilson [30] In 1998, Frank R Zindler, delivered a lecture to the 24th National Convention of American Atheists in which he said: "Admitting the biological necessity for death in the past, is death still necessary? Is death still desirable? (Only biologists and manic-depressives ask such questions!) Is death still inevitable, now that we have become a form of life conscious of itself - aware of its origins and using the insights of science to chart its future course? I believe the answers to all these questions is an emphatic “No!” We no longer need to die. Mortality is not an a priori necessity. Biology should enable us to become essentially immortal. As we approach the year 2,000, we have already made astonishing break-throughs in the understanding of aging. We face a new millennium in which - as I shall try to show - aging will become first preventable and then reversible." - Frank R Zindler [31] Zindler even suggests that religion is a stumbling block to immortality: "For millennia our superstitions have sold us an ersatz immortality and prevented us from seeking out the real one. It is only in the last century - which has seen the growth of science into a force great enough to expose this inventive fiction for the first time - that our kind has been able, systematically, to investigate the differences between life and death. And only in the last few decades have we found the courage to seek a cure for dying." - Frank R Zindler [31] Herb Bowie expresses similar views in his book, Why Die?: A Beginners Guide To Living Forever. “Since there is no God, there is no divine plan. Since there is no universal intelligence that created us, there is no manifest destiny for us to fulfill. This is not to say that our lives are without purpose. It is, instead, to say that it is up to us to determine our own purpose.” - Herb Bowie [32]

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8. Is there an afterlife? Nothing exists after death. What we remember before birth is the same after death. When dead, the physical body is left for family and friends to mourn, but the essence of that person, unless preserved, is lost forever. "A dead atheist is someone who is all dressed up with no place to go." - James Duffecy [33] Keith Augustine strikes a fundamental blow to the idea of an afterlife with his research paper, The Case Against Immortality. In this instance, he's referring not to physical immortality, but an immortality of soul. "Nevertheless, we cannot base our beliefs on what we want to be true; the truth can only be found by weighing the evidence for a given idea. In the case of immortality, the extinction hypothesis is supported by strong and incontrovertible evidence from the hard experimental data of physiological psychology, whereas the survival hypothesis is supported at best by weak and questionable anecdotal evidence from parapsychology." - Keith Augustine [34] Augustine reiterates: "We have no more reason to believe that human consciousness continues to exist after death than we have to believe that water buffalo or other animals continue to have experiences after they have died. Furthermore, we have very strong evidence that consciousness depends on brain functioning and thus mental life ends when the brain dies." - Keith Augustine [34] 9. Are Immortalists selfish people? Immortalists are caring and understanding people. If one never dies, the likelihood of needing people to help you in the future increases. Immortalist are concerned citizens and wish to keep friends for life. "Not believing in superior mystical entities makes one realize that apparently we have nothing but each other. We can talk to each other, we can listen to each other - and we can help each other instead of destroying each other. Life, especially sentient life, becomes more important when you see that - apparently - people have no souls that leave their bodies after death. Or when you see that it's people who make the quality of life better for many other people on this planet." - Sabine Katja Atkins [35] Ben Best comments on the perception of selfishness and the cost of immortality. He believes the life extension is worthwhile and an important goal. "Is it immoral to spend money on cryonics (which some people believe is a doubtful last grasp at life) when the same money could be used to save the lives of many malnourished Third World children? In this view, cryonics is an example of egotistical selfishness and greed. By this standard any expensive medical procedure becomes unethical. The cost of one heart-transplant could feed thousands. But is it really worse to spend money on cryonics than on houses or cars? True "unselfishness", in fact, would demand that everyone dedicate themselves to earning as much money as possible and living a monk-like existence which foregoes children, pets, new clothes, cosmetics, fine food, smoking, alcohol, vacations, all forms of entertainment, etc. -- in order to send all available money to the starving Third World." - Ben Best [36] 10. What about the overpopulation problem? Overpopulation will not be a problem in the future because advancements in science and technology will prove successful. Also, Immortalists have a vested interest in the future. We want to preserve a viable and healthy environment. "Since the Industrial Revolution, alarmists have screamed doom and gloom about overcrowding and limited resources (backed by misinterpreted "statistics"). However, the opposite has happened. The population increased by 750% since then, and standards of living soared. It's not so much a question of resources as education, individual productivity and distribution - social engineering problems, not life extension problems. As long as people produce more than they consume, it's impossible to run out of resources." - Maximum Life Foundation [37] Natasha V. More, author of Create/Recreate: The Third Millennial Culture, talks about the infinite possibility of space. She believes the outlook is positive. "Today, we have plenty of room for both young and old. The immediate response to the idea of extended lifespans is "What about overpopulation?" It has been proven over and over again that there is not an overpopulation problem. Population growth is caused far more by number of births than living longer. Furthermore, if we do exceed the number of individuals that the earth can support by that time, many of us will be soaring across the solar system in high-end designed portable communities with every comfort of earth and more." - Natasha V. More [38] Robert Bradbury answers the overpopulation problem by suggesting we will continue to enjoy economic and resource surpluses into the future. "One immediate response of people when the idea of lifespan extension is proposed is, "What about overpopulation?". This response is a result of incomplete education of the general public by the mass media. Generally speaking there is not an overpopulation problem in the developed countries (e.g. the U.S.A. and Europe). At the current time the affluent countries are all very close to replacement population rates (i.e. 2 children per 2 adults). Some countries in Europe and Japan have birth rates less than replacement requirements and the governments have begun incentive programs (usually tax credits) for people to have more children. The reason the populations in such countries may appear to be growing is due to immigration from less-developed or overpopulated countries. One of the most consistent findings of population research is that as a country reaches a certain level of affluence the population growth rate slows to around the replacement level." - Robert Bradbury [39] Immortalists will contribute to an ever expanding economy. The retention of skilled workers and acquired wisdom will increase productivity. Generations will continue to provide guidance long after their supposedly natural cycle of life. An economic boon will follow. "As people will have much longer lifespans and more time to learn a variety of skills, their value and contributions to society should increase. As people save more to reach financial independence there should be increased capital accumulation in society resulting in lower capital costs for investments which increase productivity. These conditions will result in accelerated economic growth." - Robert Bradbury [39] As older, healthier individuals stay in the workforce longer, skill and wisdom will be retained. Ben Best cites the benefits of a wiser population. "People with extended lifespans will have more incentive to improve the world and the environment -- the consequences of short-sightedness will not affect them. Unaging brains will have the opportunity to accumulate wisdom, a precious resource that is currently lost to senility and "natural" lifespan. It is often argued that death is necessary to remove rigid old minds from positions of power so that humanity can progress. But if technology eliminates aging, minds can continue to grow without becoming rigid or inflexible. Hundreds of years of accumulated wisdom by youthful, vital minds could prove to be the most valuable resource available to humankind." - Ben Best [40] 11. What about the natural cycle of life? Some argue for a natural cycle of life and death. Should we die to make room for the next generation? Is this right? Should we give up so easily? Should we really ask people to commit suicide? Industrious individuals have already developed technologies for space travel. There's plenty of room and resources to live in space. If people want to die, that's fine. It should be a personal choice not a mandate. Wayne State University researcher Robert Arking, author of Biology of Aging, spoke at the 1999 Extended Life/Eternal Life conference. Arking says: "We age not because we must age, but because there is no reason not to age." - Robert Arking [41] 12. What about the problem of boredom? Immortalists will never become bored because we're inherently inquisitive and resourceful. Max More Ph.D., respected futurist, philosopher and President of the Extropy Institute, believes our future will be chock full of stimulating challenges. "Whether we ever stagnate is up to us. There will never be a shortage of new activities, new understanding, and new experiences. Perhaps we might one day come to know a completed physics and chemistry, though even this is denied by some theorists. But we cannot exhaust the technological applications of those physical laws. There will always be innovative art -music, graphic art, writing, dance, and forms as yet unconceived. There are no limits to the personal relationships we can create and develop. There is no limit to the social forms we can develop, and no limit to the games we can invent." - Max More Ph.D. [42] More suggests we live in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. "We can look forward to an infinite process of transformation and improvement with no fear of an inevitable boredom and meaninglessness. There is no guarantee of being engaged with life, but ennui has to do with laziness rather than the availability of too much time." - Max More [43] Eliezer Yudkowsky, founding member of The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, notes that novelty is the essence of fun. He thinks living longer and become smarter will increase the scope of our problem solving ability. "When you jump up a level in intelligence, all the old problems are no longer fun because you're a smarter generalizer and you can see them as all being the same problem; however, the space of new problems that opens up is larger than the old space." - Eliezer Yudkowsky [43] 13. Is immortality only for the rich? The short answer to this question is no. Immortality is a personal choice. One can't bottle it up. Wealthy individuals may have more resources to buy anti-aging products, but most of us can choose to live healthy. Immortality will not come from some silver bullet treatment. It's more likely to be achieved by applying a multitude of methods. Market forces from multiple providers and a healthy demand for anti-aging products will drive costs down. If you are in relatively good health, there's no reason why you can't live forever. As a backup, older individuals should consider cryonics. Cryonics is a good idea in case of accident or terminal illness. As we'll discuss in FAQ Part II, Cryonics is relatively inexpensive. 14. Do Immortalists want to take over the world? Immortalists are not interested in world domination or strikes by force. Our purpose is to preserve life. We want to help our fellow citizens. We want everyone to enjoy life forever. We hope to end world suffering, war, famine, disease, poverty, oppression and death. Immortalists are saddened by the tragic loss of life. "Today more than 150,000 people lost their lives. About 12,000 of them were little children perishing of starvation. At least 150,000 more humans will die tomorrow. Some of them are elderly, of course, but tens of thousands of youthful adults and children will be lost tomorrow to preventable or curable illnesses simply because treatment is not available to them. For those who believe that opposing death is somehow wrong or unnatural, please remember that opposition to human slavery was once considered crazy and dangerous." - Mike Treder. [44] Christopher Dewdney, award winning poet and author of Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era, postulates the positive impact of immortality. "It is possible that the next few generations of humans will be among the last to die, and, if this is the case, future humans will regard the tragedy of death as an inconceivable horror and a cosmic waste. Aside from possible overpopulation the only challenge these posthumans will face will be the awesome, perhaps frightening, prospect of eternal existence. Then again, immortality may not be as existentially intimidating as it appears to us now—continuous self-transformation and an endless supply of new experiences might well compensate for the metaphysical paradox of virtual immortality. What's more, the future configuration of consciousness may be so different from our present, individual consciousness that the entire dilemma of perpetual selfhood will be transcended." - Christopher Dewdney [45] 15. What is the Singularity? Human intelligence is but one step in the evolving process of increasing intelligence. We'll soon witness higher levels of intelligence and increased capability from developing technologies. As the rate of change increases exponentially, we'll experience what is referred to as a Singularity. Michael Anissimov, founder of Singularity Discussion Forums explains: "Since the Big Bang, complexity in the universe has been accreting, concentrating, and multilocalizing at a continually accelerating rate. Since the dawn of mankind, there have been shorter and shorter increments between major social, philosophical, political, ethical, and scientific breakthroughs. Computing power is steadily doubling every 12 months. Soon, humanity will have the knowledge required to create general intelligence on a nonbiological substrate. Such a mind, given access to its own source code, could develop self-improvement capabilities far above any human being." - Michael Anissimov [46] A leading expert and author of numerous research papers about the Singularity, Eliezer Yudkowsky promotes the creation of Friendly Artificial Intelligence. Yudkowsky's nonprofit organization, The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Inc., is working to bring about the Singularity - the technological creation of greater-than-human intelligence - by building real AI. BJKlein.com recently asked Yudkowsky about the Singularity's importance to immortality. "Certainly, I believe that the quest for Singularity is the most efficient way to pursue the quest for immortality, but they are not - quite - one and the same. The quest for immortality, as a human aspiration, has a much longer history than the quest for the Singularity. And the quest for the Singularity adds a lot of ideas that are not necessarily present in the quest for immortality. Some of these ideas, such as becoming smarter, are necessary implications of the quest for immortality, but don't appear in it historically because, well, necessary implications do get overlooked a lot of the time. I see the quest for Singularity as a very efficient way of pursuing the quest for the good, and immortality as one kind of good to be pursued." - Eliezer Yudkowsky [47]