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Rafi Amin
Kabul
Afghanistan

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Can death be avoided ?

Everybody is tasting death, rich or poor, powerful or weak the destiny of all is the same one day. & also nobody would like to die in any time I think so.
but today's technological advances has made some miracles which has made me thinking would death be avoided sometime in the future or far future ?

Can there be something special behind death ? What is your thoughts ?

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Kate Blake 50+
- +1
Jun 5 2012: Hi again Rafi. I worked with death and trauma eg hospices, war veterans, etc for more than 25 years - it's a Natural p[art of life. We will all have to experience it, I have never actually met anyone who made ti to 100 years yet ... have you?

Sure in war zones death is pretty gross - blood splatters everywhere, body parts can also be scattered. But death from aging, cancer, etc [and I worked on children's wards too] is not scary or nasty in any way. Those kids knew what was going on and they accept it fully, maybe keen all the treatment and carry on would end soon. Their parents were the troubled ones, expecting they would see their children educated, married,etc It's our expectations that are skewered.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  Jun 6 2012: Thank you Kate. but as I got information from other comments in this conversation is that we can extend life to more than 400 year once we avoid aging. There is a also talk as mentioned below on the topic.
  
  http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html
  - Kate Blake 50+
    
    0
    Jun 6 2012: Can anyone identify even ONE person who is 120 years old????
    
    Or anyone who has halted their aging process???
    
    Dream On! Aging and death are all part of the deal from the moment we are born and frankly I am quite comfortable with that! My great-aunt made it to a few months before her 100th, she was a sprightly lady still doing cryptic crosswords but after 95 she got 'tired' of living ... she had no peers, her body was starting to break down, she been there done all that and although still vitally interested in all of us and our friends she was ready to move on. She had already seen too many changes and adapted to all of them ... she just got tired, worn out.
    
    Would you really want to live that age?
    - Stewart Gault 30+
      
      +1
      
      Jun 6 2012: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
Robert Winner 50+
- 0
Jun 3 2012: Yep. Its called birth control. Bob
Terry Harman
- +1
May 31 2012: Science fiction writers and other speculative science writers have proposed many interesting ideas in which immortality or some sort of continuation could be achieved. I'll list some alternatives to simply suspending the ageing process.

Imagine being able to have a clone of youself grown and then transfering your thoughts and personality into this newer younger clone. Or even regularly recording your memory/personality periodically and having a back-up so that if you were killed and couldn't be revived then your memory/personality could be inserted into a newly grown replacement body.
Imagine an advanced technology being able to completely replace your body with durable machinery and replacing your brain slowly neuron by neuron with a computer system. Once again you could have a back up in case anything happened to the original.
Imagine that you could do away with bodies entirely and upload your consciousness into a vast virtual reality computer dispersed around the world in case of a local disaster.

Whether any of these fantastic ideas is actually acheivable or desirable is another matter entirely of course.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  Jun 3 2012: Very interesting idea. I noticed it today. Thanks for sharing this.
Thomas Reddy
- +1
May 29 2012: As technology advances, and our understanding of biology progresses, I think it is inevitable that the ability to prolong a healthy human's life indefinitely will be achieved. It may not happen within our lifetime but it is lurking on the horizon. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a reality by the year 2112. I would be surprised if it doesn't happen by the year 2212. Once that ability exists, it will be used. At first by the privileged and powerful, eventually to many.

When that time does come to pass, humanity will have to deal with one of the largest challenges it has ever had to face. Specifically, if no one dies of old age, and people are still having children, how do we deal with an exploding population. We'll quickly run out of resources.

It's a beautiful and frightening idea.

Krisztián Pintér already posted this link, and I think it should be linked to the question body, but I think it's relevant, so I'm posting it again: http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html
- peter lindsay 30+
  - +1
  May 30 2012: Given that technology will one day cure ageing as we cure any physical disfunction, let's turn to the actual question. How long do you think you can avoid death? Perhaps in your beautiful and frightening world your age at death will be entirely determined by your personality. Cautious optimists wil outlive us all! Personally I doubt I would live much beyond 100 years before finding some fatal accident.
  - Stewart Gault 30+
    
    0
    May 30 2012: Totally agree, though if I was to live to be 500 and then have an accident kill me I'd wish it to be something original like taking a meteor to the head
- Krisztián Pintér 200+
  - 0
  TED Translator
  
  May 30 2012: but nobody of the commenters seem to have watched it
  - peter lindsay 30+
    
    0
    May 30 2012: The video gives me great hope that when I die in tragic accident at the age of 104 I will still be healthy, but I still think I'm going to crash my car or my mountainbike or some other unforseen event will get me long before I reach 1000. How long do you have to live before being struck by lightning is inevitable?
    - Krisztián Pintér 200+
      
      0
      
      TED Translator
      
      May 31 2012: depends on the state of science
Tim Petersen
- 0
May 28 2012: Don't waste time trying to avoid it, it is not even real.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 29 2012: Why it is a waste of time ? In my short life time there were lots things that were impossible but today they are made possible.
  - Tim Petersen
    
    +1
    May 30 2012: I only meant that death is not real. We are eternal, and until people grasp this truth they will continue to live in fear and greed. It is my opinion that most organized religion promotes the fear in a subtle type of control.
    I did not mean to sound like a smart aleck when i said "don't waste your time", I apologize for the confusion. We have been deliberately confused and brainwashed when it comes to who and what we really are, in my opinion.
    Thanks for asking for a clarification, Rafi
    - Rafi Amin 20+
      
      0
      
      May 30 2012: I got you now. Thanks for clarification.
Obey No1kinobe 50+
- +1
May 28 2012: Death can avoided only temporarily as present - stating the obvious.
Perhaps one day we will be able to maintain life indefinitely via science.
Lots of moral questions with that. Also how well equipped are our minds for this.
Maybe our minds will evolve further or be modified.
Eternal life also seems frightening to my super monkey brain.

If we continue to evolve in a million years or 10 million our ancestors will no longer be homo sapiens.

Death makes life special. Precious. Being free of superstition makes us value life before death more than some likely wishful fantasy of life after death or reincarnation etc.
- Stewart Gault 30+
  - +2
  May 28 2012: I like the idea of humans eventually getting bored of life, a point where we say right I've lived x amount of years, I've seen everything, done everything, I think i might just go now, makes me smile
  - Colleen Steen 500+
    
    0
    May 29 2012: Stewart,
    I'm not sure if you are serious or not, but this idea is not so far out. Native Americans used to go off to a quiet place in a cave or forest when they were ready to leave the earth. They apparently knew it was time for them to leave.
    
    I've helped care for relatives and friends who were dying, served on a rescue squad, volunteered in a terminal care facility, and owned/managed elderly housing. It is not at all unusual for people to write DNR (do not resusitate) on their Advance Medical Directives.
    
    Prior to the AMD, there were several people I was aware of, who almost died, and they were brought back to life. When they came back to their home in the housing unit, they often said..."I don't want to be here anymore...I am X years old, and I'm finished here...next time I have the chance, I want to leave!!! They were actually ticked off that they had been "saved"! AMDs give us that choice.
    
    The idea makes me smile too Stewart:>)
    - Stewart Gault 30+
      
      +1
      
      May 29 2012: O yea I was being deadly serious, and the native american thing was called exposure where the old would basically walk off so they didn't slow their band up, and everything else you said was very interesting
    - Obey No1kinobe 50+
      
      +1
      
      May 30 2012: Interesting that many humans get tired of life even with 60-100 years.
      
      I wonder if part of it has to do with quality of life. Medical, loneliness, or just tired of life
      
      I'm not that old but no longer have the "unlimited" possibilities of life ahead. While life is precious, something changes when you realise you are passing your prime and have probably lived more of your healthy active years than you have to left to live.
      
      I know one of my grandfathers lost his will to live after grandmother died and he passed away shortly after.
      
      Right now I can imagine living a few hundreds years if active healthy, happy and wealthy. Just watch that compound interest and population growth issues.
  - Colleen Steen 500+
    
    +2
    May 31 2012: Stewart,
    You say you are "deadly serious"!!! A little play on words my friend? LOL:>)
    
    Obey,
    I am sure that quality of life impacts some people who have continuous challenges with medical, financial and loneliness issues. If one is in pain, financially struggling and without a support network of friends and family, I'm sure it may impact whether or not a person wants to continue to live.
    
    I find that circumstances continue to change with the life experience, and it is often my perception of "prime" which contributes to my perception of the life experience. I believe that life is not any less "precious" when the circumstances change.
    
    For example, I WAS a competitive athlete, professional actor, singer, dancer in musical theater at one time. At that time, I was in the best physical shape of my life....physically strong and resilient. I percieve that phase of my life as the "prime" physical experience.
    
    One day, I went horseback riding, was thrown off the horse, and the horse's hoof collided with my head, requiring an emergency craniotomy. I regained consciousness two weeks later, physically and emotionally in a child-like state. I percieve that to be the beginning of another phase in which I focused on emotional development. Although I certainnly had to spend my energy regaining strength and use of the body again, it was the emotional/mental capacity that was pushed to grow, learn and evolve. Just as when focusing on developing the physical aspect of my "self", there certainly was mental/emotional development as well.
    
    I planned well for my financial future, and because of our economy and the situation with investments, I now find myself at poverty level financially. BUT, I feel incredibly rich because of life experiences.
    
    So, to me, our feeling about "prime" is directly related to our attitude and perception about the life experience...make any sense?
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 29 2012: Hi Obey,
  
  Thanks for your valuable thoughts.
Roy Bourque 20+
- +1
May 26 2012: Does life go on? In this body it doesn’t. Extending life adds to our current existence. But at whose expense? In nature, there is a balance to everything. War, famine, and disease kept the balance in the past. What will keep the balance in the future? Who will decide who lives and who doesn’t?

Will life continue to evolve? Life and death cycles are how and why we are here now. We would be naive to think that we are the most advanced life form that can exist. Are we connected to past and future lives? No one can prove it either way, so I will assume the positive rather than the negative.

To believe that we wink out of existence, never to be seen or heard from again, is inconceivable to me. I had a spiritual experience where I saw a future without me in it. It made everything I was striving for totally meaningless. I had another spiritual experience where I saw many lives on multiple dimensions. I felt totally connected. Only then did I understand what Jesus meant by those who would be cast into outer darkness, and those who would come to see eternal life.

Death is not the end of the soul’s journey, it is the end of a biological life form. I intend to see a lot more of this universe before it’s over.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 27 2012: Thank you for your valuable thoughts. I agree.
Chetan Somani
- 0
May 26 2012: I read it some where
"No amount of money nor intelligence or power will escape death".
and i think it did ans to what you asked!!!
peter lindsay 30+
- +1
May 25 2012: There was a study done years ago, maybe the eighties, that concluded if all aging ceased the average age at death would still only be around 400years. This was based on the probability of death from misadventure. I'm not sure whether modern society is safer or less safe but I am sure we won't live for ever. If you cross the road enough times you're bound to get hit by a car eventually.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 27 2012: Thank you for sharing your thoughts here.
Andrew Dufton
- 0
May 25 2012: A lot of cultures have a period of time allowed for mourning after a persons death. this is a important for peoples emotion health as it allows for a period of grieving so that they process their loss.
Andrew Dufton
- 0
May 25 2012: Why must we defy nature to the extent that we do? Is there an issue with growing old with grace? Through out our whole life there are many different ages and each of these ages bring with them lessons. it is these lessons which are normally hard learnt that make us wise. I feel that if we were to remove the 'hard' part by extending youth or eliminating death we wouldn't be forced to grow as people.
Allan Macdougall 50+
- +1
May 24 2012: Death is an essential part of life.

I have fed on flora and fauna all my life. When I am buried, they can feed on me.

So the circle goes...
- Colleen Steen 500+
  - +1
  May 26 2012: Hi Allan:>)
  I like that...I have fed on flora and fauna all my life...now they will feed on me!
  
  Unfortunately, many people are afraid of death, especially in western cultures. Trying to cling to youth, simply sets us up for disappointment, because aging and death is very much a part of the life cycle, as you insightfully recognize. I think in general, some folks are more attached to their bodies than they need to be, and that is their choice:>)
  
  I've noticed in the last few years, that wakes, funerals and memorial services tend to be more of a celebration of a person's life. Rather than an incredibly sad time, it is a time to reflect on how the person brought joy to our world:>)
  
  My friends and family KNOW that I would like them to celebrate and joyfully remember the life I lived. The body will be recycled into the earth, and the energy that fuels the body will recycle as well...in my humble perception:>)
  
  Hello Rafi...nice to connect with you:>)
  You ask..."Can there be something special behind death?"
  In my perception, it is the catalyst for the energy that powers the body to move on:>)
  - Rafi Amin 20+
    
    0
    May 26 2012: Thank you Colleen. Your thoughs have always been different & excellent.
edward long 100+
- 0
May 24 2012: It does not seem that Man was designed to live forever in the flesh. I say "No", bodily death cannot be perpetually avoided.
Andrew Dufton
- 0
May 24 2012: I ask the question: what is wrong with death? It is as integral to nature as birth. We seem to have this fixation on death as a negative but it just a part of the universes natural cycle and nothing to be feared. Why do we as humans keep forgetting we're part of the natural world?
- Krisztián Pintér 200+
  - 0
  TED Translator
  
  May 24 2012: as natural as starving. and diseases. and disasters.
  - Andrew Dufton
    
    +1
    May 25 2012: You put a negative slant on it and yes nature can be harsh but it always balances out. try looking at this way, the earth is already over burdened with over 7 billion of us, what if you took death out of the equation? How long do you think we could last with our limited resources? Or would the cure for death only be offered to some?
    - Krisztián Pintér 200+
      
      0
      
      TED Translator
      
      May 25 2012: my point was: just because something is natural, we don't accept it. we try to fight or undo a lot of natural things.
      
      how could we last is not the question here. the question is whether death can be avoided or not.
- Stewart Gault 30+
  - 0
  May 24 2012: If you don't believe in any afterlife as I do as theirs no proof of one, there is a big reason for wanting to avoid death. It's our one time here, after we die that's it. Krisztian said it's natural as starving and disease well one of the biggest factors of human characteristics is our ability to defy nature. Though there has to be a balance between length of life and quality of life, I want to be younger for longer not older for longer.
  - Josh S
    
    0
    May 25 2012: Part of being young is the inexperience, the immaturity, the immaturing process. The rush you feel when doing something with everything you believe in.
    
    I think the main reason people don't remain young isn't because of the aging process, but because they mature.
    - Stewart Gault 30+
      
      0
      
      May 25 2012: By young I meant fitness, health etc. But on that note you can still be mature and have a fun exciting life with the same rush you get when you are young. You just have to know the difference between when to let the younger you out and when not to.
  - Josh S
    
    0
    May 25 2012: ahh i forgot about the health aspect. I apologize for that. I understand your viewpoint much better now.
Gerald O'brian 50+
- +1
May 24 2012: Aging is just a medical problem to which there are solutions. You gotta be superstitious to think otherwise.
- edward long 100+
  - 0
  May 24 2012: People die every day from non-medical causes, even young people. Aging is not the sole cause of death.
  - Gerald O'brian 50+
    
    0
    May 24 2012: I figured the question "can death be avoided" was meant to be : "can aging be avoided".
    
    ... since death is just postponed unless you solve aging...
Debra Smith 200+
- 0
May 24 2012: All that I know on the topic says that death can be delayed but no one gets out of life alive.
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 26 2012: Hi, Debra Good to see you back on TED. Thanks for sharing your thought here.
Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
- +2
May 24 2012: Death cannot be avoided , it is inevitable. It must be celebrated .
- Andrew Dufton
  - 0
  May 25 2012: Bharath, I think you may be the first person on this thread that gets it. we should celebrate death as we celebrate birth.
  - Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
    
    0
    May 25 2012: Exactly Andrew , as a matter of fact ,in my Hindu Culture, we are allowed to mourn a person's death for 10 days and on the 11th day (after the person dies),we are supposed to celebrate the person's death . Though it is a tough job we somehow forget to cry .
- Rafi Amin 20+
  - 0
  May 26 2012: Thank you Bharath. Your point is unique here.
  - Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
    
    0
    May 26 2012: Thanks Rafi, its just a result of going through a lot of self help books where the knowledge is immense.
- Chetan Somani
  - 0
  May 26 2012: Bharath,
  Now on no will fear of death!!every person will welcome it with full of pride!!
- Debra Smith 200+
  - 0
  May 28 2012: I am very interest in your perspective,Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu . As I have shared, I was told and my shildren were told recently that i would die and I survived. Is it your perspective that is just was not my time?
  - Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
    
    0
    May 28 2012: Hi Debra,
    Firstly I am very happy that you survived a battle with death.i too battled typhoid and came close to death..
    My opinions come because I went through religious books and this particular US Best seller "tuesdays with morrie" ...where insights, about life is said in a very beautiful manner...if this opinion of mine has not answered your query , please feel free to reply back..
    
    Cheers,
    Bharath
    - Debra Smith 200+
      
      0
      
      May 28 2012: Cheers to you Bharath!
      As typhoid is unknown in my world, i have no real understanding of what you went through but i am thrilled that you are still here!
      I share my story in case it will help others to know that this can happen. I live in a very sanitized world where most victims of stroke or brain injury are out of sight and mind. This might not be the case where you live.
      I too have read Tuesday with mori and loved it and I am still very interested in your answer to my questtion.
      With Warmest regards,
      Debra
- Stewart Gault 30+
  - +2
  May 28 2012: I'd rephrase that just a little, death should be mourned BUT the life of the person should be celebrated
  - Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
    
    0
    May 28 2012: Well said stewart,in the same way,my funda about life is live every moment in present so thats why we call it present
    Regards,
    Bharath
  - Rafi Amin 20+
    
    0
    May 29 2012: Well said Stewart.
Krisztián Pintér 200+
- +1
TED Translator

May 24 2012: http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html
Stewart Gault 30+
- 0
May 24 2012: Death is and most likely will always be unavoidable. Through genetic engineering we can extend our lifespan but not by hundreds of years.I believe the process is known as telomerase. The jellyfish turritopsis nutricula has the potential to live huge life spans by being able to revert all its cells to a younger stage. And after we die there's nothing. Just like the time before you were born didn't affect you the same applies for the time after you're here

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