What happens if we go extinct?

[Basu]

I was watching a Discovery show about meteor impacts and that got me thinking: what happens to this whole incarnation business if the human race dies out? Do we reincarnate as aliens or animals then? Also what's going to happen as life-enhancing technology reaches the point where it's possible to live forever (as Kurzweil is trying)? Finally what will happen if we manage to actually develop fully sentient AI or upload our minds into a non-biological medium (and can then copy ourselves an unlimited number of times)?

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Basu

I was watching a Discovery show about meteor impacts and that got me thinking: what happens to this whole incarnation business if the human race dies out? Do we reincarnate as aliens or animals then?

Maybe they press the reset button?

[Mato Kinze]

Originally Posted by Basu

I was watching a Discovery show about meteor impacts and that got me thinking: what happens to this whole incarnation business if the human race dies out? Do we reincarnate as aliens or animals then? Also what's going to happen as life-enhancing technology reaches the point where it's possible to live forever (as Kurzweil is trying)? Finally what will happen if we manage to actually develop fully sentient AI or upload our minds into a non-biological medium (and can then copy ourselves an unlimited number of times)?

How do you know we don't already re-incarnate as aliens? And what difference would it make to our soul to be in a biological body versus a "mechanical" body?

I guess you have to have a better understanding of what the Soul is and some concept of "forever" before anything like that would even make sense.

[lasti]

I think there already other beings on other planets. So no problem to incarnate again.

[The David]

I've wondered about that. The thought of extinction kind of makes me view spiritual things differently. How extinction affects human spirituality was one of the questions I asked Erin for the intuitive reading thing; maybe it will be one of the ones she answers.

[xhironakamurax]

What about in like 4 or 5 billions years or so when the universe dies out?

[Elfwing]

I presume that we won't go extinct unless A, we majorly eff up, or B, the source lets us.

Of course, assuming isn't always the best way to go, but that's my beliefs.

[The David]

Originally Posted by xhironakamurax

What about in like 4 or 5 billions years or so when the universe dies out?

I've heard theories that say we'll be gone long before the sun dies, and another super-intelligence will appear on the planet. I don't know about most of it. Kind of cool to think about, in a way.

[PVince81]

Originally Posted by Basu

Finally what will happen if we manage to actually develop fully sentient AI or upload our minds into a non-biological medium (and can then copy ourselves an unlimited number of times)?

This reminds me of a funny science-fiction book I once read (forgot the title). It was about people who would "upload their mind" into a big computer system/network (a bit like the Internet). In the system, the people could create their own worlds or such, but they had to pay for the simulation computing. So poor people could only have less computing power and would live (be simulated) at a slower speed than richer people.