The Punt Option for Immortality

Many think the only way to scientifically survive death is to live long enough where we can either keep our physical bodies alive, or long enough to have our consciousness uploaded before we die.

But there’s another option.

The other option is to punt, as it were, and just live long enough—and have enough money—to have your mind preserved so that you can be transferred digitally when we learn how.

So here are the current (science-based) immortality options:

1. Live long enough to have your body live perpetually. This isn’t a great option, as 1) it seems really hard, and 2) you can still die from like a disease or a car accident, or through violence.

2. Live long enough to just have your consciousness uploaded before your natural (first) body dies. That seems much more likely, and also gives you peace of mind as you die that “you” are still living on.

3. If you can’t make either #1 or #2, at least live long enough to have your mind/brain preserved. This way, in a couple of decades your mind will be transferred out to digital form, where you can just move around and interact digitally, or you can potentially take another physical form through which you can experience life.

I think #3 is by far the most likely, but I’m personally hoping for #2 and I don’t have much faith in #1 even though I still may have another 50 years.

In any event, even if #1 were an option, it would really just become a mechanism for achieving #1 or #3. And what’s far more likely is that we won’t achieve #1 in my lifetime (perpetual life), but instead a massive boost to lifespan. And in that case it’s accomplishing the same thing—a much higher chance of #2 or #3.

Related posts:

1. Consciousness is a Movie Screen Without an Audience, Theater, or Universe

2. A Beginner’s Notes on Meditation

3. Thinking About Different Types of Digital Value Exchange

4. Another Way to Think About Consciousness and the Lack of Self