Maintenance, Methuselarity, and Advanced Technical Civilizations

It's a lazy saturday and I changed the engine oil of my car with some help from my Buddy. Albert has been teaching me a lot of things about car maintenance for a few years now. Together we've already replaced and upgraded several things on my 9-year-old Honda CRV--such as the air filter, shock absorbers, spark plugs, transmission/brake fluids, and so on.

Although this car is almost getting too small for my growing family, I refuse to sell it or trade it in for a bigger van. Not only because it is still reliable, but because it carries a lot of memories. For one, its the car that I used to fetch my newborn kids from the hospital. I said to my wife that I would keep it and maintain it till I grow old and.....

Then it struck a chord. I remembered a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon an evening talk by Aubrey de Grey entitled "Ending Aging". By now, all Singularitarians know that Aubrey is the man who Christened the concept called the Methuselarity--the point at which the Longevity Escape Velocity is achieved.

After De Grey's talk, I asked him whether it is possible for advanced lifeforms on other planets to achieve their Methuselarity.

Aubrey de Grey casually answered that because life elsewhere in the universe follow the same laws of physics, then it is certainly possible for them to extend their lifespan indefinitely.

It makes sense, I thought to myself. "Maintenance" is the key. Provided the technology, resources and energy is there to sustain the expensive cost to maintain a mortal body (for example by replacing faltering organs or upgrading to new and better body parts) then it is possible for any advanced lifeform to continue living.

I think it is theoretically possible for citizens of Advanced Technological Civilizations (ATC) to achieve the Methuselarity. And there is no reason why any Kardashev Type II Civilizations won't aim for it.

After all, who wouldn't want to live forever in an ever-expanding universe? For one who has reached interplanetary status, I assume the prospect to explore the cosmos seems even more enticing than ever.

As I rested after a greasy day's work on my trusty old car, I typed this post on my Android gPhone. Holding it close so I can type on its tiny keypads, I can still smell the 5W-30 engine oil that spilled all over my hands earlier. And I thought to myself, I smell like a machine! And I wondered, will I ever live to see a Type III Civilization?
Then I closed my eyes and slept.

Imagine, After Tomorrow

After Tomorrow, one of the short films I saw on the first night of Imagine Science Films Festival--is a gripping look at the experiences that flow inside the mind of a man with dementia. James is convinced that this elderly woman who seems to care for him is acting weird and unintelligible. Yet James is oblivious to the fact that he is the one who has lost touch with reality.

This film came as a surprise to me, and tragically relevant to my life because of the fact that my mother-in-law has just been diagnosed with dementia.

The film correctly portrayed the common symptoms, some of which i've personally glimpsed from my mother-in-law during the onset of the disease: loss of the sense of time, the faltering sense of direction, the inability to recognize family members, the paranoia, unresolved guilt, mood swings and bad temper, and recurring memories of yesterdays.

Before I saw this film, I never really understood that a person stricken w/ dementia is trapped inside his own world--one that is shrinking slowly into oblivion, melting away along with his soul. Now the film has truly made me imagine how it feels like to be a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. The mysterious woman named Helen has also shown me what it would be like to take care of someone with a mental sickness.

After Tomorrow has shown me that the strongest emotion of a person or the most powerful memory is the last fabric of the soul to fade away. This film has made me think that if ever I will be stricken with Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia, I want love to be the most powerful and the last traces of life that my beloved would feel from me--not bitterness, guilt or angst that is often associated with dementia.

The ending scene is truly inspiring. James whispers into Helen's ears "Tell my wife that I love her." And it made me hope and pray: if i were to melt away, let love be the last spark of my life.

Methuselarity: A Short History

Now that I am delving further and deeper into the idea of the Methuselarity, I feel that I should at least know the history behind the word itself. To begin with, Methuselarity was not coined by Aubrey de Grey--as what many has assumed. He says so himself. Aubrey said during an interview with H+ Magazine that a friend named Paul Hynek coined the word "Methuselarity" to mean the point at which we reach the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV). I have verified this fact via twitter.

Now the concept of the LEV is the one that Aubrey has been working on. He has been evangelizing the concept for many years now. As a matter of fact, Aubrey de Grey is the champion of The Longevity Escape Velocity.

Looking deeper into the concept of LEV, we find that it matches the concept of Actuarial Escape Velocity (AEV), an idea that was first publicly proposed by David Gobel, founder of the Methuselah Foundation.

The gut of AEV is this:
Life expectancy increases slightly every year as treatment strategies and technologies improve. At present, more than one year of research is required for each additional year of expected life. Actuarial escape velocity occurs when this ratio reverses, so that expected years of remaining life actually increase each year.

And here's what LEV is in the words of Aubrey himself:
Longevity escape velocity (LEV), in turn, is the rate at which therapies to repair the molecular and cellular damage of aging need to be improved in order to stop their recipients from becoming biologically older.

Thus, AEV = LEV -> Methuselarity

Methuselarity was then christened by Aubrey de Grey in his essay The singularity and the Methuselarity: similarities and differences. The publication of that essay launched Methuselarity across the internet, inspired this website and blog, and effectively encapsulated a meme that sticks better with the human psyche.

In essence, there are three aspects that everyone must know behind the history of Methuselarity: The concept, the coinage, the christening.

Methuselarity was coined by Paul Hynek (and christened by Aubrey de Grey) which means the point of reaching the Longevity Escape Velocity--a concept that is championed by Aubrey de Grey, which is another word for Actuarial Escape Velocity--a concept first proposed by David Gobel.

So there you have it. A quick primer on the history (and Etymology?) of the Methuselarity neologism, a word and a meme that--from here onwards, might stick with us for a very long time.

Links:
The singularity and the Methuselarity: similarities and differences
On the Singularity and Methuselarity
Actuarial Escape Velocity
Longevity Escape Velocity and the Singularity

Methuselarity in 25 Years, or the Unknown

Face to face, I asked Aubrey de Grey the most important question,

"When will the Methuselarity come?"

He answered quickly, "Twenty-five years from now, the Methuselarity has a fifty-fifty chance of occuring."

I was intrigued by what he meant by "50/50", "What do you mean by fifty-fifty? Do you mean that the Methuselarity may, or may not come at all?"

"Yes," he nodded "Methuselarity may or may not arrive in 25 years. Beyond that, I do not know.."

A cryptic answer i thought at first, but the "I don't know" part was a dead give-away: it's either a Singularitarian's escape or prophetic augury. It's both safe, and sound. Clever.

Twenty five years from now, if the Methuselarity doesn't come then no one can say that he was wrong. And yet, if it indeed arrives, then he might be hailed as a demigod of Immortality.

I've heard Kurzweil say exactly the same number. Twenty five years. The Singularity.

Is Methuselarity the other face of Singularity? Or the Unknown?

Links:
The End of Aging

The Kildren and An Enemy That Always Wins

Image by [puamelia] via Flickr

The Kildren are products of a genetic experiment. They are the main characters in the movie The Sky Crawlers. The Kildren never grow old. They live until they are killed in battle.
I just had to write about this. Because i'm watching it right now, and because the movie mentions something about an enemy that must always win. The Teacher.
The Teacher always kills the Kildren.
In some way, I think that this "Teacher" is Entropy itself.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is built into this universe. Things break down. Our bodies break down. Life ends.
Perhaps the Methuselarity is something to set hope upon. But then again, it might just be like the hope of eternal life that religion dangles at our face.
Why does everyone want to live forever? Is there truly an enemy that must always win?

Methuselarity, Singularity, Hilarity

Nope. This is not a fan blog of Aubrey de Grey. And though i admit that i do like to grow a beard as long as Aubrey's, but again no--I am not a fan of Aubrey. In fact, I am curious, even rather skeptical of his ideas--as i am of Kurzweil's. They seem to be crackpots, methinks. However, their ideas seem interesting. And i'd like to learn about them some more. Thus i decided to chronicle my foray into this exciting field of Methuselarity and The Singularity. It might just turn out to be hilarity in the end, but oh well--it could be worth the ride.

Hello Methuselah

And so it begins....