The Immortality Option

--- In ssi_list@... Alex Michael Bonnici
>
> Hello Once Again Gang,
> In several Science Fiction novels that
have
> explored "The Immortality Option", the ones that come to mind
include
> "Against the Fall of Night" and "The City and the Stars" by Arthur
C.
> Clarke, and finally "The Giants Trilogy" by James P. Hogan, didn't
> immortality lead to a stagnation in the societies (whether human or
> alien) that chose it?
>
> The stagnation as depicted in these novels was usually cultural,
> scientific, and technological. From the stand point of evolution
(both
> biological and cultural) isn't death a good thing? It leaves the way
> open for new experiments in humanity. Meaning new people replace the
> old, thus bringing forth new thoughts, ideas, and concepts into the
> world. Could we view death as an important factor in our continual
> evolution as a species and a society? Could we view "The Immortality
> Option" a form of "Temporal Imperialism" robbing future generations
of
> their place in the world?
>
> In the novel "Tech-Heaven" Linda Nagata presents a future Earth
where
> nano technology and cryonics is perfected. These breakthroughs
cause
> huge sociological disruption. The future society depicted in the
novel
> comes up with an interesting solution, they decide that all
cryonauts
> who are revived and immortals should emigrate to space.
>
> I only present these questions to open this topic for what may
prove an