Author ｜ Asen, Twone, Wingo, K
Reviewer | Lauran
Typesetting ｜Wingo
Estimated reading time｜21min
💡 Digital immortality has been increasingly discussed in this technological revolution, with various leaders in technology seeking another form of elixir of life. The benchmark project in the DeSci (Decentralized Science Research) field, VitaDAO, waves the flag of "immortality narrative," continuing the ultimate enhancement narrative of transhumanism.
This article attempts to respond to VitaDAO, discussing Why Humans Must Die from the perspectives of humanistic thought and philosophy of technology. We also hope to find a balance between humanity's increasingly powerful ability to control and its weak self-control.
The Stars Above and the Moral Law of Humanity: Starting from Vita DAO — Twone#
What are we talking about when we discuss longevity?
Human curiosity is endless. Just as generations of people are unwilling to stop exploring their limits and the boundaries of the universe, they always seek to extend life through various technologies and means, allowing the tiny flesh to survive one more second in the vast universe.
Humans are perishable, yet they yearn for eternity.
In ancient times, powerful emperors longed to build grand tombs, travel east to seek longevity secrets, and concoct elixirs to achieve immortality; ancient Egypt turned human bodies into mummies, sprinkled with spices to prevent decay, allowing them to endure the passage of time; the birth of modern medicine has greatly extended the average lifespan and health of humans, with most people not dying from dysentery, smallpox, or colds, but rather developing tumors and cancer through repeated cellular metabolism. Today, with the advent of the crypto world, new organizational methods are also attempting to seek the secret of human immortality in a more radical way.
Here, we must mention Vita DAO. Vita DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization focused on biotechnology and healthcare, with a focus on funding biotechnology projects, promoting scientific research, driving medical innovation, and accelerating technological transformation. It encourages members to propose innovative project proposals and decides whether to fund these projects through voting and evaluation processes. In this way, Vita DAO aims to provide funding and support for biotechnological innovation and promote the development of the biomedical field.
However, it faces challenges and criticisms regarding the lack of rules in the bioethics group. One of the main points raised by critics is the lack of clear rules and guidelines in Vita DAO's governance structure. Bioethics involves ethical considerations and principles related to biological research, medical practice, and the development of biotechnology. These considerations include informed consent, privacy, data protection, potential harm to individuals or communities, and the broader social and environmental impacts of biotechnology.
Without clear rules and guidelines, Vita DAO may face difficulties in ensuring that the projects it funds and supports adhere to strict ethical standards. This raises concerns about unethical or controversial research receiving funding and support, which could negatively impact individuals, society, and the reputation of Vita DAO itself.
Additionally, the lack of clear guidelines on bioethics may lead to inconsistencies in Vita DAO's internal decision-making processes. There is no transparent and sound framework to assess and make decisions on bioethics-related issues. How should one take that step? Each step will be like walking through thorns, invisible swamps, and black fog.
If Humans Do Not Die: The World We Have Will No Longer Exist — Twone#
Meta once mentioned in a podcast: Everything in nature will be decomposed into nutrients for new life in some way, allowing life to undergo continuous iteration and recycling through repeated deaths and rebirths. Death is not a bug, but a feature. Humans fear death simply because they view it from an individual perspective.
From the perspective of life's finiteness, the pursuit of immortality somewhat underestimates the complexity of life systems. The human life system is extremely complex, involving genetics, cells, organs, and various biological processes. While advances in science and medicine allow us to extend life and improve health, achieving true immortality requires addressing more complex issues.
Pursuing immortality in the digital world also faces dilemmas: Digital individuals differ from real existence; their persistence and continuity largely depend on the construction of technological foundations. Although technologies like blockchain can ensure data immutability and persistent storage, considering the sustainability of data, digital immortality relies on continuous data storage and maintenance, including support for storage space, data transmission, and encryption algorithms. Long-term data storage and maintenance may face technical and cost challenges.
Similarly, when we talk about digital immortality, we inevitably need to discuss data security. In such a vast dark forest system, the long-term storage and management of personal data and privacy are of utmost importance. Perhaps no one would want their digital ID sold to a gaming company to serve as an NPC in the game?
As technology continues to evolve and the risk of data breaches increases, ensuring privacy and security during the digital immortality process remains a complex and important issue. Even if we can currently achieve a certain degree of on-chain storage and reading, future technological advancements will inevitably challenge the current level of data encryption. If digital beings are stolen or misused while the natural person has already perished or is in a nutrient pod, how should we face such risks?
The Pursuit of Immortality is Actually an Avoidance of Death — Asen#
In a person's life, if there is anything that is 100% certain to happen, it is that humans will eventually die. The underlying foundation for many things in the existing world is actually built on the premise that humans will ultimately die. This can be seen as humanity's meta-rule. If humans achieved immortality, the meta-rules of the world would change, leading to a tremendous upheaval in the survival considerations and society of all humanity.
Humans possess a strong self-awareness and a desire for individual existence. This desire for life instills fear and rejection of death. We fear losing our existence and facing the unknown realm of death. Therefore, when we talk about longevity, we are actually trying to break free from the constraints of the objective existence of death, refusing to accept the fact that humans will eventually die, and attempting to pursue the possibility of immortality.
Thus, before discussing the issue of longevity or how to achieve it, it might be better for us to face this predetermined end of humanity — death.
From the perspectives of social culture and religion, the understanding and cognition of death vary.
In Chinese culture, death is often viewed as a sensitive and taboo topic. Traditional beliefs hold that discussing death is thought to invite misfortune or bad luck. Therefore, many people avoid talking about death in daily life, especially in public settings. This leads to a deeper fear of death.
In contrast, in other cultures, people's relationship with death is much closer.
For example, Mexico is known for its colorful Day of the Dead celebrations. During this festival, people hold grand celebrations to commemorate and remember deceased loved ones. Mexicans have a unique attitude towards death, viewing it as an indispensable part of life.
In the realm of religion, discussing death is a common and important topic. Different religions have their own views, beliefs, and rituals regarding death, which can provide a way to understand and cope with it.
Christianity: Christianity believes in eternal life after death, where the soul enters heaven or hell. Believers typically face death through prayer, worship, and the teachings of the Bible, seeking comfort and guidance from God.
Islam: Islam views death as a transition in human life, where the soul enters the grave and faces judgment. Believers believe that Allah (God) has a plan for everything and prepare for death by adhering to Islamic teachings and prayers.
Buddhism: Buddhist teachings emphasize the inevitability of death. Buddhism views death as a necessary process, with the soul reincarnating after death. Buddhists face death through practice, meditation, and understanding concepts like impermanence and non-self.
Hinduism: Hinduism believes that the soul is immortal, and death is merely a change of body, not an end. They believe the soul reincarnates in different life forms until it ultimately merges with the supreme deity. Believers prepare for death through rituals, prayers, and fulfilling social responsibilities.
These religious followers face death through prayer, rituals, and the practice of faith, seeking comfort, guidance, and spiritual strength.
For individuals, when we talk about death, we are actually reflecting on human life, considering how a finite being can spend this life. One's attitude towards death also determines their values in life.
Looking back at our society, especially in China, death education is scarce. Abroad, Swiss philosopher and sociologist Bernard Crettaz initiated an experiment in 2004 — the Death Café. This is a special social gathering aimed at providing an open and safe environment for people to freely discuss topics related to death, end-of-life care, and the meaning of life. We can learn from this format, using discussions about death to help us understand death and our feelings and experiences regarding it, or how to face the end of life and respect and commemorate the deceased, thereby reducing fear and anxiety about death.
If we step away from the individual and view death from a more macro perspective:
From the perspective of human civilization, looking back at the history of human development, the rise and fall of civilizations have repeatedly occurred over millennia. After the birth of one civilization, another new civilization is born, pushing human society forward.
From the perspective of Earth, the meaning of life lies in the rebirth that follows extinction. Without death, new things would not emerge. Humanity has existed on Earth for so long, creating countless new things, while some inherent weaknesses of humanity, whether in physical function, human nature, or social systems, have remained stagnant. In the current era, the development of the crypto industry and explorations in organization and systems may disrupt existing world rules; the AI industry and embodied development provide possibilities for changing the inherent vulnerabilities of humanity. Perhaps one day in the future, humanity may no longer need a physical body. When that day truly arrives, the "human" of that time may no longer be the primitive humans of today. This is, in fact, another form of rebirth, another civilization's birth.
The sun sets before a new sunrise can come; leaves fall before new leaves can grow. Why must humans die? Because this earth needs new civilization. Understanding the reality that humanity will ultimately face from this perspective may bring some solace, and for us who are moving towards that point, what we can do is probably just to enjoy the present and the process of this life.
I Would Rather Be a Cyborg Than Achieve Digital Immortality — Wingo#
In 1927, Julian Huxley mentioned transhumanism in his work "Religion Without Revelation."
In 1989, futurist FM-2030 introduced the term "transhumanism" and became a major advocate of this thought.
In 1960, Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline proposed the concept of "cyborg," referring to humans with artificially enhanced and modified physiological functions.
The "Cyborg Manifesto" in 1985 discussed cyborgs and constituted an important dimension of posthumanism, describing how technology advances feminist gender cognition from the perspective of opposing gender essentialism.
In the 1990s, with the development of the internet and advancements in artificial intelligence technology, posthumanism began to emerge and influence the public.
Foucault's representative "philosophical posthumanism" attempts to deconstruct the discourse about "human" based on reflections on Renaissance humanism.
From 1946 to 1953, sociologist Bruno Latour, represented by Gregory Bateson and others, continuously discussed these posthumanist theories, exploring the potential future of posthumans brought about by artificial intelligence and consciousness uploading.
In the early 21st century, the rapid development of biotechnologies such as gene editing and neural technologies provided possible technological pathways for posthumanism and transhumanism. The influence of both ideas further expanded. Musk's Neuralink brain-machine interface design represents the so-called cyborg future, which aims to better protect and enhance the human brain and create a well-aligned future for humanity.
In Musk's view, the so-called "well-aligned future" is "ultimately we can achieve a complete brain-machine interface... we can achieve symbiosis with artificial intelligence. This is very important at the level of civilization. Even in benign AI scenarios, we will lag behind. With high-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces, we can walk hand in hand with artificial intelligence and have the option to merge with it."
The differences between transhumanism and posthumanism are:
- Different views on the concept of humanity: Transhumanism believes that humans will use technology to enhance their abilities, becoming "superhumans" or "human 2.0."
Posthumanism questions the traditional concept of "human," believing that humans will evolve into "posthumans" through technology.
- Different views on artificial intelligence: Transhumanism advocates that artificial intelligence should assist humans, while humans should retain autonomy and dominance.
Posthumanism leans towards the eventual merging of artificial intelligence and human consciousness.
Why do we oppose immortality? Because we can see that the history of technology and thought is always about the old dying and the new being born. We continuously pass the baton of human civilization. Kuhn summarized the essence of scientific revolutions as "paradigm shifts." "Paradigm shifts" initially involve a paradigm and conventional science dedicated to solving puzzles; subsequently, severe anomalies trigger a crisis; finally, due to the birth of a new paradigm, the crisis is resolved, and science re-enters a conventional scientific period. The development of science is not a linear accumulation of knowledge but a replacement of old and new paradigms, with revolutions being the prelude to the emergence of new paradigms.
Paradigm shifts primarily rely on — the old order maintainers aging and dying, making change a natural law. This is also the spirit of the crypto revolution, the spirit of the internet revolution pursued by the cypherpunk movement. We use technology to overthrow the previous generation, but it seems we are using digital immortality to block others from overthrowing us.
Why do we advocate for posthumanism? Because we have never had purity; we are all complex beings. Our understanding of human identity will become clearer: we are all mixed-blood nations. Looking at our genes, we are all mixed with various bloodlines; we do not represent any single culture; we are inheritors of world culture, and we have also blended the complexities of Eastern and Western cultures in the internet age.
Radically thinking, we do not wish to oppose humans and artificial intelligence; can we not merge? Because we know that once there is a sense of identity opposition, it will cause many contradictions and conflicts. Returning to the Daoist concept of chaos, we have always pursued the unity of heaven and humanity. Naturally, we will also follow the laws of nature to become human-machine/AI unity. Perhaps we are already in a state of human-machine unity; we are closely connected with our phones and the internet, and we are about to achieve human-machine unity once again in the MR virtual world. We have long been accustomed to human-machine unity, and in the future, we will explore a world full of imagination and chaos together with artificial intelligence. In Chinese mythology, chaos is not an evil image but one full of potential, benevolence, and the ultimate power and source of all creation. We are born from chaos and perish from chaos, continuously reincarnating and passing on the flame, living endlessly until annihilation.
DeSci, The Myth of Immortality, and the History of Crypto Thought — K#
Blockchain originated from the cryptopunk movement in the 1990s, a countercultural movement of technology and politics. In the context of the history of thought, it inherits the beautiful vision of social order from transhumanists who advocate for technological enhancement. This all traces back to the "Enlightenment" of the 18th century, which centered on reason, science, and liberalism. When the scientific revolution overthrew religious domination, one important result was the prevalence of the idea that "God is dead." This upheaval led to a worship of science. Society entered a phase of high pursuit of applied reason, and unprecedented optimism about technological enhancement led humanity to a desire for control over its destiny, thus entering the myth of "directed evolution," from which transhumanism was born.
Bostrom, in his article "Transhumanist Values," points out that transhumanists hope to reshape humanity through science and technology, elevating humans to posthumans with greater abilities. They believe that through genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and powerful computing power, humanity can accelerate and guide the evolutionary process. They envision posthumans possessing extraordinary abilities, such as telepathy and precognition, and being able to colonize other planets. This pursuit of science and technology and the vision of controlling human evolution gradually formed a quasi-religious belief.
The Russian cosmism movement provided much nourishment for transhumanist thought: Fyodorov viewed humanity's technological revival as a common task of enlightened humanity, implicitly containing the messianic complex of Christian theology. They envisioned a perfect universe where humanity achieves cosmic perfection and redemption by rationalizing the material world and conquering space. Vernadsky proposed the concept of the noosphere, connecting thoughts on Earth to create an evolving intelligence, which requires good social systems to coordinate humanity.
Thus, transhumanists yearn for a new political order to replace the old model of national competition. They predict that exponential advancements in science and technology will create a globalized internet, media, education systems, languages, and cultures, thereby constructing a new order referred to as "Globa" by De Garis. This new order will bring social harmony and prosperity, free from war, arms trade, ignorance, and poverty, achieving a perfect human coordination. The imagination of transhumanism has had a profound impact on social order, inspiring many cryptography enthusiasts at the time to think about opening up cryptographic knowledge, which had been shelved and confined to intelligence agencies, to the public, giving rise to the influential "cypherpunk" movement. This movement, centered on opposing centralization and pursuing individual freedom and privacy protection, seeks to promote the development of human wisdom through the advancement of cryptography.
Cypherpunk thought nurtured blockchain and extended to specific applications. Among them, the DeSci (Decentralized Science Research) movement is a rising industry highlight. As a benchmark project in this field, VitaDAO waves the flag of "immortality narrative," continuing the ultimate enhancement narrative of transhumanism. Since its inception, VitaDAO has captured the favor of many industry leaders in the crypto field, with Vitalik investing in and promoting it extensively, and Balaji also expressing agreement with transhumanist thought. The birth of VitaDAO not only took over the baton from predecessors but also combined the thoughts of many modern transhumanists. One of the most famous supporters of this ideology, Aubrey de Grey, is a prominent advocate of VitaDAO.
This renowned longevity scientist uses biotechnology to combat aging, shaping a new narrative about death and immortality. He believes that death is a disorder that needs to be replaced with an orderly approach to traditional aging concepts. De Grey's methods include biotechnological approaches such as gene engineering, enhancing protein telomerase, and genetic manipulation. He views death as an enemy attacking our bodies and minds, which can be overcome through biotechnology. According to his narrative, aging is caused by chromosomal mutations, harmful accumulations inside and outside cells, cellular aging, and stem cell depletion. He believes that longevity research is hindered by cultural and psychological inertia towards death.
Aubrey de Grey has publicly supported VitaDAO multiple times: not only did he promote the significance of crypto x longevity alongside Vitalik on the Bankless channel at the launch of VitaDAO, but he also actively participated in various DeSci events to share insights. VitaDAO has correspondingly followed Aubrey de Grey's "immortality narrative," believing that the fear of death is a cultural legacy that needs to be overcome. At the Zuzalu camp in Montenegro, founder Vitalik positioned VitaDAO as a major institutional co-organizer, categorizing DeSci as one of the three main camp themes. During a themed week organized by VitaDAO to promote longevity among blockchain practitioners, a wealth of content from psychology and philosophy was presented to educate non-biological science individuals on how to view death as an enemy that can be defeated, using confidence in technology to resist humanity's end.
The gods pursued by transhumanist philosophers are those that grant existence to posthumans. They attempt to embody the concept of the Übermensch through control and mastery, rather than helping humanity. This pursuit reflects a transhumanist faith that transcends traditional religious concepts. Through a new religious pursuit of science, a vision of controlling human evolution, and an imagination of social order, we can see the significant influence of the Enlightenment on the formation of transhumanism and even the cypherpunk movement. These thoughts reflect humanity's desire to transcend and achieve immortality, as well as the pursuit of technological advancement and social change.
Postmodern theorist Han Byung-chul once pointed out that religious faith, as a Thanatotechnik, once allowed people to escape the fear of death. However, after the "God is dead" enlightenment, people lost their faith and had nowhere to escape, as the world underwent a process of denarrativization, revealing the naked state of human life. In a postmodern world dominated by science, health has become the new god. Life has turned into mere survival, and the fervent pursuit of health leads to contradictions, resulting in illness and stagnation.
During the themed week at Zuzalu, the creators of VitaDAO asked the audience if they were willing to be "immortal," and many raised their hands enthusiastically. Vitalik corrected them, asking whether the quality of life should be considered in this question, and instead asked if they would prefer to embrace a limited life vibrantly or to decay while achieving infinite immortality. In an instant, the audience's answers began to diverge. If we pursue extreme health, extreme lifespan, and extreme infinity, we are essentially mechanizing the essence of our lives. The absolutization of health loses its aesthetic, turning life into a hysterical form of existence.
What exactly is death? What is life? Heidegger believed that death triggers a longing for authentic self-existence. Its significance is not merely the end of life but more so the negation of the abyss (Abgrund) and mystery (Geheimnis). Death operates within the realm of beings, evoking people's understanding and grasp of the vast abyss. The journey from birth to death is a descent into the subconscious and then an ascent to the superconscious, a cycle between "I am" and "God." The modern obsession with life and avoidance of death precisely reflects the infinite expansion of individualism in this era, a strong sense of "I am." The mythologist Campbell once said: "The millennia of human history flow by, revealing a harmonious form of the entire cycle; humanity sees only change and death, while the gods see unchanging forms and an eternal universe." Life and death are inherently one, a link in the birth and death of all things. The birth and death of the small self is the metabolism of the larger self. The unprecedented expansion of self-awareness is like a tightly clenched fist. But is letting go of ego not the beginning of entering the vast?