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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5695848" data-attributes="member: 53980">I think that the experiment neglects to consider the fact that once humanity is capable of achieving immortality, we will have reached a point where our evolution will most likely be conscious and directed.  Essentially, once we're able to turn off the "death gene", we'll be at a point where we don't need nature to do our "pruning" for us; we should be capable of doing so ourselves.  Is a new strain H1N1 (or H1N5) threatening to destroy humanity?  Create a retrovirus that renders people immune, or update the programming of the nanomachines supplementing/replacing our immune systems to recognize and eliminate this new threat.Has a giant rock from the heavens struck the earth and brought about a new ice age?  Alter people so that their blood acts as anti-freeze and give them the capacity to hibernate for long periods at a time.  You can always change them back once the Ice Age has passed...That isn't to say that immortality doesn't have it's potential pitfalls (overcrowding, ennui, etc.) but so long as the capacity to continue altering ourselves in the face of future challenges remains intact, I don't see short-cutting evolution as one of them per se.  The only scenario where I could see it being an issue is if society were to collapse and that knowledge lost; in that case adaptability could indeed become a very real and present concern.I think this trans-human concept could be quite interesting in a fantasy setting.  One take on elves is that they are an old and highly magical race, but because of their long life spans can be slow to accept change.  Imagine if elves are slowly being pushed out by the younger races.  Many of the youngest (and therefore least staid) elves seek to alter the essence of the elven race via magics, but the elders who control these magics are quite resistant to the idea.  They would rather remain true to what they are and chance extinction, than to be reborn as a new race of elves and survive.  At the very least, it strikes me as a potentially intriguing take on elves within the scope of a campaign world...</blockquote>

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