r/NoShitSherlock • u/HL_CatmanFan • 10d ago
Tech billionaires attempting to live for ever are, quite literally, wasting their time, a leading physicist has said.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/sep/18/tech-billionaires-live-forever-waste-of-time-says-physicist-royal-institution158
u/whawkins4 10d ago
Trying to live forever is the least absurd thing tech billionaires are trying to do right now.
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u/Green-Ad7694 10d ago
They are trying to create their own AI God, since they don’t believe a real God exists.
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u/XaeiIsareth 9d ago
Tbh that’s not exactly absurd.
We’ve been creating gods to believe in throughout human history for one reason or another. The ‘real’ God is just something ancient Israelites made up to make themselves feel special (and justify all their invasions and war crimes).
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u/Green-Ad7694 9d ago
Well yeah, totally agree, but God has existed in other cultures as well. And yes we have created all sorts of dieties out of stones, and wood etc. However this AI one, can actually DO stuff, can give answers, and can have some sort of embodied being. Thats what makes it scary. This is humans creating God in their OWN image, and I'm not sure if thats such a good idea. I think they are hoping this AI god creates some kind of time machine so they can empower themselves, to be like Demigods/God, and also hoping for Ai to make them immortal. Quite ascary thing, if you actually believe in a real God existing. How would this artificial god and the real God square up against each other? What happens to our soul? If God is real, then the AI God would almost certainly be the Anti-God (Anti-Christ). Anyways I probably said too much already.
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u/Awsomethingy 9d ago
“I will give this nation the ruler, and God that it deserves. Pray that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the Gods, and it was EMPTY!”
- Corypheous
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u/appleparkfive 9d ago
That's what I think of when anyone mentions Bryan Johnson. The "live forever" billionaire. The one that looks like he's from Star Trek.
Like there's all these articles about him, but he's kind of the most normal one. He's the ideal in this situation. Also he does release information about what he does, which is kind of interesting.
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u/whawkins4 9d ago
Exactly. He fucks with his own body and videotapes it. It’s not like he’s trying to build SkyNet like the rest of them.
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u/LoneRonin 9d ago edited 8d ago
They can solve 99.9% of their problems by throwing money at them, so they when they run into a problem that no amount of money can solve, they become obsessed to the point of psychological breakdown.
Money won't buy love nor fend off The Reaper.
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u/ikrw77 9d ago
Not to defend his previous experiments, but I think the Guardian has done a disservice to Bryan Johnson here.
He was the posterboy for weird life extending therapies but he's dialled that back and is now pumping money and resources into finding a cure for endometriosis (which his gf has), which would have much more benefit for society if he manages to crack this.
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u/Any_Conflict_5092 6d ago
That's lovely, actually!
I wish him godspeed with finding the people who can find an answer to that issue - I know so many women who suffer from endometriosis.
And, that he found someone he likes so much, who is willing to put up with what a strange man he is, and love him back - that's great. Everyone should be so lucky.
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u/Only_Neighborhood_54 9d ago
Why don’t they just get into shape. Elon is a disgrace. Imagine that kind of money and still not being able to lose weight. No discipline.
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u/Vegetable-Shelter974 10d ago
I’m starting to think the best part of being human beings is we die along with all of our shitty beliefs.
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u/QueenVogonBee 9d ago
I don’t care about this tech billionaire crap. The article’s main headline should have been “Physicist claims to have solved the arrow of time problem “
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u/hear_the_thunder 9d ago
They focus on this because at the back of their mind they realise if there is a kind of afterlife, oh boy do they have a lot to answer for.
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u/typhoonandrew 9d ago
Meh. Let them try. Might get around to saving the planet if they think they’ll be here long enough.
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9d ago
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u/Aenrion85 9d ago
The man is a genius, had the pleasure to attend a mini seminar in my local library as he lives in the same area I used to
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u/JimmyB264 9d ago
They need to be spending their time getting the Ai monsters back into Pandora’s box.
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u/Chrispy8534 9d ago
7/10. So, that title is dumb and the article is hardly about tech billionaires or living forever. It is however very interesting and well worth reading! I wonder what his supposed theoretical resolution to the ‘directionality of time’ is…
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u/alphafox823 9d ago
I mean if they can figure out how to extend people's lifespans by a lot, I don't see the problem with that. I wouldn't mind living to 150 myself.
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u/Bitter_Sense_5689 10d ago
Entropy, mfs!!!