Category Archives: Immortality

Alchemical potion that grants immunity, eternal youth and immortality to its drinker

The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the name philosopher's stone, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. The modern concept probably originated in ancient India (in the region known as Pakistan since 1947) or China and, independently, in Mesopotamia and Japan the origination of the concept in Asia and the Near East preceding that in Europe by millennia.[citation needed]

The first known instance in literature is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu.[citation needed] He seeks out Utnapishtim, a Noah-like figure in Mesopotamian mythology in which he was a servant of the great Alchemist of the rain who later became immortal, to seek out the advice of the King of Herod of the Land of Fire. Gilgamesh is directed by him to find a plant at the bottom of the sea which he does but seeks first to test it on an old man before trying it himself. Unfortunately, it is eaten by a serpent before he can do so.

Many rulers of ancient China sought the fabled elixir to achieve eternal life. During the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu to the eastern seas with 500 young men and 500 young women to find the elixir in the legendary Penglai Mountain, but returned without finding it. He embarked on a second voyage with 3000 young girls and boys, but none of them ever returned (legend has it that he found Japan instead).[1]

The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting precious substances such as jade, cinnabar or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal; the idea of potable or drinkable gold is found in China by the end of the third century BC. The most famous Chinese alchemical book, the Danjing yaojue (Essential Formulas of Alchemical Classics) attributed to Sun Simiao (c. 581 c. 682 CE),[2][3] a famous medical specialist respectfully called "King of Medicine" by later generations, discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality (mercury, sulphur, and the salts of mercury and arsenic are prominent, and most are poisonous) as well as those for curing certain diseases and the fabrication of precious stones.

Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic and resulted in Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. The Jiajing Emperor in the Ming Dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists.[citation needed]

Amrita, the elixir of life has been described in the Hindu scriptures (not to be confused with Amrit related to Sikh religion (see Amrit Sanskar)). Anybody who consumes even a tiniest portion of Amrita has been described to gain immortality. Legend has it that at early times when the inception of the world had just taken place, evil demons (Asura) had gained strength. This was seen as a threat to the gods (Devas) who feared them. So these gods (including Indra, the god of sky, Vayu, the god of wind, and Agni, the god of fire) went to seek advice and help from the three primary gods according to the Hindus: Vishnu (the preserver), Brahma (the creator), and Shiva (the destroyer). They suggested that Amrit could only be gained from the samudra manthan (or churning of the ocean) for the ocean in its depths hid mysterious and secret objects. Vishnu agreed to take the form of a turtle (Kurma) on whose shell a huge mountain was placed. This mountain was used as a churning pole.

With the help of a Vasuki (mighty and long serpent, king of Nagloka) the churning process began at the surface. From one side the gods pulled the serpent, which had coiled itself around the mountain, and the demons pulled it from the other side. As the churning process required immense strength, hence the demons were persuaded to do the jobthey agreed in return for a portion of Amrit. Finally with their combined efforts (of the gods and demons), Amrit emerged from the ocean depths. All the gods were offered the drink but the gods managed to trick the demons who did not get the holy drink.

Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th to 3rd century BC Arthashastra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West. Evidence of the idea of transmuting base metals to gold appears in 2nd to 5th century AD Buddhist texts, about the same time as in the West.

It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality). The Indian elixirs were mineral remedies for specific diseases or, at the most, to promote long life.

In European alchemical tradition, the Elixir of Life is closely related to the creation of the philosopher's stone. According to legend, certain alchemists have gained a reputation as creators of the elixir. These include Nicolas Flamel and St. Germain.

In the 8th century CE Man'ysh, 'waters of rejuvenation' (, ochimizu) are said to be in the possession of the moon god Tsukuyomi. Similarities have been noted with a folktale from the Ryukyu Islands, in which the moon god decides to give man the water of life (Miyako: slimiz), and serpents the water of death (snimiz). However, the person entrusted with carrying the pails down to Earth gets tired and takes a break, and a serpent bathes in the water of life, rendering it unusable. This is said to be why serpents can rejuvenate themselves each year by shedding their skin while men are doomed to die.[4][5]

The Elixir has had hundreds of names (one scholar of Chinese history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it), among them Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, Chasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. The word elixir was not used until the 7th century A.D. and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir". Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (e.g., Jesus's reference to "the Water of Life" or "the Fountain of Life"). "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14) The Scots and the Irish adopted the name for their "liquid gold": the Gaelic name for whiskey is uisce beatha, or water of life.

Aab-i-Hayat is Persian and means "water of life".[6] "Chashma-i-Kausar" (not "hasma") is the "Fountain of Bounty", which Muslims believe to be located in Paradise. As for the Indian names, "Amrit Ras" means "immortality juice", "Maha Ras" means "great juice", and "Soma Ras" means "juice of Soma". Later, Soma came to mean the Moon. "Ras" later came to mean "sacred mood experienced listening to poetry or music"; there are altogether nine of them. Mansarovar, the "mind lake" is the holy lake at the foot of Mount Kailash in Tibet, close to the source of the Ganges.

The elixir of life has been an inspiration, plot feature, or subject of artistic works including animation, comics, films, musical compositions, novels, and video games. Examples include L. Frank Baum's fantasy novel John Dough and the Cherub, the science fiction series Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, House of Anubis, the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the light novel Baccano!, the movie Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva of the Professor Layton franchise and the horror film As Above, So Below.

See the article here:

Elixir of life - Wikipedia

The topic of "life after death" raises disreputable connotations of past-life regression and haunted houses, but there are a large number of people in the world who believe in some form of persistence of the individual soul after life ends. Clearly this is an important question, one of the most important ones we can possibly think of in terms of relevance to human life. If science has something to say about, we should all be interested in hearing.

Adam Frank thinks that science has nothing to say about it. He advocates being "firmly agnostic" on the question. (His coblogger Alva No resolutely disagrees.) I have an enormous respect for Adam; he's a smart guy and a careful thinker. When we disagree it's with the kind of respectful dialogue that should be a model for disagreeing with non-crazy people. But here he couldn't be more wrong.

Adam claims that there "simply is no controlled, experimental[ly] verifiable information" regarding life after death. By these standards, there is no controlled, experimentally verifiable information regarding whether the Moon is made of green cheese. Sure, we can take spectra of light reflecting from the Moon, and even send astronauts up there and bring samples back for analysis. But that's only scratching the surface, as it were. What if the Moon is almost all green cheese, but is covered with a layer of dust a few meters thick? Can you really say that you know this isn't true? Until you have actually examined every single cubic centimeter of the Moon's interior, you don't really have experimentally verifiable information, do you? So maybe agnosticism on the green-cheese issue is warranted. (Come up with all the information we actually do have about the Moon; I promise you I can fit it into the green-cheese hypothesis.)

Obviously this is completely crazy. Our conviction that green cheese makes up a negligible fraction of the Moon's interior comes not from direct observation, but from the gross incompatibility of that idea with other things we think we know. Given what we do understand about rocks and planets and dairy products and the Solar System, it's absurd to imagine that the Moon is made of green cheese. We know better.

We also know better for life after death, although people are much more reluctant to admit it. Admittedly, "direct" evidence one way or the other is hard to come by -- all we have are a few legends and sketchy claims from unreliable witnesses with near-death experiences, plus a bucketload of wishful thinking. But surely it's okay to take account of indirect evidence -- namely, compatibility of the idea that some form of our individual soul survives death with other things we know about how the world works.

Claims that some form of consciousness persists after our bodies die and decay into their constituent atoms face one huge, insuperable obstacle: the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood, and there's no way within those laws to allow for the information stored in our brains to persist after we die. If you claim that some form of soul persists beyond death, what particles is that soul made of? What forces are holding it together? How does it interact with ordinary matter?

Everything we know about quantum field theory (QFT) says that there aren't any sensible answers to these questions. Of course, everything we know about quantum field theory could be wrong. Also, the Moon could be made of green cheese.

Among advocates for life after death, nobody even tries to sit down and do the hard work of explaining how the basic physics of atoms and electrons would have to be altered in order for this to be true. If we tried, the fundamental absurdity of the task would quickly become evident.

Even if you don't believe that human beings are "simply" collections of atoms evolving and interacting according to rules laid down in the Standard Model of particle physics, most people would grudgingly admit that atoms are part of who we are. If it's really nothing but atoms and the known forces, there is clearly no way for the soul to survive death. Believing in life after death, to put it mildly, requires physics beyond the Standard Model. Most importantly, we need some way for that "new physics" to interact with the atoms that we do have.

Very roughly speaking, when most people think about an immaterial soul that persists after death, they have in mind some sort of blob of spirit energy that takes up residence near our brain, and drives around our body like a soccer mom driving an SUV. The questions are these: what form does that spirit energy take, and how does it interact with our ordinary atoms? Not only is new physics required, but dramatically new physics. Within QFT, there can't be a new collection of "spirit particles" and "spirit forces" that interact with our regular atoms, because we would have detected them in existing experiments. Ockham's razor is not on your side here, since you have to posit a completely new realm of reality obeying very different rules than the ones we know.

But let's say you do that. How is the spirit energy supposed to interact with us? Here is the equation that tells us how electrons behave in the everyday world:

Don't worry about the details; it's the fact that the equation exists that matters, not its particular form. It's the Dirac equation -- the two terms on the left are roughly the velocity of the electron and its inertia -- coupled to electromagnetism and gravity, the two terms on the right.

As far as every experiment ever done is concerned, this equation is the correct description of how electrons behave at everyday energies. It's not a complete description; we haven't included the weak nuclear force, or couplings to hypothetical particles like the Higgs boson. But that's okay, since those are only important at high energies and/or short distances, very far from the regime of relevance to the human brain.

If you believe in an immaterial soul that interacts with our bodies, you need to believe that this equation is not right, even at everyday energies. There needs to be a new term (at minimum) on the right, representing how the soul interacts with electrons. (If that term doesn't exist, electrons will just go on their way as if there weren't any soul at all, and then what's the point?) So any respectable scientist who took this idea seriously would be asking -- what form does that interaction take? Is it local in spacetime? Does the soul respect gauge invariance and Lorentz invariance? Does the soul have a Hamiltonian? Do the interactions preserve unitarity and conservation of information?

Nobody ever asks these questions out loud, possibly because of how silly they sound. Once you start asking them, the choice you are faced with becomes clear: either overthrow everything we think we have learned about modern physics, or distrust the stew of religious accounts/unreliable testimony/wishful thinking that makes people believe in the possibility of life after death. It's not a difficult decision, as scientific theory-choice goes.

We don't choose theories in a vacuum. We are allowed -- indeed, required -- to ask how claims about how the world works fit in with other things we know about how the world works. I've been talking here like a particle physicist, but there's an analogous line of reasoning that would come from evolutionary biology. Presumably amino acids and proteins don't have souls that persist after death. What about viruses or bacteria? Where upon the chain of evolution from our monocellular ancestors to today did organisms stop being described purely as atoms interacting through gravity and electromagnetism, and develop an immaterial immortal soul?

There's no reason to be agnostic about ideas that are dramatically incompatible with everything we know about modern science. Once we get over any reluctance to face reality on this issue, we can get down to the much more interesting questions of how human beings and consciousness really work.

Sean Carroll is a physicist and author. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1993, and is now on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology, where his research focuses on fundamental physics and cosmology. Carroll is the author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, and Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity. He has written for Discover, Scientific American, New Scientist, and other publications. His blog Cosmic Variance is hosted by Discover magazine, and he has been featured on television shows such as The Colbert Report, National Geographic's Known Universe, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. His Twitter handle is @seanmcarroll

Cross-posted on Cosmic Variance.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Physics and the Immortality of the Soul - Scientific ...

Immortality is impossible unless youre living in a vampire movie or happen to be a Lord of the Rings elf, right? It is, at least for humans.

Hydras manage to escape the biological inevitability of death. These creatures are like tiny versions of the mythological Hydra that had multiple heads, and for every one that was sliced off by the sword of a trembling hero, two would regenerate. They actually beat out the beast that even Hercules had trouble with because they can keep renewing their cells indefinitely. Meaning, it isnt just a hydras head that will reappear if an encounter with a predator goes wrong. These things can grow everything back.

How do they do it? The secret to this eternal life was what a team of researchers from UC Irvine were dying to know. Hydras, which are cnidarians related to jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones, can even spawn an entirely new animal from a severed body part. Unlike the Hydra of ancient lore, they only have one head though it is surrounded by writhing tentacles. What genetic analysis has never before revealed until now is that they express different genes during regeneration than they do when they grow their first tentacled head.

Hydra displays complex gene regulatory structures of developmentally dynamic enhancers, which suggests that the evolution of complex developmental enhancers predates the split of cnidarians and bilaterians, the researchers said in a study recently published in Genome Biology and Evolution.

The exact mechanism behind head regeneration remains a mystery, but WNT is one pathway of head organizer genes involved. These lurk near the mouth and are also expressed there. If a hydra is decapitated, these genes zap signals to the head stump for certain tissues to form, so a new head can appear to come out of nowhere (at least in 48 hours). Head regeneration is not the result of magic, but of 27,000 genetic factors that showed 298 differences in how genes were expressed. Some have on and off switches that activate when a replacement head is needed.

As if creating maps of these genes and figuring out which subgroups they belonged to wasnt enough, the research team realized that new heads form faster than the initial one. Hydras undergo budding to reproduce asexually. The difference between 72 hours for a first head to bud and only 48 to replace one made them suspect that something about the way the replacements were formed was different. They also found that there is an additional WNT gene involved when a hydra gets its first head. Hydra heads can be made three different ways.

For such a small organism, regeneration requires a monstrous amount of chromatin, or the material that makes up chromosomes, to be remade. Gene expression in head generation and regeneration was first compared to how genes were expressed in other parts of its body. The researchers then had to separate which genes were involved in initial head formation, which were only brought in for regeneration, and which had a function in both. The expression of some WNT genes was found to get a boost when the head of a hydra was regenerating.

Demystifying hydra genes could eventually mean breakthroughs for humans that may not mean immortality (yet) but at least regeneration of lost tissues or entire body parts. Previous studies of regenerative genes and methods have involved animals as diverse as starfish, sea urchins, lungfish, salamanders, and lizards. Just imagine a world in which procedures such as skin grafts or organ transplants are obsolete, all because some genetic mechanism in a human can be engineered to regrow what was lost. There could be a way to regenerate entire limbs someday.

Creatures like the hydra could revolutionize the future of medicine, and that is no myth.

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Hydras are the micro-monsters that wont die because they regrow their heads - SYFY WIRE

Cheryl Colleen McMurphy Joseph

Richford - October 1, 1950 November 16, 2021

Cheryl passed away in Carmel, California where she lived and taught. However, she had an enduring connection to the mountains, lakes, rivers, autumn beauty, winter snow, and spring maple syrup of Vermont. Growing up in Richford, with deep-rooted values imbued by loving parents, had a strong impact on the way she lived her life. Her greatest ambition in life, as she expressed in her high school yearbook, was doing what others said couldn't be done. This she did. Her goal was to be an English teacher. This she accomplished while teaching in Vermont and California in middle and high schools. Upon receiving an award from the California Association of Teachers of English she explained why she taught:

"I teach because I have an innate need to teach; I can't do normal work as other people do; I love being in a room all day teaching; I can partake of real life only by changing it; I love the smell of paper, pen, and ink; I believe in literature, in the art of the novel, more than I believe in anything else. It is a habit, a passion. I have a childish belief in the immortality of libraries, and I hope, as Borges did, that heaven is a kind of library. I teach to be happy."

Cheryl was also happiest in Nature where she thrived, most especially under a sunset and full moonrise by the ocean. The natural world brought out her sense of wonder and inner beauty. Her light shone at the ocean, on a mountaintop, and in every forest where she set foot. Her motto, which she learned in the 1970s at the National Outdoor Leadership School, was to "leave no trace"; however, she left a brushstroke of light, a pathway leading to a good life for all of us to follow.

Not only in nature, but in life, Cheryl's humility, grace, quiet strength and determination guided her in leading those who knew and loved her on how to live well. Whether or not you were a student of Cheryl's, you learned from her because that is who she was, and with her love we learned we were far more capable than we ever knew. She offered us - her students, friends, and family - the tools, impetus, confidence and belief needed for a fulfilling life.

The bell has rung now; class is over. The best classes are the hardest to leave, and hers was the best, most wonderful class. The world is a better place because she lived and taught in it.

Cheryl's first priority and love was for her family. She is survived by her husband Buzz, her daughter Heather Kramer, her son Zachary Joseph (Ayala), her beloved grandchildren Zaia Kramer, Sami and Nora Joseph, her brothers Michael (Maureen) and Barry (Christy) McMurphy, her sister Kerri Plante, her loving nieces and nephews, as well as her extended family, and a legion of wonderful friends who will hold her closely in their hearts.

If you wish to give a donation you might think about making one to an organization that is consistent with Cheryl's legacy.

Posted online on December 16, 2021

Published in Burlington Free Press

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Cheryl Colleen McMurphy Joseph Obituary - The Burlington Free Press - BurlingtonFreePress.com

Gentlemenstart your engines. Is that the phrase Thoroughbred trainer Doug O'Neill has beckoned to the last couple of years? Perhaps not, but he is tuning up a Hot Rod for what he hopes will be another big season of running.

Hot Rod Charlie has been a real bright spot in the talented trainers barn the past two years. The win total has not been exactly eye-popping, but the courage and determination have been off the charts. Three wins, two second place finishes, and three thirds in twelve lifetime starts speaks to his consistent will to win. His $2.4 million in earnings tells us the top company he runs in.

This year was the real unveiling of the Hot Rod and his horsepower. Five of his seven starts as a three-year-old came in grade 1 races. After an impressive gate-to-wire win in the Louisiana Derby this son of Oxbow finished just a little over a length away from Kentucky Derby immortality. One of the most courageous runs ever in the Belmont Stakes saw him run out of gas in deep stretch and finish a game second. The grade 1 Haskell saw him cross the finish line first but was disqualified for drifting out in the stretch. The grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby was all Charlie as he assumed command early in the race and never look back as he cruised to victory. The Breeders Cup Classic was another determined effort but he just couldnt hang with the talented and older Knicks Go in the stretch and faded to fourth.

In a game where the breeding shed can offer huge money, these talented runners can often times have shorter careers. Right now, the Hot Rod Charlie ownership group has plans to race through 2022. That campaign is set to begin on opening day at Santa Anita. The mile and a sixteenth San Antonio Stakes on December 26 will serve as the springboard to his four-year-old roll.

Hes a horse that just amazes us on a daily basis, says O'Neill, who has won two Kentucky Derbies (2012,2016). The physical maturity has really been present lately and he is a bigger, better version of a super talented colt.

Likely to face some of the veteran older West Coast runners, Charlie will be challenged in this one for sure. Recent works have indicated this Hot Rod may have even more horsepower. Having leading rider Flavien Prat behind the steering wheel is also a positive.

He had a really nice 7-furlong breeze last week, says the conditioner who has registered over 2,000 wins. His energy level has been extremely good and he looks ready for another challenge. Of course, having Flavien Prat aboard is always another major plus.

The San Antonio is the starting line for what the Hot Rod team hopes will be a worldly campaign. The Dubai World Cup in March is the short-term goal with a likely prep race in Dubai before.

We are super excited and ready to rock and roll, says O'Neill. We truly are living a dream with this horse.

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Hot Rod Charlie ready for another run - Wgnsradio

HereAfter AI

James Vlahos lost his father to cancer in 2017, but still chats with him all the time. John tells his son stories about his childhood crush on the girl across the street and about Papa Demoskopoulos, the pet rabbit he had as a kid. He tells him about singing in Gilbert and Sullivan operas and becoming a lawyer. Sometimes he'll drop one of his signature insults: "Well, hot dribbling spit."

The elder Vlahos talks with his child via a conversational chatbot called Dadbothis son created after his father was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. For months, Vlahos recorded his dying dad's life stories, then turned them into an interactive AI that speaks in his father's voice.

James Vlahos, founder of HereAfter AI

Dadbot "was a transformational experience for me because it gave me great solace. It gave my family great solace," says Vlahos, a former tech journalist and author of Talk To Me, a book on conversational AI. "It didn't replace my dad, but it gave us this really rich way to remember him."

Now Vlahos is bringing his Dadbot technology to HereAfter AI. The platform lets the dead live on as what Vlahos calls a "Life Story Avatar" that chats on demand, in the recorded voice of the deceased. Surviving loved ones interact with the customized voice avatar via smart speaker, mobile or desktop app, and it responds, through Alexa-like voice recognition technology, with prerecorded stories, memories, jokes, songs and even advice. HereAfter AI is one of a number of startups promising digital immortality through chatbots, AI and even holograms likethese out of USC that let Holocaust survivors' stories live on. A project out of Japan envisions robots that look and act like the dead.

If your mind just jumped straight to the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back, I'm there with you -- it's the first thing I thought of when I heard of HereAfter AI. In that episode of the British dystopian anthology series, a grieving young woman signs up for a service that creates an AI version of her dead boyfriend by aggregating his social media posts and other online communication. She interacts with the digital doppelganger over instant messages and the phone before upgrading her subscription to a physical android lookalike of her guy. That's when things get complex. And arguably creepy.

Some people will no doubt be uneasy with the prospect of communicating with virtual versions of their dead family and friends. I expected to be at least a little weirded out watching a demo of HereAfter AI, but it felt heartwarming rather than chilling, kind of like chatting with Siri, if Siri were a medium communicating with the other side.

Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.

For one thing, you have to sign up to become a Life Story Avatar, and actively participate. You fire up the app, and an automated chatbot interviewer asks you questions about your life, then records the spoken replies to capture your voice and memories and relay a sense of your personality. You can also upload photos to illustrate your words.

Later, users who pay for access to your avatar can ask it questions that get answered in the recorded voice: What's your earliest memory? How did you meet mom? What's a time when you felt really proud? Recording your stories is free, but plans for sharing the avatars with family members and friends start at $49 a year (about 37, AU$68). Users also have the option to download their full audio recordings for $95, or roughly 72/$AU134.

"While HereAfter AI does store the recordings that have been made, we do not distribute or monetize them in any alternate way, such as data mining for advertising," Vlahos says.

Think of it like a life story recording app with conversation folded in, though Vlahos acknowledges that "conversation" may be stretching it.

"Conversational AI tech is in its infancy," Vlahos says, adding that he wants future versions of the automated interviewer to be better at understanding the nuances of conversation. "But it has the basic bare bones of a give and take rather than only one way."

Interacting with the dead aside, the service also offers a way to organize memories.

Watching the demo, I thought of a cassette tape my dad recorded decades ago of his mom, my grandma, talking about her childhood in Minsk, Russia. Had Grandma been around when HereAfter AI was created, the stories recorded on that battered old tape could have been neatly cataloged and easily accessed by subject matter.

I could also have easy access to recordings of my late dad's voice beyond the two birthday voicemails I've saved on my phone but haven't yet had the strength of heart to listen to more than three years after his death. I suspect there will come a time when hearing Dad's warm throaty laugh again will feel more soothing than sad.

"To be able to hear my dad's voice when I want to... that is comforting to me," Vlahos says. "It makes him more present to me than he otherwise would be."

James Vlahos and his dad, John, who died of cancer in 2017 but still shares his life stories via a conversational chatbot.

Amanda Lambros, a grief recovery specialist in Australia who's not affiliated with HereAfter AI, calls the service a "great initiative, something that people can reach out to while grieving and beyond."

One drawback, Ambros adds, might be discovering information that wasn't communicated while the person was alive, which could lead to confusion and resentment.

At the time of this writing, HereAfter AI has several hundred users, according to Vlahos. One of them, Smita Shah, signed up for the service to preserve the many colorful stories she's heard from her dad, 92, and her mom, 86. Shah is already tapping HereAfter AI to "chat" with her parents when they're not available to talk in real time.

"They live in India and I am in Canada, so with the time difference I can still talk to them anytime and hope the next generation will remember their humble roots," Shah said.

HereAfter AI doesn't promise to mitigate grief or replace loved ones who are gone. But it can, Vlaho says, connect the dead both to those who miss them, and to those who've never met them.

"One of the fears of death is that the person slips away, that the memories slip away, that it all becomes faded and sepia-toned and vague," Vlahis says. "This type of legacy AI technology doesn't ease the sting of death, but what it does do is provide this much more rich, vivid and interactive way to remember."

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Talk with your dead loved ones -- through a chatbot - CNET

OPINION: I will not live forever. I feel both disappointed and liberated by this. Immortality sounds great, but a life with infinite duration would lack the urgency that death provides.

Some of us will live longer than others. Our gender, race, height and amount of processed cheese we consume are all factors that, statistically, contribute to the duration of our allotted years.

And I do love processed cheese. It is a key ingredient of many of my favourite foods, as well as an excellent source of coronary heart disease. It is also, wait for it, addictive.

Cheese contains a protein called casein, released by lactating mammals to reward infants for suckling. It sails past the blood-brain barrier and gives us a lovely little hit.

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Cheese is a comfort food, and now you know why. Which is probably not information you desired but does explain why cheddar disappears from a platter faster than the celery sticks.

This also helps explain why a third of all deaths in this country are caused by cardiovascular disease.

By comparison, smoking is benign, carting off a mere 5000 of us each year, directly or indirectly.

I dont mean to lay the blame entirely at the mouldy feet of cheese. We are surrounded by a surfeit of dietary fats. Temptation is everywhere, from the golden arches to overcooked petrol station sausage rolls.

Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash

It's not just cheese we are surrounded by a surfeit of dietary fats. Temptation is everywhere.

We understand that the cost of every hamburger is more than the few dollars we surrender to acquire one.

And as adults, we expect to be able to decide for ourselves what level of risks we are willing to assume for the reward indulgence brings. This applies to almost all human endeavour, from a casual hookup to riding a motorcycle.

However, we live in an increasing infantile age. The assumption that we possess the competence to decide for ourselves what level of risk is appropriate has long been abandoned, not just by those who govern us, but by many subjects.

Restrictions on our ability to enjoy cigarettes are an excellent example.

Robert Charles/Stuff

From 2022 it will be illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born after a certain date.

Dr Ayesha Verrall, the associate minister of health, outlined last week the states new sledgehammer against smokers.

If this plan proceeds, from 2022 it will be illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born after a certain date, assumed to be 2008. Forever.

So, if you were born in 2010, you will be denied the illicit rite of passage involved in coughing your way through that first packet of Benson & Hedges.

Curiously, the minister attempts to justify this draconian strategy by reference to the Treaty. According to the ministry, the right to be smokefree is entrenched in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

To bolster this assertion, the ministry points to the protection of taonga in the second article and makes the claim that wellbeing is a treasure as envisioned by those who signed the 1840 document.

Maybe. Seems we are asking the word taonga to cover a lot of ground here. An alternative interpretation could be that the guarantee of self-determination, tino rangatiratanga, applies to individuals as much as the collective.

Article 2 makes specific reference to the right of individuals to their exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties. If we define properties as liberally as the state does taonga, you can reverse the analysis.

This administration is trivialising the significance of the Treaty in our constitutional arrangements by invoking it to secure legitimacy for a contentious objective.

123rf

Smoking, like cheese consumption, is a personal choice. It comes with costs but also rewards.

At the centre of the policy document, however, is ideology: This action plan acknowledges that smoking is not an individual issue. Smoking is a community issue and a social issue.

Respectfully, I disagree. Smoking, like cheese consumption, is a personal choice. It comes with costs, but it also comes with rewards. The mistake the puritans driving this agenda make is their failure to comprehend that inhaling nicotine provides pleasure.

Yes, it is risky, but the existence of risk isnt a justification in itself to exercise the states power of coercion.

Smoking is prevalent amongst those who face the greatest challenges. For some, the solace that tobacco delivers may be a source of comfort in their lives. For myself, during periods of exceptional stress, smoking has been a means of self-medication.

The state has not undertaken the benefit side of the cost-benefit equation. There has also been no work done on the costs of forcing a popular and widely consumed drug underground.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

For many, the solace that tobacco delivers may be one of the few sources of comfort in their lives.

Making cigarettes illegal will not stop their distribution nor their accessibility, only the means by which they are distributed and who will profit from this activity. The new laws will need to be enforced with fines, sanctions and, for the unrepentant, prison.

You dont need a working group to comprehend that those who will be induced to respond to this market opportunity will be those already on the margins of society and, inevitably, some of them will find themselves locked inside a cage. Prohibition always harms the poor.

After the narrow defeat of the cannabis referendum, the prime minister said: I share the view of many that the idea of individuals being criminalised for possession is not something I think most New Zealanders support.

Incredibly, this administration is aware that laws banning cannabis are harmful whilst moving to institute similar laws against tobacco.

We now have a messianic regime that appears to believe they have been anointed by destiny to save Aotearoa from Covid, guns and hate speech. Why should they not also save the unfortunate, ill-informed and ignorant from the perils of tobacco?

The right of agency, to choose, the taonga of self-determination, meanwhile, is to be restricted to those best able to exercise it: the joint smokers and gouda connoisseurs of Thorndon and Herne Bay.

Damien Grant is a business owner based in Auckland. He writes from a libertarian perspective and is a member of the Taxpayers Union but not of any political party.

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No smoking, but the Government trusts us with cheese? - Stuff.co.nz

To really get a good look at the stars, many of us have to get out of the city or the suburbs and head for darker landscapes: farmland, desert, mountaintop, national park. NASA goes that one better -- it sends telescopes out beyond the atmosphere. In space, no one's going to flip on the halogen high beams.

For years, the premier space telescope has been the Hubble. It's aging out, though, and NASA now has a newer and better alternative: the James Webb Space Telescope. If all goes well, a rocket carrying the Webb will lift off later this month, the intricately built spacecraft will open for business and soon enough we'll be treated to images and insights from the farthest reaches of the universe. Prepare for your mind to be blown.

Monisha Ravisetti's explainer on the James Webb Space Telescope is among the many in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don't want to miss.

Everything you need to know about Hubble's super-powered successor: the James Webb Space Telescope.

Part game system and part video chat, the Glow is a charming way for kids and grandparents to connect across long distances.

Commentary: Here are a few ways Apple could make a notchless iPhone.

HereAfter AI promises digital immortality through a chatbot, and it's not that weird.

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Mining-focused games are being integrated into 57 schools in Australia.

"People are scared," says the science guy, who's teaching a new MasterClass. "And that's where knowledge is of great value -- that's how you can overcome fear."

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Destin Daniel Cretton hopes the movie can build bridges amid a rise in anti-AAPI hate.

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9 great reads from CNET this week: James Webb telescope, Amazon Glow, iPhone notch and more - CNET

The child is father of the man;And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. (Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up")

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

The Rainbow comes and goes,

And lovely is the Rose,

The Moon doth with delight

Look round her when the heavens are bare,

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth;

But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath past away a glory from the earth.

Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,

And while the young lambs bound

As to the tabor's sound,

To me alone there came a thought of grief:

A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I again am strong:

The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;

No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;

I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,

The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,

And all the earth is gay;

Land and sea

Give themselves up to jollity,

And with the heart of May

Doth every Beast keep holiday;

Thou Child of Joy,

Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy.

Ye blessd creatures, I have heard the call

Ye to each other make; I see

The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee;

My heart is at your festival,

My head hath its coronal,

The fulness of your bliss, I feelI feel it all.

Oh evil day! if I were sullen

While Earth herself is adorning,

This sweet May-morning,

And the Children are culling

On every side,

In a thousand valleys far and wide,

Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm,

And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm:

I hear, I hear, with joy I hear!

But there's a Tree, of many, one,

A single field which I have looked upon,

Both of them speak of something that is gone;

The Pansy at my feet

Doth the same tale repeat:

Whither is fled the visionary gleam?

Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

Shades of the prison-house begin to close

Upon the growing Boy,

But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,

He sees it in his joy;

The Youth, who daily farther from the east

Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,

And by the vision splendid

Is on his way attended;

At length the Man perceives it die away,

And fade into the light of common day.

Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;

Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,

And, even with something of a Mother's mind,

And no unworthy aim,

The homely Nurse doth all she can

To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man,

Forget the glories he hath known,

And that imperial palace whence he came.

Behold the Child among his new-born blisses,

A six years' Darling of a pigmy size!

See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies,

Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses,

With light upon him from his father's eyes!

See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,

Some fragment from his dream of human life,

Shaped by himself with newly-learn{e}d art

A wedding or a festival,

A mourning or a funeral;

And this hath now his heart,

And unto this he frames his song:

Then will he fit his tongue

To dialogues of business, love, or strife;

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Ode: Intimations of Immortality from | Poetry Foundation

Lewis Hamilton said he felt relaxed and ready on Friday night as he stood on the brink of sporting immortality. The seven-time world champion, who enters the final weekend of one of the most thrilling seasons in Formula 1 history level on points with Red Bulls Max Verstappen, topped the timesheets in practice at Abu Dhabis Yas Marina circuit as he closes in on what would be a record eighth world title.

Hamilton finished six-tenths clear of Verstappen in second practice, and afterwards said he was feeling "great" in body and mind. "I feel good. I feel good," he said. "I feel great in my body, and I think we made some positive steps set-up wise, so well try and perfect it tonight and come back hard tomorrow."

An eighth world title, 13 years after his first for McLaren as a 23-year-old back in 2008, would seal the 36-year-olds place as the most successful driver of all time, eclipsing Michael Schumacher who won seven world titles between 1994 and 2005.

It would also, surely, seal Hamiltons place in the hearts and minds of a British public which has been unfathomably slow to embrace him.

That reticence has partly been due to a lack of opposition, which has made some of Hamiltons titles feel processional. There has been nothing processional about this season.

A season which has fluctuated wildly, with both contenders leading at different points, has seen Mercedes and Red Bull clash repeatedly on and off the track.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, the respective team principals, put their differences momentarily aside in Friday's final press conference before this afternoons crucial qualifying session, shaking hands and wishing the other luck.

Even then, the simmering tensions were only just beneath the surface with Horner repeating his claim that Verstappen has been unfairly treated by stewards and by the media.

"I think that allegations about his driving, about his driving style, about his driving standards have been theres been a narrative thats been pushed to put pressure on him," Horner said. "I think that hes driven fantastically well all year. Max drives in a manner that ignites passion, it has brought fans into the sport, its brought new fans into the sport this year and we do not want him to change."

Race director Michael Masi has explicitly warned both Hamilton and Verstappen that they risk points deductions should they exceed the bounds of sportsmanship this weekend and cause a collision that wins them the title.

With Verstappen knowing he will be crowned champion should neither driver reach the finish on Sunday, and with the Dutch driver now seemingly occupying the slower car, there has been speculation that he might employ dirty tactics to prevail as Schumacher was accused of doing in 1994, when he took out British driver Damon Hill on the final day, and in 1997, when he failed with an attempted swipe on Jacques Villeneuve. Verstappen was last week handed 15 seconds of time penalties and twice ordered to give back positions.

Horner said the warning was unnecessary, and that all Red Bull wanted from the stewards was "consistency" in the application of the rules, adding that race-ending collisions happened at Silverstone and Hungary without seeing points penalties.

"We want to see these two titans of drivers, who have gone wheel-to-wheel so often this year go at it again this weekend, thats what, as a team we want, as a driver Max wants," Horner said.

"There needs to be consistency and so I can see why Toto and Lewis, with the disadvantage of race wins, would be pushing for that but nobodys going into this race to say its going to end in a crash. Theres been great speculation about it but our focus is on trying to win this on track and do it at the chequered flag."

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Lewis Hamilton on the verge of sporting immortality - and a place in the nation's hearts - Telegraph.co.uk