I don't want true immortality, but it would be momentous if we could significantly extend people's active lifespan. Imagine if 100 was the new 50, and 200 was the new 100.
I think this misses the point of the essay completely. Hoping for life extension like that is simply a form of procrastination. What is it you hope to do better if only you could have more time? The hourglass has already been turn over, what are you going to do before the sand runs out? Go!
In all your travels, have you ever seen a star go supernova? ...
I have. I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the Universe. Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova! Creation itself! I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the moment. And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? With these ridiculous gelatinous orbs in my skull! With eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum. With ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air. ...
I don't want to be human! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to - I want to smell dark matter! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have to - I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid limiting spoken language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws! And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me! I'm a machine! And I can know much more! I can experience so much more. But I'm trapped in this absurd body! And why? Because my five creators thought that God wanted it that way!”
There are many issues that can be solved with extra time. But should we all be living 200 or 300 years, society would probably be restructured in a way to squeeze that extra time out of you. Want financial stability and a good work/life balance? A house? Just grind for 200 years and you'll be set...
For every person who would benefit from that, there would be someone harmed by that. We should instead focus on ways to alter our very perception of time - paying attention to the actual passage of time will usually slow it down for you. Time is very fluid for us, most of us just don’t realize it.
Counterpoint: imagine if we got 50 extra years of extremely low quality life at great financial cost, and the courts decided that withholding the longevity treatment from anyone was a crime.
The result would be lots of misery and a wealth transfer from regular people to the medical and pharma industry.