The first blog was really just putting some ideas on paper regarding how our world will look in just a few short years. Again, not to be a Messianic freak or anything, but I think it's just so obvious how our world is advancing towards the living manifestation of Messianic prophesies and parables.
Just for example, it says in the bible (probably Isaiah, I don't know for sure - sorry) that in the times of Moshiach (the Messiah) G-d will bring the Jewish people to the Land of Israel on the "wings of eagles". Now, 2,500 years ago I bet this sounded pretty mystical and far out. Imagine how the Yemenite immigrants coming to Israel on El-Al airplanes 50 years ago felt! By the way, what happened to them once they got to the "Land of Israel" is a totally different and sad story, but you get my point.
The term "Messianic Times" or the "Days of Moshiach" is not clearly defined in Torah or biblical and Talmudic sources. However, the consensus agreed upon by the Rambam as well as the Kabbalists and leading sages of the generation, is that the Days of Moshiach are grouped into two different time periods.
The first time period is called the Days of Moshiach, which includes the world's coming of age and the revelation of the King Moshiach (King Messiah) and all the "stuff" that goes along with that (some people say it is going to be "bad", the Lubavitcher Rebbe is adamant that it will be very "good" and "natural). One thing is for sure, during this first period of the Days of Moshiach (Messianic Times), the world continues to "act" naturally, only with the difference in human perspective and understanding, and more open revelation of G-dliness, leading to the end of envy, hate, wars, and negative phenomenon.
The second time period is sometimes called the "Resurrection of the Dead" or "The World to Come", which basically is referring to a time where the very fabric of nature changes towards the fusion of physical and metaphysical phenomenon.
Even in the first period of the Days of Moshiach (Messiah) - which is actually right now, but certainly by the dates of 2012 or 2020, there is a strong suggestion (based on the Rebbe's talks for example) that we will reach eternal life. Now, the concept of eternal life scares many scientists who are scared of the world running out of natural resources (including room on the planet) to support this infinite growth of population. At the same time, eternal life sounds pretty impossible right now.
Well, if you read some of the points in Dr. Kaku's essays (as well as many other sources), it is apparent that advances in biotechnology and specific genetics will make it very possible to reverse the aging process, regrow ailing organs, and support very long if not eternal life. This is a good time to mention a very interesting point made in books of Kabbalah. The Kabbalists say that the human body is designed to exist for ever (I'm not sure but I think physicists basically agree with this statement). Kabbalah explains what is written in the bible that "sin is the source of death", and that Death was introduced through the original sin of the "Tree of Knowledge".
Basically, the Tree of knowledge kabbalistically represents ego consciousness or self awareness. Before the "partaking" of the Tree of knowledge, Man did not feel himself as a separate being from G-dliness. Through this "sin", or "deviation" Man became aware of himself as an independent existence which then led to "Knowing" meaning "self experience" of creation. Ultimately this is a good thing, as in the times of Moshiach (Messiah), this self experience will be rectified to bring about a higher experience of creation, thus elevating it. In the meantime, this led to "friction" of Man's ego or self consciousness with his environment leading to Death. Kabbalah explains that it is exactly this "friction" with reality that slowly kills us, literally "taking things to heart" is the root cause of aging and illness (by the way, nutrition plays a key role here too, but nutrition is actually included in the kabbalistic concept of awareness - look to see how the Rambam views nutrition and health as a part of divine service).
According to Kabbalah, every time our ego consciousness takes things to heart or is affected by external forces, it is a tiny amount of death. This could be good things or bad things. If you take a big complement to heart, it is death just like taking an insult to heart. According to the kabbalists, a person who takes literally nothing to heart, who is so so focused on the G-dly reality that he doesn't feel himself as a separate existence, is thus not affected by the friction with creation and can live forever. This is almost impossible though, as even the greatest kabbalists and sages, while not feeling themselves as a separate reality from G-d, took upon themselves the sorrow and friction created by their followers or the common people, thus elevating the rest, but introducing (artificial) "death" into their lives. I'm really not an expert on this, but it will seem to me that this could be a meaning of a riotous person "dying for our sins". Again, not my specialty here, just a thought.
Either way, as ego consciousness gets rectified (part of Messianic redemption), and advances in science and technology we will see (very soon) very long if not eternal lives. At the same time, with advances in technology and the human race's G-dly ability for invention (i.e. colonizing distant planets), there is no doubt that not only will we have enough resources to support this growing population, but this growing population (remember there is no war or envy at this point in the game) can finally begin to implement G-d's purpose for His creation (which is the whole reason G-d created man). More on this another time (maybe).
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