Immortality

Live Science interviews Aubrey de Grey, a Cambridge University researcher who believes that within a quarter of a century, human life spans will be well into the low four digits.

Daunted at the prospect of living forever? Questioning the wisdom of such a course? Maybe you believe that, in the words of Ambassador Kosh, "You are not ready for immortality."

LS: Why do you personally want to live forever? AdG: It’s not really a matter of living forever, it’s just a matter of not wanting to die. One doesn’t live forever all in one go, one lives forever one year at a time. It’s just a case of "Well, life seems to be fun, and I don’t see any prospect of it ceasing to be fun unless I get frail and miserable and start declining." So if I can avoid declining, I’ll stay with it really.

I doubt any of my readers would have any qualms about people wanting to fix health problems. How about "reconditioning" the circulatory system, even though it winds up extending life and greatly reducing aging-related heart attacks and circulatory problems?

What if cancers were routinely cured or prevented? Cancer is largely a disease of the aged, and certainly shortens the lives of those who have it.

What if you could restore muscle tone so old people weren't feeble?

What if you could restore nerve function and cure blindness, deafness, and the loss of other senses? (Oh, yes. Cure Alzheimer's while you're at it.)

How many people, at any age, would take a pill or a shot that did away with the health problems they've accumulated over the last, say, ten years, despite having a "side effect" of extending their projected life span by that amount?

How many people who say they oppose immortality would vote against adding one healthy year to everyone's lifespan?

[Update: More here