All that was needed to reacquire physical immortality, or at least much longer lives, was to adopt SATP—which at the time was a lifestyle based on moderation and the ingestion of substances such as gold, pearl, and coral—all thought to replenish the innate moisture or vital substance alleged to be associated with aging and death.
Bacon died in 1292 in Oxford at the age of 78, which was a ripe old age for his time, but SATP apparently didn’t work well for him either.
Physical immortality is seductive. The ancient Hindus sought it, the Greek physician Galen from the 2nd Century AD and the Arabic philosopher/physician Avicenna from the 11th Century AD believed in it.
Alexander the Great roamed the world searching for it, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in his quest for the fountain of youth, and countless stories of immortality have permeated the literature, including the image of Shangri-La portrayed in James Hilton’s book Lost Horizon, or in the quest for the holy grail in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
What do the ancient purveyors of physical immortality all have in common? They are all dead.
The Alternative View
I think the first person to live to 1,000 might be 60 already.
—Aubrey de Grey
What do the ancient purveyors of physical immortality all have in common? They are all dead.
—S. Jay Olshansky
Prophets of Immortality
I was doing a BBC radio interview in 2001 following a scientific session I had organised on the question of how long humans can live, and sitting next to me was a young scientist, with obviously no sense of history, who was asked the question: “how long will it be before we find the cure for aging?”
Without hesitation he said that with enough effort and financial resources, the first major breakthrough will occur in the next 5–10 years.
My guess is that when all of the prophets of immortality have been asked this question throughout history, the answer is always the same.
The modern notion of physical immortality once again being dangled before us is based on a premise of “scientific” bridges to the future that I read in a recently published book entitled Fantastic Voyage by the techno-guru Ray Kurzweil and physician Terry Grossman.
They claim unabashedly that the science of radical life extension is already here, and that all we have to do is “live long enough to live forever.”
What Kurzweil and others are now doing is weaving once again the seductive web of immortality, tantalising us with the tale that we all so desperately want to hear, and have heard for thousands of years—live life without frailty and debility and dependence and be forever youthful, both physically and mentally.
The seduction will no doubt last longer than its proponents.
“False Promises”
To be fair, the science of aging has progressed by leaps and bounds in recent decades, and I have little doubt that gerontologists will eventually find a way to avoid, or more likely delay, the unpleasantries of extended life that some say are about to disappear, but which as anyone with their eyes open realises is occurring with increasing frequency.
There is no need to exaggerate or overstate the case by promising that we are all about to live hundreds or even thousands of years.
The fact is that nothing in gerontology even comes close to fulfilling the promise of dramatically extended lifespan, in spite of bold claims to the contrary that by now should sound familiar.
What is needed now is not exaggeration or false promises, but rather, a scientific pathway to improved physical health and mental functioning.
If we happen to live longer as a result, then we should consider that a bonus.
Source: “Don’t Fall for the Cult of Immortality” by Dr. S. Jay Olshansky is reprinted with permission from BBC News at http://www.bbcnews.co.uk.
Focus on the Future
“I Dated a Cyborg!”
Dateline: 2030. As Tony walked back to the college dormitory, his feelings were confused. He needed to talk to his roommate.
“You know, I really like her,” Tony began. “I mean, I really fell for her. And now … I just don’t know …” Tony’s voice trailed off.
“What’s the problem?” Tony’s roommate asked.
0dating—Cynthia? It turns out she’s a lot older than I thought she was.”
“So. How much older?” asked his roommate.
“Hey, she remembers the assassination of President Kennedy, which happened when she was 10. That makes Cynthia 77 years old. She’s 55 years older than I am! Can you believe that?”
Tony’s roommate was aghast. He’d seen Cynthia. He figured she was around 30, not much more. Tony was pleased about going out with an “older” woman. But neither Tony nor his roommate had guessed just how much older she really was.
“I don’t believe it! I mean, how could she be so old?” stammered Tony’s roommate.
“Well, I found out she’s had skin grafts and plastic surgery on her face; that’s why there are no wrinkles. And of course her hair is dyed, so there’s no gray at all. But it’s the rest of her that’s … I don’t know how to say it … that’s all been replaced. It’s weird. It’s like Cynthia’s body is artificial, the way it is with a cyborg.
“To begin with, she’s got silicone breast implants. OK, not so unusual. But inside she’s artificial, too: all plastic valves in her heart, a liver transplant, hip replacements, and a lot of artificial bones. She’s been on estrogen replacement for years and on other antiaging hormones, too. That’s why she looks so young.
“Cynthia never talked much about things that happened before the turn of the century, and now I see why. I never suspected that she was born in the early 1950s. She admitted it to me last night. I came home and suddenly realized I’ve been dating a cyborg!”
Science fiction stories have had titles such as “I Married a Martian,” and a Star Trek film, First Contact, featured a female “Borg” (for cyborg) as a leading character. Star Trek fans remember that the alien species known as the Borg are creatures that are part human and part machine. Like Tony, Captain Picard found himself in a relationship with a Borg and faced perplexing questions. Is the experience of Tony or Captain Picard a glimpse of things to come?
Cyborgs are not outside the realm of possibility (Clark, 2004). In fact, the era of modern bioethics may be said to have started in 1967, when Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant on Louis Washkansky. Tissue transplants have long since become a standard part of modern medicine. Some tissues, such as cartilage and the cornea of an eye, are transplanted easily. With proper safeguards, blood can be safely transfused. Modern medicine has also shown success in transplanting skin, bone, kidneys, and, more recently, lungs, livers, and hearts. The development of monoclonal antibodies, which help suppress rejection of transplanted tissues, has opened up a vast field of surgery to replace organs diseased or worn out with age.
At the same time, biomedical