Thomas Bartlett of The Chronicle of Higher Education on The Man Who Would Murder Death: A rogue researcher challenges scientists to reverse human aging:
Aubrey de Grey is indeed a prophet. The 42-year-old English biogerontologist has made his name by claiming that some people alive right now could live for 1,000 years or longer. Maybe much longer. Growing old is not, in his view, an inevitable consequence of the human condition; rather, it is the result of accumulated damage at the cellular and molecular levels that medical advances will soon be able to prevent — or even reverse — allowing people to go on living pretty much indefinitely. We’ll still have to worry about angry bears and falling pianos, but aging, the biggest killer of all, will cease to be a threat. Death, as we know it, will die.
Another 1,000 years sounds good as a starting point. I could definitely catch up on my reading. And then some. Seriously though, the concept of extending human lifespans by centuries is not new. The fact that it is now receiving some serious attention, however, is a welcome development. I wonder – where will I be living in 3005? Perhaps I’ll have me a little place just west of Alpha Centauri…
Link courtesy of L. Neil Smith.