Today, I read on the CBC website that a geneticist thinks it's possible for humans to live up to 1,000 years -- with the help of biotechnology and various therapies.
Before anyone starts lining up for these treatments, they'll have to wait at least another 25 years before tests are done on humans. There's a catch ... it'll cost quite a bit of coin .. the geneticist's team is hoping to raise $100 million each year to fund its research.
But before you pull out your checkbook, consider some issues that are raised with such an extended life expentancy ...
* quality of life: living a longer life doesn't necessarily mean the quality of life increases. with the habitable space on earth shrinking, does that mean humankind will have to colonise a nearby planet, such as mars, or even the moon?
* redefining "retirement": if life expectancy shoots from about 85 years to 1,000 years, then it retirement should logically be delayed. how else can people live off a pension for 700 years or more?
* why would one want to live THAT long? It's one thing to live a long and full life, but totally another to survive for a millenium.
It's kind of like bicentennial man, the movie starring robin williams. Williams plays an android that isn't capable of dying because it is a machine. In his quest to become more human, he adopts more human elements, such as limbs, skin, organs. Becoming human, although it means he can experience emotions and life, means he will eventually wear out and die. The sad thing is that while Williams still lives on, his family and friends eventually pass on.
From a historic point of view, a person living through hundreds of years would be interesting to observe the changes of a city, nation, world and universe.
When humans look to extend life, or delay death, is this a yearning for us to become immortal?
