(Image source: Daily Mail)
BY UNA LUE
Has the first 150-year-old already been born? The longevity researcher Aubrey de Grey says -- Yes. He claims we will have all tools needed to “cure” aging in our lifetime. In a Daily Mail interview, he says:
"This is about preventing people from getting sick as a result of old age. The particular therapies that we are working on will only deliver long life as a side effect of delivering better health."
Picture living forever. According to de Grey, within the next 25 years or so people will be able to live 1000 years. All they’ll need to do is go to the doctor for regular“maintenance.”
“...(the maintenance) will include gene therapies, stem cell therapies, immune stimulation and some other advanced medical techniques to help them keep in good shape.”
Think it’s impossible? So do some mainstream scientists. But no body can prove de Grey’s work is “pseudo science.”
“In 2005, MIT Technology Review Journal offered $20,000 to any molecular biologist who could show that de Grey's ... theory was ‘so wrong that it was unworthy of learned debate.’ … This award was never won, so even some of the greatest minds cannot prove that this is an impossibility.” (HULIQ)
Ok. Maybe the trend towards longer lifespan is unstoppable. Question is -- Who wants to live forever? WPVI’s morning anchor Matt O’Donnell says, why not?
“Imagine the history this person would witness: the colonization of other planets; the harnessing of the Earth's rotation to use as energy; the discovery of life beyond our planet: time travel; invisibility; teleportation … The list could go on.”
But most people say “no .” A writer for Wired says -- living forever brings its own problems.
But for every cheerleader of immortality, there is a voice of caution. After all, ask some, what is the meaning of life if it has no end? What will happen to the planet if nobody ever croaks?
Finally, a columnist on Edid News points out quality of life is more important than quantity.
“I hope to live as long as I can, as long as I am healthy enough physically and with-it enough mentally to be able to enjoy life. Without enjoyment, life is merely existence.”
