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Aspiring to Longevity
(Friday March 06 2009)
 | A somewhat rambling and superficial look at aspirations to longevity, scientific and poetic, from the Vancouver Sun: "Now, say some longevity experts, [greatly extended healthy life] may be within reach of scientists working in air-conditioned labs to unravel the genetic code, map the hidden processes of the immune system, explore nanotechnologies that could make possible repairs to body structures too tiny to see and to develop ways to grow or construct and then safely install new or synthetic body parts. We don't blink at new hip joints, transplanted heart valves or minuscule plastic lenses that unfold inside the eye like flowers following cataract surgery, longevity advocates argue, so what's surprising about the looming possibility of even more extensive and complex replacements? ... We are now beginning to talk about curing old age. It really does look as though there is no fixed, non-changeable upper limit to life span. ... replacing damaged organs to greatly extend the human lifespan by substituting young and healthy for old and failing is no longer science fiction. ... if trends in increasing life expectancy are sustained or accelerated by medical breakthroughs, then it certainly seems plausible to speculate that somebody alive today might indeed still be living in 2159." |
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