I have never really taken human immortality predictions seriously. It doesn’t seem possible, and also seems undesirable. Would you really want to live on earth for thousands of years? How about a million years? If a million years on earth sounds like a good time to you, you’ll be pleased to see some of the latest medical breakthroughs that are trying to make immortality an actual possibility.
Yearning For Immortality
Immortality has been sought after since the beginning of time. No one has cracked the code yet, but there are fairly new organizations dedicated to the cause. They are utalizing the most cutting-edge technology and actually having some successful breakthroughs.
The SENS research foundation is one of those organizations dedicated to helping all of us live forever. They have several breakthroughs and come to the conclusion that the rate at which we age has not been hard-coded into our existence. This means that theoretically, our aging clock can be slowed down to extend our lifespan for hundreds, or even thousands of years. But can the aging process be stopped indefinitely? That’s the million dollar question and several organizations think they have the answer.
Another organization that pours millions of dollars and thousands of man hours into the task of cracking the immortality code is the Glenn Foundation. Their mission is humbly stated as wanting to increase health with life expectancy, but we know what that means. The Glenn Foundation is one of the biggest funders in this anti-aging industry. Paul F Glenn himself was instrumental in getting the National Institute of Aging formed (1).
One of the most promising breakthroughs came from Harvard, not surprisingly. If there is a scientific possibility of making a huge life expectancy leap, I would expect someone from Harvard to be all over it. The Harvard scientists worked in conjunction with the University of New South Wales to discover a way to reverse the aging process. Their breakthrough was in figuring out some of the genes responsible for fighting ageing. By manipulating these genes with natural compounds such as proteins, they have had success with reversing the ageing process in mice.
Keeping It In Context
Their experiments prove that it is possible to reverse ageing, but don’t prove that immortality is possible. Ironically enough, immortality is one of those things that is impossible to prove by its very nature. Since time doesn’t end, it’s not possible to live long enough to prove immortality. Even if someone were able to live for 500 years, they still wouldn’t have proved immortality possible.
Trying to crack the code to immortality is like trying to prove how the word came into being, it’s not possible since none of us were there. It’s all theory and best guesses backed by data. I’m still a skeptic, but reviewing the research has made me open to the idea that our lifespan could realistically double or triple.