..immortality within reach..
can't wait. looking forward to this.
You're not paying attention. The degradation we associate with aging is process of molecular 'damage'. Scientists have identified what is being 'damaged' in the process of cell division, and are working on drugs to prevent, and ultimately counteract that damage. In effect, to put us back at 'peak' age of ~24.
I'm 40 now, I wouldn't mind haven't my 24 year old body back...
This technology has interesting implications for space travel, as well as forcing a complete rethink of the 'pay as you go, borrow more tomorrow' philosophies of government. How different would you live you life knowing that once you saved enough money you wouldn't have to work again, and could have decades, or centuries, to more fully enjoy life?
Those interested in what an 'after-life' may hold will still be free to not take these drugs and proceed toward a natural death if that is their genuine preference.
After learning about the function of telomeres years ago I concluded that natural death is more than anything an evolutionary instrument to 'clear the stage' for the subsequent generation.
Another thing they don’t realize or care to realize is even if someone could live hundreds of years, they would be completely blind and deaf. The eyes and ears are only made to last 100 odd years. That’s why when we see people with advanced ages like 105 they are almost always entirely blind and deaf. All that damage from sound and light adds up, the cilia in the ears does not get replaced much like losing an arm, it does not grow back, nor does parts of the eye like the lens when it degrades from 100 years of light and use. I’m 52 and already I’m partially deaf in my left ear with severe tinnitus and I’m so nearsighted that anything more than a foot from me is a complete blur without glasses. I don’t even want to think what I would be like in another 52 years if I lived.