Friends who know me well also have probably heard my “Theory of Immortality”.  For those who haven’t, it is a simple theory - “I believe in humanity and scientific research that we’ll find ways to increase life spans of humans (and other beings) by many years – say 50-100 years.  Within these 50-100 years, further research will enable more life span and so on, till you are practically immortal”. 

The general arguments I get on this:

1. What is the point of being immortal if you are old and weak and cannot do anything?

A: Scientific progress will also ensure that youth and body/mind function will continue like you were actually in your younger days.  Only difference is that experiences would have made you far more mature and wiser.

2. What about dying in accidents, natural catastrophes, etc.?

A: Scientific research will enable “brain copy” in the mainstream long before we figure how to get immortal, which means you could basically be “copied back” from your “backup” with probably some help from cloning.

Now, I am no expert in this area and this is just a theory that I developed out of common sense looking at all the wonderful achievements humanity has done over the years. Two TED talks (of the many I am watching these days) really talk about this in-depth and actually show that there are people working in this direction.  More surprisingly they clearly indicate that this is not a far off thing, but something that we might actually see in the near future!

If you enjoyed these talks, do also see one of my other all-time favorites that talks on a slightly related topic:

If you still had questions about longevity after watching these talks, drop a comment and we’ll debate it!

Here’s to a long life!