Benford and Rose Essays

Gregory Benford and Michael Rose, both scientist-authors with an interest in healthy life extension and related topics, publish essays on their collaborative website that are sold for a few quarters apiece via Amazon Shorts. Depending on how you feel about micropayments and buying access to documents online, it may be worthwhile to put down a dollar for the following:

The New Methuselahs:

We may now begin to pry humanity loose from the vise of aging. What are the realistic prospects for postponing aging, if not obliterating it? Some recent biotech promises to understand and impede aging, and we can accelerate this work. But some find this undesirable, if not immoral. We review the debate from a variety of angles: scientific, ethical, and literary. There is real hope.

Back From the Freezer?:

Cryonics companies suspend their dead "patients" in liquid nitrogen. Bringing them back is not obviously impossible, but research to make it happen will probably take half a century or more. This is a long shot chance to see the future, utterly American. Scientific issues might be overcome, but social impediments are large, too. At least cryonics makes it possible for you to die with some hope, however small.

As an added bonus, you'll also find the "lost" chapter from The Long Tomorrow.

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