The Biggest Idea
Healthy life extension is one of the "big ideas in science" listed by Salon: "Aubrey de Grey, a computer scientist turned biogerontologist at Cambridge University, predicts that some people now in their 60s will still be alive in the year 3000. De Grey is merely one of the more flamboyant members of a growing corps of scientists who believe we are on the verge of solving that quintessential aspect of the human condition, mortality. ... De Grey advocates an approach he calls Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, or SENS, which involves attacking aging on every possible front: with genetic engineering, stem cells, telomere intervention, cloning, antioxidants and caloric restriction." Degenerative aging will one day be prevented and repaired with advanced medical technology - it is entirely up to us to ensure that this day arrives rapidly enough.
Link: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/11/10/big_idea_science_list/