A Future of Longevity
(From Cosmos). Damien Broderick, author of The Spike, takes a look at the coming technological singularity and what it will mean for our healthy longevity: "Here's a jolting change greater than anything we've seen so far in history: by the middle of this century it's possible, even probable, that the relentless ageing of our bodies will be halted by advances in biological understanding plus remarkable new medical interventions. However slowly these health improvements start out, they will carry their beneficiaries forward, step-by-step, year after year, to an era where everyone who chooses has the option of rejuvenation and indefinitely extended youth. Until now, as the playwright Tom Stoppard has noted wryly, 'age is a very high price to pay for maturity.' ... Is there any reason why we can't learn the secrets of the egg cells that ensure healthy youngsters, and then apply those lessons to keep all our adult cells, and the tissues they comprise, healthy and youthful?"