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Death
is fired, immortality is the future
Ray
Kurzweil, a 56-year-old inventor and author,
has predicted that immortality will be feasible
in a mere 20 years. He believes this so
strongly that he is trying his hardest to
still be alive when the breakthrough occurs.
If Kurzweil is right, this will happen in
our lifetime.
Immortality
has been sought since, well, the beginnings
of our memory. Kurzweil seems like another
kooky inventor, much like Belle's father
in "Beauty and the Beast." He
feels that technology is the fountain of
youth that will make immortality an option.
According to the Associated Press, Kurzweil
believes robots as small as blood cells,
called "nanobots," will be sent
into the blood stream to save the human
body from the aging process. This definitely
seems as futuristic as hovercrafts or underground
cities on the moon, and as disturbing as
the movie "Soylent Green."
The
technological breakthrough Kurzweil speaks
of is long overdue. People have been expecting
amazing things since the beginning of science
fiction movies, such as cities on other
planets or some alien creature coming to
wipe out Earth's inhabitants.
Kurzweil
is not just a crazy old man; he was inducted
into the Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2002,
won the Lemelson-MIT prize, and the 1999
National Medal of Technology award. He is
a brilliant inventor who has written articles
in what are considered "intelligent"
magazines, like Wired and Time magazine,
according to the Associated Press. He treats
his own body as a machine, taking massive
doses of supplements, tea and alkaline water
to keep himself at optimum performance.
He also tracks his "fitness indicators,"
according to the Associated Press, in order
to tune his body as needed. His past as
a computer scientist may explain these actions.
Not everyone feels comfortable with the
idea of miniscule cellular robots, however.
The
idea of injecting a chip into the body such
as the Veri-chip, which contains medical
information gives most people the willies.
Introducting anything to the body at the
cellular level takes those chills to a whole
new level. Imagine depending on millions
of robotic cells to repair and speed normal
body functions.
In
a land where plastic surgery is more common
than natural breasts, countless older women
may latch onto this idea and never let go.
The "nanobots" would maintain
youthful appearance without the aid of creams,
expensive injections or even make-up. This
notion is amazing. Just think, for years
people have dreamed of immortality, and
to finally see it achieved is a feat in
itself. But won't people get bored after
200 years on this planet? Really, there
is only so much to do. People can live full,
productive lives and die at 100.
Living
forever would put an impossible strain on
the planet, our population being as large
as it is. Disease would be wiped out by
the "nanobots," repairing our
bodies before we become fatally sick. Eventually
there would be less people, because those
already here would be content without breeding.
There are so many questions about Kurzweil's
idea that will not be answered until the
invention of immortality.
It
will be a shame when Kurzweil dies, if he
is unable to see his dreams achieved, but
until then we can hope he is correct and
Death may soon take a long vacation.
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