What if they told you that you can live forever? Could his death be postponed indefinitely? Like most of us, your initial reaction would probably be a laugh, followed by “sure, sure … wouldn’t that be nice?” After all, mortality is a fact of life and our latest disappearance is something we must (sorry for the pun) learn to live with … or not?
Author, inventor, and futurist Ray Kurzweil doesn’t think so. In fact, he sees death as nothing more than another obstacle waiting to be overcome by science, although it is the biggest obstacle so far. Although the very idea of ”living forever” immediately stirs a feeling of skepticism in all of us, Kurzweil makes more than a convincing argument for the possibility of immortality.
Called “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, Ray Kurzweil is fast becoming the most quoted futurist of our time. He received the National Medal of Technology and is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame; his inventions (such as the first print-to-speech machine for the blind in 1976) have inspired comparisons to Thomas Edison, and his admirers range from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton.
Kurzweil is not used to making wrong predictions that lack factual basis; Furthermore, their visions of the future are based on ongoing scientific discoveries, paradigm shifts, and technological advancements. His written assignments begin by examining past trends in science and technology and lead to explanations of the rapid growth and advancement of specific areas. This can be seen in his “Law of Accelerated Returns,” which explains the exponential growth of computer intelligence based on a wide variety of factors, all of which he supports with statistical data.
Kurzweil’s latest book, “The Singularity is Near,” currently tops the list of hot scientific reading, and has been a long-awaited follow-up to his 1999 bestseller “The Age of Spiritual Machines.” After writing his first major book on the future (“The Age of Smart Machines”) nearly three decades ago, in which detailed predictions were made about the 1990s, his readership grew rapidly. This was due in large part to the fact that the decade played out exactly as he had described it, and with machine precision. Kurzweil recently lectured at MIT, summarizing “The Singularity is Near” for the student audience. This conference is currently being broadcast by online media and can be found on a variety of Internet sites.
Kurzweil partnered with Dr. Terry Grossman in 2004, and the two wrote a book titled “Fantastic Voyage: Live Enough to Live Forever.” In “Fantastic Voyage,” the authors describe the science behind the radical extension of life. They spell out the steps we can start taking now to “slow down the aging process,” so that in the next two decades we will be able to stop and reverse this process entirely. To bridge the gap between life today and the distant future, the authors identify three specific steps, or bridges, that we will cross along the way.
Bridge One is made up of the many methods currently available to us, such as what supplements to take, what foods to eat, and how to effectively ‘reprogram our biochemistry’ to actually change our genetic programming. The authors describe a specific longevity program consisting of current therapies, diets, and supplements that will, in effect, allow us to stay healthy long enough to enjoy new advances in genetics and biotechnology, the seeds of which you are now seeing.
These advances will allow us to stop disease and reverse aging effectively. The biotechnology revolution brings with it advanced knowledge of genetic codes and methods for influencing, blocking, and modifying gene expression. The authors describe the types of gene therapy that we will see in the near future. Therapeutic cloning as a means of defeating programmed cell death and human cell engineering is covered in detail in the Bridge One description. Advances within Bridge One will undoubtedly allow many of us to reach Bridge Two.
Bridge Two explains the key factor (and possibly the most controversial): nanotechnology. Self-replicating nanobots (robots the size of blood cells) will be placed in our bloodstream, allowing small operations to be performed at the cellular level. These robots are built molecule by molecule and will be able to perform a wide variety of tasks within the human body. Two decades from now, nanotechnology will be ubiquitous, allowing the human race to postpone death indefinitely. Patents already exist for many specialized types of nanobots, and many “nanoprojects” are currently underway. Kurzweil and Grossman hope to see Bridge Two and plan to experience the technological advancements that will follow.
The authors have presented a wonderful view of the future in “Fantastic Voyage,” and their method of staying healthy long enough to reach Bridges Two and Three is sure to inspire hope in all who read it, especially the baby-boom generation. Kurzweil and Grossman explain that while most baby-boomers (born 1946-1963) will not live to see Bridge Three, many will reach this major tipping point and subsequently get over it, moving forward and beyond, moment in which death can come to an end. postpone indefinitely.
The authors categorically inform us that the baby boom generation (which they both belong to) will be the final generation in which most die before reaching Bridge Three. However, according to the authors, boomers who follow the regimen described in “Fantastic Voyage” (themselves included) have an optimistic chance of surviving across the three bridges and overcoming death … the biggest obstacle of all.
