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“Millions who long for immortality do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.”
Mankind has always been fascinated by the concept of immortality since the beginning of time. The great religions of the world - Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam – all share the common belief in an immortal soul. One of the earliest known works of fiction, The Epic of Gilgamesh, tells the story of a hero seeking immortality. Even modern literature is not exempt from this recurring theme. The ubiquitous Harry Potter series shares the story of a villain seeking immortality through objects considered as elixirs of life. Perhaps it is human nature (or the fear of death) that makes man strive to be immortal. Although as of this writing, physical human immortality is not considered achievable, it does not stop man from speculating and debating that perhaps someday it will be.
Futurists most specifically have been fascinated by immortality. Futurology is the philosophy, science and the art of proposing and hypothesizing possible and preferable futures for society. Practitioners seek to understand and predict the future through an analysis of current patterns, trends and events. From forecasting business cycles, fashion trends, ecological calamities or the transformation of humanity, futurists have indeed come up with some logical and intriguing predictions of what the future could be like – a future that includes immortality.
One leading futurist is Ray Kurzweil. A leading inventor and prolific author, Kurzweil was fascinated by the future early on as a child, and then dedicated his life to developing methods to accurately forecast the future. He gained renowned, acceptance and credibility due to his first book, The Age of Intelligent Machines, wherein he accurately predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union due to technologies such as cellular phones and fax machines that allowed persons far from each other to communicate. Thus, the flow of ideas could no longer be contained within the iron curtain, disempowering the authoritarian government and weakening state control. Kurzweil also predicted the rapidly increasing intelligence of machines – and was once again proven correct when chess World Champion Garry Kasparov was defeated by computer software – IBM’s Deep Blue.
One of Kurzweil’s most popular and controversial predictions is his theory that in the next half-century, medical technology will become so advanced that it will radically extend people’s lifespan and improve quality of life to the point of immortality. The 21st century has brought major advances to the field of medicine that has already started to lengthen the human lifespan. Ultimately, scientists will discover means to slow, halt and reverse the aging process, cure terminal diseases and heal injuries currently irreparable – thus leading to physical immortality.
Considering the exponential growth of technology in recent years, Kurzweil’s predictions are very much plausible. The world has seen a host of new technologies that have become available long before people expected. With the developments in medical nanotechnology allowing microscopic machines to repair all types of damage at the cellular level, the fatal effects of many illnesses and diseases could be defied. Furthermore, progress in the realm of computers has been monumental. We have all seen how computers have become cheaper, more numerous and more powerful in recent years. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not far behind. Predicted to dominate the world in the coming years, Kurzweil believes that artificial intelligence can control the universe and perhaps prevent it from dying.
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