Immortality

I heard an interview on NPR the other day. Ray Kurzweil was on the Diane Rehm show. Ray is a futurist and inventor who thinks he's going to live forever. You might think he's a nutcase, but he actually is pretty lucid when he makes his point.

He feels that--if he can survive the next 20 years through diet, exercise and vitamins (he takes 230 vitamins a day or something like that)...that science will have reached a point where--through nanotechnology, gene therapy, and bioengineering--that we can regenerate/rejuvinate aging flesh and defeat all chronic diseases. Essentially, we would all have nano-robotics inside of our cells, repairing the wear and tear of daily living.

Personally, I think he's a bit optimistic. Even if it were true, I wouldn't want it. Why do I want to live forever? If you gave me the option of traveling to other planets and stuff...then we'll talk.

A religious lady called in from AZ and said this: adults shouldn't be any more afraid of death than children are of life. It's part of the process of living. Ray said, essentially: that's a mantra we tell ourselves because--up to now--there's never been any option BESIDES death. An interesting point. I suppose it's easy for me to say that I'd rather die when the option of immortality seems a bit of a fairy tale. Who knows what I may say if I actually had the opportunity?

Then again, I've never been afraid of death.