Breaking the trance? Enabling dissenting views on immortalism.

• Author: McMullen, Greg

From ancient stories, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, to modern snake oil merchants and science fiction enthusiasts, humans have long dreamt of overcoming death, or at least putting it off for a few years.* (1) Recent breakthroughs in the understanding of aging have led some to believe that aging can be dramatically slowed, and researchers, such as Cambridge-based Aubrey de Grey, are suggesting that it could be reversed or postponed indefinitely, allowing humans to live for up to several thousand years. (2)

These optimists have spawned a movement of like-minded life extension enthusiasts who call themselves immortalists. The immortalist community is growing steadily as anti-aging breakthroughs and commentary from Aubrey de Grey and other leaders makes headlines in the mainstream press. In de Grey's opinion, people are "beginning to realize that the certainty that aging has always existed and been inevitable is becoming more and more fragile." (3)

Immortalists are working hard to spread the life extension meme and involve more people in the project. Their goal is to elicit support of the mainstream scientific community and close the massive gap between de Grey's predictions of 5000 year lifespans and the more conservative 125-150 year estimates of most biogerentologists. (4) Perhaps their most promising tool in this respect is The Methuselah Mouse Prize, which offers cash bounties for various life extension milestones reached during research on mice. The current prize is valued at well over $2.5 million USD, and will be awarded to a researcher who is able to double the remaining lifespan of a middle-aged mouse which received no prior treatments. (5) It is hoped that seeing results like this in a mouse, a photogenic and media-friendly mammal genetically similar to humans, will attract massive media and research attention and launch what has been called a "crash program" in life extension research. (6)

De Grey suggests most people have a "deep-seated ambivalence" toward death and aging. He argues this is a coping strategy that allows us to deal with the eventuality of death. We know we will die someday but accept that eventuality as a natural, necessary and even desirable occurrence. This leads to a "sort of trance-state, mutually induced, mutually maintained," that keeps us from worrying about death, but also keeps us from realizing we may finally be able to do something about it. De Grey and other immortalists feel they are the ones who have...