How close are we to living forever

I recently was speaking to someone who confided in me that she wondered what was the point of keeping herself in shape. People who don’t take care of themselves usually die early but people who workout and eat healthy are destined to live close to a full century eventually getting so frail that they have to either hire someone to take care of them, or be checked into a nursing home staring at the same four walls until the powers above take them away (or until the money runs out and you move in with the offspring that drew the shortest straw).

My first reaction to her train of thought was to say that none of us know when our internal clocks strike midnight and we turn back to dust. I also was able to explain that none of us know what medical advancements will be achieved over the next 50 years. With life expectancy constantly being extended, is it out of the realm of possibility to think that the possibility exists that we could one day face…immortality?

Most people’s first reaction would be ‘cool, living forever’! To be honest, aside from major illnesses such as cancer and AIDS, the human body is basically a stump with interchangeable parts which can be replaced when they run down.

Broken hip, get an artificial one. Need a new liver or kidney, get on the list for a transplant. Even our most precious organ, the heart, can be switched for a newer model with today’s technology.

With stem cell research being done today, how far are we from basically creating organs in a test tube so that waiting lists for a transplant no longer exist.

I’ve even read about nanobot technology which would see microscopic robots injected into our blood stream and with the help of software, find what ails us and with a simple few keystrokes from our laptop, we can rid our sickness without having to drive to a hospital. (Imagine human 2.0).

Unfortunately with immortality come some drawbacks

Thinking of retiring at 65…no more; with never dying, you will need an income to keep yourself in the luxuries you are accustom to now.

Want to get married and have kids…you may have to enter a lottery for such a prize. With humans never dying, the earth could not sustain the current birth rate. The colonization of other planets would have to be achieved to keep us from outgrowing the planet earth.

Banks would have to create a mortgage to be amortized over 100 years; highway 401 would become a traffic nightmare since senior citizens will never be forced out of their cars due to age.

It would put many industries out of business. For starters, funeral homes would be somewhat unnecessary,   as would your local gym…forget trying to work your thighs back to your pre-baby weight, just head to the local appendage department at Wal-Mart and pick up a new leaner set for yourself.

Life insurance…toast, plastic surgeons…gone. Let’s not forget about what to do about that inevitable mid life crisis. When would it be, and what would happen to all the lost business to sports car companies and female escort services.

So is immortality a good thing? I guess if you have a frail rich uncle that you’re waiting to kick the bucket for an inheritance, not really. If you suffer from depression and believe life isn’t worth living… you may have a problem.  If you’re an inmate serving a life sentence you may hope medical technology hits a few speed bumps.

What about the entertainment industry? Can we stomach seeing Rocky 49 on the big screen? Would the reality show Survivor still be relevant given that nobody could die? The CSI franchise would grind to a halt with the lack of story lines. Will the Rolling Stones have their annual immortality tour (wait, they already do), Rap would disappear as there would be no more music about gang killings in the streets.

Thankfully the prospects of immortality are a tad futuristic, but you may want to consider the concept before you decide to put a ring on her finger knowing that ‘til death do us part’ is not an escape clause anymore to an unhappy marriage.