Turritopsis Dohrnii, a small jelly fish found in the Mediterranean has the ability to do something impossible that is immortality! The Turritopsis Dohrnii does this by reverting back to an early stage of their life cycle if they become damaged. And they are able to do this again and again. Theoretically, they have a never ending life. You or your family might be joining them in a life of endlessness. Welcome to the world of Transhumanism.

The ability to life forever is a thought that we have, at least once, pondered on. But how likely is this to become a reality? Well, the notion is called transhumamism which is the theory that through technology and advanced medical intervention, humans will be able to life indefinitely or at least significantly prolong our life expectancy. But this isn’t some outrageous belief. Extending human life is already happening in small forms. The life expectancy of humans around 200 years ago was approximately 30-40 years. But now, in most developed countries, its over 80. This is due to medical advancements such as pace makers, robotic surgery and life support machines. But, we are nowhere close to immortality as very little research is being conducted on it. That’s why transhumanists, who support the development of this, have formed their own party. In fact, one of the founding members of this party is Zoltan Istvan from California, who formed the transhumanist party and ran for President in the 2016 US Presidential elections. He believes that by cutting military spending, we can conquer human aging within the next decade and simply accepting that we age and die is not the way its should be. So what technologies and future predictions are these people gearing towards to make this possible?

Lets take a look at the processes that are taking place to create a potential immortal human.

Cryogenics. It is actually one of the first ventures into prolonging life. The low temperature usually around -196 degrees liquid nitrogen chambers are used to store and maintain people who believe that in the future we would be advanced enough to revive them and they will wake up, say 1000 years from now, as if they were sleeping! To a transhumanist this technology is extremely important as a lot of research has gone into it and is now believed that the brain can retain memory and personality while frozen and that one day, scientists will be able to successfully defrost their bodies and will be able to heal them of their ailments before bringing them back to life. It would require significant advances in molecule nanotechnology to reboot the mechanism and kick start the chemical reaction within cells.

It is actually one of the first ventures into prolonging life. The low temperature usually around -196 degrees liquid nitrogen chambers are used to store and maintain people who believe that in the future we would be advanced enough to revive them and they will wake up, say 1000 years from now, as if they were sleeping! To a transhumanist this technology is extremely important as a lot of research has gone into it and is now believed that the brain can retain memory and personality while frozen and that one day, scientists will be able to successfully defrost their bodies and will be able to heal them of their ailments before bringing them back to life. It would require significant advances in molecule nanotechnology to reboot the mechanism and kick start the chemical reaction within cells. Gene Therapy. It is an experimental technique that uses Gene to prevent or treat certain diseases. This is in its very early stages and scientists could replace a mutated gene with a healthy copy of that gene or introducing a new gene to fight a disease. At the moment, it is a risky technique. But with advances in science, this could have the ability to wipe inherited diseases, some cancers and viruses. In the future, advances in Gene Therapy and genetic engineering could allow humans to survive in any conditions and to fight against the most deadly of diseases!

It is an experimental technique that uses Gene to prevent or treat certain diseases. This is in its very early stages and scientists could replace a mutated gene with a healthy copy of that gene or introducing a new gene to fight a disease. At the moment, it is a risky technique. But with advances in science, this could have the ability to wipe inherited diseases, some cancers and viruses. In the future, advances in Gene Therapy and genetic engineering could allow humans to survive in any conditions and to fight against the most deadly of diseases! Cybernetics. This is the most interesting of all and we are already seeing this used today. Take Stan Larkin from Michigan as an example who lived over 18 months with an artificial heart that he carried around in his backpack. These things, a few decades ago would be seen only in movies. Now it has become a reality and a fast growing one. People say that cybernetics has endless possibilities and we will get to a stage where people needing organ transplants will no longer have to wait for donors but instead be fitted with a robotic one. More possibilities would be legs that would never get tired and eyes that can see in the dark! In a way, everything that fails in our body can be fixed or replaced and if nothing needs fixing then it can be made 10 times better.!

This is the most interesting of all and we are already seeing this used today. Take Stan Larkin from Michigan as an example who lived over 18 months with an artificial heart that he carried around in his backpack. These things, a few decades ago would be seen only in movies. Now it has become a reality and a fast growing one. People say that cybernetics has endless possibilities and we will get to a stage where people needing organ transplants will no longer have to wait for donors but instead be fitted with a robotic one. More possibilities would be legs that would never get tired and eyes that can see in the dark! In a way, everything that fails in our body can be fixed or replaced and if nothing needs fixing then it can be made 10 times better.! Brain. Although a cyborg body will not age and deteriorate, the brain definitely will. This is where things get complicated. Lets not get too technical. Brain is a collection of electrical signals that could be converted into a digital form and this isn’t a theory. Scientists have already programmed the exact layout of a worm’s brain into a robot. In 2013, a mouse that was trained to do a specific task had its memory recorded for that specific action. Over time the mouse naturally forgot about its action and scientists injected the synthetic memory that they had obtained, into the mouse’s brain and it performed the forgotten task the first time around. That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?! In time, this could be used to cure Alzheimer.

1000 years down the line, consciousness would be the only thing stopping humans from living forever. Ask yourself what is consciousness. You will soon find it difficult to put it into words, let alone capture and replicate it.

The Future. Now say a thousand years from now, if we do manage to end up in a world free of diseases and illnesses and things that can be replaced in our bodies when they go wrong, wouldn’t we be severely overpopulated? Wouldn’t we become dehumanized and robotic? There would be no gifted talented individuals as technically everyone could become one! When you look at it this way, is it really such a great thing to live forever?

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