Nevermore Nevermore

Imagine for a moment that you never had to worry about death at all. Do you think it would change how you lived your life? This question may soon have more relevance than you think. Certain scientist and philosophers believe that true immortality is achievable within the first few decades past the 21st century. However, even the more conservative scientists acknowledge that life extension is far more likely. Around the globe research is being done in the ever-progressing quest to find the proverbial "fountain of youth". After years of research one researcher believes he may finally have the answer.

Meet Aubrey de Grey, a researcher who believes that his plan for ending aging may be able to be implemented within a few decades, in his book Ending Aging Aubrey talks about how ending aging and debilitation in humans is not only feasible but will be able to be implemented shortly. His proposal is to use what he calls "regenerative medicine" to cause the body to be in a constantly youthful state.

Quite honestly this scares me. The fear and inevitability of death is one of the constant motivators of human existence. Without that to subconsciously guide us I fear for our existence as a species. Aside from speculative concerns there is the realistic concern that if immortality were to be made available to us at large over population would become even more of a problem than it is now. Additionally, if the medicine was not widely available it wold create a ruling upper class to rule society that would simply never die. Thereby creating a class seperation that would be almost impossible to overcome. On a whole I believe immortality is bad for the human race as a whole because it would represent the virtual end to freedom working in our world and , in my own humble opinion, it would lead to the downfall of the human race as we know it.

deGrey, Aubrey. "SENS FOUNDATION Mission" Sens Foundation. Web. 6 Sep 2010.

Zombie Apocalypse: Sooner than we think?

As I spent my weekend watching zombie movies, and playing Dead Rising (a zombie apocalypse game) I thought up a major fear. In the game Dead Rising, A Governmental attempt at lowering the cost of breeding cattle, they accidentally create a wasp which then spawns parasitic larvae, leading to a zombie apocalypse. Despite the ridiculousness of this plot, it reminded me of a news article I saw on the Wall Street Journal.

"Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions..."

What I found interesting was that the DNA was programmed using a computer, and was simply injected into a bacterium, taking it over and creating artifical life. It may just be the zombie nerd in me talking, but that sounds to me like the start of what could become a zombie virus.

Bland, By Eric. "It's Alive! Artificial Life Springs From Manmade DNA." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, History. 20 May 2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

Hotz, Robert Lee. "Scientists Create First Synthetic Cell - WSJ.com." Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com. 21 May 2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .