If thou be'st born to strange sights, Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee, Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear, No where Lives a woman true, and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know, Such a pilgrimage were sweet; Yet do not, I would not go, Though at next door we might meet; Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter, Yet she Will be False, ere I come, to two, or three.
- John Donne
Sean Parker, the former president of Facebook got many of us thinking a whole lot more than usual last year at a cancer innovation event. Parker suggested that the richest of the rich may very well be able to defeat death and find the secret to immorality. And what was even more shocking – he believes it will happen within his lifetime.
Parker explains that since he’s a billionaire, he will have better health care. He expresses that he thinks he will reach 160 years old, and will become part of a class of immortal overlords.
All of this sounds really nice, but in reality, medical research has yet to come up with such cutting-edge technology. Especially not one that’s more powerful than the tradition secret to adding years onto our lives – that being a healthy diet, a regular physical activity.
Life expectancy will surely continue to grow as we do, but there is of course no guarantee that we will ever truly find a loophole and discover the secret behind immorality.
Yet, this hasn’t stopped people from dreaming big. People such as Parker and several other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have been investing myriads of money into researching ways to extend our lifespan. Many experts however, are still convinced that’s is basically impossible to cheat death with no end date.
Parker, in all of his talk of immortality, has made it clear that if these types of treatments were to exist, that it will be rather unlikely for them to be available to just anyone.
If we all were given access, then the world would very quickly be highly overpopulated, as new babies entered the world.
Does this mean we would be creating two classes of humans? Those that could afford immorality, and well, those that simply had to follow the fate of life?