At the front of the conference room, Robert Bradbury of the
Aeivos Corporation is talking about immortality. He's showing
us PowerPoint slides, with scientific graphs and charts. He's
telling us about an artificial replacement for the human genome
and about eliminating the need for a heart by replacing all
the cells in the body with "vasaloid" systems. Immortality
is probably not in the cards, Bradbury tells us, but once we
eliminate all diseases it will be possible for us to live for
2,000 years. When we get rid of all the other hazards of living,
we'll be looking at a life span of 7,000 years. Unless, of course,
we happen to be over 40 years old already, in which case these
technologies will come too late for us. Bradbury recommends
that those of us past 40 look seriously into cryonics. If we
have our heads frozen, we can be resurrected at some time in
the future by our benevolent, superintelligent descendants.
As Bradbury speaks, I remember the cemetery across from the
Yale University campus that I passed on in way...