Immortality: A boon to Humanity | Science and immortality | Immortality and space exploration

Death has always been a mystery for all of us. Despite death being the ultimate truth, nobody loves death. The average life of humans has increased drastically in the past few decades. This has become possible because of the advancement in medical science. The death rate has decreased immensely. 

Humans have always wished for immortality. We can become immortal in the memories of the people. But what if we could become immortal in all respect like physically and in memories too? Is immortality possible in reality? Can we increase the normal lifespan of human beings? 

In the later sections we will discuss some of the scientific approaches to achieve immortality. 

WHAT IS IMMORTALITY? 

Mythologically, immortality means to be alive forever in physical form. Some Hindu mythological characters like Ashwatthama, Hanuman and few more are immortal today also, according to legends. 

Philosophically, immortality means to be alive in the heart and mind of the people forever. In other words, do something good for the society and you will be immortal. Like Mahatma Gandhi, APJ Abdul Kalam, Einstein, Newton and many more are immortal because of their deeds. 

Biologically, immortality means to somehow stop the aging process. In simple word, if you don’t grow old you are immortal according to biology. 

There are different definitions of IMMORTALITY. We will take all of this into account in modern way. The methods to achieve immortality are different in the sense of their technology and approach. So, let’s get into the 1st approach… 

ANDROID BODY 

Science has improved a lot. What if we can copy and create another human brain with full efficiency. So, the idea is to scan and map the human brain then copy and upload it into a computer. In theory, the copied brain will respond in the same way as the original brain. The definition of immortality taken into account here is different from that discussed above. Logically, you are what is contained in your brain. If all the information stored inside your brain is lost, you also loose your identity, your true self. So, if the information contained in your brain is stored means, logically, you are immortal forever.

This deals with recreating every neuron inside our brain, this is a challenging task. The brain’s operation depends on the exchange of signals between the neurons. So, we need to recreate the accurate connection of neurons. This is a challenging task and not possible with present day technology.Secondly, the recreation of single brain would take a long duration of time. Thirdly, this process would cost millions of dollars. There are several attempts made to do it efficiently. One of the attempts is made by Elon Musk’s Neuralink. They have created a thread like structure, thinner than human hair. This when injected into the human brain can copy the neuron signals (see the article on Mind Reading). So, we can say that it would become a common thing in few decades. 

After the recreation of brain, the next step would be to get rid of this flesh and blood body. This is important because our body gets weak as we grow old. As discussed in the article on robots, robot needs instructions for every single task. The robots are very powerful and can do many things humans can’t do, they are fast and accurate. The only things robots lack is the ability to do things by their own. So, if we combine the human brain with robotic body, we would create an immortal version of human beings.

Dmitry Itskov, a Russian entrepreneur is planning to replace the human’s flesh and blood body with the robotic body by 2045. So, if he becomes successful then humans would become immortal by 2045. This would be something like shown in the movie Avatar. So, technically you will become an Avatar. 

You don’t like this robotic body? You want your own body, then the next method is for you… 

BIOLOGICAL APPROACH 

There are many researches going on the topic of Longevity (increasing the overall lifespan of humans), all across the globe. There is good news, the research has shown significant success in the past few years. We first need to know why do we age? or why do we grow old? We will explore some of the major causes and know the possible ways to cure them and reverse the process. 

i. Senescent cells 

These are the cells which become incapable of replicating (reproducing) due to loss of some important part of DNA. These cells don’t die but get accumulated. These cells are one of the causes of ageing. The senescent cells damage the tissues and are the cause of many old age-related diseases like heart diseases, Alzheimer, etc. 

In 2016, a study was conducted on mice and it was found that killing the senescent cells led to increase in lifespan of older mice. A drug was injected into the mice it killed the senescent cells up to 80%, protecting the normal cells. The human trials are yet to be done but if this becomes successful then the average age of humans will drastically improve. 

ii. Wear and tear of body organs 

The other cause of death in old age is damage caused to the important organs due to their use over the life time. The old body becomes incapable of repairing the organs. If we are able to repair these organs from outside or externally then we would be successful in increasing the overall lifespan of human beings. 

The stem cells are the raw material from which all other cells are produced. These cells are abundant in the embryo and with the increase in age, the number decreases. The idea is to inject the stem cells from younger person into the body of older ones. This would boost up the process of repair of the important organs and hence increase the lifespan.

The trails on animals are successful but human trials are not that successful. But the result is positive, although not as expected. The team of researchers are struggling hard to improve the quality of trails and make it as successful as possible. Thus, this is an important process in increasing the overall age of human beings. 

iii. Cellular aging

Very few people die due to natural death. Most of the people die due to diseases. So, the idea is to prevent the diseases. Prevention is better than cure, you must have heard. The diseases are caused by the damage of tissue, organs and cells. There are many researches going on this idea. 

Scientists have come up with a longevity pill. This pill can prevent and reverse aging process on the cellular level. It slows down the aging process and repair the damaged cells. This can extend and enhance the lifespan of human beings. This can also delay the age-related diseases. 

Research is continued to improve the pills, but this can take few years to confirm the results. As it needs long span of time to understand and analyze the effect of drugs (here, longevity pills) on the human body and also its side effects. These pills 

also target the senescent cells and eliminates them. 

When the combination of these methods is applied on human beings, we can become immortal as the combination would increase the life span by large amount. This is going to take few decades as the research is going on but it needs to be full proof. 

There is another method, I know this would be hard to digest for many of us… 

 CRYONICS

It deals with the preservation of body and body organs of the person who has legally died in order to keep their body and mind as undamaged as possible. The process needs to be started just after the person dies. It is done to preserve the body until the future medical science brings them back to life and cure the cause of death. It is practiced since 1970s. There are very few countries with the storage facility for Cryonics, US and Russia being at the top. It is shocking to know that 5000 US people have signed for the cryonics. Out the 5000 people, 165 people have already under gone the process in the US. 

If this process is improved and applied on alive humans, then it can be used in important sectors. Just like Captain America was preserved in snow for 70 years and when he was brought to life, he was healthy and fit. If the similar process can be done in real life then we would do wonders in space exploration. We have seen in the movies like Prometheus, Intersteller, Alien Covenant, etc. how cryonics is applied on living humans and they travel to the planets light years away without consuming much Oxygen. 

Cryogenics is the process of preserving the embryos, egg, sperms, skin, tissues and other organs by freezing them at -150oC or lower. So, by this technique our brain can be preserved until the medical science finds a way to bring the dead brain to life and then follow the 1st method. 

This method is completely different from other 2 methods. It has not yet become successful in bringing the dead people to life but if it becomes successful then it will surely fit into the mythological definition of IMMORTALITY.

Is it worthy to be immortal? 

Just think of it. If your life becomes double of the average human life, then also will you be happy and content? Will all your chaos come to an end? I know this is getting philosophical, but it is needed. The beauty of life lies in its limited time period. You will see your friends and colleagues dying. If you are unable to make your family immortal they will die in front of your eyes. The 1st method, to preserve yourself in the android body, is the most convincing method to become immortal. What do you think? let me know in the comments below. 

No doubt such or similar technology will be developed in the future. We would be able to increase our average lifespan or even multiply it. Though you would die if you face any unwanted scenario like an accident or gun shot or such stuff. The meaning of immortality is simply not to die or delay dieing due to aging process. 

There are few important applications of immortality.

Applications of immortality

This method can be put to use in many sectors which can be beneficial to humanity. I will discuss some of them down below: -

1. Space exploration 

The android body and human mind combination can be used for space exploration. The robots sent to mars and other space mission are too slow. They send the amount of data in 6 months which a normal human can send in less than a day. So, if we send these androids to space exploration mission, we would save money and our precious time. 

Moreover, the metal body would be unaffected by the radiation present on these planets and other parts of solar system. The space mission affects a human biologically. The bones and muscles get weaker. All these could be avoided if we used the androids. 

2. More knowledge

Albert Einstein, Max Plank, William Shakespeare and many more personalities died while working on something important and revolutionary. If any of the 

methods discussed above were available at that time, the history would have been different. They would have completed their unfinished work and lots of our today’s effort would have been saved. There are many more positive applications of immortality techniques discussed above. 

Every discovery, if used positively, can be a boon to humanity. Same is the case with the immortality techniques discussed above. What are your thoughts? on this let me know below. 

This was an experiment type of topic as well as content, so let me know was I successful? Where do I need to improve myself? Your every suggestion is important for me.

Read related Topics 

Robots | Artificial intelligence 

Science of Mind Reading 

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