[ weird things ] | world of weird things podcast: how to live forever, maybe

world of weird things podcast: how to live forever, maybe

Humans have spent millenia looking for a fountain of youth or a recipe for immortality. Why have we been failing? And is there anything we can do to make death optional?
comic book death

Life is short, relatively speaking. Human life expectancy in the industrialized world today is just a notch over 80 and as low as 66 in developing nations, while the oldest person whose birth date we can confirm died at just over 122 years old. And since the dawn of civilization, a whole lot of people wanted to push those numbers way higher, trying everything from magical spells, to mercury cocktails, to strategic diets, to experimental supplements. But why hasn’t it worked? What’s the longest theoretical lifespan humans could actually have? And what would we need to do to actually have a shot at living for hundreds or thousands of years?

Subscribe to get the latest episodes…

            

Articles covered or touched on in this episode…

Why We Haven’t Actually Doubled Our Lifespans
What If We Reign In The Grim Reaper?
An Age Extension Drug Too Good To Be True?
The Battle Of The Ages: Biology Vs. Physics
How We’ll Live For A Thousand Years. Maybe.
Why You May Want To See Yourself As A Machine
Darpa’s New Project Tackles Immortality
Just In Case You Missed It…
Eat Less, Live To A Hundred Twenty?
Why We Can’t Bring You Back From The Dead With A Computer

Related articles and further reading…

Is Being A Sexually Active Male Killing You?
In Skeptical Defense Of Transhumanism…
Downloading Your Mind The Natural Way
Coffee, Booze, And Extra Weight Won’t Help You Live Longer. So What Will?

Intro/outro by Absolute Valentine, courtesy of Lazerdiscs Records

# podcast // futurism / life expectancy / life extension / transhumanism


  Show Comments