Humans have long been yearning for an
immortal life and everlasting youth—to continue living freely without having to
confront death. A renowned novel written by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, reveals this desire for immortality.
Victor
Frankenstein, the fictional character in Frankenstein who is a gifted scientist, attempts to cross the boundary of science by
reviving a creature made from separate dead body parts. As abnormal as his
experiment was, it resulted in a horrifying creation, and Victor fails to take
responsibility for what he has done. Nowadays, many researchers are struggling
to develop ways to reverse aging, and the story of Frankenstein and his
immortal creature does not seem completely impossible after all. However, just
as the creature’s unnatural existence easily led him to be abandoned in his
community with no one taking responsibility for him, the similar situations
could occur when humans finally achieve near immortality. First of all, the implication of life extension science needs
exploration.
In modern days, scientists have
developed the study of slowing down or reversing the ageing process, widely
known as life extension science. Researchers in this field attempt to expand the
maximum lifespan as well as the average life expectancy of humans.
According to
Underwood, Bartlett, and Hall, who wrote “Professional and personal attitudes
of researchers in ageing towards life extension,” many researchers these days actively
focus on “strong life extension,” which extends the human lifespan beyond the
current observed maximum of 122 years. Although no specific ways to achieve
indefinite human lifespan exist, some of the possible methods have been
discussed, such as organ cryopreservation, stem-cell therapy, and nanotechnology.
Based on the information provided by 21st Century Medicine, cryonics is the method in which human or animal bodies that
cannot be treated with current medical technology are preserved at a
low-temperature. With the hope of recovery in the future with highly advanced
technology, the bodies await in frozen states. To prevent ice formation, which
could ruin the bodies, technicians use antifreezes called cryoprotectants. With
current technology, only cells, tissues, and some small organs are reversible
by cryopreservation, and scientists are working on reversing the freezing
process including recovery of personality and memories encoded in brain.
Stem cells are like the building blocks
of the body. They are unspecialized cells; however, not only do they have
potential of developing into any of 220 different cells in the human body, but they
also are capable of self-renewing multiple times. Thus, the use of stem cells
can be very effective in replenishing failed cells in the human body. Nevertheless,
controversy in researching stem cells has arisen since the stem cells known to
be most effective in curing diseases are harvested from human embryos, as
debated on “Ethics of Stem Cell Research” written by Andrew Siegel.
To continue, further development in
nanomedicine can enable cellular repair of many processes responsible for
ageing. Apart from these methods, genetic therapy has been proposed as another
future strategy to overcome ageing, which seeks to replace deficient genes with
artificially modified genes. In addition, many people these days are consuming
chemical products designed to supplement consumers with extra nutrients such as
vitamins and minerals to promote healthy and longer lives.
With all these possibilities to achieve
immortal human life, many concerned voices have spoken out. While some people seem
excited to hear about further progress in life extension, others bring up
ethical issues and certain social impacts that longevity can breed. The
question is: is immortality sustainable in our society?
If indefinite human lifespan is achieved
throughout the world, would we be able to sustain this phenomenon? The carrying
capacity of Earth is estimated to be between 7.7 to 12 billion according to “Population
Growth and Earth’s Human Carrying Capacity” written by Joel E. Cohen. This means
we can sustain at most several billion more people on Earth. However, assuming a
continuously decreasing mortality rate due to life extension, we will reach
that maximum at a fast pace.
Most importantly, do we really want several billion
more people in this world? Even if we consider future technologies and assume
that many more resources will be available, we have to consider how the quality
of our lives will change. Do we want to live in a world where the population will
only keep increasing endlessly? Achievement of immortality could readily lead
to serious overpopulation problems, not to mention the adjustments that social
institutions will have to make regarding retirement as well as healthcare.
Another major problem that could arise
from human immortality would be the rise of unemployment. Unemployment already poses
disconcerting problems in many developed countries these days, and the ratio of
the retired population to the working population continues to increase. Moreover,
having obtained longer time to stay in their workplace, the employed population
will fail to provide younger generations with places to work, and the
competition will only escalate as the population increases.
All things considered, human immortality
brings with it various social and economic problems. One of the main themes contained
in Frankenstein is the lack of responsibility
for scientific advancement which leads people to fear new development. Though
achievement in life extension and anti-ageing technology could yield many
solutions for improving human health, we should still proceed with caution and
consider the potential harms it may come with and who will take responsibility
for them.
Works Cited
Cohen, Joel E.
"Population Growth and Earth’s Human Carrying Capacity." n.d.: n.
pag. 21 July 1995. Web. 31 May 2013.
"Principles
of Cryobiology and of Cryopreservation by Vitrification." 21CM:
Cryobiology Principles, Background and Definitions. 21CM, n.d. Web. 03 June
2013.
Eichler, Alex.
"Near-Immortality Within the Next 20 Years? Life-Extension Scientists Hope
So." Io9. Io9.com, 28 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 May 2013.
"Ethics of
Stem Cell Research." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). N.p.,
25 Apr. 2008. Web. 12 May 2013.
"Immortality
and Society." : The Consequences of Ending Aging. N.p., n.d.
Web. 31 May 2013.
Underwood,
Mair, Helen P. Bartlett, and Wayne D. Hall. "Professional and Personal
Attitudes of Researchers in Ageing towards Life Extension." N.p., 31 May
2008. Web. 25 May 2013.
McConnel,
Charles, and Leigh Turner. "Medicine, Ageing and Human
Longevity." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 2005. Web. 10
May 2013.
"Stem
Cells." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 12 May
2013.
Shelly,
Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Random House, 1999. Print.
