Will scientists ever discover the secret of immortality?

When you think of the word “immortality” it is hard not to feel a tingling excitement, even if those feelings are quickly followed by a sense of something more biblical, almost God–like, and then by something darker lurking in the shadow of the word.

As Western science still has not found the immortality gene, it is perhaps not surprising that in Silicon Valley and on the outskirts of Moscow the eccentric wealthy (and it always is the eccentric wealthy) are now turning their attention – and their money – to projects that are promising to deliver a new version of the age–old fantasy (or folly) of everlasting life: digital immortality. And this time it may actually work.

For writer Stephen Cave, author of the new book Immortality, digital immortality does not refer to the “legacy” we have left on our Facebook pages. Cave’s book explores the quest to live for ever and how – he believes – it has been the driving force behind civilisations, coming to a climax in modern science. “Digital immortality,” he says, “is about there being a silicon you for when the physical you dies” as a kind of “Plan B if bioscience fails to deliver an actual biological immortality”.

To read this Independent article in full, click here.

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