Are We Near Death's End?
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VOICE OVER: Peter DeGiglio
WRITTEN BY: Aidan Johnson
What if we didn't have to die? What if science found an answer? What if THAT answer was about to be revealed??
Are We Near Death’s End?
Our own mortality can be difficult to come to terms with. It might be argued that, without it, we wouldn’t be inspired to live full lives. But, nevertheless, it’s an ever-present and unsettling truth for everyone. We won’t live forever. Or, at least, not until we solve this pesky business of dying.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; are we near death’s end?
Today, with advancements in medicine and technology, humans are living longer than ever before. It’s led some to wonder whether we could ever go beyond simply delaying death, to actually cure it once and for all. It’s a goal that calls upon many, many fields of science, research and philosophy.
To begin, one of the biggest realisations is that biological immortality is not impossible. It already exists (to varying degrees) in the natural world, just not in relation to most living things, and certainly not with human beings. The main barrier to overcome is an effect called senescence, also known as biological aging. This is the process where cells age and die, due to a decrease in cell division. For most creatures, it's an inevitable process. While we can perhaps find ways to alter its rate, small tweaks to slow it down, senescence is generally inescapable for us.
For a handful of animals, though, aging (in this way) isn’t set in stone. And not only can be stopped, but can be reversed. One of the longest-lived of such creatures is the Turritopsis Dohrnii, also known as the immortal jellyfish. As the name implies, these can potentially live forever. To do so, the immortal jellyfish will (when conditions demand it) revert itself backward in its life cycle. Perhaps an external stress of some kind, or a physical injury, has become too much for it, and is life threatening. The jellyfish can backtrack through its own life stages, to reemerge as a polyp colony - to effectively begin its life again. In human terms, if we could do this, it would mean that we would (when conditions demand it) be able to cycle back to being a baby. If that wasn’t already incredible enough, however, it’s thought that the immortal jellyfish is able to do this infinitely. And, therefore, it can be considered immortal.
The immortal jellyfish can still die. It’s biologically immortal, yes, but it isn’t invincible, and a severe enough injury or, more likely, a predator can still kill it. But, nevertheless, it’s no surprise that, in the quest to stop aging, these creatures are heavily studied. Scientists have been watching them closely since the 1980s, so the data is growing. And, they’re thought to have existed since at least the time of dinosaurs, so they’ve certainly had a good run (as a species) on Earth. The billion dollar question: How to convert what they do into something humans can do? As part of a multi-authored research paper in 2022, a team has already managed to map the immortal jellyfish’s genetic information. It’s a vital first step, but - at present - it’s still unclear exactly how the data can be used in the future.
There are other routes that science is heading down, however. One is senolytics. These are cutting edge drugs that target and eliminate senescent cells, the primary contributors to aging and to age-related illness. Senolytics clear these cells from our body, to improve health and extend lifespans. Again, so far we’re still at the early stages, but there have already been some reported experiments during which senolytics were used on mice, which majorly reduced their chance of developing tumors. In this way, it’s implied that senolytics will be specifically useful for cancer research, too. Alzheimer’s disease is another widespread condition that researchers believe can be deliberately targeted. For many, senolytics could well be the wonder drug for the next generation.
For all the hope that senolytics offer, though, will they ever fully eliminate death? At this early stage it’s possible, but perhaps unlikely. Another active area of research is in telomere extension. Telomeres are described as being protective caps for chromosomes. They shorten as cells divide, and therefore as a body grows older. In theory, longer telomeres should enable a person to live longer, and we already know that telomere length can be improved by various positive lifestyle choices - including eating well and exercising regularly. That said, long telomeres being healthy is a contentious idea. There are studies to indicate that longer-than-average telomeres can actually be linked to an increase in the chances of some diseases, and most notably in the chances of developing cancerous mutations. This, then, is an area into which science treads with caution. It’s believed that there are answers to be found here, but also there’s potential for problems.
One final approach (on the biological front) is known as epigenetic reprogramming. Epigenetic marks are chemical modifications to DNA, made throughout a lifetime, which influence cellular function, development, and (yes) aging. In 2024, a flurry of new research centered on scientists attempting to reverse epigenetic marks (otherwise known as reprogramming them) so that, wherever they were linked to aging, they might work in the opposite direction; they might turn their host young again, rather than old. In experiments conducted on mice, there does appear to have been some success. In one case, researchers focussed specifically on vision, and were seemingly able to restore a subject’s sight to a better, younger state. In general, epigenetic reprogramming can be thought of as rewinding DNA and the wider generic makeup. Again, there’s hope and excitement around this new approach… but time will tell whether it will truly deliver death’s end, or just another false dawn.
Of course, and as science fiction so often tells us, there is another non-biological method that might yet prove to be key. Digital immortality is the concept of preserving an individual’s consciousness digitally. In this case, there’s arguably no need to slow down or battle against biological aging, because biological death just isn’t the end. There are overlaps here with various other, increasingly significant technological fields - including neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
Broadly, mind uploading involves the transfer of a person’s mental state into a digital vessel, including all their memories, emotions, and personality. Hypothetically, it allows for a brain to exist independently of its biological body. One specific approach is known as Whole Brain Emulation, or WBE. It’s the most comprehensive proposed approach, since it aims to scan, map and completely recreate any individual brain as a digital entity. A powerful enough computer then runs the brain and then, so the theory goes, that individual lives forever. No body, no biology, but a conscious being powered for eternity.
Another close but alternative option is digital cloning. Here, it’s a person's online activity, photos and data that’s used to create another digital version of them. Artificial intelligence is front and center, employed to analyze everything that that person has ever done. The difference is clear, however, in that digital cloning (as with biological cloning) is not a continuation of the previous person, directly. Rather, it’s a recreation. But it does still face many of the same technical hurdles, with the main one being the sheer complexity of a human brain. There are 86 billion neurons in our brains, with it commonly said that the brain is the single-most complicated structure in the entire universe. No matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it will be a monumental task to authentically recreate that.
With the pursuit for both biological and digital immortality, there are countless philosophical and ethical questions in need of answers. If it were possible, how would de-aging technologies be distributed? Does there remain a right to die, and how is it governed? Can a digital rebuild ever truly be considered life everlasting? Clearly, there is still a long road ahead.
It’s not as though chasing after the fountain of youth is a new obsession for our species. Stories, legends and historical records of the past all show just how determined our kind has always been to at least try to live forever. But perhaps now all the pieces really are starting to fall into place, and that line between life and death might finally be on the brink of being removed. We haven’t reached death’s end yet, but we could well be getting very close.
Our own mortality can be difficult to come to terms with. It might be argued that, without it, we wouldn’t be inspired to live full lives. But, nevertheless, it’s an ever-present and unsettling truth for everyone. We won’t live forever. Or, at least, not until we solve this pesky business of dying.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; are we near death’s end?
Today, with advancements in medicine and technology, humans are living longer than ever before. It’s led some to wonder whether we could ever go beyond simply delaying death, to actually cure it once and for all. It’s a goal that calls upon many, many fields of science, research and philosophy.
To begin, one of the biggest realisations is that biological immortality is not impossible. It already exists (to varying degrees) in the natural world, just not in relation to most living things, and certainly not with human beings. The main barrier to overcome is an effect called senescence, also known as biological aging. This is the process where cells age and die, due to a decrease in cell division. For most creatures, it's an inevitable process. While we can perhaps find ways to alter its rate, small tweaks to slow it down, senescence is generally inescapable for us.
For a handful of animals, though, aging (in this way) isn’t set in stone. And not only can be stopped, but can be reversed. One of the longest-lived of such creatures is the Turritopsis Dohrnii, also known as the immortal jellyfish. As the name implies, these can potentially live forever. To do so, the immortal jellyfish will (when conditions demand it) revert itself backward in its life cycle. Perhaps an external stress of some kind, or a physical injury, has become too much for it, and is life threatening. The jellyfish can backtrack through its own life stages, to reemerge as a polyp colony - to effectively begin its life again. In human terms, if we could do this, it would mean that we would (when conditions demand it) be able to cycle back to being a baby. If that wasn’t already incredible enough, however, it’s thought that the immortal jellyfish is able to do this infinitely. And, therefore, it can be considered immortal.
The immortal jellyfish can still die. It’s biologically immortal, yes, but it isn’t invincible, and a severe enough injury or, more likely, a predator can still kill it. But, nevertheless, it’s no surprise that, in the quest to stop aging, these creatures are heavily studied. Scientists have been watching them closely since the 1980s, so the data is growing. And, they’re thought to have existed since at least the time of dinosaurs, so they’ve certainly had a good run (as a species) on Earth. The billion dollar question: How to convert what they do into something humans can do? As part of a multi-authored research paper in 2022, a team has already managed to map the immortal jellyfish’s genetic information. It’s a vital first step, but - at present - it’s still unclear exactly how the data can be used in the future.
There are other routes that science is heading down, however. One is senolytics. These are cutting edge drugs that target and eliminate senescent cells, the primary contributors to aging and to age-related illness. Senolytics clear these cells from our body, to improve health and extend lifespans. Again, so far we’re still at the early stages, but there have already been some reported experiments during which senolytics were used on mice, which majorly reduced their chance of developing tumors. In this way, it’s implied that senolytics will be specifically useful for cancer research, too. Alzheimer’s disease is another widespread condition that researchers believe can be deliberately targeted. For many, senolytics could well be the wonder drug for the next generation.
For all the hope that senolytics offer, though, will they ever fully eliminate death? At this early stage it’s possible, but perhaps unlikely. Another active area of research is in telomere extension. Telomeres are described as being protective caps for chromosomes. They shorten as cells divide, and therefore as a body grows older. In theory, longer telomeres should enable a person to live longer, and we already know that telomere length can be improved by various positive lifestyle choices - including eating well and exercising regularly. That said, long telomeres being healthy is a contentious idea. There are studies to indicate that longer-than-average telomeres can actually be linked to an increase in the chances of some diseases, and most notably in the chances of developing cancerous mutations. This, then, is an area into which science treads with caution. It’s believed that there are answers to be found here, but also there’s potential for problems.
One final approach (on the biological front) is known as epigenetic reprogramming. Epigenetic marks are chemical modifications to DNA, made throughout a lifetime, which influence cellular function, development, and (yes) aging. In 2024, a flurry of new research centered on scientists attempting to reverse epigenetic marks (otherwise known as reprogramming them) so that, wherever they were linked to aging, they might work in the opposite direction; they might turn their host young again, rather than old. In experiments conducted on mice, there does appear to have been some success. In one case, researchers focussed specifically on vision, and were seemingly able to restore a subject’s sight to a better, younger state. In general, epigenetic reprogramming can be thought of as rewinding DNA and the wider generic makeup. Again, there’s hope and excitement around this new approach… but time will tell whether it will truly deliver death’s end, or just another false dawn.
Of course, and as science fiction so often tells us, there is another non-biological method that might yet prove to be key. Digital immortality is the concept of preserving an individual’s consciousness digitally. In this case, there’s arguably no need to slow down or battle against biological aging, because biological death just isn’t the end. There are overlaps here with various other, increasingly significant technological fields - including neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
Broadly, mind uploading involves the transfer of a person’s mental state into a digital vessel, including all their memories, emotions, and personality. Hypothetically, it allows for a brain to exist independently of its biological body. One specific approach is known as Whole Brain Emulation, or WBE. It’s the most comprehensive proposed approach, since it aims to scan, map and completely recreate any individual brain as a digital entity. A powerful enough computer then runs the brain and then, so the theory goes, that individual lives forever. No body, no biology, but a conscious being powered for eternity.
Another close but alternative option is digital cloning. Here, it’s a person's online activity, photos and data that’s used to create another digital version of them. Artificial intelligence is front and center, employed to analyze everything that that person has ever done. The difference is clear, however, in that digital cloning (as with biological cloning) is not a continuation of the previous person, directly. Rather, it’s a recreation. But it does still face many of the same technical hurdles, with the main one being the sheer complexity of a human brain. There are 86 billion neurons in our brains, with it commonly said that the brain is the single-most complicated structure in the entire universe. No matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it will be a monumental task to authentically recreate that.
With the pursuit for both biological and digital immortality, there are countless philosophical and ethical questions in need of answers. If it were possible, how would de-aging technologies be distributed? Does there remain a right to die, and how is it governed? Can a digital rebuild ever truly be considered life everlasting? Clearly, there is still a long road ahead.
It’s not as though chasing after the fountain of youth is a new obsession for our species. Stories, legends and historical records of the past all show just how determined our kind has always been to at least try to live forever. But perhaps now all the pieces really are starting to fall into place, and that line between life and death might finally be on the brink of being removed. We haven’t reached death’s end yet, but we could well be getting very close.
