Ageless Nation

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUL 30, 2007

In this intriguing volume, futurist and author Zey (The Future Factor) imagines a time in which technology has stretched human life spans to 400 years or more. Genetic engineering, cloning technology and stem-cell science should eradicate disease and allow for nanoscopic repair and maintenance of the body, while "smart drugs" and "caloric restriction" programs ensure healthy bodies and sharp minds more or less indefinitely. Grounding his speculation in a thorough understanding of contemporary scientific research and present-day concerns (the environment, the post-boomer labor market, etc.), Zey's optimistic vision sees between-career hiatuses replacing retirement, and leisure time spent in the multi-generational home or on intense cross-cultural "immersion travels." Key players in the debate include supporters like Cambridge University scientist Aubrey de Grey, who envisions 5000-year life spans, and the radical futurist author Ray Kurzweil, who foresees the merging of humans and computers; meanwhile, organizations like the Coalition to Extend Life lobby the government for immortality research funding and find opposition in the President's Council on Bioethics and "deep ecologists" advocating zero-population growth. Criticizing current environmental trends as "anti-progress" and "anti-human," Zey's own solutions include controversial measures like human control of weather, colonization of outer space and genetically modifying food. He concludes that the "eventuality" of "a modern Fountain of Youth" is "closer than we think"; Zey's educated guess may not be entirely convincing, but it is both thorough and fascinating.