Live Forever Or Die Trying

Initially, I had intended to write this book in the summer of
2006. At that time, my involvement in the Life Extension Movement
was growing, my enthusiasm was palpable; trusted friends and colleagues
urged me to undertake the project, noting that it would give momentum
to a nascent movement that was a mere blip on the political radar screen
and bring needed attention to an issue that many thought might never
be discussed seriously in a society that considers death an unpleasant but
inevitable reality.





Even though I agreed with this analysis, I managed to avoid any
serious attempt to start a far-reaching debate on the political, social, and
economic consequences of radically extending ones life into the future.
After all, I thought, the technology in this field is still at a nascent stage,
antiaging research receives few government grants, controversy abounds
in the scientific community as to the mere possibility of indefinite life
extension; most elected officials are clueless about it and even a majority of
the Presidents Council on Bioethics is hostile to the idea.





But that being said, I never was one to back down from a good fight.
I had read much of the scientific work undertaken by a multitude of
scientists determined to understand how and why human beings slowly
age, and how we can reverse our demise and extend our lives indefinitely.
I disagreed with the naysayers who pompously declare that prolonging life
will ruin the environment, cause overpopulation, promote wars over scarce
resources, as well as those narrow-minded, quasipundits who embraced
a number of bogus charges and half-truths intended to impede further
research into the causes of the terminal disease of aging.





I had more than enough evidence to confront the critics, but for some
unknown reason, I lost the internal primal spark necessary to fight back. I
thought, should I enter a battle that few know about and even fewer care?
Instead of hearing a clarion call to act, I became mired in skepticism, doubt
and a growing resignation toward terminal apathy.





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