| Immortality? Not in this Life! by Warren Krug (November/December, 2006) |
“We are on the verge of a breakthrough in applied biology that will allow people to live essentially forever...
The completion of the Human Genome Project and recent advances in cloning, stem cells, and other fields
have emboldened some scientists to predict that we will soon conquer not only disease but aging itself.”
This claim, made and analyzed in the October issue of Discover magazine, is bound to raise a few eyebrows.
Aubrey de Grey, a computer scientist-turned gerontologist, is a leader in the immortality movement. “The first
person to live to 1,000 may have been born by 1945,” he declares.
Many of de Grey’s colleagues disagree. His view “commands no respect at all within the informed scientific
community,” 28 senescence (having to do with aging) scientists stated in 2005.
In the early 1990’s, the identification of specific genes underlying inherited diseases raised hopes that
researchers could devise therapies to correct the genetic defects. However, not one of more than 350 clinical
trials of gene therapy has been an unqualified success. “The field seems cursed,” The Wall Street Journal
proclaimed.
Also, billions have been spent on cancer research since Richard Nixon declared a “war on cancer” in 1971,
but a cure for cancer is still beyond the horizon.
Evolutionary scientists have warned that immortality may be impossible because “natural selection” designed
us to live only long enough to reproduce and raise our children. Senescence is “woven inextricably into the
fabric of our bodies.”
This idea, other than its evolutionist underpinnings, tends to agree with the Bible.
“The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty if we have the strength,” Psalm 90:10 (NIV) declares.
That matches today’s average life expectancy in developed countries.
We were originally designed to live forever but sin ruined all that. God warned Adam that if he sinned, he “will
surely die,” and physical death has indeed been the destiny for everyone since.
If scientists want to achieve immortality, they should not be looking for it in a test tube but rather in the Book
of Life. There Jesus says that whoever believes in Him “shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) LSI
—Warren Krug, editor
The completion of the Human Genome Project and recent advances in cloning, stem cells, and other fields
have emboldened some scientists to predict that we will soon conquer not only disease but aging itself.”
This claim, made and analyzed in the October issue of Discover magazine, is bound to raise a few eyebrows.
Aubrey de Grey, a computer scientist-turned gerontologist, is a leader in the immortality movement. “The first
person to live to 1,000 may have been born by 1945,” he declares.
Many of de Grey’s colleagues disagree. His view “commands no respect at all within the informed scientific
community,” 28 senescence (having to do with aging) scientists stated in 2005.
In the early 1990’s, the identification of specific genes underlying inherited diseases raised hopes that
researchers could devise therapies to correct the genetic defects. However, not one of more than 350 clinical
trials of gene therapy has been an unqualified success. “The field seems cursed,” The Wall Street Journal
proclaimed.
Also, billions have been spent on cancer research since Richard Nixon declared a “war on cancer” in 1971,
but a cure for cancer is still beyond the horizon.
Evolutionary scientists have warned that immortality may be impossible because “natural selection” designed
us to live only long enough to reproduce and raise our children. Senescence is “woven inextricably into the
fabric of our bodies.”
This idea, other than its evolutionist underpinnings, tends to agree with the Bible.
“The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty if we have the strength,” Psalm 90:10 (NIV) declares.
That matches today’s average life expectancy in developed countries.
We were originally designed to live forever but sin ruined all that. God warned Adam that if he sinned, he “will
surely die,” and physical death has indeed been the destiny for everyone since.
If scientists want to achieve immortality, they should not be looking for it in a test tube but rather in the Book
of Life. There Jesus says that whoever believes in Him “shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) LSI
—Warren Krug, editor