Glimmerings

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December 14, 2004

Wonderful profile of longevity theorist Aubrey de Grey

Great writing and photos.

My last day in Cambridge, I am being ferried by de Grey up the River Cam, which, as he talks indefatigably about the relative imminence of near-immortality, seems more and more like the river of time. We rented our flat-bottomed punt at Scudamore's Punting Co., Est. 1910, and de Grey, with remarkable felicity, is now poling the boat through the congested stretch of river that runs by the university. Soon, though, we're in Elysian countryside, skimming by lush, overhanging willow trees and other riverine flora that de Grey, no all-purpose biologist, can't name. He cuts a remarkable figure, one hand on the punter's pole, another wrapped around a tallboy of John Smith ale, his voluminous beard flowing behind his shoulders in the mild breeze like a scarf. De Grey never successfully learned to drive a car, too intimidated by the speed and potential lethality. But in his first year at university, he discovered he was a punting natural, and even made good money one summer taking tourists up and down the Cam in his second- hand boat, tossing off outrageous lies about the local history and architecture.

As de Grey handles the boat work, my exercise, purely intellectual, is to imagine the world he's advocating. Even if research science disappoints him and we blunder our way to a measly life span of 150 years sometime in the next century--something that's not guaranteed but isn't a bad bet either--society as we know it will be turned on its head. And if de Grey turns out to be closer to the mark, some obvious elephant-in-the-room questions present themselves.

The Prophet of Immortality - Popular Science

Posted by thdyck on December 14, 2004

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