Immortality

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Immortal (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (June 2015)

The Fountain of Eternal Life in Cleveland, Ohio is described as symbolizing "Man rising above death, reaching
upward to God and toward Peace."[1]

Immortality is eternal life or the ability to live forever.[2] Biological forms have inherent limitations
that medical interventions or engineering may or may not be able to overcome. Natural selection has
developed potential biological immortality in at least one species, the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii.[3]
Certain scientists, futurists, and philosophers, have theorized about the immortality of the human
body, and advocate that human immortality is achievable in the first few decades of the 21st century,
whereas other advocates believe that life extension is a more achievable goal in the short term, with
immortality awaiting further research breakthroughs into an indefinite future. Aubrey de Grey, a
researcher who has developed a series of biomedical rejuvenation strategies to reverse human
aging (called SENS), believes that his proposed plan for ending aging may be implementable in two
or three decades.[4] The absence of aging would provide humans with biological immortality, but not
invulnerability to death by physical trauma; although, mind uploading could solve that issue.
What form an unending human life would take, or whether an immaterial soul exists and possesses
immortality, has been a major point of focus of religion, as well as the subject of speculation, fantasy,
and debate. In religious contexts, immortality is often stated to be among the promises by God (or
other deities) to human beings who show goodness or else follow divine law. Immortality means
living forever.
Contents
[hide]

1 Definitions
o

1.1 Scientific

1.2 Religious

2 Alchemy

3 Physical immortality
3.1 Causes of death

3.1.1 Aging

3.1.2 Disease

3.1.3 Trauma
3.2 Biological immortality

3.2.1 Biologically immortal species

3.2.2 Evolution of aging

3.3 Prospects for human biological immortality

3.3.1 Life-extending substances

3.3.2 Technological immortality

3.3.3 Cryonics

3.3.4 Mind-to-computer uploading

3.3.5 Cybernetics

3.3.6 Evolutionary immortality

4 Religious views

4.1 Ancient Greek religion

4.2 Buddhism

4.3 Christianity

4.4 Hinduism

4.5 Judaism

4.6 Rastafarianism

4.7 Taoism

4.8 Zoroastrianism

5 Ethics of immortality
5.1 Undesirability of immortality

6 Politics

7 Symbols

8 Fiction

9 See also

10 References

11 Further reading

12 External links
o

12.1 Religious and spiritual prospects for immortality

12.2 In literature

Definitions[edit]
Scientific[edit]
Life extension technologies promise a path to complete rejuvenation. Cryonics holds out the hope
that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements. While, as
shown with creatures such as hydra and planarian worms, it is indeed possible for a creature to
be biologically immortal, it is not yet known if it is possible for humans.
Mind uploading is the transference of consciousness from a human brain to an alternative medium
providing the same functionality. Assuming the process to be possible and repeatable, this would
provide immortality to the consciousness, as predicted by futurists such as Ray Kurzweil.[5]

Religious[edit]
See also: Soul
The belief in an afterlife is a fundamental tenet of most religions,
including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, and the Bah'
Faith; however, the concept of an immortal soul is not. The "soul" itself has different meanings and is
not used in the same way in different religions and different denominations of a religion. For
example, various branches of Christianity have disagreeing views on the soul's immortality and its
relation to the body.

Alchemy[edit]
Main article: Alchemy
See also: Elixir of life and Philosopher's stone

Physical immortality[edit]
Physical immortality is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious
thought. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic
life, such as a computer. Active pursuit of physical immortality can either be based on scientific
trends, such as cryonics, digital immortality, breakthroughs inrejuvenation or predictions of an
impending technological singularity, or because of a spiritual belief, such as those held
by Rastafarians or Rebirthers.

Causes of death[edit]
Main article: Death
There are three main causes of death: aging, disease and physical trauma.[6]
Aging[edit]
Aubrey de Grey, a leading researcher in the field,[7] defines aging as "a collection of cumulative
changes to the molecular and cellular structure of an adult organism, which result in
essential metabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt
metabolism, resulting in pathology and death." The current causes of aging in humans are cell loss
(without replacement), DNA damage, oncogenic nuclear mutations and epimutations,
cell senescence, mitochondrial mutations, lysosomal aggregates, extracellular aggregates, random
extracellular cross-linking, immune system decline, and endocrine changes. Eliminating aging would
require finding a solution to each of these causes, a program de Grey calls engineered negligible
senescence. There is also a huge body of knowledge indicating that change is characterized by the
loss of molecular fidelity.[8]
Disease[edit]
Disease is theoretically surmountable via technology. In short, it is an abnormal condition affecting
the body of an organism, something the body shouldn't typically have to deal with its natural make
up.[9] Human understanding of genetics is leading to cures and treatments for myriad previously
incurable diseases. The mechanisms by which other diseases do their damage are becoming better
understood. Sophisticated methods of detecting diseases early are being developed. Preventative
medicine is becoming better understood. Neurodegenerative diseases
like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's may soon be curable with the use of stem cells. Breakthroughs
in cell biology and telomere research are leading to treatments for cancer. Vaccines are being
researched for AIDS and tuberculosis. Genes associated with type 1 diabetes and certain types of
cancer have been discovered, allowing for new therapies to be developed. Artificial devices attached
directly to the nervous system may restore sight to the blind. Drugs are being developed to treat
myriad other diseases and ailments.
Trauma[edit]
Physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, as an otherwise immortal person
would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes. The speed and quality
of paramedic response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. [10] A body that could
automatically repair itself from severe trauma, such as speculated uses for nanotechnology, would
mitigate this factor. Being the seat of consciousness, the brain cannot be risked to trauma if a
continuous physical life is to be maintained. Therefore, it cannot be replaced or repaired in the same
way other organs can.

If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that
the cumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less than certainty, even when the risk
of fatal trauma in any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving
"actuarial escape velocity".

Biological immortality[edit]

Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white)

Main article: Biological immortality

Biological immortality is an absence of aging, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate
of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or
ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal.
Biologists have chosen the word immortal to designate cells that are not limited by the Hayflick limit,
where cells no longer divide because of DNA damage or shortened telomeres. The first and still most
widely used immortal cell line is HeLa, developed from cells taken from the malignant cervical tumor
of Henrietta Lacks without her consent in 1951. Prior to the 1961 work of Leonard Hayflick and Paul
Moorhead, there was the erroneous belief fostered by Alexis Carrel that all normal somatic cells are
immortal. By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality;
telomeres, a "cap" at the end of DNA, are thought to be the cause of cell aging. Every time a cell
divides the telomere becomes a bit shorter; when it is finally worn down, the cell is unable to split
and dies.Telomerase is an enzyme which rebuilds the telomeres in stem cells and cancer cells,
allowing them to replicate an infinite number of times.[11] No definitive work has yet demonstrated that
telomerase can be used in human somatic cells to prevent healthy tissues from aging. On the other
hand, scientists hope to be able to grow organs with the help of stem cells, allowing organ
transplants without the risk of rejection, another step in extending human life expectancy. These
technologies are the subject of ongoing research, and are not yet realized. [citation needed]
Biologically immortal species[edit]
See also List of long-living organisms
Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including
disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include:

Turritopsis dohrnii, a jellyfish, after becoming a sexually mature adult, can transform itself
back into a polyp using the cell conversion process of transdifferentiation.[3]Turritopsis
nutricula repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have an indefinite lifespan.[12] Its immortal
adaptation has allowed it to spread from its original habitat in the Caribbean to "all over the
world".[13]

Bacteria Bacteria reproduce through binary fission. A parent bacterium splits itself into two
identical daughter cells which eventually then split themselves in half. This process repeats, thus
making the bacterium essentially immortal. A 2005 PLoS Biology paper[14] suggests that after

each division the daughter cells can be identified as the older and the younger, and the older is
slightly smaller, weaker, and more likely to die than the younger.[15]

Bristlecone pines are speculated to be potentially immortal;[citation needed] the oldest known living
specimen is over 5,000 years old.

Hydra is a genus of simple fresh-water animal possessing radial symmetry. Hydras

are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa.[16]

Evolution of aging[edit]
Main article: Evolution of aging
As the existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is no thermodynamic necessity
for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes in free energy from the environment and
unloads its entropy as waste. Living systems can even build themselves up from seed, and routinely
repair themselves. Aging is therefore presumed to be a byproduct of evolution, but why mortality
should be selected for remains a subject of research and debate. Programmed cell death and the
telomere "end replication problem" are found even in the earliest and simplest of organisms. [17] This
may be a tradeoff between selecting for cancer and selecting for aging. [18]
Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following:

Mutation accumulation is a theory formulated by Peter Medawar in 1952 to explain how

evolution would select for aging. Essentially, aging is never selected against, as organisms have
offspring before the mortal mutations surface in an individual.

Antagonistic pleiotropy is a theory proposed as an alternative by George C. Williams, a critic

of Medawar, in 1957. In antagonistic pleiotropy, genes carry effects that are both beneficial and
detrimental. In essence this refers to genes that offer benefits early in life, but exact a cost later
on, i.e. decline and death.[19]

The disposable soma theory was proposed in 1977 by Thomas Kirkwood, which states that
an individual body must allocate energy for metabolism, reproduction, and maintenance, and
must compromise when there is food scarcity. Compromise in allocating energy to the repair
function is what causes the body gradually to deteriorate with age, according to Kirkwood. [20]

Prospects for human biological immortality[edit]

Life-extending substances[edit]
There are some known naturally occurring and artificially produced chemicals that may increase the
lifetime or life-expectancy of a person or organism, such as resveratrol.[21][22]
Scientists believe that boosting the amount or proportion of in the body of telomerase, a naturally
forming enzyme that helps maintain the protective caps at the ends ofchromosomes,[23] could prevent
cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans. A team of researchers
at the Spanish National Cancer Centre (Madrid) tested the hypothesis on mice. It was found that
those mice which were genetically engineered to produce 10 times the normal levels of telomerase
lived 50% longer than normal mice.[24]
In normal circumstances, without the presence of telomerase, if a cell divides repeatedly, at some
point all the progeny will reach their Hayflick limit. With the presence of telomerase, each dividing
cell can replace the lost bit of DNA, and any single cell can then divide unbounded. While this
unbounded growth property has excited many researchers, caution is warranted in exploiting this
property, as exactly this same unbounded growth is a crucial step in enabling cancerous growth. If
an organism can replicate its body cells faster, then it would theoretically stop aging.

Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the
individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed in cells that need to divide regularly (e.g., in the
immune system), whereas most somatic cells express it only at very low levels in a cell-cycle
dependent manner.
Technological immortality[edit]
Main article: Transhumanism
Technological immortality is the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific
advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics, biological
engineering, regenerative medicine, microbiology, and others. Contemporary life spans in the
advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better
nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances.
Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An
important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of human
cloning, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension. Robert
Freitas, a nanorobotics theorist, suggests tiny medical nanorobots could be created to go through
human bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them.
[25]
Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body
effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely, short of severe brain trauma. This
supports the theory that we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement
parts to replace damaged or dying ones.
Cryonics[edit]
Main article: Cryonics
Cryonics, the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for
possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are
almost completely stopped, can be used to 'pause' for those who believe that life extension
technologies will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics would allow clinically
dead people to be brought back in the future after cures to the patients' diseases have been
discovered and aging is reversible. Modern cryonics procedures use a process
called vitrification which creates a glass-like state rather than freezing as the body is brought to low
temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals damaging the cell-structure, which would
be especially detrimental to cell structures in the brain, as their minute adjustment evokes the
individual's mind.
Mind-to-computer uploading[edit]
Main article: Mind uploading
One idea that has been advanced involves uploading an individual's personality and memories
via direct mind-computer interface. The individual's memory may be loaded to a computer or to a
new organic body. Extropian futurists like Moravec and Kurzweil have proposed that, thanks
to exponentially growing computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human
consciousness onto a computer system, and live indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be
accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the
brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Components would be added gradually
until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, avoiding sharp transitions
that would lead to issues of identity. After this point, the human body could be treated as an optional
accessory and the mind could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. Another possible
mechanism for mind upload is to perform a detailed scan of an individual's original, organic brain and
simulate the entire structure in a computer. What level of detail such scans and simulations would
need to achieve to emulate consciousness, and whether the scanning process would destroy the
brain, is still to be determined.[26] Whatever the route to mind upload, persons in this state would then
be essentially immortal, short of loss or traumatic destruction of the machines that maintained them.

Cybernetics[edit]
Main article: Cyborg
Transforming a human into a cyborg can include brain implants or extracting a human mind and
placing it in a robotic life-support system. Even replacing biological organs with robotic ones could
increase life span (i.e., pace makers) and depending on the definition, many technological upgrades
to the body, like genetic modifications or the addition of nanobots would qualify an individual as a
cyborg. Such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically
immortal unless killed or destroyed.
Evolutionary immortality[edit]

Joseph Wright of Derby, The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher's Stone, 1771

Another approach, developed by biogerontologist Marios Kyriazis, holds that human biological
immortality is an inevitable consequence of evolution. As the natural tendency is to create
progressively more complex structures,[27] there will be a time (Kyriazis claims this time is now[28]),
when evolution of a more complex human brain will be faster via a process of developmental
singularity[29] rather than through Darwinian evolution. In other words, the evolution of the human
brain as we know it will cease and there will be no need for individuals to procreate and then die.
Instead, a new type of development will take over, in the same individual who will have to live for
many centuries in order for the development to take place. This intellectual development will be
facilitated by technology such as synthetic biology, artificial intelligence and a technological
singularity process.

Religious views[edit]
Main articles: Afterlife and Soul
As late as 1952, the editorial staff of the Syntopicon found in their compilation of the Great Books of
the Western World, that "The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from
issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul."[30]Thus, the vast majority of speculation
regarding immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the afterlife.

Ancient Greek religion[edit]

Immortality in ancient Greek religion originally always included an eternal union of body and soul as
can be seen in Homer, Hesiod, and various other ancient texts. The soul was considered to have an
eternal existence in Hades, but without the body the soul was considered dead. Although almost
everybody had nothing to look forward to but an eternal existence as a disembodied dead soul, a
number of men and women[31] were considered to have gained physical immortality and been brought
to live forever in eitherElysium, the Islands of the Blessed, heaven, the ocean or literally right under
the ground. Among these were Amphiaraus, Ganymede, Ino, Iphigenia, Menelaus, Peleus, and a
great part of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars. Some were considered to have died
and been resurrected before they achieved physical immortality. Asclepiuswas killed by Zeus only to
be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. In some versions of the Trojan War
myth, Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother Thetis,
resurrected, and brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, the Elysian plains, or the Islands
of the Blessed. Memnon, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have a received a similar
fate. Alcmene, Castor, Heracles, and Melicertes were also among the figures sometimes considered
to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to Herodotus' Histories, the 7th century
BC sage Aristeas of Proconnesus was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a
locked room. Later he was found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.[32]
The philosophical idea of an immortal soul was a belief first appearing with either Pherecydes or
the Orphics, and most importantly advocated by Plato and his followers. This, however, never
became the general norm in Hellenistic thought. As may be witnessed even into the Christian era,
not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, many or perhaps most
traditional Greeks maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead
and made physically immortal and that others could only look forward to an existence as
disembodied and dead, though everlasting, souls. The parallel between these traditional beliefs and
the later resurrection ofJesus was not lost on the early Christians, as Justin Martyr argued: "when we
say ... Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven,
we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of
Zeus." (1 Apol. 21).[33]

Buddhism[edit]
The goal of Hinayana is Arhatship and Nirvana. By contrast, the goal of Mahayana is Buddhahood.
According to one Tibetan Buddhist teaching, Dzogchen, individuals can transform the physical body
into an immortal body of light called the rainbow body.

Christianity[edit]
Main articles: Eternal life (Christianity), Christian conditionalism and Christian mortalism

Adam and Eve condemned to mortality. Hans Holbein the Younger,Danse Macabre, 16th century

Christian theology holds that Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their
descendants in the Fall of Man, although this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was
"a preternatural condition".[34] Christians who profess the Nicene Creed believe that every dead
person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be resurrected from the dead at the Second
Coming, and this belief is known as Universal resurrection.[citation needed]
N.T. Wright, a theologian and former Bishop of Durham, has said many people forget the physical
aspect of what Jesus promised. He told Time: "Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a
restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead,
who will 'awake', be embodied and participate in the renewal. Wright says John Polkinghorne, a
physicist and a priest, has put it this way: 'God will download our software onto his hardware until the
time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.' That gets to two things
nicely: that the period after death (the Intermediate state) is a period when we are in God's presence
but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we
are again embodied and administeringChrist's kingdom."[35] This kingdom will consist of Heaven and
Earth "joined together in a new creation", he said.

Hinduism[edit]
See also: Naraka (Hinduism)

Representation of a soul undergoing punarjanma. Illustration from Hinduism Today, 2004

Hindus believe in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people
repeat a process of life, death, and rebirth in a cycle called samsara. If they live their life well,
their karma improves and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live
their life poorly. After many life times of perfecting its karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives
in perpetual bliss. There is no place of eternal torment in Hinduism, although if a soul consistently
lives very evil lives, it could work its way down to the very bottom of the cycle. [citation needed]
There are explicit renderings in the Upanishads alluding to a physically immortal state brought about
by purification, and sublimation of the 5 elements that make up the body. For example in the
Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Chapter 2, Verse 12), it is stated "When earth, water fire, air and akasa
arise, that is to say, when the five attributes of the elements, mentioned in the books on yoga,
become manifest then the yogi's body becomes purified by the fire of yoga and he is free from
illness, old age and death." This phenomenon is possible when the soul reaches enlightenment
while the body and mind are still intact, an extreme rarity, and can only be achieved upon the highest
most dedication, meditation and consciousness. [citation needed]
Another view of immortality is traced to the Vedic tradition by the interpretation of Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi:
That man indeed whom these (contacts)
do not disturb, who is even-minded in
pleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fit
for immortality, O best of men.[36]
To Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the verse means, "Once a man has become established in the
understanding of the permanent reality of life, his mind rises above the influence of pleasure and
pain. Such an unshakable man passes beyond the influence of death and in the permanent phase of
life: he attains eternal life ... A man established in the understanding of the unlimited abundance of
absolute existence is naturally free from existence of the relative order. This is what gives him the
status of immortal life."[36]
An Indian saint known as Vallalar claimed to have achieved immortality before disappearing forever
from a locked room in 1874.[37][38]

Many Indian fables and tales include instances of metempsychosisthe ability to jump into another
bodyperformed by advanced Yogis in order to live a longer life.[citation needed]

Judaism[edit]
This article relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by
adding secondary or tertiary sources. (June 2015)
The traditional concept of an immaterial and immortal soul distinct from the body was not found
in Judaism before the Babylonian Exile, but developed as a result of interaction
with Persian and Hellenistic philosophies. Accordingly, the Hebrew word nephesh, although
translated as "soul" in some older English Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being". [citation
needed]
Nephesh was rendered in the Septuagint as (psch), the Greek word for soul.[citation needed]
The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" (nephesh) in English language Bibles refers to a
living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul.[39] In the New Testament, the Greek
word traditionally translated "soul" () has substantially the same meaning as the Hebrew,
without reference to an immortal soul.[40] Soul may refer to the whole person, the self: three
thousand souls were converted in Acts 2:41 (see Acts 3:23).
The Hebrew Bible speaks about Sheol (), originally a synonym of the grave-the repository of the
dead or the cessation of existence until the Resurrection. This doctrine of resurrection is mentioned
explicitly only in Daniel 12:14 although it may be implied in several other texts. New theories arose
concerning Sheol during the intertestamental literature.
The views about immortality in Judaism is perhaps best exemplified by the various references to this
in Second Temple Period. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees,
according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[41] Resurrection of the dead also
appears in detail in the extra-canonical books ofEnoch,[42] and in Apocalypse of Baruch.[43] According
to the British scholar in ancient Judaism Philip R. Davies, there is little or no clear reference
either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead in the Dead Sea scrolls texts.
[44]
Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife,
[45]
but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees. The New Testament claims that the
Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.
[46]
According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was
immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and pass into other bodies, while the
souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment. [47] Jubilees seems to refer to the resurrection of
the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul. [48]
Rabbinic Judaism claims that the righteous dead will be resurrected in the Messianic age with the
coming of the messiah. They will then be granted immortality in a perfect world. The wicked dead, on
the other hand, will not be resurrected at all. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife.
The Tanakh is not specific about the afterlife, so there are wide differences in views and explanations
among believers.[citation needed]

Rastafarianism[edit]
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section
by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (June 2015)
Rastafarians believe in physical immortality as a part of their religious doctrines. They believe that
after God has called the Day of Judgment they will go to what they describe asMount Zion in Africa
to live in freedom forever. They avoid the term "everlasting life" and deliberately use "ever-living"
instead.

Taoism[edit]
See also: Chinese alchemy, Taoism and death and Xian (Taoism)

It is repeatedly stated in Lshi Chunqiu that death is unavoidable.[49] Henri Maspero noted that many
scholarly works frame Taoism as a school of thought focused on the quest for immortality.[50] Isabelle
Robinet asserts that Taoism is better understood as a way of life than as a religion, and that its
adherents do not approach or view Taoism the way non-Taoist historians have done. [51] In the
Tractate of Actions and their Retributions, a traditional teaching, spiritual immortality can be
rewarded to people who do a certain amount of good deeds and live a simple, pure life. A list of good
deeds and sins are tallied to determine whether or not a mortal is worthy. Spiritual immortality in this
definition allows the soul to leave the earthly realms of afterlife and go to pure realms in the Taoist
cosmology.[52]

Zoroastrianism[edit]
Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body
remains as an empty shell. Souls would go to either heaven or hell; these concepts of the afterlife in
Zoroastrianism may have influenced Abrahamic religions. The word immortal is driven from the
month "Amurdad", meaning "deathless" in Persian, in the Iranian calendar (near the end of July).
The month of Amurdad or Ameretat is celebrated in Persian culture as ancient Persians believed the
"Angel of Immortality" won over the "Angel of Death" in this month. [53]

Ethics of immortality[edit]
See also Life extension Ethics and politics of life extension
The possibility of clinical immortality raises a host of medical, philosophical, and religious issues and
ethical questions. These include persistent vegetative states, the nature of personality over time,
technology to mimic or copy the mind or its processes, social and economic disparities created
by longevity, and survival of the heat death of the universe.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the first literary works, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to
become immortal.[7]

Undesirability of immortality[edit]
Physical immortality has also been imagined as a form of eternal torment, as in Mary Shelley's short
story "The Mortal Immortal", the protagonist of which witnesses everyone he cares about dying
around him. Jorge Luis Borges explored the idea that life gets its meaning from death in the short
story "The Immortal"; an entire society having achieved immortality, they found time becoming
infinite, and so found no motivation for any action. In his book "Thursday's Fictions", and the stage
and film adaptations of it, Richard James Allen tells the story of a woman named Thursday who tries
to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to get a form of eternal life. At the end of this fantastical tale, her
son, Wednesday, who has witnessed the havoc his mother's quest has caused, forgoes the
opportunity for immortality when it is offered to him.[54] Likewise, the novel Tuck Everlasting depicts
immortality as "falling off the wheel of life" and is viewed as a curse as opposed to a blessing.

Politics[edit]
Although scientists state that radical life extension, delaying and stopping aging are achievable,
[55]
there are still no international or national programs focused on stopping aging or on radical life
extension. In 2012 in Russia, and then in the United States, Israel and the Netherlands, proimmortality political parties were launched. They aimed to provide political support to anti-aging and
radical life extension research and technologies and at the same time transition to the next step,
radical life extension, life without aging, and finally, immortality and aim to make possible access to
such technologies to most currently living people.[56]

Symbols[edit]

The ankh

There are numerous symbols representing immortality. The ankh is an Egyptian symbol of life that
holds connotations of immortality when depicted in the hands of the gods and pharaohs, who were
seen as having control over the journey of life. The Mbius strip in the shape of a trefoil knot is
another symbol of immortality. Most symbolic representations of infinity or the life cycle are often
used to represent immortality depending on the context they are placed in. Other examples include
the Ouroboros, the Chinese fungus of longevity, the ten kanji, the phoenix, the peacock in
Christianity,[57] and the colors amaranth (inWestern culture) and peach (in Chinese culture).

Fiction[edit]
Main article: Immortality in fiction
Immortal species abound in fiction, especially in fantasy literature.

See also[edit]

Ambrosia

Amrita

Bioethics

Biogerontology

Chiranjivi

Crown of Immortality

Dyson's eternal intelligence

Eternal youth

Ghost

Immortal DNA strand hypothesis

Immortalist Society

Internal alchemy

Lich

List of people claimed to be immortal in myth and legend

Methuselah Mouse Prize

Molecular nanotechnology

Negligible senescence

Tipler's Omega Point

Organlegging

Posthuman

Queen Mother of the West

Rejuvenation (aging)

Simulated reality

Suspended animation

Nikola Tesla

Undead

Vampire

Xian (Taoism)

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Marshall Fredericks (2003). "GCVM History and Mission". Greater Cleveland
Veteran's Memorial, Inc. Retrieved 2009-01-14.

2.

Jump up^ "immortality: definition of immortality in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)".
Retrieved 20 April 2015.

3.

^ Jump up to:a b Gilbert, Scott F. (2006). "Cheating Death: The Immortal Life Cycle of
Turritopsis". Retrieved 2009-06-14.

4.

Jump up^ de Grey, Aubrey; Rae, Michael (September 2007). Ending Aging: The
Rejuvenation Breakthroughs that Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime. New York, New
York: St. Martin's Press. p. 416. ISBN 0-312-36706-6.

5.

Jump up^ Kurzweil, Raymond (2005). The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend
Biology. Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-03384-7.

6.

Jump up^ Hayflick, L (2007). "Biological Aging is No Longer an Unsolved

Problem" (PDF). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1196/annals.1395.001.

7.

^ Jump up to:a b Joel Garreau (October 31, 2007). "The Invincible Man". The Washington Post:
C01.

8.

Jump up^ Bernstein C, Bernstein H. (1991) Aging, Sex, and DNA Repair. Academic Press,
San Diego. ISBN 0120928604 ISBN 978-0120928606

9.

Jump up^ "Classification of diseases functioning and disability".

10.

Jump up^ Walker, Peter (1991). International Search and Rescue Teams, A League
Discussion Paper. Geneva: League of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

11.

Jump up^ Lin Kah Wai (18 April 2004). "Telomeres, Telomerase, and Tumorigenesis -- A
Review". MedGenMed 6 (3): 19. PMC 1435592. PMID 15520642.

12.

Jump up^ Scott F. Gilbert (March 5, 2003). "Cheating Death: The Immortal Life Cycle
ofTurritopsis". Developmental Biology, 8th edition. Retrieved 2007-04-02.

13.

Jump up^ "'Immortal' jellyfish swarming across the world". London: Telegraph Media Group.
January 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-14.

14.

Jump up^ "Aging and Death in an Organism That Reproduces by Morphologically Symmetric
Division" (PDF).

15.

Jump up^ "Bacteria Death Reduces Human Hopes of Immortality". New Scientist magazine,
issue 2485, page 19. February 5, 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-02.

16.

Jump up^ Gilberson, Lance, Zoology Lab Manual, 4th edition. Primis Custom Publishing.
1999.

17.

Jump up^ Clark, W.R. 1999. A Means to an End: The biological basis of aging and
death. New York: Oxford University Press. [1] About telomeres and programmed cell death.

18.

Jump up^ Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Ch. 69, Cancer cell biology and
angiogenesis, Robert G. Fenton and Dan L. Longo, p. 454.

19.

Jump up^ Williams, G.C. 1957. Pleiotropy, natural selection and the evolution of
senescence.Evolution, 11:398-411. [2] Paper in which Williams describes his theory of antagonistic
pleiotropy.

20.

Jump up^ Kirkwood, T.B.L. 1977. Evolution of aging. Nature, 270: 301-304. [3] Origin of the
disposable soma theory.

21.
22.

Jump up^ "Resveratrol may increase life span". Phytochemicals.info. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
Jump up^ ":: compound resveratrol may turn off a protein that guards cancer cells from
cancer-fighting therapies". Wordpress.rudramani.com. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2010-11-04.

23.

Jump up^ MacRae, Fiona (November 20, 2008). "Scientists are a step closer to creating
'elixir of life'". Daily Mail (London).

24.

Jump up^ Alleyne, Richard (November 20, 2008). "Scientists take a step closer to an elixir of
youth". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved May 5, 2010.

25.

Jump up^ Robert A. Freitas Jr., Microbivores: Artificial Mechanical Phagocytes using Digest
and Discharge Protocol, self-published, 2001 [4]

26.

Jump up^ Anders, Sandberg; Nick, Bostrm (2008). Whole Brain Emulation: A
Roadmap (PDF). Technical Report #20083. Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University. Retrieved5
April 2009. The basic idea is to take a particular brain, scan its structure in detail, and construct a
software model of it that is so faithful to the original that, when run on appropriate hardware, it will
behave in essentially the same way as the original brain.

27.

Jump up^ Miconi T. Evolution and complexity: the double-edged sword. Artif Life. 2008
14(3:325-44

28.

Jump up^ "retrieved 23 October 2010". Elpistheory.info. Retrieved 2010-11-04.

29.

Jump up^ "retrieved 23 October 2010". Accelerationwatch.com. Retrieved 2010-11-04.

30.

Jump up^ Adler, Mortimer J., ed. et al. (1952). The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books
of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica. p. 788.

31.

Jump up^ Dag istein Endsj. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of
Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009; cf. Dag istein Endsj Immortal Bodies, Before
Christ. Bodily Continuity in Ancient Greece and 1 Corinthians in Journal for the Study of the New
Testament 30 (2008):417-36.

32.

Jump up^ Dag istein Endsj. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of
Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:47-104.

33.

Jump up^ Dag istein Endsj. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of
Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:54-64; 100.

34.

Jump up^ Adler, Mortimer J., ed. et al. (1952). The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books
of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica. p. 784.

35.

Jump up^ Van Biema, David (February 7, 2008). "Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says
Bishop ". Time. Retrieved May 5, 2010.

36.

^ Jump up to:a b Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita, a New Translation and
Commentary, Chapter 1-6. Penguin Books, 1969, pp 94-95 (v 15)

37.

Jump up^ "vallalar.org". vallalar.org. 2010-07-07. Retrieved 2010-11-04.[unreliable source?]

38.

Jump up^ Adam Schroeder. In the Fabled East: A Novel. D & M Publishers. p. 174.

39.

Jump up^ "Even as we are conscious of the broad and very common biblical usage of the
term "soul," we must be clear that scripture does not present even a rudimentarily developed theology
of the soul. The creation narrative is clear that all life originates with God. Yet the Hebrew scripture
offers no specific understanding of the origin of individual souls, of when and how they become
attached to specific bodies, or of their potential existence, apart from the body, after death. The reason

for this is that, as we noted at the beginning, the Hebrew Bible does not present a theory of the soul
developed much beyond the simple concept of a force associated with respiration, hence, a lifeforce.", Avery-Peck, "Soul", in Neusner, et al. (eds.), "The Encyclopedia of Judaism", p. 1343 (2000)
40.

Jump up^ . In the nt, soul retains its basic Hebrew field of meaning. Soul refers to ones life:
Herod sought Jesus soul (Matt. 2:20); one might save a soul or take it (Mark 3:4). Death occurs when
God requires your soul (Luke 12:20). Missing or empty |title= (help)

41.

Jump up^ 2 Maccabees 7.11, 7.28.

42.

Jump up^ 1 Enoch 61.5, 61.2.

43.

Jump up^ 2 Baruch 50.2, 51.5

44.

Jump up^ Philip R. Davies. Death, Resurrection and Life After Death in the Qumran Scrolls
in Alan J. Avery-Peck & Jacob Neusner (eds.) Judaism in Late Antiquity: Part Four: Death, Life-AfterDeath, Resurrection, and the World-To-Come in the Judaisms of Antiquity.Leiden 2000:209.

45.

Jump up^ Josephus Antiquities 18.16; Matthew 22.23; Mark 12.18; Luke 20.27; Acta 23.8.

46.

Jump up^ Acta 23.8.

47.

Jump up^ Josephus Jewish War 2.8.14; cf. Antiquities 8.14-15.

48.

Jump up^ Jubilees 23.31

49.

Jump up^ Creel, Herrlee G. (1982). What is Taoism? : and other studies in Chinese cultural
history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 17. ISBN 0226120473.

50.

Jump up^ Maspero, Henri. Translated by Frank A. Kierman, Jr. Taoism and Chinese Religion
(University of Massachusetts Press, 1981), p. 211.

51.

Jump up^ Robinet, Isabelle. Taoism: Growth of a Religion (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1997 [original French 1992]), p. 34.

52.

Jump up^ Translated by Legge, James. The Texts of Taoism. 1962, Dover Press. NY.

53.

Jump up^ Hoshang, Dr. Bhadha. http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/topi33.html

54.

55.

Jump up^ "Thursday's Fictions - Richard James Allen - Poems by book - Australian Poetry
Library". Retrieved 20 April 2015.
Jump up^ "Scientists' Open Letter on Aging". Retrieved 20 April 2015.

56.

Jump up^ "A Single-Issue Political Party for Longevity Science". Fight Aging!. Retrieved 20
April2015.

57.

Jump up^ Wilson, Ralph F. "Peacock as an Ancient Christian Symbol of Eternal Life". Jesus
Walk Bible Study Series. Retrieved January 18, 2011.

Further reading[edit]

Allen, Richard James (1999). Thursday's Fictions. Wollongong: Five Islands Press. ISBN 086418-596-0.

Alexander, Brian (2003). Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion. Basic
Books. ISBN 0-7382-0761-6.

Bolonkin, Alexander (2010). Rapture: Human Immortality and Electronic Civilization. Publish
America. ISBN 978-1-4489-3367-9.

Bova, Ben (2000). Immortality: How Science Is Extending Your Life Span-and Changing the
World. Avon: New York. ISBN 0-380-79318-0.

Cave, Stephen (2012). Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How it Drives Civilization.
Crown. ISBN 0-307-88491-0.

Cullmann, Oscar (1955). Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?. Archived
from the original on 2009-10-26.

Endsj, Dag istein (2009). Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-230-61729-8.

Endsj, Dag istein (2008). Immortal Bodies, Before Christ. Bodily Continuity in Ancient
Greece and 1 Corinthians in Journal for the Study of the New Testament 30 (2008):417-36.

Edwards, Paul (1997). Immortality. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-130-0.

Elixxir (2001). The Immortalist Manifesto: Stay Young & Save the World. Authorhouse
Books. ISBN 0-7596-5339-9.
Freitas Jr., Robert A. (2002). "Death is an Outrage". Retrieved 2008-02-14.

de Grey, Aubrey; Rae, Michael (September 2007). Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation
Breakthroughs that Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime. New York, New York: St.
Martin's Press. p. 416. ISBN 0-312-36706-6.

Hall, Stephen S. (2003). Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life
Extension. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-09524-1.

Immortality Institute (2004). The Scientific Conquest Of Death. Libros En Red. ISBN 987561-135-2.

Perry, R. Michael (2000). Forever For All: Moral philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific
Prospects for Immortality. New York: Universal Publishers: New York: Universal
Publishers. ISBN 1-58112-724-3.

Pickover, Clifford (2007). A Beginner's Guide to Immortality: Extraordinary People, Alien

Brains, and Quantum Resurrection. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-984-1.

Rohde, Erwin (1925). Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks.
New York: Harper & Row.
Salmond, Stewart (1903). The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (PDF).
West, Michael D. (2003). The Immortal Cell: One Scientist's Quest to Solve the Mystery of
Human Aging. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50928-6.