From Michael R. Rose's "Immortalist Fictions and Strategies"

Quoting Francis Albert Eley Crew's "The Meaning of Death."

We know that each of us is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, our uniqueness resides. Is it in our genes? The structure of our brains? Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our personality. But our friendships, failures, and passions also shape who we are. The question is: how? Sebastian Seung, a dynamic professor at MIT, is on a quest to discover the biological basis of identity. He believes it lies in the pattern of connections between the brain’s neurons, which change slowly over time as we learn and grow. The connectome, as it’s called, is where our genetic inheritance intersects with our life experience. It’s where nature meets nurture. Seung introduces us to the dedicated researchers who are mapping the brain’s connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental undertaking—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, it could reveal the basis of personality, intelligence, memory, and perhaps even mental disorders. Many scientists speculate that people with anorexia, autism, and schizophrenia are "wired differently," but nobody knows for sure. The brain’s wiring has never been clearly seen. In sparklingly clear prose, Seung reveals the amazing technological advances that will soon help us map connectomes. He also examines the evidence that these maps will someday allow humans to "upload" their minds into computers, achieving a kind of immortality. Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are. Welcome to the future of neuroscience

Man has always longed to live forever. He has continually pushed the frontiers of science in his attempt to reach this goal.Immortality is the ultimate quest for redemption in humanity. Its universal application transcends time, space, and culture appearing in stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh composed some 4000 plus years ago, to novels of the twenty first century

If you are in good health,you can live to 120 years but not much longer,because at age 120 you reach the hayflick limit -maximum times a cell can divide and make new cells.

Telomere, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration, is thought to be the "clock of aging" contained within the human body. Many scientists believe that the limit on lifespan and decline in health is imposed by the gradual shortening of our telomeres that occurs with every cell division. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that a human cell that does not undergo telomere shortening will divide indefinitely and is, by all available measurements, immortal.

Now researchers have discovered the first compound that activates telomerase – an enzyme that lengthens telomeres – in the human body, potentially opening the door to arresting or even reversing the aging process. Human cells can keep living and dividing indefinitely when telomerase is continually present; i.e. the cells become immortal

A natural product derived nutraceutical known as TA-65, was shown to lengthen the shortest telomeres in humans, potentially extending human lifespan and healthspan. Telomerase activation is thought to be a keystone of future regenerative medicine and a necessary condition for clinical immortality. Although TA-65 is probably too weak to completely arrest the aging process, it is the first telomerase activator recognized as safe for human use.

Prof.Barnhardt: There must be alternatives. You must have some technology that could solve our problem.

Klaatu: Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. You lack the will to change.

Prof. Barnhardt: Then help us change.

Klaatu: I cannot change your nature. You treat the world as you treat each other.

Prof.Barnhardt: But every civilization reaches a crisis point eventually.

Klaatu: Most of them don't make it.

Prof. Barnhardt: Yours did. How?

Klaatu: Our sun was dying. We had to evolve in order to survive.

Prof.Barnhardt: So it was only when your world was threated with destruction that you became what you are now.

Klaatu: Yes.

Prof.Barnhardt: Well that's where we are. You say we're on the brink of destruction and you're right. But it's only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment. Don't take it from us, we are close to an answer.

Achieving indefinite life extension is the most important, urgent, and time-sensitive cause ever undertaken in the history of humanity,Regardless of whether we ultimately find that we can achieve indefinite life extension or not, we need to go all the way and see. Our lives- this amazing shot at this incredible mysterious existence- depend on it. We can not afford to sell ourselves short on this. 

sentiments expressed by proponents of the compression of morbidity, though very noble and well meaning, are misleading and harmful to this cause.

A medical concept, when medical research extends lifespans at a rate of more than one year per one year of research.

Through perpetual improvement through the sciences, humans may not ever attain immortality, but we may extend our lives indefinitely.

By reading the works of previous generations, absorbing their knowledge, we can age ourselves mentally.

Because, after he dies, everything he knows will be written down.