Scientific take on Immortality

"It's a matter of life and death", they say to represent critical situations. Because, for humans, 'Life' and 'Death' are critical concepts. As far as science is concerned, they fall into a controversial category. It's a human tendency to fear death. And as technology is advancing, many scientists believe that one day, 'Immortality', which is now a dream can actually be our reality.

Immortality means being immortal, someone who cannot die. Can this really be possible?

The world's obsession with Immortality is not a modern trend but has its roots way back in history. Several religions have claimed to have 'Immortal Gods'. According to Hindu Mythology, Hanuman, the god of ultimate strength and genius, is immortal and still walks the Earth. It also mentions the presence of  'Amrit' (Elixir), which made our gods immortal. Some stories also allude to a magical mushroom which makes anyone immortal on consumption. Some actually believe, that the 'Elixir of Life' was created in the 13th century by altering the base quality of a substance and a few people have also become immortal by consuming it.

But these are all considered to be 'myths' by scientists. But there are a few groups of scientists who believe that we can 'cheat death' by science. Here's how.

Cryopreservation:

Cryopreservation is a process of preserving any biological construct such as stem cells, organelles,

organs, etc, by freezing them to very low temperatures with the help of cryoprotective and temperature control pieces of equipment. This procedure has become popular in many medical applications like blood transfusion, bone marrow transplantation, in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination.

Many believe that, through cryopreservation, the human brain can be vitrified and preserved along with its memories and thoughts until the time when medical technologies have become advanced enough to reanimate it resulting in all its memories and thoughts coming back. But the renowned neurologists are skeptical about it and say that there is no evidence that a vitrified human brain can be turned on again with all its memories returning.

Nano-Robotics:

Medical researchers are of the opinion that, medical technology is rapidly progressing and there will

be a time when we will be able to design nanorobots that will be injected into the bloodstream of the human body which will be capable of destroying pathogens, healing all the damaged cells and curing certain fatal diseases. This might as well reverse the aging process.

Ray Kurzweil asserts that, in the future, man will live forever. The evolution of medical technology in combination with nanotechnology will add just more than a year to one's overall life expectancy. This will lead to humans living longer than the average age of 60-70 years. There may be a possibility that people live for hundreds of years together.

Mind-Uploaders:

What if you could upload our mind to a machine? With the recent developments in technologies like

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, we will be able to train computers using the pattern of information which represents the nature, thoughts, memories, and feelings of a particular person.

With the world's engaging interest in Holograms and Mixed Realties, these computers can take the form of an interactive hologram with the help of mixed realities which can be directly talked to, as if the person is actually present. So as Ross Geller said, by 2030, "theoretically, you could download your thoughts and memories into this computer and live forever as a machine." All of us had a good laugh at it but it might be our truth in a decade or two.

Quantum Suicide:

Quantum suicide is an interesting yet controversial thought experiment, which theoretically claims that Immortality is possible. This experiment is based on the Copenhagen interpretation and many-worlds interpretation. Copenhagen Interpretation states that a Quantum particle does not exist in one state or another at a particular time but in both the states at the same time. It is only when we try to observe the particle, it is forced to choose one state and hence we think that the particle is in that state at that point in time. On the other hand, many-worlds interpretation states that multiple universes exist in parallel with each other, and each of them represents one of the multiple possibilities that did not occur in the real universe due to randomness. Hence, this theory totally eradicates randomness.

If the above-mentioned theories were true and possible, Let us now discuss Quantum Suicide.

As already mentioned, it is a thought experiment. In this experiment, the observer (for example you) is trapped in a set-up where a bomb is controlled by a quantum particle. We know, that quantum particles can occur in two states. So the set up is designed in such a way that if the quantum particle exists in one of the 2 states, the bomb explodes and you die. Contradictorily, if the quantum particle exists in another state then the bomb does not explode and you live. According to the Copenhagen interpretation, the state of a quantum particle is random and totally depends on the time when you observe it. So suppose, the bomb explodes and you die. But, the moment the bomb explodes, the universe splits into 2 and a parallel universe is created, with the second possibility, where the bomb does not explode and you live. So, if this experiment is continued forever, there will be multiple universes where you live, and actually forever.

Looking at these advancements, one can actually visualize a world where everyone is immortal. It all seems very fascinating and wonderful, living around your loved ones forever. But this would also lead to many problems. With the world population already reaching peaks, we all fear that limited resources are getting used up and soon they won't be available for our future generation. Due to the population increase, we are on the verge of destroying suitable living conditions. We are already short of space, fuel, and food. With just a gradual rise in the population if we are suffering so much, imagine a place where nobody can die. There will be no decrease in the population at all and we all have to live, no matter how bad the living conditions are. This seems to be scary.

So taking these adverse effects into consideration, would you still give a thought on being 'Immortal'? I wouldn't.