Michelle Quinn of East Bay Times reports that some well-known billionaires, including PayPal founder Peter Thiel, are funding cutting-edge research that could result in a longer life. The science behind this is called transhumanism. Transhumanism is an intellectual and cultural movement that believes that through science and technology the human race has the potential to evolve far beyond our current physical and mental limitations. Quinn has the details:
Hang around Silicon Valley for awhile and the obsession with immortality is clear. Techies want to solve that granddaddy of problems: Death.
Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor behind Facebook and co-founder of PayPal, recently made headlines for his reported personal and professional interest in whether blood transfusions from younger people can improve and even extend life for older people.
Ewww. Vampire alert.
Ghoulish and ethically questionable as it may seem, Thiel’s interest in young blood and other life extension gambits shouldn’t come as a surprise.
In the eyes of many technologists, the human body is just another machine that can be tinkered with and tweaked.
