20.10.2013 Can humans live forever?
Though advances in medicine and existing technology do promise ‘longevity’, immortality will only be a distant dream at best
By Syed Mansoor Hussain
Immortality has been the ‘holy grail’ of medical thought over millennia. However, humans cannot live forever and it is for this reason that religion is so popular. Frankly as a Muslim, all I can really say about this issue is that be a good Muslim, follow the commandments of our faith and then hope for the best in the life hereafter. But even so in our lives today, physical immortality is still something that science is sort of looking for.
Perhaps the nearest thing to immortality is the concept of ‘cloning’. Cloning is the creation/production of an animal (human?) that is identical to its ‘genetic’ parent. To produce such an offspring, the cells from the parent are used to create a copy. The most famous cloned mammal was Dolly, the sheep who was born after cloning in 1996 and died after only six years from multiple problems. So far human cloning is not allowed, but it is quite possible that some attempts have been made and were not successful enough to be publicised. But in science fiction, cloning is a popular topic.
I remember reading about a ‘maharaja’ in the days of the ‘Raj’ who would always buy two Rolls Royce cars, one to drive and one that could be cannibalised for ‘spare parts’ when needed. Of course getting new spare parts from England in those days took time. That reminds me of the movie, “The Island”. This movie is based on the idea that the ‘rich and the famous’ invest in genetically identical clones that are kept on an island, available for the transplantation of organs for the sick ‘originals’.
Besides cloning, the other area that tremendously excites people interesting in immortality is ‘stem cells’. These cells have the capacity to differentiate into almost any organ and when such an organ is developed it does not produce ‘rejection’ when implanted into a human. The major use of stem cell technology at this time is to augment failing organs. As we stand today even if cloning and stem cells can eventually develop an entire human being, we will still have major problems.
It is unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, to clone ‘us’ from when we are in the prime of our lives and put the clone in the ‘bank’ for a time when our present body falls apart and then transfer ourselves into the clone ad infinitum. The first major problem with cloning is that many, if not all, major ‘non-acquired’ diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune disease probably have some genetic basis. As such any clone will also ‘inherit’ that tendency for such disease and that was probably what did Dolly in at the age of only six.
But even if we can detect and fix all genetic tendencies for disease, the battle for a perfect human clone is not over. The next major problem is that of the ‘mind’. We as people are, besides our bodies, also made up of memories, experience and emotions that define us as humans and unless we can transfer our minds to the ‘clones’ we will never be able to produce another ‘us’. And even the most optimistic predictions at this time do not foresee such a development. And if we cannot ‘transfer’ the mind to a clone, immortality will only be a distant dream at best.
But advances in medicine and existing technology do promise ‘longevity’. As it is the average human life span in the ‘advanced’ countries is approaching the mid and high ‘eighties’. To put this in perspective, in 1965 the Medicare Act was passed in the US that provides government medical insurance for all Americans after the age of sixty five. At that time, the average life expectancy of an American citizen was in the high sixties. The idea was to provide ‘old’ people with healthcare over the last few years of their life. But then the ‘law of unintended consequences’ came into effect.
Because of government support of healthcare, there was a tremendous improvement in medical care and research into diseases of the elderly funded by the government and within a generation the life expectancy was pushed by a couple of decades. That is one of the major reasons that today the entire medicare system in the US is under tremendous financial strain. As it is said in the US only half in jest, sixty is now the new forty.
Clearly if a person escapes what I called ‘premature death’ in a previous article, eats well, exercises a lot, avoids bad habits, stays happy and seeks timely medical help then such a person could live well into their eighties or even nineties and enjoy good health along the way. And if they do develop problems, transplants both organic and mechanical can prolong life. The most advanced concept in such a machine-human interface is the ‘cyborg’.
Here again science fiction is full of such beings but even in real life we are seeing human bodies being augmented by mechanical devices and replacements. Cardiac pacemakers and artificial joints are already an everyday reality, but newer innovations are helping the blind to see, the deaf to hear and even the paralysed to walk. One of the most exciting areas of research and development is the interface where the brain can directly control a mechanical extension like a mechanical limb.
Based upon the way humans are living longer, it is predicted that soon there will be a lot of people living into their nineties and even beyond. But that brings us to two important problems. First, of course, is that with advancing age many people start losing their physical strength and often require what is euphemistically called ‘assisted living’. In other words even without being sick, the elderly require physical assistance to perform ordinary acts of life. This will place a tremendous strain not only on the families and care givers of such people but also place an increasing financial burden on society.
The other problem is the pesky brain. As populations get older, brain degeneration often sets in and conditions like Alzheimer’s disease become prevalent. So far medical research has been unable to come with any treatment for this disease or even any way to slow it down. The best that has been accomplished is earlier detection. So what seems to be happening is that even if we live longer, the chances are that we just might end up as living organisms incapable of intellectual function. Not all that pleasant an idea.
So, there is always a market of pseudo scientific clinics that offer ‘rejuvenation therapy’. The rich who wish to live longer and find their lost youth are attracted to such establishments. After paying often exorbitant sums of money, they are provided with treatments of dubious scientific value, based on stem cells or other such stuff. Also, some of the very rich are supporting research into methods that will prolong life. So the search for immortality goes on and just as ancient ‘Alchemy’ with similar aims gave us chemistry, perhaps such modern research will also yield real scientific breakthroughs.
The writer is former professor and Chairman Department of Cardiac Surgery, KEMU/Mayo Hospital, Lahore: smhmbbs70@yahoo.com