Becoming Immortal

1. Becoming Immortal * *:Shostak, S., Becoming Immortal: Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Therapy. Albany: SUNY Press; 2002. or why we must change!

2. Two good reasons and one compelling one. Why must we change? and why in heaven's name should we become immortal? • Death is a waste! • Life should be sustained! Instead of endless cycles of birth and death, there should be a ‘few good species’ (including ours) with individuals that live forever! The Earth is becoming uninhabitable! We must change if only to preserve humanity!

3. The Earth is becoming uninhabitable! Is the sky falling? In fact, Earth seems to be threatened from several quarters.

4. Death from the sky and from volcanoes odds 10 to 1 in favor of impact with a massive asteroid Alvarez, L. W., W. Alvarez, F. Asaro, and H. V. Michel, Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Science, 208:1093–1108; 1980. and 7 to 1 in favor of death from volcanoes Coutillot, V., Evolutionary Catastrophes: Translated by Joe McClinton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1999. See pp. 140–142.

5. better odds: death from ourselves! "Humans are injecting the same potentially toxic gases into the atmosphere at rates … comparable to those that may have been produced by an impact or the laying down of a giant lava flood." Coutillot, V., Evolutionary Catastrophes: Translated by Joe McClinton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1999. pg. 144.

6. Ultimately, we have no choice! Heating and expansion of the Sun will “wipe out the entire biosphere.” Tipler, E. F., The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. New York: Doubleday; 1994. pg. 18. the Sun will prove the irresistible foe of life on Earth heat death will be irreversible

7. If humanity is to survive, we must find another home and prepare ourselves to evacuate Earth and we barely have enough time!

8. Marsis unsuitable except for research • When Earth is uninhabitable, Mars will not be far behind. • Mars is too small to accommodate more than a small proportion of the Earth's population. • The Martian atmosphere can not be terraformed for long-term occupation. Mars photographed from NASA’s Galileo

9. Three stage approach • Use robots to find solar systems suitable for human occupation. • Begin the long process of terraforming—creating a suitable biosphere—new 'home.' • Engineer human beings for evacuation and life in the new 'home.'

10. but space flight will probably take thousands of years even at velocities of one tenth the speed of light! Good idea

11. What are we to do? Clearly, we must prepare ourselves to live virtually forever if we are to make space flights of this duration! Of course Reproduction must be suspended on extended space flight! Fortunately, both can be arranged.

12. Let me tell you how we can thwart death, bring human beings to the plateau of permanence, prepare for a future in space and escape our doomed planet by immortalizing human beings!

13. How can human beings be immortalized? several possibilities: 1) immortalize through genetic engineering 2) immortalize through cloning 3) immortalize by combining cloning with stem-cell therapy

14. How can human beings be immortalized? several possibilities: 1) immortalize through genetic engineering “Thus, it appears that in these very long-lived mutants, the degradation of all (or most) vital processes can be slowed down by affecting only very few genes at a time.” Hekimi, S. & L. Guarente, Science, 299: 1351; 2003. “[M]ost genetic manipulations that extend lifespan cause major side effects…” Longo, V. D. and C. E. Finch, Science, 299: 1342; 2003

15. How can human beings be immortalized? 2) immortalize through cloning “[M]ost life scientist … are at a loss as to how to judge the import of human cloning, for example, a method through which the body could conceivably be reconfigured for the better.”Gins, M. and Arakawa, Architectural Body. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press; 2002. pg. xvii. “The senior law lord … [told] Parliament, ‘An embryo created by in vitro fertilization and one created by cell nuclear replacement are very similar organisms.’”Stem Cell Research News, March 14, 2003, pg. 1. “A clone is supposed to be a facsimile of the nuclear-donor, but a human being, clone or not, is inevitably its own person… A personality is … unlikely to be transferred to the new body by a mere nucleus.” Shostak, S., Becoming Immortal. Albany: SUNY Press; 2002, pg. 12. A clone is not an extension of a person! It is a person.

16. Which brings us to how to immortalize by combining cloning and stem-cell therapy

17. I’ll begin by showing you human life as it is and go on to show it as it could be.

18. Somatic [body] lines body and stem cells germ cells Germ line The way things are Development is the change in organisms leading to increased complexity. Individual organisms are made of body and stem cells and their products. The organism’s body cells are developed from and maintained by stem cells. Death is the end of an organism’s lifetime. individual eggs & sperm occupies gonads (ovary or testis) between generations

19. immortal Organisms develop in the first part of their lifetime. Stem cells make us the complex organisms we are in the course of development. Stem cells bring us to the height of complexity at pubescence and maintain us as well as they can into adulthood, preadolescence adult birth senescence complexity but they cannot keep up the pace when sex competes with maintenance. fetus source of stem cells and of embryo embryo inner cell mass = ICM implantation blastocyst blastomeres death fertilized egg A lifetime The trick for becoming immortal is eliminating sex in favor of maintenance by stem cells!

20. Actually, shouldn‘t be too difficult to promote maintenance by getting additional stem cells, since they are readily available in blastocysts. mutate, add genes or take away genes So let’s give ourselves a permanent source of additional stem cells by providing ourselves with an internal blastocyst.

21. develop blastocyst Culture blastomeres separate blastomeres Culture blastomeres develop blastocyst Making clones (the easy way) That’s where cloning comes in: only our cloned blastocyst would be immunologically compatible with us throughout our lifetime. but convert other blastocysts to permanent source of stem cells: the ‘generator.’ Make an individual from one blastocyt by transfer to prenatal foster mother,

22. separate clones Turning a blastocyst clone into a 'generator' of stem cells and eliminating sexual development simultaneously! Getting rid of the germ line offers several advantages: Turn second clone into ‘generator’ of future stem cells It will promote immortality itself “…germ line and somatic gonad act antagonistically to inhibit and promote longevity.”Tatar, M., et al., , Science, 299: 1346; 2003. Allow one clone to develop into future individual prevent reproduction: reproduction by immortals would result in an intolerable excess of population. produce immortals able to endure prolonged space travel. Graft ‘generator’ to embryo at site of developing gonad thereby eliminating possibility for producing egg or sperm!

23. Somatic lines immortal | | | Germ line permanent source of recycling stem cells! The way they could by cashing in on biotechnology! The way things are individual Replace source of with ‘generator’ eggs & sperm

24. Organisms are immortalized at peak of immortal * no down side preadolescence As a result of replacing sex cells with the stem cells… complexity A lifetime Immortals are permanently young!

25. enter the immortals! • permanent prepubescence:caught at peak of creativity and athletic prowess sex cells replaced by stem cells:sterile individuals equipped with endless source of stem cells stem cells constantly monitoring and renewing all organs and tissues:permanent good health and well being

26. Alternatively we might immortalize ourselves as robo/satellites? "Soon, reproduction will consist of replicating minds by multiplying them into new robotic systems—a much more powerful form of evolutionary success. But the greatest breakout to a dramatically new level of evolution will be the multiplication of minds into spacefaring robots that move into the cosmos, a form of reproductive success far beyond the scope that earthbound genes can hope to match."Gregory S. Paul & Earl CoxBeyond Humanity: CyberEvolution and Future Minds. Rockland, MA: Charles River Media; 1996. pg. 375.

27. Cyber/nanotechnology and cloning give you a choice. "When the overall technology base is so sophisticated and knowledgeable that it can stop people from aging, suffering, and disease, it is also likely that enough will be known to make machines that think, and then put peoples' minds into them. This is because both processes will require a similar sophisticated knowledge of how to manipulate matter at the molecular level."Gregory S. Paul & Earl CoxBeyond Humanity: CyberEvolution and Future Minds. Rockland, MA: Charles River Media; 1996. pg. 333.

28. the choice

29. is yours!

30. personal immortality,

31. robotic immortality,

32. or extinction?

33. With gratitude toMonty Python’s The Meaning of Life. MCA A Universal Release; (1983) 1996. Shostak, S., Becoming Immortal: Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Therapy. Albany: SUNY Press; 2002. But come what may, we MUST change!

34. As a bonus, prepubescent individuals will not suffer from one of the most daunting problems faced by adults traveling weightless in space: loss of muscle and bone mass due to reduced production of pituitary growth hormone because prepubescent individuals produce larger amounts of the hormone than adults! Which is not to say that growth hormone does not present other problems!