Can humans become Immortal?

Best selling author Haruki Murakami famously quotes that

“Death is not the opposite of life, but part of it”

Death is an eventuality for any living organism. If the predators, diseases or the elements of nature don't get to you, then senescence will surely do. "Senescence" is the fancy term for the gradual deterioration of normal function. At some point, the deterioration is so significant that your body can no more nullify the external effects finally resulting in ailments and death

For milleniums now, mankind has been obsessed with immortality. From starting as a mere hunter-gatherer to being the apex species on the planet, humans have conquered impossible challenges and rewritten history in rather a brief span of time. Aided with inquisitive and clever minds, mankind chalked out a never-ending journey of understanding, manoeuvering, controlling and conquering the world. What started as an ape, sculpting stone tools has culminated into a species that invented wheels, dug up metals, made sophisticated weapons, discovered cures, eliminated diseases and even overcame the greatest of oddities - breaching space. But none of them has plagued the human mind as that of the quest for immortality

The yearning to prolong our lives, to be immortals, to enjoy youth forever culminated into plea of legends, mythologies, fables and tales. Tales that talked about sentinel beings walking the earth, fighting battles and basking with forever youth and glory. Or tales that talked about humans blessed by a divinity who live in hiding and save us from catastrophes. Or tales about holy grails and fountains of youth that promised perpetual life. Each of them with its own twists and turns. Each alluring us, driving us with ephemeral glee. Each of them solacing our bleak prospects with rosy hopes. Yet they were tales madeup of magic dust in the crannies of our thoughts. Each a figment of our imagination and nothing more

But is immortality just a fiction of our minds?

It's true that every organism that had spawned to life had met its end at some point in time. Some meet their end very early like Mayfly with a life span of 24 hours and some very late like the Greenland shark with an approximate lifespan of 300 years. The inevitability of death is still much of reality but much more questionable now than before.

As we - the humans progress to learn more about our world, we keep finding more and more proof that the law of death is not as universal as it was believed to be

For instance, The Turritopsis dohrnii or the immortal jellyfish can reverse its ageing by reverting from full-grown adults to polyp stage when faced with an external threat such as predators, damage or lack of food. And it can repeat this lifecycle any number of times rendering it biologically immortal

The Pando is another example. It is a colony of Aspen trees that are clones of each other. Hence all the trees can be considered as a single organism rendering it the largest living thing on earth on the basis of weight. While the Pando is not biologically immortal, it has been estimated to be a staggering 80,000 years old which in comparison with our lifetime can be assumed as immortals

A quahog clam retrieved from the Iceland coast was estimated to be 507 years old until the researchers who found it controversially caused its demise while trying to haul it back to land. While it was really a sad affair, the clam if left untouched could have lived for many more years, bordering on the prospect of prolonged life

The examples, as can be seen, are numerous. And these have served to kindle the fire in humans to look deeper. The Human Genome Project (HGP) was one such initiative that aimed at identifying the genes and mapping the sequence of the chemical bases that made up the human DNA. The project demanded immense collaboration and generous funding. And it took 13 long years to decode the DNA but it was worth every effort

Decoding the human DNA opened up a new possibility. It led humankind to realize how similar the code of life(DNA) is similar to software. A code in software keeps its running and functioning Similarly, DNA is nothing but a code of neatly arranged genomes with unstated rules that decide the longevity of a creature.

This has led many prominent researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs to opine that life could be engineered better. Akin to a properly engineered software that could run for eternity, life too can be prolonged for eternity by timely correction of DNA and removing undesired mutations.

Engineering the DNA does not stop just there. It opens up endless prospects. It gives humans the hands of God to devise a better human even before he or she is born. It gives humans the tools to eradicate disorders such as autism or dyslexia. It gives us the tools to cure Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer's or even in early detection and complete eradication. The opportunities are of course only limited by our imaginations.

This is exactly why a plethora of investors are pouring money into startups that seek to end ageing. Even the famed tech giant Googled has backed “Calico” - a life science startup that seeks to combat ageing and associated diseases.

And in 2021, as I write this, 31 startups are working to end ageing and ensure longevity. You can click here to know more about them

But how close are we to achieving the breakthrough? We don’t have an answer. It may be in a few years, few decades or in few centuries. No one knows for sure.

But the takeaway is that the wheels are set in motion and it is no more a question of “if” but “when”. And only time holds the answer…

Until then let's enjoy our mortal lives!