Haileybury Gazette | Hope | Issue 9

HUMAN IMMORTALITY IS
CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
BY ALIYA B
FEATURE
When we hear the words ‘human immortality’ we often tend to scoff and dismiss it as
fantasy. After all, most of us are still trying to accept death as the inevitable, inescapable
destination. We are told to live life to the fullest, simply owing to the belief that our time on
Earth is limited. Some spend their whole lives trying to be better people, all out of fear of
what might await us after death. But what if the saying ‘death is the only certainty’ could in
itself be utterly false? Science and technology have been progressing at such an immense
rate that what once could have only been imagined in the wildest dreams, could very soon
be turned into reality.
Humanity’s obsession
with immortality is hard
to miss. Dating as far back
as 1st century AD, when
people began following
Christianity, a religion that
promised them the existence
of an ‘afterlife’, of a
continuation of some sort. In
the 16th century, Spanish
explorer Ponce de León set out on an expedition to obtain the “Fountain of Youth”.
Then in the 17th century, French writer Charles Perrault introduced ‘Cinderella’ to the
world - yet another story ending in “they lived happily ever after”. One would think that
after centuries of witnessing death, humans would have given up the dream of eternal life.
Yet well into the 21st century we still indulge in fictional novels and movies. We have created
vampires, werewolves, aliens and witches to distract ourselves from our ultimate fear - the
ending of everything and everyone we know. But does it really have to be that way?
Couldn’t there come a time when innovation breaks the laws of nature? According to British
researcher Aubrey De Grey, immortality is as close as 25 years away.
24