Der Traum vom ewigen Leben. Die Biomedizin entschlüsselt das Geheimnis des Alterns.

by Mark Benecke

Can we grow old without dying? Why do we have to grow old at all? In this fascinating book Mark Benecke investigates the biological meaning of life and death and the prospects for extending human longevity, or even achieving immortality. The first section of the book discusses the biological fundamentals of why death exists and what modern biology, especially the biology of genetics, tells us about aging and death. Human life and death, Benecke explains, is shaped by cellular life and death, so he examines the mortality of the normal cell as well as the "immortality" of cancer cells. In the second part Benecke assesses the various ways that we humans cope with a finite life span and the looming certainty of death, including such topics as the link between sport and vitality, the legends of Dracula and the undead, melatonin, vitamin C, and "the French paradox" concerning the link between alcohol consumption and heart disease. The third part looks at the possibility for extending our lives through cloning, organ and brain transplants, live cell therapy (favored by Sir Winston Churchill among others), and deep freezing of humans for reawakening in a future age. Finally, Benecke tells us what we can learn about the prospects for the human race from a study of the earth as a whole-for we can stay healthy only if the earth is healthy. Climate change, overpopulation, population "crashes," Gaia, and the possibilities of future emigration into space are explained and explored. The Dream of Eternal Life concludes with a look at the human genome project and developmental biology, and Benecke sheds light on what this knowledge will mean for us in terms of understanding the nature of human life and our place in the living world. Throughout, Benecke maintains a scientific and skeptical attitude to many of the claims and counterclaims made by countless experts and fellow scientists.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Mark Benecke is a German forensic biologist and medical examiner.

He was formerly married to Lydia Benecke.

Reviews

[Jasmin Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viele aufschlussreiche Details über den Menschen und die Funktion der Zellen. Herr Benecke hat sehr gut recherchiert und erklärt anhand von Beispielen die einzelnen Informationen sehr gut.
Dieses Buch zeigt viele Perspektiven und deren Vor- und Nachteile.
Sehr empfehlenswert, denn es ist verständlich geschrieben und man lernt definitiv etwas dazu.

[Danylo Bilokha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is prolific with ideas, research, and thoughts about life, death, personality, immortality, Earth. To my great relief, it does not have those ideas of "Meaning of the life" (as everybody has its own).

Overall, I found the book very thought-provoking and full of supports of what is happening in terms of life/death/issues of health, near the mortal living, etc around us. I'd recommend reading it regardless of the age, but be sure you're ready to hear that you will and should eventually die.
A life without fear of the death - that is the life of the gods (c) Eleusis, Greek priest.

======

Personally I found, that this book is divided into 3 main pillars:
- Life/Death,
- Nowadays possibilities and problems of eternal life and issues it arises,
- Why should nobody be immortal, and why it does not really matter if our planet will collapse.

Life/Death.
Mr. Mark explains (or takes somebody's ideas) why (evolutionary, biologically speaking) almost every living created has its own timer. Do not overeat, overdrink, regularly exercise, and take everything a bit easier - the recipe for long & happy living.

Possibilities.
I found this part is a bit overfeed with scientific references and not so well structured as it could be. The author collected studies, experiments, ideas that already happened and of the ways how we can drastically extend, improve our living within the given time which everybody has. Mark Benecke raise issues that are discussed all over the world - How Germany nearly officially approved: "When your brain is no longer alive, your internals belong to public", why it's prohibited to clone humans and what's actual cloning means, how entrepreneurship doctors setup clinic in Russia and offered free of fee abortion and then sell embryonic cells to rich.

Why should nobody be immortal?
There are a few ways of achieving immortality: Replacing damaged tissue by growing new; Never get worser then you're right now; Making full copies of yourself. In order to be on the same page, we need to defined immortality together, what it means for us. I am here talking about personal immortality, not human. Thus, in my world, the last option is not immortality. Some can argue.

When you fully copy yourself (the way some living creatures do) you are not introducing any new features in this world, evolutionary speaking. Full stop. Therefore, you're hardly adaptable to a new conditions.
Take the previous idea and put it to use within yourself. If you were immortal, in 150 years you'd probably behave the very same as you are in adulthood (or desperately want to do so, while missing prev days thus having psychological issues).

In the nutshell, living eternal life neither good for a person, nor for humanity. When there would not be new individuals, it's the end, and when nobody dies, there would not be space for everybody. What humans have to strive for is to improve the quality of life within given us years and fight for reasonable consuming of the goods the planet gives us and solving arising issues: overpopulation, pollution.

[Karina · Rating 1 out of 5]

An sich ist die Thematik des Buches wirklich interessant, mich hat es allerdings etwas abgeschreckt. Dies lag aber nicht an Erzählungen über Insekten oder dem Tod, wie man es bei Mark Benecke erwarten könnte, sondern an dem Thema der Biologie. Ich als Laie komme da manchmal einfach nicht mit. Generell erinnert mich das Buch an meine Zeit im Biologieunterricht. Man ließt ein Biologiebuch, dass man nach fünf Sätzen schon nicht mehr versteht. Wenn man fit in der Terminologie von Biologie und ihren Vorgängen ist, hat bestimmt viel Spaß dieses Buch zu lesen und neue Denkanstöße zu bekommen. Ich fand es allerdings sehr ermüdend und habe mich nach der Hälfte entschieden das Buch beiseite zu legen. Dort ist es jetzt über ein halbes Jahr geblieben und ich werde es wohl nicht noch einmal in die Hand nehmen.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will take you on a journey, where your first stop will be looking into human cells. These cells store knowledge - instructions that define their day to day activity and dormant information for the entire living organism, most likely to evolutionary reasons. Interestingly, aging instructions are also stored there - cells have memory about how many times they've been devided.

You'll meet rotifers, tiny organisms that allegedly can ressurect themselves. Is human immortality can be solved by altering our genes so we can become marvel-like heroes, self healing with no aging instructions? 

And, before we wait with a trepidation for scientific breakthrough, can we prolong our lifetime with sport, vitamins and kefir?


Another direction to consider is cyborgisation. If it's difficult to enhance humans on genetic level (if not impossible) would we be at least capable enough to replace our vital organs with more durable material? No wonder there's frozen heads stored for regenerations in private firms vaults waiting for their day to walk this planet (or maybe not even this) again.

In conclusion, if we were to become immortal, how are we planning to solve problems with overpopulation, global warming and lack of resources?

[Pritz Kaltar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr gutes Buch =)
Regt auch sehr zum Nachdenken an.

[Pelangi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr ausführlich und verständlich erklärt, fands super :D