The immortality merchants of today—the researchers who propose trying to extend life indefinitely and the billionaires who fund them—are really a modern take on the prophets of old, promising a long life largely free of the fear of encroaching old age and death. Who would have this life? The tiny fraction of the population who could afford it? What would be the ethics of treating or modifying humans to achieve this? And if it becomes widely available, what sort of society would we have? Would we be sleepwalking into a future without considering the potential social, economic, and political
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