Transhumanism
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Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
I disagree. I must admit Franklin was a brilliant fellow, but his maxim is based on a faulty premise.

We humans have always assumed that death is inevitable simply because nobody has avoided it thus far. But, then again, not many people have striven for immortality. 

Most people adopt the nearest nirvana mythology and explore the concept of death only when compelled by pain, guilt or fear. In some disturbing cases, people welcome death as the will of elusive celestial entities.

Death stands as the ultimate barricade to self-transformation, individual freedom and collective progress, yet our society devotes more attention to assisted suicide and capital punishment than possible immortality.

Life extension research is acceptable, even popular, in modern science; however, research on immortality or cryonics is generally scowled upon as irreverent. Some people view such research as antisocial because of the alleged population problem. But the population is far from the earth's maximum capacity, and space colonization could solve any real population problems. I often wonder why we don't already have colonies on the moon, or on Mars, for that matter. And then I realize the answer: politics.

Humans (especially politicians) have a hard time accepting new scientific discoveries. The Semmelweis reflex, named after Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, refers to the tendency of society to punish, rather than reward, an important scientific discovery. Because Semmelweis discovered the cause of a now-obsolete disease, he was fired from his hospital, expelled from his medical society, denounced, ridiculed, and reduced to abject poverty until he finally died in a madhouse. And let's not forget what happened to Galileo! 

With new developments in cryonics, nanotechnology and other progressive sciences, we must alter our worldview, eradicate the deleterious Semmelweis relflex and discard the false premise that death is inevitable. Overcoming death will be a social and psychological battle as well as scientific and technological.

The notion of immortality may seem far-fetched right now, but consider the attitudes toward the flight of man in ancient times, the exploration of space in the previous century or the process of cloning in the last decade!

As I enjoy the song "Posthuman" by Marilyn Manson, I surf over to a web site about posthumanism, or transhumanism, a relatively new philosophical movement.
According to Max Moore, President of the Extropy Institute (www.extropy.com), transhumanism involves "philosophies of life (such as extropian perspectives) that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values."

Moore defines extropy as "a measure of intelligence, information, energy, vitality, experience, diversity, opportunity, and growth" and extropianism as "the philosophy that seeks to increase extropy."

Entropy, the vehicle of death, is the antagonist of creation, homeostasis and life. But as we increase our extropy, we also increase our control over chaos. 
Therefore, I challenge all present and future scientists to follow in the footsteps of Prometheus--to boldly face death and exploit your uniquely human level of extropy to conquer the chaos, or at least die trying.

And I, as a writer, will do my part to prepare the world for immortality. I will create scenarios, consider implications and pose stimulating questions. For example, in the future, will we be able to upload our minds onto computer networks and exist as electronic viruses? Can we enhance our intelligence as we coevolve with technology? Will we develop the tools to engineer subatomic particles or techniques to guide our own evolution? Will we ever reach Tipler's Omega point where life and information propagate eternally?

And what about cryonic preservation? The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, located in Scottsdale, AZ, currently cares for 35 patients in cryonic suspension (with 420 more awaiting their time). Are these people really dead, or merely in suspended animation?

H.P. Lovecraft pondered the same question over sixty years ago, and he settled on the latter: "That is not dead that can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."