Thread: the quest for immortality: who wants to live forever?

i think this is the right forum lol

essay i wrote. for a compitition (havnt sent it off yet) (apparently the standard isnt very high, i read over last years winners essay and the amount of spelling mistakes and stuff was unreal, and one of the rules was good grammar and spelling)

anyway


The Quest for Immortality: who wants to live forever?


Every year science advances and we understand a little more about the world we live in. science is advancing and finding ways to repair damage done to our bodies, whether it’s from an accident, birth defect or simple old age.

The quest for immortality is no longer science fiction, many people are desperate to look and feel younger. Hair dye, cosmetic surgery, over the counter potions and lotions, the lengths some people go to, to try and reverse the natural process of ageing and as time goes on scientists are getting closer to extending life expectancy.

Stem cells can be used for a number of possibilities, to repair the effects of a number of debilitating diseases, but in this vain world we live in, will people see it that way?
Or will they just be used to halt the aging process?

The road to immortality is a long and arduous one, as scientists try to crack the secret to immortality they are finding more cures for disease and are giving hope to millions with age degenerate diseases such as Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis as their effects worsen for those that have them as the person ages.

It’s the natural process for us to be born, grow old and then die. No one can (or should) be able to live forever. To watch others grow withered and old, then die.
If immortality were possible would the planet be able to support an ever increasing and never decreasing population?

The cost of an immortality medicine would be unimaginable, only a select few of the rich and famous could use it, it’s sad to think that if scientists do manage to make immortality possible it would only be able to be used by those like Paris Hilton.

To see someone never grow old or sick, and then look at yourself, under going what they managed to avoid, you would be resentful, hateful even that they are young, and you are not.

Our goal in this life is to grow, perhaps marry, and reproduce, and raise children.
Imagine seeing your children die of old age and you still looking as young as the day they were born.
Your children would curse you, for staying young and fully of vitality, as would your friends and family as they to followed the natural process as they are not able to afford, or do not want to be around forever.

You live while others around you die.
If it were made possible to live forever, only the rich and famous would be able to afford it. The market and demand will dictate the price. Everyone will want it, from cancer patients to the old and frail. Not everyone would be able to afford it.
The use and research of stem cells should be only used to help cure those with disease, or to repair those who have lost the use of their appendages due to disease or brain damage.

Some people look at growing old as the greatest injustice, giving you a taste of youth, then letting you watch yourself rot. These people will spend thousands, buying surgery, creams and oils, trying to stop the process, but as they grow old they look worse and worse, wearing more make-up or getting more surgery to battle the effects, but eventually they will lose the battle and succumb to the natural law.

They do not have the ability to live forever, no one does and it should stay that way.
Eventually we will run out of things to advance, then what? People who have been around for thousands of years, what will they do? Face and eternity of boredom? Or finally give up and accept the fact that they to must die.

In conclusion I believe that while immortality may never be possible the quest for it shall never end and will be always speculated (much like the Holy Grail)
While increasing life expectancy can be beneficial, it can also be detrimental to the environment. The damage one person could do, being able to drive for 150 years. The quest for immortality shouldn’t end, as through this long process new cures to once “incurable” diseases will be found, but immortality itself will never, and should never be obtainable.

low competition standards or no, dude, you should at least provide a good example by submitting something better than most, doncha think?...

your own essay is so full of easily-corrected goofs that i'm glad you said you haven't sent it in yet... i suggest you give it a good proofread before doing so... who knows, maybe by just being the least flawed piece, yours will win!

love and hugs, maia

lol.

thanks, i'll look over it again.

Interesting topic, but there were a few mistakes even I caught and I'm not good at grammar or spelling. Try putting it through a spell checker.

i read through it and corrected spelling mistakes. i could only find a few.

i didnt notice much wrong with the grammar, i seemed to have over used the comma, so i'll change that later when i have a bit more time.


any more comments would be appreciated. (even if comments ignore the grammatical errors.)

Every year science advances and we understand a little more about the world we live in. science is advancing [repetitive and unnecesary] and finding ways to repair damage done to our bodies, whether it’s from an accident, birth defect or simple [remove - old age is hardly simple] old age.

The quest for immortality is no longer science fiction,(; ) many people are desperate to look and feel younger. Hair dye, cosmetic surgery, over the counter potions and lotions, (are examples of?) the lengths some people go to, to try and reverse the natural process of ageing and as time goes on scientists are getting closer to extending life expectancy.[run on sentence]

Stem cells can be used for a number of possibilities,(; ) to repair the effects of a number of debilitating diseases, but in this vain world we live in, will people see it that way? [you start with a statement & turn it into question]
Or will they just be used to halt the aging process?

The road to immortality is a long and arduous one, [says who?] as scientists try to crack the secret to immortality they are finding more cures for disease and are giving hope to millions with age degenerate diseases such as Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis as their effects worsen for those that have them as the person ages.[run on sentence]

It’s the natural process for us to be born, grow old and then die. No one can (or should) be able to live forever.[value judgement with no backing except your personal belief] To watch others grow withered and old, then die.[this sentence seems to have no point]
If immortality were possible would the planet be able to support an ever increasing and never decreasing population?[are you planning to answer this question? If not, you shouldn't raise it]

The cost of an immortality medicine would be unimaginable, only a select few of the rich and famous could use it, it’s sad to think that if scientists do manage to make immortality possible it would only be able to be used by those like Paris Hilton.[this should be 3 sentences & again is full of unsupported value judgements]

To see someone never grow old or sick, and then look at yourself, under going what they managed to avoid, you would be resentful, hateful even that they are young, and you are not.[possibly, but as this scenario is only based on personal opinion you can't actually use it to justify your conclusion]

Our goal in this life is to grow, perhaps marry, and reproduce, and raise children.[The imperative of evolution is to survive; immortality would do this better than breeding as there would be no need to sacrifice half of your genome for survival & the organism itself would survive rather than the progeny. These goals are those of the very world that would be replaced if immortality became possible]
Imagine seeing your children die of old age and you still looking as young as the day they were born.[possibly, but as this scenario is only based on personal opinion you can't actually use it to justify your conclusion]
Your children would curse you, for staying young and fully of vitality, as would your friends and family as they to followed the natural process as they are not able to afford, or do not want to be around forever.[possibly, but as this scenario is only based on personal opinion you can't actually use it to justify your conclusion]

You live while others around you die.
If it were made possible to live forever, only the rich and famous would be able to afford it. The market and demand will dictate the price. Everyone will want it, from cancer patients to the old and frail. Not everyone would be able to afford it.[possibly, but as this scenario is only based on personal opinion you can't actually use it to justify your conclusion]
The use and research of stem cells should be only used to help cure those with disease, or to repair those who have lost the use of their appendages due to disease or brain damage.[says you, but you are basing this again on personal opinion & have failed to provide any evidence to back your opinion]

Some people look at growing old as the greatest injustice, giving you a taste of youth, then letting you watch yourself rot. These people will spend thousands, buying surgery, creams and oils, trying to stop the process, but as they grow old they look worse and worse, wearing more make-up or getting more surgery to battle the effects, but eventually they will lose the battle and succumb to the natural law.[Not if immortality is possible & available - what is the point you are trying to make with this sentence?]

They do not have the ability to live forever, no one does and it should stay that way.[Why? You could equally say no-one should be alowed to change their fate by beating disease, yet you apparently have no problem with that]
Eventually we will run out of things to advance, then what?[says who? You? Do you know even all of what we have so far learned? And why would a possible end to learning be a reason to stop learning now?] People who have been around for thousands of years, what will they do? Face and eternity of boredom? Or finally give up and accept the fact that they to must die.[Again, this is an unknown - until someone has lived thousands of years nobody knows what their lives will be like. To deny the possible futures based on pure speculation of what those futures may be like seems a trifle arrogant]

In conclusion I believe that while immortality may never be possible the quest for it shall never end and will be always speculated (much like the Holy Grail)[the only relevant word here is 'believe'- this statement is unsupported by your thesis]
While increasing life expectancy can be beneficial, it can also be detrimental to the environment.[You haven't shown this at all, no evidence or even research, just a statement of your opinion] The damage one person could do, being able to drive for 150 years.[irrelevant - immortlity would solve the problems of fading skills so their driving would get steadily better] The quest for immortality shouldn’t end, as through this long process new cures to once “incurable” diseases will be found, but immortality itself will never, and should never be obtainable. [You have failed to show at all why it should not be achieved or even that such achievement would be undesirable]

Overall, a poor argument; you're saying the search should go on but never succeed because of the possible benefits along the path, yet you fail to explain the difference between the diseases you want cured & those of old age. You don't provide any evidence for your assertion that old age is a 'natural' thing for us to go through yet you then decide it s only right because of your belief that people would dislike those with immortality & immortals would leave their children to die.

More work needed & better thinking if you wish to support your conclusion.

thanks


(sorry i didnt reply sooner i was away )

Well Journyman caught all the mistakes I saw and a bunch more however there is one thing I'd like to point out. Content wise you didn't touch upon cryogenic advancement. Like in that movie Austin Powers where Austin is froze in a test tube for x amount of years, Cryogenics does exist.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation located in Phoenix, Arizona can attest to its own existence and how it works however I'll just quickly fill you in on it. What the program is, is that if a person is signed up for this, they wear a alcor life extension medical bracelet on their person at all times. Then when they die by 'today's standards' they are immediatley shipped off to the nearest Alcor preperation lab to undergo the freezing process. I won't go into much detail here as it gets a little bit gnarly however, the idea is once medical advances enough to cure what ever the person died of in the first place, then alcor unfreezes them and cures them.

The catch is nano-technology, but once that comes about the entire process will work and people will be able to live for however long they want or until science stops advancing.