IMMORTALITY: How Science is Extending Your Life Span — and Changing the World1 Dr. Ben Bova New York: Avon Books, 1998 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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ISBN 0-380-97518-1 | 283pp. | HC | $24.00 |
In his preface, Bova uses a quotation1 from Benjamin Franklin as an epigram:
Preface: | "We may learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its labor and double its produce; all diseases may be sure means be prevented or cured, not excepting even that of old age, and our lived lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian standard..." |
Two more noteworthy quotations:
Page 207: | "Basic research, the kind of research that seeks new knowledge for its own sake, is undoubtedly the best bargain any taxpayer has ever had. Victor Weisskopf of MIT, a science advisor to several presidents, pointed out, `The total cost of all basic research from Archimedes to the present is less than the total value of ten days of the world's present industrial production.' " |
Page 218: | "Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and founding president of the American Association of Bioethics, writes, `If being human means using intelligence to improve the quality of life, there is little basis for ethical ambivalence or doubt about eliminating genetic scourges, much as we have done with infectious diseases such as polio and smallpox . . . Changing our biological blueprints in pursuit of longer, healthier lives should ideally pose no more of a threat than does taking impurities out of the water supply to protect human health.' " |
Preface: A Prophet is Not Without Honor... | xiii |
Part One — The Scientific Evidence | |
Chapter 1: Extending the Human Life Span | 3 |
Chapter 2: How We Age | 20 |
Chapter 3: Cellular Life | 36 |
Chapter 4: Cellular Death | 50 |
Chapter 5: Programmed Cellular Death | 60 |
Chapter 6: Youth and Death Genes | 71 |
Chapter 7: The Genetic Code | 79 |
Chapter 8: Gene Therapy | 85 |
Chapter 9: The Human Genome Project | 106 |
Chapter 10: Aging and Death | 115 |
Chapter 11: Reverse Aging | 124 |
Chapter 12: Where We Stand Today | 138 |
Chapter 13: Genes, Telomeres and Growth Hormone | 152 |
Chapter 14: Regeneration | 158 |
Chapter 15: Molecular Engineering | 173 |
Part Two — The Impact of Immortality | |
Chapter 16: "It's Completely Impossible" | 185 |
Chapter 17: "It Would Cost Too Much" | 200 |
Chapter 18: Can We Afford It? | 212 |
Chapter 19: "I Always Thought It Was a Good Idea" | 224 |
Chapter 20: Three Futures | 232 |
Chapter 21: Christmas Yet To Come | 243 |
Appendix A: Bacteria | 252 |
Appendix B: DNA | 255 |
Appendix C: The Genetic Code | 259 |
References | 263 |
Index | 269 |