Life extension

Notes:

what biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey calls "acturial
escape velocity"

Not "immortality". That term is technically incorrect since everything in the universe changes - even protons decay. Also has hubristic connotations. Also, philosophically, "immortality" seems to be more a reaction to fear of non-existence, while "life extension" seems more of a practical goal.

"Ageless" may be a better term.

"emmortal" has been suggested, but has the disadvantage of not being commonly accepted.

1. The free radical theory of aging
2. The mitochondrial theory of aging
3. The cross-link theory of aging
4. The membrane hypothesis of aging

Two paths: (1) Slowing or stopping cellular damage. (2) Repairing cellular damage.

Over-population considerations.

Hazard function. Even after overcoming physical senescence, accidents will still happen. Calculations of expected lifetimes?

Backups of self as response to loss/damage.

Thithonus error
In Greek mythology, Tithonus was a handsome mortal who fell in love with Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Eos realised that her beloved Tithonus was destined to age and die. She begged Zeus to grant her lover immortal life.
Zeus was a jealous god, prone to acts of deception in order to seduce beautiful gods and mortals, and he was not pleased with Eos's infatuation with a rival. In a classic Devil's Bargain, he granted Eos's wish -- literally. He made Tithonus immortal, but did not grant him eternal youth.
As Tithonus aged, he became increasingly debilitated and demented, eventually driving Eos to distraction with his constant babbling.
In despair, she turned Tithonus into a grasshopper. In Greek mythology, the grasshopper is immortal. (In a close cultural parallel, the Chinese believed that locusts live forever.) This myth also explains why grasshoppers chirrup ceaselessly, like demented old men.

James Barry's Lost Boys of Neverland

From Gulliver's Travels
The Struldbrugs, Chapter X
By Jonathan Swift, 1726