187 EMANCIPATION FROM DEATH Mike Treder In the time that it takes you to read this sentence, at least 10 real people will die, some of them helpless children, and some in horrible pain. Every single day 24,000 people die of starvation; 6,000 children are killed by diarrhea; 2,700 chil- dren are killed by measles; and 1,400 women die in child- birth. [1] All told, more than 150,000 humans will lose their lives today. Some of them will be elderly, of course, but why should that be a death sentence? Even worse, tens of thousands of youthful adults and children will be lost tomorrow – and the next day, and the day after that – to preventable or curable ill- nesses simply because treatment is not available to them. Must we accept this daily horror? Is it really necessary? I believe it is time we start fighting back; the good news is we are. Each day significant progress is being made to defeat dis- ease and reduce suffering. In addition, work is well underway to understand the aging process and someday eliminate it. As Robert Ettinger has said: “Being born is not a crime, so why must it carry a sentence of death?” [2] In the appeals court of science and technology, the summary execution of every human being may soon be overturned, hopefully within your lifetime.