25Essays on Infinite LifespansMichael R. RoseBob Shaw. [16] Shaw assumed that the cessation of aging would require the termination of sexual function. But we have no reason to accept such a connection between reproduction and immortality at this time. When Shaw wrote his novel, the idea of human immortality was literally science fiction. But in my laboratory we now have data showing this type of transi-tion in experimental organisms – fruit flies – using selective breeding. [17] We have not fully eliminated aging, but we have both decelerated aging and reduced the level of mortal-ity during the immortal phase of life. Toward the end of life, some of our flies even cease aging earlier.The immortal phase can be manipulated, just as aging can be. In particular, immortality can be made to come earlier. This does not mean that the methods used to produce this effect in the lab can be applied to humans, but the results show what is biologically possible in simple animals.THE POSSIBLEWhat is the practical situation with respect to attaining human immortality earlier, in better health? Later life is not adaptive. It is instead a product of evolution-ary accidents. Such accidents involve many bits and pieces of biology, because they are not focused by selection. To attain an earlier, more beneficent immortality requires the re-shap-ing of multiple features of our biology, not a few. Unlike Bob Shaw’s story, in real life, a single drug or treatment will not be enough to give us immortality when we are still healthy enough to enjoy it.Fortunately, 21st Century biology can supply us with thousands of pharmaceuticals and other medical treatments, especially when the full power of genomics is applied to the development of drugs. While the simple magic elixirs of horror
