254 An Introduction to Immortalist Morality thinking thoughts at a faster and faster rate, but only if they developed technologies powerful enough to modify the large scale structure of the universe. This is known as the ‘Omega Point’ theory. [11]   It emerges, that the empirical data are insufficient to deter- mine whether life in the universe has to end. So there is no scientific basis for Russell’s pessimism and we can advance as a reasonable conjecture the claim that life can last forever. It  is  interesting  to  note  however,  that  life  on  Earth  will probably have to expand into space in order to continue to survive. If life on Earth has to one day expand into space to stay alive, and continue expanding, then it seems unlikely that life would ever become boring or free of risk, no matter how long one lived. There will always be exciting new challenges to face and it is precisely the quest for immortality that will drive humanity to face them! This is all the more reason for believing that the quest for immortality should indeed be the ultimate moral imperative. It has been argued that immortality is possible, but only if rational beings make continual efforts to stay alive. It is not being argued that immortality can ever be guaranteed. If sci- ence ever found a way to guarantee immortality, immortality would cease to be a goal and could not provide the basis for morality. Tipler’s idea that life will one day have to spread across all space and develop technology powerful enough to change the structure of the universe is intriguing because it suggests that the very fate of the universe is tied to the efforts of living things to stay alive. If so, immortality could be said to be the very ‘telos’ (end purpose) of the universe.