For long time there is a human obsession to overcome death. In the past, man sought to overcome death through the religions. In the contemporary era, we started to believe that it would be possible to overcome death with the use of science and technology. The belief that, if it´s not possible to overcome death, but that it would be possible to extend the life is based on the fact that the life expectancy of men increased from 30 years in 1500, 37 years in 1800, 45 years in 1900, 46.5 years in 1950 and 80 years in 2012. The Superinteressante magazine (<http: />) published an article under the title Quem quer viver 1 000 anos? (Who wants to live 1000 years?), which states that the achievement of a longer existence in the 20th century resulted from the improvement of sanitary conditions in the cities and the creation of public health services. In addition, science discovered vaccines and antibiotics that made possible the disease prevention and control of epidemics. The increase in educational level and income also contributed to improving the quality of life and increase the longevity even more in the third or -. perhaps we can say - fourth age.

1. 1
MAN IN SEARCH OF IMMORTALITY
Fernando Alcoforado *
For long time there is a human obsession to overcome death. In the past, man sought to
overcome death through the religions. In the contemporary era, we started to believe
that it would be possible to overcome death with the use of science and technology. The
belief that, if it´s not possible to overcome death, but that it would be possible to extend
the life is based on the fact that the life expectancy of men increased from 30 years in
1500, 37 years in 1800, 45 years in 1900, 46.5 years in 1950 and 80 years in 2012. The
Superinteressante magazine (<http://super.abril.com.br/saude/quem- want-live-1-000-
years-445501.shtml>) published an article under the title Quem quer viver 1 000 anos?
(Who wants to live 1000 years?), which states that the achievement of a longer
existence in the 20th century resulted from the improvement of sanitary conditions in
the cities and the creation of public health services. In addition, science discovered
vaccines and antibiotics that made possible the disease prevention and control of
epidemics. The increase in educational level and income also contributed to improving
the quality of life and increase the longevity even more in the third or -. perhaps we can
say - fourth age.
The magazine Isto É Dinheiro published the article A era dos homens imortais (The Age
of immortal men) in which reports that the year 2045 "will mark the beginning of an era
in which medicine can offer humanity the possibility of living for a while ever seen in
history. Bodies that do not work can be exchanged for other, better, created especially
for us. Parts of the heart, lung and even brain may be substituted. Tiny computer circuits
will be implanted in the body to control chemical reactions occurring within the cells.
We will be just steps from immortality. "This is the forecast of a group of scientists
known to occupy the forefront of research that involve topics such as computer science,
biology and biotechnology. They include George Church, a professor at Harvard
University in the United States, and specialized biomedical gerontologist anti-aging
Aubrey de Grey and Raymond Kurzweil engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). They are the leaders of a new kind of philosophy, called Singularity
(See the website
<http://www.istoe.com.br/reportagens/paginar/192193_A+ERA+DOS+HOMENS+IM
ORTAIS/1>.
According to the inventor and futurist Raymond Kurzweil, the "father" of the so-called
concept of Singularity, we head towards the difficulty of distinguishing between what is
organic and what is machine in the future. Artificial intelligence will evolve so much
that in 2025 will be difficult to recognize a human and a robot. It should be noted that
Singularity marks a transition point between two "fields" or two "worlds," a point or
moment. In astronomy, Singularity means a place in space (black hole) where a body
does not age because the time stops. In medicine, the heralds of immortality say it is
nothing more than an actual result of a revolution in progress that's been shooting at
unprecedented speed increased human life expectancy. Considering the speed of
innovations, a person born in 2050 will have 95% chance to live a thousand years,
according to Aubrey de Grey. At this time, the group of mentioned above scientists are
involved in the growth of the Singularity University, already installed in Silicon Valley
in the United States. Making analogy with unicellular bacteria living for millions of
years without get older, the members of the Singularity University state that our germ

2. 2
cells, eggs and sperm as they can also live indefinitely which claim to believe in greater
prolongation of human life.
The certainty of this group of researchers in the success of their research is supported by
the progress already achieved and those which will come. In the opinion of these
researchers, from the resources we currently have, a child born today may live until at
least 150 years. One of the fields in which progress has been most notable is that of
stem cells. In cardiology, experiments with 16 patients with heart failure, they all took
part of the fabric of the renewed heart with stem cells taken from the organ itself. The
replacement of diseased organs by other healthy organs is another of the reasons given
by scientists to justify the belief in a spectacularly long life. Already managed to create
and deploy trachea in humans, bladder, urethra and blood vessels. And there are
experiences to create more organs, including the heart and the liver.
One of the most important factors associated with a man's lifetime is your genetics.
Your DNA points which will be their average life and can also bring changes that
predispose to disease. Therefore, much of the effort is focused on inventing features that
interfere with the genetic material of each people. Avoid the possible damage that food
can cause to DNA is also a point of support of science that seeks immortality.
According to the chief representative of the Singularity, engineer Raymond Kurzweil, a
calorie-restricted diet, with only the necessary nutrients for life, can lead us to live
more. These are just examples of the tools currently available to make the human race
exceeds limits of longevity [See the article entitled A era dos homens imortais (The era
of the immortal men) posted on the website
<http://www.istoe.com.br/reportagens/paginar / 192193_A ERA + + + THE MEN +
IMMORTAL / 1>].
Another researcher who is dedicated to the study of human longevity is Lawrence
Alexander, surgeon, urologist and neurogeneticist that showed through the You tube
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?featur) video filmed on October 6, 2012 under the title
Le recul de la mort – l’immortalité à brève échéance ? (The decline in death -
immortality in the near future?) when he announced that genome sequencing will get to
personalized medicine, guided by our genetic characteristics, through modeling
performed with increasingly powerful computers, we can understand the body human.
According to Lawrence Alexander, the improvement will unfold in three waves. First,
with the already medical electronics can now, via implants in the brain to treat
Parkinson's disease, treating depression and Alzheimer's disease. Then comes the wave
bioengineering, and finally, the nano-medicine on a microscopic scale. From 2020, we
can expect decades of extra life. It is possible to get, according to Lawrence Alexander,
a life expectancy that we cannot imagine today.
English biogerontologista Grey Aubrey connected to the Singularity University is
convinced that aging is a biological process that may well come to be controlled in the
same way that science has managed to fight against many diseases that were previously
regarded as incurable. Grey, who has a degree in computer science, but became one of
the main theorists of the world in human longevity compared the human body to a car.
With regular and proper maintenance - repair a defect here, put one there lubricant,
exchange an old piece there - gives to significantly increase the life of a car. Although
the human body is much more complex than a car, De Grey believes that you can do the
same, regularly fighting against the processes that lead to aging and cell death. It is hard
to find in the scientific community who agree with the fancy forecasts of De Grey. The

3. 3
prevailing view is that, despite all the technology, there should be no significant
advances in human longevity in the near future. On the subject, scientists gathered in a
panel promoted a few years ago by the magazine Scientific American did not give
grounds for optimism: considering all the imminent achievements, such as gene therapy
and the possibility of replacing almost all natural bodies, and even hibernation human,
life expectancy on the planet will reach at most 140 years in 2500 [See the article under
the title Quem quer viver 1 000 anos? (Who wants to live 1000 years ?), published by
Superinteressante magazine (<http://super.abril.com .br / health / who-want-live-1-000-
years-445501.shtml>].
*Fernando Alcoforado , member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011)
and Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012),
among others.