Three, I am doubtful whenever people argue that the Big Thing is going to happen in their lifetime. Evangelicals never claim that the Second Coming is going to happen in the next generation (or that they will be "left behind" while others are saved). Likewise, secular doomsayers typically predict the demise of civilization within their allotted time (but that they will be part of the small surviving enclave). Prognosticators of both religious and secular utopias always include themselves as members of the chosen few. Hope springs eternal.

This article was originally published with the title Hope Springs Eternal.

2 Comments

1. 1. Thistlin 03:59 AM 10/28/08

   Gee, I wouldn't mind reversing my aging and living indefinitely (until some accident gets me). I sometimes think valid scientists don't work on this kind of thing because it seems too wishful, and hence, in some ill-defined way, unscientific. Of course the sham artists don't help any.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. John C.Morgan M.D. 11:31 AM 6/22/09

   I host an antiaging site on the internet. Of course the Shermer article is largely correct. Only resveratrol and calorie restriction have any antiaging effects so far. The effects Kurzweil gives to his 250 supplements come under the heading of B.S. Woe to my internet site since I try to be scientific.
   
   Morgan at 8:26 A.M. 6/22/09

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this