Technology, money and the search for immortality

They are some of the biggest brains in technology and they have serious money behind them. Their mission now is to end old age and achieve immortality says Rita de Brun.

Quests for the elixir of life and fountain of youth have long captured the mortal imagination. We can’t really cope with ageing: just look at how prevalent ageism, plastic surgery, Botox and anti-ageing cream are and how leading women in their 50s, 60s and 70s don’t seem to exisit in Hollywood.

But while today’s hi-tech and biological endeavours to ward off aging and death bear little resemblance to the search for eternal life as documented in folklore and legend, at their core they’re essentially the same – a search for immortality.