The future of immortality.(research into extending human lifespan)(Cover Story) From: The Humanist | Date: May 1, 2004| Author: Trent, Brian | COPYRIGHT 2004 American Humanist Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Death is natural, but not everything natural is good. There is a time-honored tendency to erect an altar to nature while simultaneously rebuking human civilization for its ingenuities. We choose to imagine the natural world as a sort of Disney character filled with benevolence and tenderness, and in doing so we evade the more brutal, red-in-tooth-and-claw reality. The scavenging life of the earliest human ancestors who tread the narrow threshold between survival and extinction is f...