Most people seem to be sceptical of radical life extension. Angena quotes the survey in her piece that only four % of americans recently said they'd want to live past a hundred and 20. If we can have lives that aren't just longer, but good till the end, what about the climate crisis and over population? What about marriage? Can you stay married to one person for a hundred and 50 years? How many careers should we have over 200 years? What about dictators who don't ever die? Supreme court justices? What about the house of lords?
This week, we return to one of our favourite episodes, to ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever?
Links from the episode:
— Leo Houlding’s extreme family holiday in Wyoming’s wild west: https://www.ft.com/content/0bcba30a-bb46-4bc1-8a7d-9166dc43a5e8
— Anjana Ahuja on whether we can live forever: https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9
— Inside the life extension market, with Tiffanie Darke: https://www.ft.com/content/867e647b-c0e8-4aeb-9777-fedff7ec3476
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Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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