Our millennia-long obsession with immortality

About this episode

The episode explores humanity's obsession with immortality and the lengths to which the wealthy go to avoid death.

Would you want to live forever? The rich and powerful certainly do. There are numerous examples throughout history of people going to extreme lengths in search of immortality. These days, it's Silicon Valley tech bros, testing out everything from blood transfusions to merging our brains with the cloud. Why are they/we so obsessed with dodging death? What is it about extreme wealth that makes people dream of defying biology? Today, tech journalist and social psychologist Aleks Krotoski takes us into the world of the ‘immortalists’: what they think the future of humanity might look like, and whether the rest of us want to come along for the ride. Guest: Aleks KrotoskiInvestigative journalistSocial psychologistAuthor, The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life Credits: Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar Producer: Rose Kerr Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound engineer: Tegan Nicholls

People in this episode

Host: Sana Qadar

Guest: Aleks Krotoski

Topics covered

• immortality
• technology
• wealth
• psychology
• Silicon Valley
• death
• humanity

Keywords

• immortality
• Silicon Valley
• wealth
• death
• technology
• psychology
• blood transfusions
• brain merging

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ABC Australia

Books & works: The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life

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