Imagine a world where your 100th birthday barely marks middle age. Some futurists believe that within the next quarter-century, advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, genetic engineering, and even “mind uploading” could extend human lifespans tenfold — making thousand-year lives possible. They call it “practical immortality,” and to them, it’s less science fiction than inevitable progress.
Figures like Ray Kurzweil predict a technological “singularity” as early as 2029, when AI surpasses human intelligence. By 2045, he envisions humans merging with machines, storing consciousness in the cloud, and deploying nanobots to maintain — or entirely replace — our biological bodies. In this future, death becomes optional, and collective human intelligence could be millions of times greater than today’s.
Others, like Ian Pearson, anticipate that by 2050, the wealthy might swap failing bodies for artificial ones or live as digital beings in virtual worlds. Medical breakthroughs could erase today’s most feared diseases, reverse cellular aging, and make the limitations of the human body irrelevant. Over time, Pearson believes these advances could reach the middle class — but at first, access may be starkly unequal.
Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey sees aging itself as a curable condition. He’s confident that extended life won’t kill human ambition, noting that young people today aren’t motivated by their mortality, yet still pursue goals and dreams.
But critics warn against blind “techno-optimism.” They argue that technology alone can’t solve deep-rooted problems like poverty, inequality, or political instability — and may even worsen them if access to life-extending tools is restricted to elites. As one research group put it, putting technological progress above all else risks reinforcing existing power structures.
For now, practical immortality remains a tantalising possibility — a future where death is no longer a certainty, but a choice. The question is not just whether we can achieve it, but who will be allowed to live that long.
