Tenali and Gopal
Tenali: Hey Gopal, this is indeed very exciting. One futurist says that by the year 2019 one can expect humans to be immortal.
Gopal: And how exactly is that supposed to happen?
Tenali: (reads) “Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and a futurist says that, “I and many other scientists now believe that in around twenty years we will have the means to re-programme our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live forever. Nanotechnology will extend our mental capacities so much that we will be able to write books within minutes. So we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial organs.”
Gopal: Hahaha. . . you just reminded me about a funny Bengali story – A person thought, “I have committed so many sinful acts that Yamaraja will come and punish me. How can I avoid him?” Thinking about this for some time, he decided, “Let me smear my body with stool. Then Yamaraja will not touch me.” Still he died one day.
Tenali: This is serious stuff, Gopal. This man is famous for his predictions. Bill Gates calls him the ‘smartest futurist’. Many of his predictions like the demise of the Soviet Union, spread of cell-phones etc. have come true.
Gopal: But what age should someone choose immortality? To have a 90 year old skin when your heart is only 25 might be a horrific prospect to live with forever. This man is promising immortality, not relief from old age and disease.
Would you like to live forever in a heavily polluted city, drink polluted water, inhale automobile exhaust, eat preservative-laden food and drink pesticide-laced soft drinks ?
What about the population congestion, since no one is going to die?
Oh and before I forget the most important thing will the government give me a pension forever?
Still interested in becoming immortal, eh, Tenali?
Tenali: I don’t know Gopal!?!