Update: I read the article, it’s mostly anti-immortality, but not in the severe way that you see from religionists. The quotes they picked from the interview I had with them were okay, and I think that they speak for themselves to an extent. Except they call me “obsessed” with halting death, and that is – how? A glance at this blog shows the wide range of interests I have. Like most journalists, McGowan fudges over the details of my particular case to pigeonhole me into the context of the article and the other “underdogs” she profiles. The article mentions cryonics.

Here are the two quotes of mine they included in the article:

“Death is just a technical problem”, he says. “People react strongly to the idea of living hundreds of years, but the body doesn’t care if we think it’s radical to perserve it.”

“Deviating from the mainstream by yourself is quite different than deviating from it with others who are successful, intelligent, insightful, and willing to discuss unpopular beliefs together.” says Anissimov.

~~

If you have a chance, pick up this month’s issue of Psychology Today – I’m in it. I haven’t read the article yet, but judging by the title, “The Boy Who Wants to Live Forever… and Other Champions of the Lost Cause”, it doesn’t look good, hahaha! Oh well. Science has never been the strong suit of the touchy-feely therapist branches of psychology, around which this magazine seems to revolve.

Is living forever a lost cause? No. Biological tissue works according to the same physical principles as any machine, and is subject to analysis and fine-grained repair just like any other system. Some people view radical life extension as impossible because to equate the human body with a repairable machine is seen as blasphemy.

In related news, one of the most popular economist bloggers on the net, Arnold Kling, writes:

“I tell my high school students now that I think there is a good chance that they will be immortal.”

James D. Miller, an associate professor of economics at Smith College, also writes:

“I have told my college students the same thing, and will even be discussing this possibility in my upcoming intro micro textbook.

Obviously, immortality would change the world beyond measure. But long before we achieve immortality people will realize that immortality will someday be within our grasp. This expectation alone will radically alter human society.”

David Friedman, outstanding economist and son of late Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, has a quote from an article on Aubrey de Grey on his home page.

What is it about economists that makes them sufficiently rational to accept the prospect of radical life extension, but psychology journalists, not so much?

The title of the Psychology Today article tries to connect my youth with idealism surrounding life extension. But for almost every radical-sounding idea that comes out of my mouth, I can point you to someone twice, or even three times my age who strongly holds the same idea. And going on 23, I’m not exactly a “boy” either. Argh!

You want to see a lost cause? How about most psychology and psychotherapy? Quote from the linked page:

Dawes (social and decision sciences, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) presents a strong argument, based on empirical research, that psychotherapy is largely a shill game. He argues that while studies have shown that empathetic therapy is often helpful to people in emotional distress, there is no evidence that licensed psychologists or psychiatrists are any better at performing therapy than minimally trained laypeople. Nor are psychologists or psychiatrists any better at predicting future behavior than the average person–a disturbing conclusion when one contemplates the influence such “experts” have on the U.S. judicial system. While other books have criticized the psychologizing of our society, none has been so sweeping or so convincingly argued. This book raises such important societal issues that all academic and public libraries have a duty to make a permanent place for it on their shelves.

- Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, Wash.

Looks like I win.