8 year old Gabrielle Williams doesn't age. Her tiny body, just about the size of a baby's, might hold the secrets of immortality. Dr. Richard Walker working on decoding the genes for aging is reported in the Swedish paper Aftonbladet to have said that if he can find the gene that stops the aging in Gabby Williams' body, it will be possible to stop aging altogether.
But who wants to live forever? The newspaper's own gallup pole on the issue reveals that a majority would prefer not to live forever (50.9%) and that just over 40% would prefer to be able to live forever. Really? Forever is a mighty long time.
If you are going to live forever there is a whole bunch of problems that you must address that will be new. For instance, how will you tackle family dinners? Were do you draw the line. I assume that grandchildren will be welcome and great grandchildren can still be doable even today. But is a thanksgiving dinner with 8 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 70 great-great-grandchildren even feasible, and this is not counting cousins and what not, it's impossible!
Another problem is availability, are everybody getting their genes fixed at age 20 to stop aging or just a lucky few, and what then? Are we going to have an ageless elite relaxing in several hundred years old comfortable settings with no rush, were's the rush when you can live forever right? The rest wondering what's it like? That seems like a very strange future to say the least.
It is good to cure diseases, no one wants to get alzheimer's or dementia and a cure for these illnesses will mean so much for so many people and their loved ones. But history is a stern teacher, when there is something that can be abused - there is a risk it will end up being abused and usually the consequences are dire.
