Immortality

Immortality or eternal life is the idea of something which is alive that will stay alive forever. The opposite of immortality is mortality, which means a living thing can die. Right now, only a small number of living things are known to be immortal. These are mainly simple, lower forms of life like bacteria. Stories about immortal people or animals are popular in fiction and mythology, but not yet actually possible. Many religions say people have an immortal soul with an afterlife.

Some people have long used magic and science to look for a way to live forever. Others feel that death is what defines all living things, and as a natural part of life, should not be taken away.

Insurance actuaries have calculated that even if everyone were physically immortal, the average life span would still be only be 400 years because of the accident rate; eventually, everyone would die of a fatal accident and it would be very unusual to encounter anyone more than 800 years old. Therefore,physical or biological immortality is better termed indefinite life extension or anti-aging technology and it would seem that the only practical ways to achieve actual immortality is to upload one's mind into a supercomputer to live in virtual reality, or become a cyborg with a nearly indestructible and invincible body. Futurists such as Ray Kurzweil believe this will become possible about the year 2045 in the technological singularity.[1]

The color amaranth represents immortality in Western civilization, while the color peach represents immortality in Chinese civilization.