I was stunned to discover a 28-year-old author had published an ebook titled
“Death is Wrong.” Hoping to inspire life-extending medical research by future generations, science fiction author Gennady Stolyarov has also launched a campaign to give away 1,000 free copies of his “transhumanist” picture book to children. “My greatest fear about the future is not of technology running out of control or posing existential risks to humankind,” he writes in an online essay. “Rather, my greatest fear is that, in the year 2045, I will be 58 years old and already marked by notable signs of senescence, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking my morning coffee, and wondering, ‘What happened to that Singularity we were promised by now? Why did it not come to pass?
“Why does the world of 2045 look pretty much like the world of 2013, with only a few cosmetic differences?'”
tinyurl.com/DeathIsWrong
You have to admire the ambition of author Gennady Stolyarov. He’s set out to create a better world by educating young readers early about the newest scientific discoveries on aging, and also sharing inspiring stories about long-lived plants and animals “that point the way toward lengthening lifespans in humans.” Stolyarov writes online that he’s trying to help avoid a future where as an aging man, “as I stare into that mug of coffee, I would recognize that it will all be downhill from there, especially as ‘kids these days’ would pay no more attention to technological progress and life-extension possibilities than their predecessors did.”
It’s mind-blowing to even imagine a world where death can be cured just like any other disease. And it’s really inspiring that self-publishing gave this dreamer his platform — so he can share his ideas with the rest of the world. Who knows? Maybe he could inspire medical miracles by the next generation. And the Kindle didn’t just provide a platform for this author’s ebook. It’s also helping to fund the construction of a powerful clock that will run for 10,000 years!
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is funding the project, and though it sounds like a science fiction story, he’s already purchased a remote chunk of land in Nevada where the “Clock of the Long Now” can be housed. “We humans have become so technologically sophisticated that in certain ways we’re dangerous to ourselves,” Bezos is quoted as saying. “It’s going to be increasingly important over time for humanity to take a longer-term view of its future.”
The project has other influential backers, according to Wikipedia, including science fiction author Neal Stephenson and musician Brian Eno (who came up with the name “Clock of the Long Now”.) It makes me smile if only because they’re dreaming big dreams, and that’s partly why the clock is being built. “Ideally, it would do for thinking about time what the photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment,” writes futurist Stewart Brand on one of the project’s web pages. “Such icons reframe the way people think.
So maybe it’s just one small step from that to teaching a generation of children that “Death is Wrong”…
For a shortcut to the ebook’s page on Amazon, point your browser to
tinyurl.com/DeathIsWrong
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