This interview, machine-translated from the Russian, will be of interest to those who look into the history of transhumanist thought on the defeat of aging and radical life extension. It has deep roots back into the early 20th century, and one thread of these ideas was evolving through the ongoing disaster that was Russia of that century - the Russian cosmists are thought of as important predecessors to modern transhumanism, for example. These are some thoughts and recollections of someone who was publishing and thinking on the topic in the 1960s and later; note that the Russian end of the longevity science community are far from shy when it comes to talking about physical immortality as the end goal of medicine: "Meanwhile, today, in the [21st] century, when we talk about the necessity of victory over death, of making real the possibility of personal immortality and resurrection [of cryopreserved] people - people often do not even bother to think about it, but with some, or even masochistic pleasure begin to look for rebuttal. One would think, what to look for them? Why create additional obstacles? Chance of dying there at all. So there is nothing to lose. Is not it better to try to work together and find ways to avoid it? ... But, oddly enough, and sadly, no modern humanity, nor any single country (maybe with the exception of Japan, as far as I know), even such a purpose not intended. It's still pretty amazing! After all, people continue to die today, but no action is [taken]. How so? ... And yet ... There is no doubt the science over the past half century has leaped forward. Scientific and technological progress has radically changed many things in our lives. And the inspirational process is irreversible. You ask ... where the source of my optimism. He is in me and outside me. This is my inner conviction, supported by all the progressive tradition of Russian philosophical thought and [unstoppable] scientific thought."

Link: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fm-batin.livejournal.com%2F144701.html

Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm