Immortality and the present

Ray Kurzweil is one of the most visionary minds of our time. His ability to anticipate the evolution of technology is striking: he predicted the arrival of the internet, of smartphones and of the rise of artificial intelligence. Now he once again challenges the limits of our imagination by claiming that immortality could be within reach in just five years.

His concept of “longevity escape velocity” invites us to imagine a future in which medicine and biotechnology allow us to extend our lives indefinitely. This is not science fiction but the result of decades of innovation and exponential progress.

Yet, fascinating as the idea is, it is also hard to ignore an uncomfortable question: who will be able to access this supposed immortality? If you are a girl in Gaza, if you live in Afghanistan or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the problem is not how to defy death with nanotechnology, but how to survive today. What use is the promise of an endless life when millions of people can barely count on tomorrow?

Scepticism towards these predictions comes not only from scientific doubt but from the brutal reality faced by many regions of the world. Technology advances, yes, but so does inequality. The gap between those who can dream of immortality and those who struggle for a glass of clean water is wider than ever.

What is more, the advance of artificial intelligence raises new questions about power and control. While some see in AI a tool for the betterment of humanity, others use it to reinforce mechanisms of surveillance, manipulation and the concentration of power in a few hands. We have not moved beyond the use of violence as a way of contesting power among people, and technological advances have not brought with them a more democratic world.

On the contrary, in many cases they have enabled the strengthening of authoritarian regimes and the erosion of fundamental rights.

Kurzweil shows us the potential of the future. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that this future will not be the same for everyone unless we first address the injustices of the present.

Live forever? It depends.