I'm familiar with the Sruldbruggs but the argument doesn't hold much
water. A cure for ageing is far from being the same as immortality.
You can be as ageing proof as you like - it doesn't stop you from
being hit by a bus. I'd estimate if you removed ageing and disease the
human live expectancy would go up to maybe 300 - 400 years (depending
mostly on social stability). In wild animals, of course, it doesn't
make any significant difference at all. Immortality for them would, I
believe, convey a slight evolutionary advantage since more experienced
animals presumably make better parents.
At the moment much of the structure of our lives revolves arround the
inevitability of ageing. What new structures would evolve if it where
removed noone can say. I, for one, am looking foreward to the next
century and hope to see the whole of it.
Malcolm
