The Coming Revolution: Immortality

I'm Baz and I create software designed to make small businesses more efficient - getting you organised so you can deliver to your customers and get paid quickly.

Medical science is amazing. As the child of a doctor, I'm always amazed at how doctors and nurses can not only look after people, but literally rebuild pieces of us. Pacemakers, cochlear implants, bionics - stuff that was science fiction only a few years ago is now reality.

As the pace of medical science improves, there's going to come a point where we're effectively immortal. Any part of us that is diseased, that doesn't work right, that is dying, will be replaceable. It will just be up to us if we want to replace it (or if we can afford to). That doesn't stop accidents - especially those that break us into a thousand pieces - but for the most part, most things will be fixable.

It may sound like it's in the distant future, but the current pace of progress is incredible - organs grown in labs, implants that replace our internal structures, electronics to monitor and improve our body's reactions.

What does this mean for the way that we live? If we can fix our bodies, will we be able to fix our minds? Age, and hence experience, then becomes a bonus, as the physical infirmities no longer apply. Does this put the young at a disadvantage?

What will our societies look like?