Life extension is all the rage, in medical laboratories, but in science-fiction scripts, the term has taken on a new definition. Preserving somebody’s essence, postmortem, in another body or network as a way to negate mortality is a hot plot point in our movies. In 2014’s silly Transcendence, Johnny Depp’s consciousness lived long — and really, really prospered — in a … [Read more...]
‘Sixth Extinction’ is an urgent, chilling warning
More than 60 million years ago a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. Four other mass extinctions in the past 450 million years destroyed countless other animal and plant species. In her profound new book, The Sixth Extinction, science writer Elizabeth Kolbert argues that Earth could be heading for another extinction that would kill off many … [Read more...]