[extropy-chat] Essay on Physical Immortality (terminology)

[Damien Broderick]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Walker" <mark at permanentend.org>
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 7:37 AM

> I agree that it is worthwhile to think about how to sell the message
right.
> For myself I may use both 'emortal' and 'ageless'. It is nice to have
> synonyms and the slightly different connation of these terms may appeal to
> different "market segments".

Indeed. I should stress that I have absolutely no stake in `emortal/ity'; it
just seems like a workable compromise.

Incidentally, Brian Stableford tells me that he didn't coin the term
(although he's used it in a series of recent novels). He attributes it to
biologist Alvin Silverstein, in CONQUEST OF DEATH (Macmillan, 1979). I find
this interesting summary at the useful site
http://biomatics.kaist.ac.kr/Research/Gerontology/glossary.html :

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Emortality -- Indefinite life expectancy for individuals of a sexually
reproducing species without death secondary to cellular senescence. However,
an emortal individual may still die secondary to environmental trauma or an
accident. Etymology: This term was first coined by Alvin Silverstein, Ph.D.,
Professor of Biology at College of Staten Island/CUNY (2800 Victory Blvd.;
Staten Island, NY 10314; E-mail: silverstein at postbox.csi.cuny.edu or
DrASilverstein at aol.com ) to distinguish it from the more usual term of
immortality and thereby avoid all of its religious connotation. He states,
"I was using it among colleagues and friends back in the 1950's, although it
did not appear "in print" until my book, Conquest of Death: The Prospects
for Emortality in Our Time (Macmillan, NY; 1979).

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Damien Broderick