Death: The Final Frontier

Since the first man breathed his first breath, the men were obsessed with the concept of death - the permanent end of life as a biological organism. "As soon as one is born", Luigi Pirandello, once lamented, "it begins to die."

Man's reflections on death ranged from philosophy:

Who knows but life is what men call death,
And death which men call life? (Euripides, Phrixus)

For the comic:

There are more people dead than alive. And their numbers are increasing. The living are increasingly rare. (IONESCO Eugene, Rhinoceros)

For the truly depressing:

A man dies ... only a couple of circles in the water show that it was always there. It also soon disappear. And when I'm gone, he's forgotten, without a trace, as if he had never even existed. And that's all. (BORCHERT WOLFGANG, The Outsider)

The traditions and beliefs related to death have had profound influences on the development of human culture, and in particular the development of religions and the concept of the afterlife. Some have gone so far as to suggest that religion itself was "invented" as a means of coping with the idea of death - that the concept of life after death is nothing but a fairy tale designed to make the bitter pill of death of a little 'easier to swallow. Perhaps this same fear of death is what is required legends of the Fountain of Youth, a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks from its waters. Today, researchers in the field of "life extension" to pursue a similar goal. They try to understand the nature of aging and develop treatments to reverse the process, or at least slow down. Many of these researchers suggest that future innovations quietly in research on stem cells, tissue rejuvenation, and repair will be a day of Molecular eliminate the aging process and fool the death of his goodness.

To this end, some true believers such as Major League Baseball player Ted Williams (and, according to legend, Walt Disney), they come to the verge of dying cryonically preserved when frozen in the hope that future scientists, one day revive them, bring them back to life like Lazarus from the tomb.

Any skeptic will tell you that our best efforts are in vain - that death is part of life, the inescapable conclusion. The truth is that nobody knows for sure. And there's only one way to find out.

As stated in JM Barrie's Peter Pan, "Dying is awfully big adventure."