Skip to content
Company
  • About Us
  • Meet Our Team
  • Charitable Commitments
  • Testimonials
  • HR Support
  • How We Recruit
  • About Us
  • Meet Our Team
  • Charitable Commitments
  • Testimonials
  • HR Support
  • How We Recruit
Blog
  • Blog Homepage
  • Labour Report
  • White Papers
  • Job Seeker Resources
  • Blog Homepage
  • Labour Report
  • White Papers
  • Job Seeker Resources
Employer

What area of expertise are you hiring in?

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
Job Seeker

What is your area of expertise?

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs

Contact Us

Beware of Recruitment Scams

Our recruiters will never ask for payment or sensitive information such as your passport or banking information.

Read more

BBB Rating: A+

As of 8/7/2024

Click for Profile

What is your area of expertise?

Employer

Job Seeker

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resource
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information And Technology

Are you hiring, or looking for a job?​

Employer
Job Seeker
Employer

What area of expertise are you hiring in?

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
Job Seeker

What is your area of expertise?

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs
GET A QUOTE

Life Science and the Quest for Eternal Life

9 March 2022
How long can science extend the human lifespan? Opinions vary. The financial stakes and the ethical implications are immense.
12689

BC UNEMPLOYMENT: CONSTRUCTION

‹ ›

View the Blog Homepage for Areas of Expertise & Sections

Blog Homepage

Life Science and the Quest for Eternal Life

The prospect of living forever has fascinated mankind since time immemorial. It’s the basis of religions, songs, and speculative barroom conversation. Notwithstanding one’s belief regarding an afterlife, most people have long concluded that the idea of living forever in our earthly form is an interesting, but impossible dream. Today’s scientists are making real breakthroughs that promise to extend the average human life and have already succeeded in doing so. While talk of eternal life remains speculative, it doesn’t seem as unfathomable as it once did. 

Life Scientists and Investors Chase the Dream 

If tackling problems is human nature, then perhaps life scientists are the ultimate problem-solvers and death the ultimate problem. Any paradigm-shifting advancement in extending life would obviously result in a bonanza of earnings, not to mention glory. Some economic heavy-hitters are on the case. 

“Plenty of big names in big tech have sunk funding into ventures to solve the problem of death as if it were just an upgrade to your smartphone’s operating system,” writes Emily Willingham for Scientific American.1

Silicon Valley start-up Altos Labs2, reportedly backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has recruited a team of renowned scientists to tackle the lifespan issue. Google’s Calico2 (California Life Company) aims to combat neurodegenerative disease. The Hevolution Foundation2 is a Saudi Arabian non-profit investment fund that propels research on ‘healthspans’, and was established by royal decree. All boast vast financial resources and capable minds.

As Anjana Ahuja writes for the Financial Times, “For the super-rich who can buy everything but time, aging is just another fundamental technological problem to be solved, the human body a machine ripe for intervention.”2

A Matter of Resilience

It’s not just disease or unfortunate incidents that end human life, but a diminishing level of bodily resilience, commonly referred to as ‘dying of old age.’ 

Even in the absence of disease or trauma “our body’s capacity to restore equilibrium to its myriad structural and metabolic system after disruptions still fades with time,” writes Willingham.1

Simply put, the body simply becomes less and less equipped to fend off the inevitable stresses it faces. 

The world’s oldest recorded living person, Jeanne Calment, died in 1997 at 122 years of age.2 Researchers theorize that, given our bodily limitations, the maximum human lifespan is 140-150 years.2 This begs the question; are those limitations absolute? 

Is it Possible to Reverse Age? 

In light of the pace of scientific advancements made in nearly every field, it can seem unreasonable to dismiss anything as impossible. If a century and a half of life is possible in the face of declining resilience, the next frontier becomes the elimination or reversal of this limitation. 

In 2006 Shinya Yamanaka identified four proteins, dubbed the ‘Yamanaka factors’ that seem to provide the potential to turn back the clock. Mammalian cells bathed in these proteins regress to an immature state known as pluripotency, meaning that they have not yet flowered into their final form.2

“We know that hidden somewhere in our biology is the reset button of youth,” writes Ahuja. “It is why old parents produce young offspring, not kids with pre-aged cells. At the point of fertilisation, the genetic material inherited from each biological parent is somehow scrubbed clean of age-related changes. For every baby, the cellular clock starts ticking anew.”2

Turning such findings into an achievable way of reversing the aging process in humans would, for some, represent the holy grail of human achievement. 

Ethical Implications of Life Extension 

For just how long science can extend human life is up for debate and so, too, are the ethics of the pursuit. 

Questions abound; How would the planet cope with the resulting increased population? Should selecting a multi-century life disqualify one from reproducing? Would not selecting an extended life be considered suicide? Would humans grow complacent, leading to a stagnation of ideas? How would the stages of life change? What’s an appropriate gift for a 150th anniversary? 

Many believe that energy may be better spent attempting to improve quality of life, or bringing life expectancy in developing nations up to par. While some consider the pursuit of eternal life to be ego-driven folly, philosopher and author Ingemar Patrick Linden is not among them. 

“My experiences tell me that unless there is a good afterlife, death is a horrific evil and nothing is more important than preventing good people from dying,” he writes, calling himself a ‘death abolitionist and a life prolongevist.’2

Ethical debates aside, human nature suggests that if we can drastically extend life, we will. With some of humanity’s brightest minds teaming with some of the planet’s deepest pockets, there will certainly be a concerted effort. 

Cited Sources
1 Willingham, Emily. “Humans Could Live up to 150 Years, New Research Suggests.” Scientific American. Scientific American, May 25, 2021. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-could-live-up-to-150-years-new-research-suggests/
2 “Can We Defeat Death?” | Financial Times. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9
Life Science and the Quest for Eternal Life
9 March 2022
Table Of Contents
  • References

Henry Goldbeck

President, Founder

key word

  • key word
SEE BIO
Vanessa Cox
Senior Recruiter

key word

  • key word
SEE BIO

Looking for talent?

Seeking job opportunities?

References

tap into cross-industry decision making data

Get advanced access to reports and whitepapers, our quarterly Statistics Canada employments data analysis and read unlimited articles. 

Policy Agreement
Email are sent monthly.
You can unsubscribe at any time
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Leader Spotlight
  • March 14, 2025

From Newcomer to Leader: Monisha Mothilal’s Inspiring Journey

Although Monisha Mothilal has yet to complete her third year in Canada, she has already made a significant impact. As the host of the podcast Newcomers to Trailblazers, she shares the experiences of immigrants navigating life in Canada. She is a sought-after public speaker, serves as Vice President of Tech2Step—a nonprofit dedicated to providing networking […]

San Francisco’s Economy Leads the World Into the Future

  • City Feature, HR Trends
  • May 2, 2024

What Is Headhunting?

  • Uncategorized
  • May 28, 2025

Understanding Recruitment: Key Strategies and Terms

  • Uncategorized
  • May 27, 2025

Downsizing? Know Your Legal Obligations

  • Human Resources & Administration
  • April 14, 2025

Winning Résumés: 7 Steps to Stand Out as a Leader

  • Job Seeker Resources
  • March 17, 2025

Recent case studies

1
Case Study: Goldbeck Recruiting’s Strategic Placement for Metro Testing’s PM Estimator Role
2
Case Study: Goldbeck Recruiting’s Strategic Placement for Molycop Plant Manager Position
3
Case Study: Successful Placements by Alessia Pagliaroli for Zetron
4
Case Study: Recruiting a Brand Marketing Specialist for Gray Ridge Eggs

Special features

24 January 2025
How a Side Hustle Made One Professional a Stronger Employee

“I’ve always had the entrepreneurial bug,” admits Adison Wiberg. “Having a small business is something I knew I’d enjoy.”1 Wiberg is the founder, designer, salesperson,...

READ MORE

28 November 2024
The Art and Science Behind B2B Digital Marketing Strategy

“I like the problem-solving element of marketing,” says Colin Rose, Founder, President, and Creative Director at Rose Agency, a digital marketing agency based in Vancouver.1...

READ MORE

Get advanced access to reports and whitepapers, our monthly Statistics Canada employments data analysis and read unlimited articles.

Policy Agreement
Email are sent monthly.
You can unsubscribe at any time
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
GET A QUOTE

ADDRESS

#360-475 West Georgia Street

Vancouver

BC V6B 4M9

View map

BBB Rating: A+

As of 8/7/2024

Click for Profile

CONTACT

  • Phone:+1 (604) 684-1428
  • Toll-Free: +1 (877) 684-1428
  • Email: contact@goldbeck.com
Facebook-f Linkedin

Google Rating

4.8

★★★★★ 4.6/5

200+ reviews

Read the Reviews

privacy POLICY

Terms & Conditions

BBB Rating: A+

As of 8/7/2024

Click for Profile

GET A QUOTE

ADDRESS

#510-475 West Georgia Street

Vancouver

BC V6B 4M9

View map

CONTACT

  • Phone:+1 (604) 684-1428
  • Toll-Free: +1 (877) 684-1428
  • Email: contact@goldbeck.com
Facebook-f Linkedin

Google Rating

4.8

★★★★★ 4.6/5

174 reviews

Write a Review

Website made by Rose Agency

© 2025 All Rights Reserved.

Select an Area of Expertise:

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology

See Job Listings for:

  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources & Administration
  • Engineering
  • Life Sciences
  • Sales
  • Natural Resources
  • Manufacturing & Operations
  • Construction
  • Not-For-Profit
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Executive Search & Consulting
  • Information Technology
  • See All Jobs