> removing a single "death gene" only allows you to experience one of the many other forms of death I see your point. On the other hand, why are there so many

> removing a single "death gene" only allows you to experience one of the many other forms of death I see your point. On the other hand, why are there so many ways to die when you grow old? If one form of death doesn't get you, whey are there so many built-in mechanisms for death, in each of us? Why does your body betray you without fail, eventually? Why do mayflies die so young, just after they reproduce? Perhaps evolution has no need of them after they reproduce, but that's not how it looks like to me, in the case of mayflies. It is one thing to say that there is no advantage to living after reproduction, and another to say that you MUST die after reproduction. It is perfectly conceivable to imagine post-reproductive mayflies surviving for many years. Heck, post-reproductive humans survive again as long after the end of fertility. > Indefinite extension is rather unlikely in the foreseeable future, though I agree with you there. That was pretty much my point all along. And I was trying to put forth a rational argument for WHY I think that, but I can't come up with a totally convincing explanation.