Death

== Life extension ==
{{Main|Life extension}}
Life extension refers to an increase in [[maximum life span|maximum]] or [[life expectancy|average lifespan]], especially in humans, by slowing or reversing [[senescence|aging processes]] through [[anti-aging]] measures. Aging is the most common cause of death worldwide. Aging is seen as inevitable, so according to [[Aubrey de Grey]] little is spent on research into anti-aging therapies, a phenomenon known as [[pro-aging trance]].<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" />

The average lifespan is determined by vulnerability to [[accident]]s and age or lifestyle-related afflictions such as cancer or [[cardiovascular disease]]. Extension of lifespan can be achieved by good [[diet (nutrition)|diet]], exercise, and avoidance of hazards such as [[tobacco smoking|smoking]]. Maximum lifespan is determined by the rate of aging for a species inherent in its [[gene]]s. A recognized method of extending maximum lifespan is [[calorie restriction]].<ref name="Fontana-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Fontana |first1=Luigi |last2=Partridge |first2=Linda |last3=Longo |first3=Valter L. |date=April 16, 2010 |title=Extending Healthy Life Span—From Yeast to Humans |journal=Science |volume=328 |issue=5976 |pages=321–326 |doi=10.1126/science.1172539 |pmid=20395504 |pmc=3607354 |bibcode=2010Sci...328..321F }}</ref> Theoretically, the extension of the maximum lifespan can be achieved by reducing the rate of aging damage, by [[tissue engineering|periodic replacement of damaged tissues]], [[nanobiotechnology|molecular repair]] or [[rejuvenation (aging)|rejuvenation]] of deteriorated cells and tissues.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blagosklonny |first=Mikhail V. |date=December 1, 2021 |title=No limit to maximal lifespan in humans: how to beat a 122-year-old record |journal=Oncoscience |volume=2021 |issue=8 |pages=110–119 |doi=10.18632/oncoscience.547 |pmid=34869788 |pmc=8636159 }}</ref>

A United States poll found religious and irreligious people, as well as men and women and people of different economic classes, have similar rates of support for life extension, while Africans and Hispanics have higher rates of support than white people. 38% said they would desire to have their aging process cured.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 August 2013 |title=Living to 120 and Beyond: Americans' Views on Aging, Medical Advances and Radical Life Extension |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/06/living-to-120-and-beyond-americans-views-on-aging-medical-advances-and-radical-life-extension/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918232422/http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/06/living-to-120-and-beyond-americans-views-on-aging-medical-advances-and-radical-life-extension/ |archive-date=18 September 2016 |access-date=19 September 2016 |website=Pew Research Center |publisher=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project}}</ref>

Researchers of life extension can be known as "biomedical [[gerontologist]]s." They try to understand aging, and develop treatments to reverse aging processes, or at least slow them for the improvement of health and maintenance of youthfulness.<ref name="Stambler-2017">{{Cite journal |last=Stambler |first=Ilia |date=October 1, 2017 |title=Recognizing Degenerative Aging as a Treatable Medical Condition: Methodology and Policy |journal=Aging and Disease |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=583–589 |doi=10.14336/AD.2017.0130 |pmid=28966803 |pmc=5614323 }}</ref> Those who use life extension findings and apply them to themselves are called "life extensionists" or "longevists." The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply anti-aging methods to attempt to live long enough to benefit from a cure for aging.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moshakis |first=Alex |date=June 23, 2019 |title=How to live forever: meet the extreme life-extensionists |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/23/how-to-live-forever-meet-the-extreme-life-extensionists-immortal-science |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=23 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623103052/https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/23/how-to-live-forever-meet-the-extreme-life-extensionists-immortal-science |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Cryonics ===
{{Main||Cryonics}}
[[File:Cryo surgery.jpg|thumb|Technicians prepare a body for cryopreservation in 1985.]]

Cryonics (from Greek κρύος 'kryos-' meaning 'icy cold') is the [[cryopreservation|low-temperature preservation]] of animals, including humans, who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and [[wikt:resuscitate|resuscitation]] may be possible in the future.<ref>{{cite news |last=McKie |first=Robin |date=13 July 2002 |title=Cold facts about cryonics |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/jul/14/medicalscience.science |url-status=live |access-date=1 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708232125/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/jul/14/medicalscience.science |archive-date=8 July 2017 |quote=Cryonics, which began in the Fifties, is the freezing – usually in liquid nitrogen – of human beings who have been legally declared dead. The aim of this process is to keep such individuals in a state of refrigerated limbo so that it may become possible in the future to resuscitate them, cure them of the condition that killed them, and then restore them to functioning life in an era when medical science has triumphed over the activities of the Banana Reaper}}</ref><ref name="alcor What is Cryonics">{{cite web |title=What is Cryonics? |url=http://alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002857/http://alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html |archive-date=3 December 2013 |access-date=2 December 2013 |website=[[Alcor Foundation]] |quote="Cryonics is an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by today's medicine might be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health."}}</ref>

[[Cryopreservation]] of people and other large animals, is not reversible with current technology. The stated rationale for cryonics is that people who are considered dead by current legal or medical definitions, may not necessarily be dead according to the more stringent 'information-theoretic' definition of death.<ref name="InfoDeath" /><ref name="Whetstine L et al. 2005 538–542">{{cite journal |vauthors=Whetstine L, Streat S, Darwin M, Crippen D |year=2005 |title=Pro/con ethics debate: When is dead really dead? |journal=Critical Care |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=538–42 |doi=10.1186/cc3894 |pmc=1414041 |pmid=16356234 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Some scientific literature is claimed to support the feasibility of cryonics.<ref name="pmid18321197">{{cite journal |first=Ben |last=Best |author-link=Ben Best |year=2008 |title=Scientific justification of cryonics practice |journal=[[Rejuvenation Research]] |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=493–503 |doi=10.1089/rej.2008.0661 |pmc=4733321 |pmid=18321197}}</ref> Medical science and cryobiologists generally regard cryonics with skepticism.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lovgren |first=Stefan |date=18 March 2005 |title=Corpses Frozen for Future Rebirth by Arizona Company |newspaper=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0318_050318_cryonics.html |access-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714141729/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0318_050318_cryonics.html |archive-date=14 July 2014 |quote=Many cryobiologists, however, scoff at the idea...}}</ref>