Longevity and immortality in science fiction
he idea of an infinite or super-attenuated life span has long been a popular starting point in science fiction. Some books have focused on how such immortality might be achieved -- whether through biomedical improvements and cyborg-ing, or through cryonic suspension, stasis and resurrection of the dead. Others have looked more intently at what might happen to an individual who lived for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Still other books, like Sterling's Holy Fire, take a broader view and try to imagine what effect a large population of post-centenarians would have on society as a whole.
Here are a very few of the many books that explore the concepts of longevity and immortality:
- The Eyes of Heisenberg by Frank Herbert
- Political foes battle it out over whose key to immortality will dominate.
- Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein (and other Lazarus Long stories)
- The central character, Lazarus Long, is immortal.
- Time Out of Mind by Larry Niven
- The main character is a resurrected corpsicle -- a cryogenically preserved man -- brought back several thousand years after his death to find the world a very changed place.
- Soldier in the Mist by Gene Wolfe
- The tale of an immortal soldier.
- The Snow Queen by Joan Vinge
- A young girl seeks to stop a planetary ruler from extending her reign indefinitely.
- Terminal Cafe by Ian McDonald
- Nanotechnology allows the infinite resurrection of the dead, a kind of immortality -- but are the immortal dead still human?
ack to Off the Shelf.
Copyright © 1996, Science Fiction Weekly™. Maintained by 70334.2433@compuserve.com