In the 1960s, Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT developed a computer program he called ELIZA. A simple chat routine that allowed people to engage in a typed conversation. Before long, the professor noticed some extraordinary reactions to ELIZA: users were pouring their hearts out on the screen. The simple chat robot turned out to meet a deep-seated human need.
Why are people so obsessed with the idea of immortality? Meet the transhumanists who are convinced that a cure for ageing is within reach and that within a few decades, we’ll no longer face death