Over the next few weeks, as Jethro’s cells continued to adjust and his body improved, he heard of all the new technologies that hatched while he was cryonically preserved. The changes in only seven years were incredible. Procreation was now done exclusively in test tubes. Genetic engineering was commonplace. All forms of cancer, even the most obscure variants, were fully curable. Mars was an inhabited colony that provided important mineral resources. Artificial Intelligence was ubiquitous, even having its own moral systems and consciousness. Cryonics as an industry was almost extinct because few deadly diseases existed anymore. Reverse-aging enterprises and bionics were some of the biggest fields in science and industry.
On his final day in the hospital, Jethro went out to the balcony as usual. He stared at the world and considered the map of his life and the uncharted possibilities of his future. His muscles ached badly, as he had finished his first jog on a treadmill just an hour before. But he was also excited—he hadn't run so fast in a quarter century. He turned and looked at his reflection in the sliding glass door behind him. A strong, determined, youthful transhumanist stared back. The same transhumanist who had many times stood atop Memorial Vista and surveyed his beloved floating city and imagined its future. Jethro felt powerful, energized, and sublime.
He turned back to the world below. The wind from the far-off ocean rushed around his body and through his hair. He whispered to himself, “This is just the beginning of Jethro Knights.”
The End
Author’s Note
This story, The Transhumanist Wager, is the result of two decades of thought and inquiry into transhumanism and the quest for scientific immortality. I wrote it hoping to change people’s ideas of what a human being is and what it can become.
For more information on the book and its philosophy, please visit:
http://www.transhumanistwager.com
The Transhumanist Wager Page 50