The Fountain of Youth Ch. 00: Prologue

I deleted this a while ago. Was a bit frightened. Now I'm putting it back up with some changes.

This is (likely) a three part series of stories.

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The year 2016 was an extraordinary year. It was a year of chaos and confusion. Fear and fervour were the emotions of the time. Bombastic and hardline attitudes became the norm of politicians. Common people entrenched themselves within their own worldviews, clashing with those who differed even slightly. To an outsider -- and many insiders -- it must have looked as if human civilization itself were about to fall. Yet it was in this turmoil that one person changed the entire world. This person wasn't a corrupt and selfish politician; nor was he an overly zealot lay person. He had no intention of directly changing the social order. What he did do was to make a scientific discovery that fundamentally altered what it meant to be alive.

He was a lifelong resident of the South Side. His immigrant parents emphasized education for him and his siblings above all else. Growing up, he took to mathematics and science, especially biology, hoping to learn about the universe and life itself. At university, he majored in biology with the plan of becoming a doctor. This fell by the wayside as he switched fields where he gained mathematical and computer skills; but soon after, his interest in medical biology began anew, specifically the field of rejuvenation, senescence, and aging. With his new coding and mathematical knowledge, he constructed dynamic models of the inner workings of stem cells and the factors that make them young again -- simulations of cells turning back their clock.

The models created intrigued other researchers. They offered a theoretically sound, viable path to the rejuvenation of cells. Researchers questioned though if the models would work in vivo. The models were tested in mice, some clearly working better than others. Regardless of the flaws, the basic premise was sound and more researchers got on the bandwagon, developing better ways to rejuvenate the cells of mice. This ability, together with the new field of senolytics, confirmed the ultimate point of the research. The world had been given a belated Christmas gift; a group of researchers at Harvard University had experimentally rejuvenated a whole mouse organism. The mouse had only turned back about 20%, but it was enough. Theory became reality and people began to wonder "Do we have to die?". More experimental replications meant that scientists could now rejuvenate any mouse, cat, or small animal back to a younger self. Soon, monkeys and chimpanzees could be rejuvenated. With the higher primates rejuvenated, the possibility for humans was real.

In a couple years, scientists had a cocktail of drugs that rejuvenated people. It wasn't considerably spectacular in magnitude -- only able to biologically rejuvenate a person back about 10% of their age -- but it was enough. Diseases like heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, alzheimer's, dementia -- all the ones associated with growing old -- became curable. Death had seemingly taken a vacation. In less than a year, 10 years became 15, then 20, then 30. Within 10 years, all people could be rejuvenated to their mid-20's. Death didn't just take a vacation, death was laid off. People were now immortal. And not longer lives with deteriorating bodies, but with healthy, robust, vigorous bodies. It wasn't just immortality; it was the fountain of youth.

Discovery of the fountain halted everything. People didn't know what to do initially. How was society going to change? What was the purpose of life now? Could we live without death? Some said they'd prefer death over immortality and let themselves go 'naturally'. Others, fearing the new social order, killed themselves. There were of course the zealots who said death must come to people for the sake of the environment, progress, natural order, etc. and fulfilled that promise on others. In fact, many medical researchers, no matter how far removed from working on rejuvenation, were threatened and forced to hide. In fact, all of those directly involved were forced to go into hiding, relocating to sparsely inhabited islands in the Pacific, Mediterranean, and North Atlantic. But for the vast majority of people, the fear of death was too real, too solid. They underwent rejuvenation immediately. And those still confused continued to age, until they had to face death at which point they accepted the treatment. Everyone living had accepted the new reality.

With nothing but immortals, had the world fundamentally changed? No. People could still die with accidents and suicide. Immortality also didn't solve the world's problems. Overpopulation and all that comes with it, now seemingly made worse, still needed to be solved. Old dictators could continue to run their counties with the same impunity -- and more -- as before. Fear of death strikes all people, not tied to any ideology. Human behavior did not change initially. The large problems and large solutions remained. What did change though were the small-scale, interpersonal relations people had with each other. Older people, previously hardened in their views, were given the gift of new experiences and neuroplasticity. They could -- if they wished -- expand horizons and become more enlightened. Authority of age crumbled as all were the same age. Parent became peers and BFFs with their kids. But most importantly, individuals were given greater independence. With death rare, people did what they wanted to do, not what they had to do. Long lives made individuals internally driven. They chose how to live life; they chose what gave them pleasure.