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Episode details

Radio 4,12 Dec 2016,30 mins

Cryonics and immortality

Beyond Belief

Available for over a year

The recent case of a terminally ill 14 year old who won the right to have her body cryonically frozen after death in the hope that science would eventually find a way of restoring her to healthy life raises all kinds of ethical questions about the sustainability of prolonging life indefinitely.But it also highlights age-old philosophical and religious preoccupations with what comes after death and the human desire to live forever. Ernie Rea discusses the quest for Immortality with Natalie Haynes, a Classicist writer and broadcaster; Douglas Davies, Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Durham, and David Voas, Professor of Social Science at University College, London. Producer: Rosie Dawson.

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