They say money can’t buy love, health, or happiness and you cannot take it with you when you die. Now, if all that is true, there must be a whole bunch of brassed off billionaires worrying what will happen to all their lovely loot stashed away in cyberspace. If only they could live forever! Well, their dreams are nothing new, but maybe they are on the verge of coming true.

From the earliest times, people have yearned to stave off old age and death, and various ways have been explored to achieve a continuing state of youth, health, and vitality. Through the ages, breakthroughs in science provided more effective medications and treatments, and improvements in civic health and sanitation in urban areas brought greater health and longer life, yet eternal youth and immortality remained distant dreams. Nevertheless, the dream never died, and the search continued through the centuries and even now men and women are seeking the key to immortality.

One of these ancient dreams was of a hidden, magical spring of pure, bubbling water called the Fountain of Youth, which restored youth and health to anyone who drank from the fountain or bathed in its waters. The quest became a recurring theme in myths, legends, and folklore, existing in many forms for centuries around the world.

In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a fountain in Africa said to grant exceptional longevity. Other early versions can be found in the Alexander Romance, which recounts the story of Alexander the Great and his servant seeking a restorative spring.

The search for the Fountain of Youth is also famously associated with the 16th century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. According to legend, he searched unsuccessfully for the fountain while exploring the Caribbean islands and Florida in 1513, supposedly inspired by stories from indigenous people about a magical spring in a mysterious land called Bimini. Yet, despite his failure, the legend endures. The city of St. Augustine, Florida, features the “Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park,” a tourist attraction built around a natural spring on the alleged site of Ponce de León’s landing.

The myth of the Fountain of Youth carries an enduring symbolic meaning, representing humanity’s long-standing yearning for good health and eternal youth. It is a symbol of hope in the struggle to live beyond nature’s limits. The idea has inspired countless stories in literature and film and is used metaphorically in advertisements for health and wellness products. During the Middle Ages, alchemists fruitlessly devoted considerable time and effort to seeking the Elixir of Life, a mythical alchemical potion believed to grant eternal youth and immortality.

In our modern, high-tech, digital world, the dream of everlasting health and immortality lives on in various forms among many people and organizations. One such group calls itself “transhumanists.” Their aim is to transition (trans) from (human) to “posthuman,” a state beyond the human condition. Not death, soul, or spirit, but an entirely different state of existence. This would mean changes in physiology, biology, and cognition through artificial biological and non-biological enhancements to the human body and intellect, endowing the person with godlike abilities.

They argue that people have used prosthetic limbs, worn eyeglasses, used hearing aids and other devices, used medication, and altered their bodies surgically for health or aesthetic reasons for centuries. Furthermore, they point out that, for decades, people using technology such as telephones and television have enjoyed the superpowers of remote hearing and seeing over vast distances. This, they claim, makes us all transhumanists.

They predict that human memories and consciousness will soon be stored in AI chips, so that when the body dies, it can be replaced by a robotic or digital equivalent, integrated with AI, which will also be self-aware and conscious, creating a of replica of the person.

Eventually, a new self-aware, conscious, mechanical, digital species, distinct and separate from homo sapiens, will be artificially created. When pushed, they admit the potential danger of AI and other technologies getting out of control and causing mass extinction is real but strongly assert that the benefits they bring may outweigh the risks.

Disturbingly, they would allow no one else, apart from them, to have a say on taking such dire risks as they believe they alone possess sufficient knowledge and expertise to make an informed decision on the matter.

All this goes far beyond the search for the Fountain of Youth or Elixir of Life. They are actively working towards a future in which humanity posthumously transitions into a godlike state with extraordinary superpowers, attributes, cognitive abilities, and, above all, immortality. They are prepared to risk the extinction of humanity as AI develops far greater intellectual capacity than humans, to the point that it no longer needs us.

They believe all this will be possible through the development of Advanced Artificial Intelligence, brain implants, nanotechnology, and breakthroughs in science, which will allow human consciousness to merge with that of AI.

Why would anyone want to achieve such a state of being? If you were a multibillionaire, this might seem a way to preserve your much-treasured wealth while continuing to build your fortune.

Unsurprisingly, transhumanism is a philosophy favored by many of Silicon Valley’s techno-billionaires and other hubs of scientific innovation. But what they are proposing is much more than the Fountain of Youth, it will transform the species, or at least the elites, into a new and entirely different kind of creature.

This is not to say that all multibillionaires seek such an existence. Some give freely of their wealth to science and charitable organizations seeking to cure or improve the lives of many people in the here and now, and all credit to them. Nevertheless, there are rich and not-so-rich folk who welcome the idea of transitioning from human to posthuman, while others are horrified by the thought of a digital eternity, and I wonder what you think of the idea?