Question: Could it be possible to live forever by continuously transplanting organs.

Leo Beacroft answered on 4 Jun 2018:

Short answer – maybe, but it might need more than organ transplants.

This is a great question James that lots of people, including many scientists, are thinking about. One reason that people die of old age is because their organs wear out as they get older and are no longer able to work properly. So could transplanting fresh organs to replace old worn out organs extend someone’s lifespan? Potentially yes, but could it enable them to live forever? Probably not. This is because there are many different causes of aging, not all of which can be solved by transplanting organs.

One example is mis-shapen proteins. Proteins are small molecules that have lots of different jobs within the body. To do their job properly a protein needs to have a particular shape. However, sometimes a protein is formed with the wrong shape and these proteins build up over time “clogging” the machinery of the body’s cells. These mis-shapen proteins are thought to be the cause of a number of diseases associated with old age. Transplanting organs in this case might not help, as these sorts of mistakes occur all over the body, not just in particular organs.

People are coming up with lots of ways to “cure” aging. Some people are suggesting that nanorobots, tiny machines, will live inside our body and repair damage to our cells. Others are suggesting that machines, or artificial parts will replace our bodies, either partially or completely so that our soft bodies will be replaced by tougher materials like metals and plastics. An even more extreme thought is that we could get rid of bodies completely; our minds could be “copied” and live on forever (I don’t completely understand how this would work!).

So James, immortality once thought to be the fantasy from the distant future, but may not be as far away as we think!