190 Emancipation from Death Clarke’s amusing observation is exactly on target. Staying with  the  analogy  of  human  slavery,  note  that  through- out  most  of  history  (and,  no  doubt,  prehistory),  it  has been common for some humans to own other humans. [5] The movement toward recognition of freedom as a funda- mental human right is relatively recent. During the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, its framers debated how to handle the so-called ‘slave issue’. This was at a time, recall, when many nations,  particularly  those  in  Western  Europe,  had  already abolished the practice. Although a large number of American leaders  abhorred  slavery,  totally  eliminating  it  was  widely considered to be “completely impossible”. [6] As U.S. history proceeded and opposition to slavery grew, the debate changed to one of practicality. People said, “Maybe it’s possible to do it, but it would cost too much.” A few generations after a bloody, costly, destructive and painful civil war, descendants of Americans who once owned other humans would say about abolition, “I always thought it was a good idea.” When the time comes – and it will – that humans are no longer enslaved by death, leadership on this issue will be recognized for what it is: courageous, honest, and humane. Biotechnology and nanomedicine may hold the promise for us to live forever free from illness, disease, and physical dis- ability; always youthful and vigorous; free to do whatever we want with our lives; liberated from the constraints of ill health and physical frailty. In addition to the obvious hope of living without death in human bodies, there are numerous other ways we can imagine extending our lives. One way is to inject our personality into a virtually indestructible robot. This might be done by physi- cally relocating the brain from our frail, vulnerable body and implanting it into a robot; but more likely it would be done by making a digital copy of our brain and downloading all the information into the robot. This method has the advantage