The Intermittencies of Life: An Analysis of Longevity in Tales of Biotechnology

Abstract

Stem cells are fundamental devices of biomedical practice based on the notion that the body is able to supply the medication necessary to prolong life. Consequently, the concept of biotechnological autonomy is formulated, which is important for our analysis of longevity, an analogy to the analysis of fi niteness. In this paper, discourses were evaluated in which these practices are interpreted as “technologies of hope” or “of longevity”, stem cells being the means by which the biosciences promise to postpone death and control various diseases. We have sought to show how a mentality of aging and decrepitude is being overcome by the idea of longevity, forged by technologies that aim to recover the embryonic atavism of rebirth.