by David Bunnell
Tithonus was a handsome mortal dude who fell in love with Eos, the gorgeous goddess of dawn.
Eos begged Zeus to grant Tithonus immortality. Otherwise, he would grow old and die…while she would stay young and lovely forever.
Zeus was jealous, because he wanted to seduce Eos, and Tithonus was getting in the way. So he came up with a nifty solution. Tithonus was granted immortality, but not eternal youth.
Tithonus became increasingly debilitated and demented, eventually driving poor, beautiful Eos to distraction with his constant babbling…so, she turned him into a grasshopper, and presumably hopped into the sack with Zeus.
Today, the “Tithonus Error” refers to the fact that most people reject life extension because they mistakenly believe it means people will be older longer. Most of us have a justified horror of later stages of degenerative aging, so this makes sense.
However, the goal of life extension is to stay younger longer. Aging is nothing but damage, and longevity science will help us minimize that damage so we can still play tennis at age 100 and get laid at age 110.
So, if you suffer from the “Tithonus” error, get over it!