Well, I think you're underestimating the pace of technological progress. Yes, I might not personally live to see the day, but I don't think it will be that far away. There are a lot of rapidly aging rich people. Research is increasing in pace, not decreasing, and efforts like SENS are only just getting started.

Those billions of data points are largely irrelevant on a timeline where technology only increases in potency. Historical death rates offer almost no guidance to a future where the causes of those billions of deaths are being isolated and eliminated faster than ever. You do know that according to Moore's law, computers will overtake the human brain in the 2020s, right? Where's the historical precedent for that?

You might have a point that immortality boosters are motivated somewhat by hope and self-interest, but you seem to be biased in the other direction, for no reason I can discern.

It is rational for any living being to seek to extend their life. Admitting it is possible and desirable is merely the first step. Why not considering taking it? There's still space in the 300. http://www.mfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=mj_donations_t...