Sebastian Sisti is a retired copywriter who has been writing about science, philosophy, and "the immortality of the body" since 1953.

These philosophical essays draw their logic from the principle of continuity. Simply stated, the principle of continuity consists of three...

These philosophical essays draw their logic from the principle of continuity. Simply stated, the principle of continuity consists of three axioms: (a) Nothing cannot become something; (b) Something cannot become nothing; (c) Something cannot become something else. When applied to new conceptions of the universe (or everyday life), the principle of continuity will expose hokum — or honest error.

Big Bang theory is honest error, not glib sloganeering. But when put to the test of continuity Big Bang theory fails (nothing cannot become something). The universe cannot be created nor can it be destroyed. Stephen Hawking, co-father of Big Bang theory, recently recanted, stating that "the origin of the universe is a subject for disciplines other than science".

The absolute existence of the universe implies the absolute existence of every particle of matter and energy, which leads to the conclusion that we are made of immortal stuff. It also leads to the tantalizing idea that evolution in its agonizingly slow way could be said to be building an immortal organism.

While several articles have been published on the discovery of telomeres and the role of telomerase in aging, these essays present a unique philosophical system which posits that existence is absolute and that biological immortality is the evolutionary goal of all living.

Drawing on sources ranging from the Holy Bible to Charles Darwin and scientific studies of recombinant DNA, the essays, written in a folksy style, conclude that the universe could not have been created even as they show that the universe, or any part of it, cannot be destroyed. This absolute existence of the universe and its contents puts meaning back into theories of existence by finding that everything obeys a simple law: to be continuous. This compulsion fuels the quest for immortality which is expressed in our religions, in science, in the value we give to life and to reproduction, and to the preservation of family, tribe, and nation.

The evidence that death seems to contradict our passion for immortality is based on the delusion that there must be a beginning and an end to everything. In any event the point is moot because, thanks to a handful of cell biologists, science has discovered the secret of death and its cure.