Why plan for a funeral? Live forever instead

For years, I've considered Ray Kurzweil one of my personal heros. The inventor of the very first text-to-speech book reader for the blind and a leading force behind the growth of the voice reciognition industry in the 1990s, Kurzweil is also a vocal advocate for immortality. He pops up in the media every few years to remind everone that he thinks pracical human immortality is not just possible, but is only about 50 years away from reality. He surfaced all over the Web and TV again just a few months ago with proclamations about impending advances in science that will facilitate Not Ever Dying.

I'm intrigued by the notion that humans might live forever--or, at the very least, live many, many time longer than they do today--through medicine or cynernetic technology. In fact, all I can say is, "sign me up." I'd download my brain into a computer in a heartbeat if it meant that my consciousness would be able to see the wonders of flying cars, robot dogs, and cloned dinosaurs in the next century. of course, I can already see Rick Luddite Broida winding up his cranky pitch to say why this is Just Wrong, or, at the very least, Utterly Impossible. Just like rockets to the moon and no-fat ice cream.