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Throughout history, people have sought survival or immortality in four main ways. First, by staying alive as long as possible – this is the realm of magic and medicine. Second, by surviving death in some attenuated spirit form, this is the realm of spiritualism and religion. Third, by surviving through our children and children's children, this is the realm of genetics and family. Fourth, by our works and deeds, embedded in memory and society, this is the realm of memetics and culture. Over the last two centuries, global efforts to increase survival of the body have been successful, so that average lifespan has more than doubled. However, because the rate of ageing has not changed, the cost of increased lifespan has been increased ageing, diseases of ageing, dementia, disability and a degenerative end to life.