Madoff’s Latest Victim: Immortality

We’ve heard a lot about the victims of the Madoff pozi scheme—celebrities, families, and charitable organizations whose lives and assets have been turned upside down by the fraudulent investor. The Wall Street Journal has a story today about a couple whose life’s work—the quest for immortality—might have to be put on hold because of their lost investments:

Of all the dreams that were crushed by Mr. Madoff’s crime, perhaps none was more unusual than this duo’s of achieving everlasting life through architecture. Mr. Arakawa (he uses only his last name) and Ms. Gins design structures they say can enable inhabitants to “counteract the usual human destiny of having to die.”

The income from their investments with Mr. Madoff helped fund their research and experimental work. Now, Mr. Arakawa, 72 years old, and Ms. Gins, 67, are strapped for cash. They closed their Manhattan office and laid off five employees.

The pair’s work, based loosely on a movement known as “transhumanism,” is premised on the idea that people degenerate and die in part because they live in spaces that are too comfortable. The artists’ solution: construct abodes that leave people disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable . . . .

To the artists, eternal life is a real possibility. “This is a great chance for the human race,” says Ms. Gins.

I guess the couple will have to find a different path to immortal life. I can think of one that doesn’t cost a thing.