Business

Humanity’s survival paradox

Nanotechnology and advances in healthcare can increase our lifespans, but what impact does that have on the planet’s lifespan?

22 October 2021

A few days before he died from cancer, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker was disappointed that his last and most important book didn’t find a publisher. Perhaps it was because he was writing about death and publishers were reluctant to offer such work to readers who were looking for quick-fix, self-help and entertaining books to read.

The manuscript landed on the desk of an ambitious young editor, Sam Keen, at Psychology Today. He read it in one sitting and decided to make it his mission to publish and promote Becker’s work. Keen went to visit the author a few days before he died, and worked tirelessly to get it published. In 1974, four months after the author’s demise, The Denial of Death was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction.

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