The Forever Show

Science journalist Caty Enders's project is a podcast and immersive sound installation which delve into biotech and AI programs aimed at achieving immortality.

Caty Enders

Joe Richman

Thanks to recent breakthroughs in everything from diet science to genetic engineering—as well as billions in capital flooding longevity startups—we seem to be on the brink of what Silicon Valley calls “disrupting death.” At the same time, life expectancy in the United States actually declined in 2018, with the average American facing record levels of chronic disease, suicide, and addiction. Enders, an award-winning reporter, argues that the gap is so large that most media coverage fails to connect the great leaps in biotech with the rest of society. But we all want to know how to live longer, and better.

Caty Enders, Forecast Forum 2019. Photo: Camille Blake.

So which of the avenues freshly laid down by biohackers and paved with venture capital will be our route out of death? Digital doppelgängers, caloric restriction, CRISPR-designed pig organs, stem-cell injections, brain preservation? And what, for that matter, does it all mean for humanity?

With The Forever Show, Enders aims to pull back the curtain on life-or-death technology, meeting the people behind it. Working with radio journalist Joe Richman as mentor, she mixes approachable science reporting while also exploring the newest—sometimes miraculous, sometimes dark and dubious—longevity startups. A decade of reporting on science, health, and the environment informs Enders’s exploration of these technologies, the people developing it, and those waiting eagerly to receive it.

Caty Enders, Forecast Forum 2019. Photo: Camille Blake.

Stories in Sound: mentor Joe Richman and mentee Caty Enders

Enders traveled to Turkey for a work-stay at the contemporary art institution SALT Galata in Istanbul, in March 2020.

At the Forecast Festival in April 2021, Enders will present the first season of The Forever Show, designed to be broadcast as a narrative podcast and a series of audio installations. She will focus on Episode II: HOME SWEET HOME, which explores the construction of a digital avatar as a means of transcending our mortal coil. The audio in this episode is taken from documentary recordings and from interviews with scientists and historians, and original music by Sara Bigdeli Shamloo.

Caty Enders, Forecast Forum 2019. Photo: Camille Blake.

“I envision this non-fiction project as a mix of science, philosophy, and sound art,” says Enders, “the blend allowing for the sort of beauty and ambiguity that exists in the area of health and longevity. I also want these episodes to be presented in physical space in ways that allow the audio to transport the listener in new and innovative ways.”