A futurist philosopher who legally changed his name to FM2030 because of his conviction that he would live to be at least 100 has died at 69.
Born F.M. Esfandiary in 1930, FM2030 arranged to have his body cryogenically frozen in the hope of being re-animated if and when doctors find a cure for pancreatic cancer -- the cause of his death Saturday.
His body was flown to Arizona for storage in a vat of liquid nitrogen.
FM2030 believed that one day synthetic body parts would make life expectancy irrelevant, and recently denounced the pancreas, for which no substitute has yet been made, as "a stupid, dumb, wretched organ."
A teacher, author and corporate consultant who lived in Miami, FM2030 was launched -- his word for born -- in Belgium to an Iranian diplomat. He lived in 17 countries by the time he was 11, fostering his self-proclaimed identity as a citizen of the universe.
He considered nationality an anachronism and often said, "There are no illegal immigrants, only irrelevant borders."
FM2030 stood out in his field -- many of his predictions having proven uncannily prescient. In 1977, he anticipated the correction of genetic flaws and fertilization and gestation outside the body. In 1980, he wrote about teleconferencingand teleshopping.
A "chronic optimist," he envisioned a future of human immortality.
"I am a 21st-century person who was accidentally born into the 20th," he once said.