This essay is the second chapter in a larger project aimed at updating my knowledge, analysis and views on global population dynamics. The analysis and study of mortality and life expectancy effectively is the inquiry into the fundamental rules that government the human living experience over time. It is an inquiry into why and how humans are now living much longer than they did just 200-to-300 years ago, and following from that, whether the otherwise ironclad rules that have bound human mortality to preset rules can be broken by technology. The initial version of this text was published in July 2021. Updated versions might follow, and will be available here. This essay has be re-posted in a one-column version in November 2022 with more thorough editing.