Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor behind Facebook and co-founder of PayPal, recently made headlines for his reported personal and professional interest in whether blood transfusions from younger people can improve and even extend life for older people.

Ewww. Vampire alert.

Ghoulish and ethically questionable as it may seem, Thiel's interest in young blood and other life extension gambits shouldn't come as a surprise.

In the eyes of many technologists, the human body is just another machine that can be tinkered with and tweaked.

"Why are tech leaders interested in immortality? It's a combination of scientism and extraordinary wealth," said Adam Gollner, author of "The Book of Immortality." "Are Silicon Valley CEOs investing millions into physical immortality any different from the fantastically rich and all-powerful emperors in the Tang dynasty of China who died taking mercury-based elixirs of never-ending life? Time will tell."