Behind the Folklore - Time Is On My Side

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IMMORTALITY
Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in physical or spiritual form for an infinite length of time. As immortality is the negation of mortality—not dying or not being subject to death—it has been a subject of fascination to mankind since at least the beginning of history. The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the first literary works, dating back at least to the 22nd century BCE, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to become immortal. What form an unending human life would take, or whether the soul exists and possesses immortality, has been a major point of focus of religion, as well as the subject of speculation, fantasy, and debate.
It is not known whether human physical immortality is an unachievable phenomenon or not. Biological forms have inherent limitations — for example, their fragility and slow adaptability to changing environments, which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions, engineering, etc. On the other hand, biological immortality already exists among some simple, but multicellular life-forms.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers, such as scientists Aubrey de Grey and Ray Kurzweil believe that human immortality is achievable in the next few decades. Others are somewhere in the middle of these two extreme viewpoints, thinking that immortality is achievable in some period of time longer than 20-30 years, but not impossible.
Biological immortality is what life extension advocates feel is likely in decades to come. Specifically this refers to the abscence of aging of the body due to baseline biological human limitations, but acknowledgement that complete immortality in a human form is unlikely due to the fact that even when you remain biologically young, once every few hundred years individuals will get killed in an accident or by other means.
Ultimately, a timeless existence is also not known for certain to be achievable, or even definable, despite millennia of arguments for eternity.


OTHER REFERENCES
John's encounter with Doc Benton that Sam tells Dean about is detailed in the 4th issue of the comic Supernatural: Origins.

Dean: Okay, great. My man Dave Caruso will be stoked to hear it.
A reference to CSI Miami, where David Caruso plays Horatio Caine, a crime scene investigator who would indeed be stoked to hear about evidence like that.

Dean: Zombie with skills. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Zombie.
Referencing the 1993-98 TV series starring Jane Seymour as the title character, a female doctor carving out a life for herself in the Wild West of the post-Civil War era.

Dean: A little Antique Roadshow surgery, some organ theft.
Referencing the PBS series where appraisers travel the country, assessing individuals' collections and providing advice.

Dean: Ah, what is this, Sid and Nancy?
Referencing the movie Sid & Nancy (1986), which chronicles the life of Sex Pistols punker Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, and the tragic ending to their relationship.


Sources: Wikipedia, TV.com