There is nothing unusual, radical or strange about working towards extending the healthy human life span.
We are forced to rely on a valuable, complex machine - our bodies - in everything that we do. Like all machines, it tends to run down and eventually stop working; the process is unpleasant and we would prefer to make longer and better use of this machine. As for all machines, we can research better means of preventative maintenance and repair. If we can keep a vintage car in good condition for so long as we care to spend resources on it, we can certainly work towards the same capacity for the human body. Complexity is just a matter of degree - there is nothing mystical about cells and genes, no more so than for crankshafts and fan belts. The dividing line is between things we know how to do and things we don't yet know how to do.
Thus healthy life extension is simply common sense; the same common sense you apply to making the most of every other machine in your life. If you don't know how to do it, you learn.