I stumbled across a thoughtful blog post earlier today, and thought I would draw your attention to it:

I'm often appalled at the attitudes of others toward the general idea of life extension and toward serious thought, research and development given to technologies that may grant us not years but centuries to live. It is surprising how many among us would not want to live forever. It is their opinion that added years cheapen life by robbing it of what they claim gives it meaning - death. It is my opinion that only a life already and profoundly cheapened in one's own mind is further cheapened by added years.

Their's is, primarily, love of death, not life.

Such individuals seem even more opposed to granting liberty to others to pursue technologies to enable themselves longer lifespans. "How can you dilute the meaning of life", they say. To them, longer life somehow means a life devoid of wonder or surprise.

It is my belief a life loved authentically and completely can only be increased in its wonders if given more time. There is far, far more to be experienced, loved and created than the breadth and depth of the present average lifespan allows. If one's passions are shallow and short-lived, perhaps a short life suits you. However, if one's passions seem to have no limit, additional life can mean only more time to express those passions and to discover new ones.

I'm always pleased to see such sentiments springing up out there in the world. Incremental growth in the community of people who think this way is a necessary foundation for effective activism, advocacy, and fundraising for serious longevity research. As more voices are raised in support for engineered longevity and the defeat of age-related degeneration, more scientists and funding institutions will be persuaded to join the cause - all progress starts with people deciding that they want to see progress.