James Hughes On A Cure For Aging

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(At Betterhumans). James Hughes of the World Transhumanist Association discusses the merits of a cure for aging in the context of universal healthcare and social costs. I think he is conflating two very different ideas - the long term economic benefits resulting from extended healthy life spans are important to note, but these benefits certainly don't depend on socialism in our medical system! "Healthcare costs aren't being driven up by the simple existence of therapies or seniors. They are driven up by the need to use those therapies to treat seniors' aging-related diseases and disabilities. ... If seniors didn't get sick, they wouldn't need expensive diagnostics, drugs, treatments and nursing care."

Link: http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Change_Surfing/column.aspx?articleID=2004-10-14-1