Geriatrics, Gerontology and Engineering
From Anne C.: "At a meeting yesterday with a group of fellow longevity advocates, one issue that turned into a point of discussion was that of whether it is worth presenting longevity treatments as means to mitigate specific diseases, or whether doing so is simply a distraction from the fundamental issue of addressing aging itself (or whether it really matters). ... Geriatricians are devoted to the alleviation of pain and maintenance of healthy functioning (at least as much as possible) in the face of age-related pathology ... On the other side of things, gerontology is interested in things like root causes and systemic differences between young and old bodies, however, the gerontological approach is more exploratory than action-oriented ... The engineering approach to addressing age-related decline and death is something of a new approach -- one that very well might be the needed 'missing link' between geriatrics and gerontology. An engineering approach is one that focuses on appropriate maintenance of bodily systems, through repair and replacement of worn-out or disease-causing physical elements."
Link: http://rationallongevity.blogspot.com/2007/01/geriatrics-gerontology-and-engineering.html