Fight Aging!

Is there such a thing as the moral imperative to fight aging through biomedical research? From In Search of Enlightenment, a look at what the philosophers are thinking in these days of socialism and redistribution: "Aging has an enormous impact on the health of a population. It not only affects the wellbeing of individuals (making us more frail and susceptible to disease, causing loss of mental acuity, etc.), but aging also puts pressure on healthcare resources, has costs to our productive capabilities, etc. The stakes are thus very high. So the status quo is certainly not one that says 'aging, how trite and trivial!'. ... Should we not invest in biomedical research that could help us better promote the aims of extending healthy living? I believe we should. Such an aspiration is ingenious and noble, not trite or trivial. ... When it comes to health we do not say that benefits to people above some threshold (like 'normal functioning') have no moral weight whatsoever. So while the sufficiency view may have some intuitive appeal when the good in question is wealth, it is not a defensible principle to invoke in the context of debates about health extension." It seems the threat of illness and death might be more motivating than the threat of poverty when it comes to shifting away from the abyss of control for the sake of control. When you read these passages think to yourself "who do these people think they are, telling me what I can do with research and longevity medicine?"

Link: http://colinfarrelly.blogspot.com/2007/06/rejuvenation-research-paper.html