The Longevity Dividend in the Annals of the NYAS
The principle architects of the Longevity Dividend initiative make their case in the latest Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: "The aging of humanity is about to experience a radical change as the demographic transformation to an older world is approaching its final stage. In recent decades, scientists have learned enough about the biological aging processes that many believe it will become possible to slow aging in humans. We contend that the social, economic, and health benefits that would result from such advances may be thought of as 'longevity dividends,' and that they should be aggressively pursued as the new approach to health promotion and disease prevention in the 21st century. The time has arrived for governments and national and international healthcare organizations to make research into healthy aging a major research priority." For my part, I don't think the record of government-funded aging research to date merits much more of its continuation - but the Longevity Dividend position still represents a major conceptual leap forward for the conservative mainstream of aging research.