More Thoughts From a Pro-Longevity Bioethicist

Another thoughtful post from In Search of Enlightenment; always interesting to see how the other half of the healthy life extension community presents and interprets the ideas we hold in common:

When people ask me what I am working on I inevitably mention aging and the aspiration to retard human aging. This provokes many different responses. The most common response is a sense of surprise that we might actually be able to do something about aging. This is of course understandable, for if one had not been following the field of biogerontology for the past few years one might assume that aging is immutable, for that was a common belief. But this belief has been proven wrong- aging is not immutable.

Once I note this people often persist in their scepticism, and express doubt that we could actually develop a technology that could slow aging in humans (rather than just in mice). Again, this scepticism is understandable, indeed some scepticism is warranted. But I often ask them how much scepticism they have about finding a cure for cancer, or reversing climate change. And when it comes to these issues they are pretty optimistic about the likelihood that these goals could be achieved.

It's a long post and covers a lot of ground, so read the whole thing. The more people writing seriously on these issues, the better - and even more so when the community of writers displays a wide plurality of backgrounds and philosophies. These are signs of progress in the breadth of support for longevity research.

Comment Submission

Post a comment; thoughtful, considered opinions are valued. New comments can be edited for a few minutes following submission. Comments incorporating ad hominem attacks, advertising, and other forms of inappropriate behavior are likely to be deleted.

Note that there is a comment feed for those who like to keep up with conversations.