Why Extend Life?
"Because I want to" is a perfectly fine and valid reason to live longer in good health, and the early stage development of rejuvenation biotechnology tentatively underway today is all about providing that choice where no viable options presently exist:
Not all of us want to live forever. However, few would pass at the chance of a guaranteed long and healthy life. Seeing our health decline as we grow older, and departing this earth often decades before our 100th birthday is a concept most of us reluctantly accept, but as medical, scientific and technological advances continue to make possible what we had thought impossible just years before, many now see this condition as no longer inevitable.In recent years, a proliferation of individuals, groups, organisations, institutions and corporations have emerged with a stated mission to combat the effects of aging and prolong healthy lifespan. From the simple blogger, to the esteemed research institution, and on to the multi-billion dollar corporation, a huge and growing international network and community of like-minded people are now attempting to either promote the cause or directly find ways to extend healthy life. With the establishment of big-budget longevity research and development corporations such as the Google-backed Calico and J. Craig Venter co-founded Human Longevity Inc., as well as media focus on high-profile investors such as PayPal founder Peter Thiel, the subject of human longevity is finally moving from the radical or even taboo to become both a key point of discussion and multi billion dollar industry.
But why extend life? Firstly, dying of 'old-age' is in itself a myth. Instead 'damage' to our bodies which accumulates naturally throughout our lifetime leaves us more susceptible to numerous medical conditions such as cancer, heart and lung disease and brain dysfunctions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's as we get older. It is the increased inability of the aged body to combat these diseases which results in death, not age itself. If ways can be found to minimise this damage, repair, and negate the effects it has upon us later in life, then there is no reason why the years in which we enjoy a fully mobile healthy existence both physically and mentally cannot be prolonged in a significant way, and extended beyond what is currently possible in even the most long-lived individuals. Man-made advances in science, medicine and technology have already resulted in us living far longer than our ancestors, so why not find ways that we can stay healthy for longer too? The effect this could have upon lifespan, we don't know, but life extension isn't just about living longer. It is about finding ways to prolong the time we spend in peak condition.