Life Extension
For Whom?
Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are investing a lot of money into life extension research.
Biologist Charles Brenner is resisting the trend. He's critical of the methodology being used to study the matter by enthusiasts. He points to fundamental flaws in the research like confirmation bias where experiments are designed to confirm experimenter's assumptions.
(https://nautil.us/the-longevity-skeptic-305806/)
The idea of indefinite life extension or even immortality has been attractive to people who face death since before homo sapiens was a species - from what I can tell from recent reports of pre-sapiens people having elaborate burial rituals.
But now that maybe we could do it raises very serious issues.
Really - human overpopulation is a serious issue. It is ecologically impossible for the Earth to sustain a growing population that never dies.
But what if only a chosen few are given life extension - worthies like billionaires? I've read enough dystopian science fiction to have no confidence in that idea at all.
Humans wear out as they age. I feel it myself. When I walk around the neighborhood I see many people with lots of physical disabilities. One would like an elixer that would cure all of that. There isn't one.
A while ago I read that mice kept on a just above starvation level lived significantly longer than mice who could eat all they want. I think of that as I deal with anorexia - I don't want to eat - I have to force myself too. And like - Oh great - now it means I have to deal with the problem longer.
Our society has a paradox when it comes to medical care. Once you get to hospital they won't let you die on their watch - no matter how unpleasant the therapy. It doesn't matter if you've been shot or stabbed or overdosed - you just get fixed up so you can stand on your own and then dumped in the street. Heaven help you if you don't have support from families and friends.
And it's like - God, are you there? sort of stuff.
I have no solution. But a part of solving this issue is that we need to get off this thing of producing as many babies as possible. We should not be forcing birth on women who don't wat to be mothers (not to mention forcing babies onto women who don't have the means to support them.
I think Bezzos and others think of life extension in terms of living forever as their present vigorous selves
They aren't really thinking of alleviating the pain of the billions who go to bed hungry each day.
What do you think?
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.