Life Extension – Good or Bad?
Humans have always been fascinated by the idea of living forever. Many of our oldest stories and most famous myths revolve around this idea of immortality. Look at the Indian legend of Ashwathama—the warrior cursed with immortality, or the infamous Epic of Gilgamesh—a king who relentlessly pursued immortality. We are now at a point where we are starting to unravel the science of aging and are beginning to grasp the cellular basis of aging. The age-old obsession with living longer is slowly becoming possible. Life-extending technologies are no longer just science fiction.
This blog post will discuss both sides of the argument of whether life-extension is good or bad, and it will be up to you to make the final decision yourselves. Before we get into the nitty-gritty and look into the pros and cons of life extension, let’s first discuss some terminology. Life-extension, rejuvenation therapy, and anti-aging all refer to the same thing: technology that slows down, alters, or reverses the aging process. Lots of information online use these terms interchangeably, and so it gets a bit confusing. However, for the purposes of this article, this process will be exclusively referred to as either life-extension or rejuvenation therapy.
Focusing first on the positives of life-extension, one of the biggest ones that come to mind is that it would allow people to live longer. Who wouldn’t want that for themselves or their loved ones? Imagine having an extra 20 years of life. Think of all that you could do in that time. You could slow down your fast-paced lifestyle to take more time to relax, spend time with friends and family, and more deeply explore your passions. It is important to recognize that although life-extension will be an expensive treatment and available to only the top 1% or an even smaller portion of the population, it will become more affordable (Pijnenburg & Leget 2006). New technology is inherently unaffordable, as has been the case with countless other novel inventions such as cameras and computers. However, once it is implemented it becomes more economical as it is further developed. Another benefit of life-extension is that yes, you can live longer, but also that you can do this while improving your quality of life (Partridge & Hall W 2007). Being healthier for longer is just as, if not more important than living longer to life-extension researchers. As such, life-extension can help to improve the quality of life for so many people!
One of the major considerations of rejuvenation therapy is the implications it will have on the divide between the rich and poor. When it is first implemented, it will be extremely costly and available only to the wealthy (Pijnenburg & Leget 2006). Sure, as time passes, developments in the technology will reduce its cost, but the initial effects are not to be overlooked. Affluent individuals who already enjoy luxurious and comfortable lives will be able to reap even more benefits, while their poorer counterparts will see no such benefit. Additionally, having people live for longer is something the world may not be prepared for and could contribute to overpopulation (Lucke et al. 2010). Just think, if everyone is living for 20 years more than they normally would (a conservative estimate), that’s 20 more years worth of resources that would be used by the next generation spent elsewhere. This could lead to food shortages, further deforestation, and a host of other issues downstream. Continuing with this idea, if people were to live for 20 extra years, drastic economic effects would be observed as well (Than 2006). The retirement age would have to be pushed back to allow for retirement funds to function properly, thus forcing people to work for longer. As a result of this, it would become increasingly difficult for the younger generation to enter the already saturated workplace. There are many downstream effects that could result from life-extension therapy, and they must be considered before any decision is made to implement it.
So, is rejuvenation therapy a blessing or a curse? We’ll leave that up to you to decide, but please understand that there are countless arguments for either side and we’ve highlighted just a few in this article. If you’d like to learn more, we recommend doing some research of your own or checking out some of our interviews. Tarris Rosell provides some more ethical considerations and Bryan Caplan shares what the economic effects could be.
Sources
1. Pijnenburg MA, Leget C. Who wants to live forever? Three arguments against extending the human lifespan. Journal of Medical Ethics. 2007;33(10):585–587. doi:10.1136/jme.2006.017822
2. Partridge B, Hall W. The search for Methuselah. EMBO reports. 2007;8(10):888–891. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7401069
3. Lucke JC, Herbert D, Partridge B, Hall WD. Anticipating the use of Life Extension Technologies. EMBO reports. 2010;11(5):334–338. doi:10.1038/embor.2010.48
4. Than K. Longer Life Could Have a Downside. NBCNews.com. 2006 May 22 [accessed 2022 Mar 18]. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12916099