0
Blog one
Word count: 827
Title: Stepping Stones to Immortality
Subhead: To Reach the Unreachable Star
Stepping-stones to Immortality
What are the concepts of living a longer, happier life? Most baby-boomers want to do more activities then what the previous generations ever dreamt. No one wants retirement in a tiny-shared room of a nursing home. The dream is to live an active life to the fullest. This is the golden age of using better nutrition, and medicines to become physiologically younger maybe even “immortal”.
Why is “immortality” such a dreadful word? Robert C.W. Ettinger coined the term “immortalist” in the 1960’s with a book “The Prospect of Immortality”. The Cryonics Institute’s magazine “The Immortalist” recently changed its name to “Long Life”. The Immortality Institute, a non-profit advocacy and research group for unlimited lifespans is debating on whether to change its name to make the organization more main stream. Other immortalist groups are also looking for ways to change their image.
I remember in 1993 when I joined Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics organization, I started to read “Alcor News” and “Cryonics” magazine. I noticed the word “immortality” in some of the articles. At first, I was disgust to the term but that was because my parents were very religious and I felt embarrassed to show them the stories, articles and news about cryonics. Using the term in cryonics did not seem appropriate because cryonics is a medical procedure and not a religion. However, over the years I have gotten use to the term and the goals of living forever, whether naming it “physical immortality” or “biological immortality”, or “transhumans” or even “post humans”. The goals are the same: Don’t die!
Is the reach for immortality, akin to the “Man of La Mancha- to dream the impossible dream…to reach the unreachable star”, a lofty goal?
Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. argues in “Opinion: It’s not immoral to want to be immortal” “…it is pretty clear that evolution has no real interest in how long any species lives… There is no such thing as a “natural” lifespan- only what we can do with agriculture, engineering, medicine and public health.”
However, immortality is an undefinable goal. How long is immortality? Stepping-stones of clearly define goals and principles are needed to persuade an agenda of extending life. The Oxford English Dictionary defines: “A stepping-stone is an action that helps one to make progress toward a specified goal.”
The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is making the case for “Longevity Dividend” rather than immortality. Daniel Perry, the executive director of the nonprofit organization, the Alliance for Aging Research, stated in an interview with SAGE Crossroads: “The longevity dividend refers to the social and economic benefits that would fall out of a successful attempt to slow, even marginally, the biological processes associated with aging in human beings which we also know underline many of the age-related diseases that we will see more of in society with an aging population.” This is the first stepping-stone to increase the lifespan by a mere seven years- not forever- just seven years. By slowing aging down people will work longer, add to the economy, and remains a part of a growing community rather than being a frail, unwanted member of society locked away in a nursing home. Slowing the aging process down, also slows down the aging related diseases. This would have a dynamic reduction in health care costs. People would live long proactive lives. Longevity Dividend obviously is a program to realize these aspirations.
Is it the Government’s duty to support and/ or fund research against aging? Yes, because of the benefits and economic returns a national goal would bring. Other nations would set similar standards to their health care systems.
This is not a plan for national health care gone awry, that would be a bloated wasteful government. We all know the horror stories of big government deciding the fate of patients rather then letting the doctor make the decisions, stories of people waiting “forever” in long lines to get minimum care or worst denied treatment until after a cancer has spread.
This is a research plan to increase the “middle years” of life. Reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”. This plan creates a sequence of programs aiming toward longevity. Big government leads to wasteful spending but it is the government’s duty to guide society by offering incentives in the way of tax reforms, dividends and a political philosophy of good will. The Longevity Dividend will bring many new economic opportunities, spin-offs of technology that could provide the stepping-stones to greater anti-aging strategies in the future.
People who cannot reach the unreachable star that Don Quixote in the Man of La Mancha stride for, may well be able to walk up a hill of progress with a helping hand. After people learn to walk up the hill in support of longevity then soon they will be able to discover how to climb the mountain to the road to immortality. In the future transhumanist may yet attain the unreachable star: “immortality”.
