As human beings, we tend to lean toward irrationality even though we like to believe we are pragmatic and for the most part sensible. Our irrational behavior is displayed in how we see our mortality. Death by aging is by far the worst outcome for a life lived for those who crave longevity and we strive to do whatever we can to lessen the impact of aging. While doing so we also find that not many people place longevity on their personal priority lists.
Balanced individuals anticipate risk to life and well being and do what they can to avoid it. We will make a mental note as we live our lives that certain things can end our existence post haste. These include the most terrible of things that can happen to us straight at the top of that list; the likelihood of death by things like a nuclear blast, lightning strikes, getting picked off by a meteor and such. We decide the more likely cause of our demise are less catastrophic but just as deadly such as a killer virus, a tragic accident, just as deadly but the price of admission for a life lived. For most of us we will take the risk of getting out of bed each day, getting on with things and continue to pay our insurance premiums.
Since we are not overly rational we place things such as fires, death by building collapse and car accidents on our mental list but death by aging does not make our list. We all will eventually die of old age but yet we do not make it a priority. There is a one hundred percent chance we will all die, how we die is up for debate. As we age, heart attacks, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and then some will surely take most of us and these will be the worst case scenario for the majority of us so why is it not at the top of our mental list?
Most humans living now will eventually succumb to an age related illness so by delaying our aging process we would delay these illnesses and age associated disorders as well and achieve healthful gains as a result that would be more beneficial to us than a cure for any one particular disease. That said it makes perfect sense to prioritize the probability of healthy aging in people and surely have aging research as a top priority.
Sadly, this is not the case. In the longevity science community, there is distress because of this fact. It has been stated that the better your idea, the harder it is to convince people you are on to something great. If you believe that statement than doing everything possible, by utilizing all tools and technology available to us, we must explore all options to repair our bodies, strengthen them, and work toward extending life.
The boomer generation is the first to truly take more care of themselves and spurn the notion that we simply age, degenerate and then pass on. Generations that follow will be able to extend their lives beyond the norm of today and those under the age of thirty will be able to perhaps outlive their grandchildren as a normal circumstance due to anti aging research. All it will take is advocacy for advancement in biotechnology and investment in these rapidly growing sciences.
Much is at stake and the current crop of aging boomers has been known to buck the trends in their past. How they confront the prospect of death and dying will be an interesting sideshow over the next twenty or thirty years. Will they go quietly and peacefully into the beyond as their parents and grandparents did or will they be less content? There is nothing wrong with finding peace in religion but silent resignation has not been a characteristic often displayed by the “Hippie Generation” in the past. This generation has been a large part of cultural and political shape shifting over the last few decades; they are far more secular than previous generations and may be less prone to accepting the innate restrictions forced upon them by life.
We have much to lose by being apathetic when it comes to longevity research. The more people who believe that we require at the very least, more research and the preliminary production of longevity medicines, the longer we will live. Here’s hoping that the baby boomers have the wherewithal for one more earnest protest in them.
Fri, Nov 20, 2009
Anti Aging, Immortality, Longevity