Biogerontologists' duty to discuss timescales publicly

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Aubrey de Grey

Abstract

Aging is unpopular with the general public-but, it would seem, only up to a point. Treatments that claim (sometimes justifiably) to extend the total and/or healthy life span of elderly people, or even just make them look younger, are welcomed with open wallets throughout the world. If, however, one suggests to the typical nonbiologist-or even to the typical nongerontologist biologist-that we should therefore aim, in due course, to take this desire to its logical conclusion and bring aging under the same degree of control that we currently have over most infectious diseases, one is nearly always met with strong and sometimes strident opposition. I argue here that the prevalence of this outright irrationality is largely the fault of gerontologists themselves. Most people harbor a deep-seated fear of profound change in their lives and embrace it only after extensive soul-searching to convince themselves of its benefit. It cannot and should not be denied that a postaging world would be as profoundly different from today's as we can imagine. Hence, when given the opportunity to postpone sober consideration of its pros and cons, most people leap at that opportunity. It is provided to them by the nearly universal refusal of gerontolog...Continue Reading

References

Apr 27, 2002·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Aubrey D N J de GreyGregory Stock
Sep 5, 2003·Experimental Gerontology·Aubrey D N J de Grey

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Citations

Dec 17, 2009·The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB·Brad PartridgeWayne Hall
Feb 25, 2009·Rejuvenation Research·Aubrey D N J de Grey
Jul 13, 2004·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Aubrey D N J de Grey
Sep 20, 2011·International Journal of Aging & Human Development·Nathan KoganMatthew Porter
Nov 15, 2013·Rejuvenation Research·Aubrey D N J de Grey
Feb 4, 2005·EMBO Reports·Jayne C Lucke, Wayne Hall
Sep 17, 2005·The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry : the Official Journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry·Hanfried Helmchen

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