Ethical, social, and personal implications of extended human lifespan identified by members of the public

Rejuvenation Research
Brad PartridgeWayne Hall

Abstract

There are a number of ethical, social, and personal implications generated by the potential development and use of technologies that may extend human longevity by intervening in aging. Despite speculations about likely public attitudes toward life extension, to date there have been few attempts to empirically examine the public's perspective of these issues. Using open-ended survey questions via telephone interviews, this study explored the attitudes of 605 members of the Australian public toward the implications of life extension. Participants were asked to briefly describe in their own words what they believed would be the beneficial, as well as negative, implications arising from life extension (if there were any), both for themselves personally and for society as a whole. Participants were also asked to describe any ethical concerns they had about life extension, if they had any at all. All open-ended responses were collated and then underwent a thematic analysis to uncover commonly cited issues regarding personal benefits/negatives, societal benefits/negatives, and ethical concerns. A considerable number of participants envisioned at least some beneficial as well as negative implications for themselves and for society, and...Continue Reading

References

Nov 23, 2000·Nature·L Guarente, C Kenyon
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Jul 27, 2002·Scientific American·Mark A LaneGeorge S Roth
Mar 1, 2003·Science·Eric T JuengstStephen G Post
Jun 25, 2004·The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences·Robert H Binstock
Feb 4, 2005·EMBO Reports·Jayne C Lucke, Wayne Hall

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Citations

Aug 26, 2011·Biogerontology·Suresh I S Rattan
Jan 7, 2011·Rejuvenation Research·Wing-Fu Lai, Zenobia C Y Chan
Sep 4, 2013·Journal of Pain and Symptom Management·Máximo Bernabeu-WittelUNKNOWN PALIAR Researchers
Apr 17, 2010·EMBO Reports·Jayne C LuckeWayne D Hall
Oct 20, 2017·International Journal of Aging & Human Development·Oscar RibeiroLaetitia Teixeira
Nov 4, 2020·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Gea HoogendoornMichael Siegrist

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