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Is aging research ethical?

AtlantaAdonis

AtlantaAdonis

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I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
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I'm willing to bet there will come a time when your youthful sense of invincibility will crash into a grey haired man staring back at you in the mirror.
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
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Well, I would like to live a long and healthy life. One where I am in excellent physical condition right up until I die of accidental or natural causes. I would like to live such a life without recourse to tons of prescription medication, oxygen bottles, medical support machines, canes/crutches/wheelchairs, etc.

In short, I don't want to linger just to continue existing, but rather retain youthful physical and mental attributes in order to remain a happy, functioning member of society as long as I live.

Sooo, Yeah! I think it is a good idea to conduct such research. If you are so concerned about over-population, don't have babies and when you feel you've lived long enough feel free to take personal action in that regard. As for me? There is a whole universe out there waiting to be explored with plenty of room for our surplus population. I'd like to live long enough to go out and explore it. :)
 
Captain Adverse said:
Well, I would like to live a long and healthy life. One where I am in excellent physical condition right up until I die of accidental or natural causes. I would like to live such a life without recourse to tons of prescription medication, oxygen bottles, medical support machines, canes/crutches/wheelchairs, etc.

In short, I don't want to linger just to continue existing, but rather retain youthful physical and mental attributes in order to remain a happy, functioning member of society as long as I live.

Sooo, Yeah! I think it is a good idea to conduct such research. If you are so concerned about over-population, don't have babies and when you feel you've lived long enough feel free to take personal action in that regard. As for me? There is a whole universe out there waiting to be explored with plenty of room for our surplus population. I'd like to live long enough to go out and explore it. :)
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And what if it's impossible to travel between the stars?
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
And what if it's impossible to travel between the stars?
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NOTHING is truly IMPOSSIBLE. Just considered improbable...until it becomes possible.

We have all sorts of examples where the improbable, once thought impossible, became possible. Just think "human flight" in all it's permutations and you have an example answering your question.

We can't travel to the stars now. But we have a solar system with planets and moons that are reachable. Who knows what the future may bring? :)
 
ocean515 said:
I'm willing to bet there will come a time when your youthful sense of invincibility will crash into a grey haired man staring back at you in the mirror.
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Fear of reality is a damn poor reason to ignore the serious implications of continuing to populate the planet without letting anyone die.

You can crap where you eat if you want I guess, but sooner or later there simply won't be anyplace left to go. The planet will not simply expand to suit us.

Not to mention that most gains in life expectancy in the last 50 years are extremely low-quality and even torturous, often including forced treatment on the elderly who are physically or intellectually unable to protest.

Not all older people are as scared of mortality or as thoughtless as that. I've known plenty who faced their twilight with much grace -- even those who died sooner than they might have deserved.

Personally, my biggest end-of-life fear is not dying itself, but winding up as one of those tortured old people confined to a bed who is unable to stop forced treatment.

Death doesn't scare me. A slow slide into a miserable and painful "life" trapped in a hospital does.

So, too, does the idea that humanity might be so short-sighted as to reach for immortality while continuing to reproduce above replacement. I don't want to be alive to see the catastrophe that would inevitably cause.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
Fear of reality is a damn poor reason to ignore the serious implications of continuing to populate the planet without letting anyone die.

You can crap where you eat if you want I guess, but sooner or later there simply won't be anyplace left to go. The planet will not simply expand to suit us.

Not to mention that most gains in life expectancy in the last 50 years are extremely low-quality and even torturous, often including forced treatment on the elderly who are physically or intellectually unable to protest.

Not all older people are as scared of mortality or as thoughtless as that. I've known plenty who faced their twilight with much grace -- even those who died sooner than they might have deserved.

Personally, my biggest end-of-life fear is not dying itself, but winding up as one of those tortured old people confined to a bed who is unable to stop forced treatment.

Death doesn't scare me. A slow slide into a miserable and painful "life" trapped in a hospital does.

So, too, does the idea that humanity might be so short-sighted as to reach for immortality while continuing to reproduce above replacement. I don't want to be alive to see the catastrophe that would inevitably cause.
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1. Earth isn't the only place open to us
2. No one says reproduction has to exceed replacement rate.

That said I agree with you on choice of death. I have no problem living a very long time as long as I'm vital. I have no desire to spend final days in a hospital bed with tubes plugged into every oriface and then some.
 
Gaius46 said:
1. Earth isn't the only place open to us
2. No one says reproduction has to exceed replacement rate.

That said I agree with you on choice of death. I have no problem living a very long time as long as I'm vital. I have no desire to spend final days in a hospital bed with tubes plugged into every oriface and then some.
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It is for the foreseeable future, whereas significant life extension is possible in the foreseeable future.

No one says that, but people will. If they cared that much about the limitations of the planet, they'd have already stopped by now. We already have significant blight, drought, contamination, and starvation because of what we've done to the planet. There have already been human populations who have gone extinct due to destroying their own environment.

If people haven't learned already, they're not going to. So how do you propose we're going to suddenly see the light when people are living for 200 years?
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
Click to expand...

Are you saying we would be destroying the planet through overpopulation? The real problem is that we don't use the resources we have wisely or care for the planet wisely not that there isn't enough room or resources
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
Click to expand...
Yes aging research is ethical.The idea that the earth is becoming overpopulated is a myth.Currently we could fit everyone shoulder to shoulder on the Island of Maui or in the city of Los Angeles.I am sure that when you reach old age you will be glad someone was doing aging research.
A tale of three islands | The Economist
Quiz: Population 7 Billion—Could We All Fit in One City?
 
jamesrage said:
Yes aging research is ethical.The idea that the earth is becoming overpopulated is a myth.Currently we could fit everyone shoulder to shoulder on the Island of Maui or in the city of Los Angeles.I am sure that when you reach old age you will be glad someone was doing aging research.
A tale of three islands | The Economist
Quiz: Population 7 Billion—Could We All Fit in One City?
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What does that have to do with anything?

Each individual requires a lot of acreage of resources to live. And let's keep in mind that most of the planet is unusable for basic human survival resources; too salty, too dry, too cold, etc. How small of a space you can fit them into isn't the question, and that has nothing to do with whether our population is sustainable. Yeah, maybe you can squeeze each person into one square foot of space, but they can't survive on what the planet can produce in a square foot. So how on earth is that relevant to anything?
 
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SmokeAndMirrors said:
What does that have to do with anything?

Each individual requires a lot of acreage of resources to live. And let's keep in mind that most of the planet is unusable for basic human survival resources; too salty, too dry, too cold, etc. How small of a space you can fit them into isn't the question, and that has nothing to do with whether our population is sustainable. Yeah, maybe you can squeeze each person into one square foot of space, but they can't survive on what the planet can produce in a square foot. So how on earth is that relevant to anything?
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Well, maybe you think that because you don't know how much we waste living on this planet that would make your point moot if properly used?



We waste untold TONS of food, and food is only ONE of the many resources we waste. Nor are we the only society to do so.

This planet is lush, and our population is not only "sustainable," but we could support billions more people well and in comfort if we used our resources properly and practiced thoughtful environmentalism.
 
Captain Adverse said:
Well, maybe you think that because you don't know how much we waste living on this planet that would make your point moot if properly used?

We waste untold TONS of food, and food is only ONE of the many resources we waste. Nor are we the only society to do so.

This planet is lush, and our population is not only "sustainable," but we could support billions more people well and in comfort if we used our resources properly and practiced thoughtful environmentalism.
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I do, actually. But we don't currently have the technology to deal with all of the things we have to scrap. And as a result of that, we are reducing the amount of our land that can be used by either pollution or desertification.

We need to get a handle on that before we start trying to make people live for centuries.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
I do, actually. But we don't currently have the technology to deal with all of the things we have to scrap. And as a result of that, we are reducing the amount of our land that can be used by either pollution or desertification.

We need to get a handle on that before we start trying to make people live for centuries.
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IMO we would start trying to "get a handle on that" if people DID live for centuries. No one should go hungry in our country, there is enough food and more for that and to help other nations out in ways they would appreciate.

As for thoughtful environmentalism? If we could only get the hands of corporate and bank special interests out of the back of our puppet government, that would be no problem too.
 
ocean515 said:
I'm willing to bet there will come a time when your youthful sense of invincibility will crash into a grey haired man staring back at you in the mirror.
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And gray hair is not the only bad thing that happens as you get really old.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
Fear of reality is a damn poor reason to ignore the serious implications of continuing to populate the planet without letting anyone die.

You can crap where you eat if you want I guess, but sooner or later there simply won't be anyplace left to go. The planet will not simply expand to suit us.

Not to mention that most gains in life expectancy in the last 50 years are extremely low-quality and even torturous, often including forced treatment on the elderly who are physically or intellectually unable to protest.

Not all older people are as scared of mortality or as thoughtless as that. I've known plenty who faced their twilight with much grace -- even those who died sooner than they might have deserved.

Personally, my biggest end-of-life fear is not dying itself, but winding up as one of those tortured old people confined to a bed who is unable to stop forced treatment.

Death doesn't scare me. A slow slide into a miserable and painful "life" trapped in a hospital does.

So, too, does the idea that humanity might be so short-sighted as to reach for immortality while continuing to reproduce above replacement. I don't want to be alive to see the catastrophe that would inevitably cause.
Click to expand...

English women have always been really tough babes. I love their accents (or technically the lack of an accent while the rest of us in the English speaking world DO have accents.).

SmokeAndMirrors said:
I do, actually. But we don't currently have the technology to deal with all of the things we have to scrap. And as a result of that, we are reducing the amount of our land that can be used by either pollution or desertification.

We need to get a handle on that before we start trying to make people live for centuries.
Click to expand...

If you're a pretty old lady then I would want you to live forever like a Greek goddess.

But if you're ugly then not.

Beauty is only skin deep.

But ugly is clean to the bone.

Even with English babes.

:)
 
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SmokeAndMirrors said:
Fear of reality is a damn poor reason to ignore the serious implications of continuing to populate the planet without letting anyone die.

You can crap where you eat if you want I guess, but sooner or later there simply won't be anyplace left to go. The planet will not simply expand to suit us.

Not to mention that most gains in life expectancy in the last 50 years are extremely low-quality and even torturous, often including forced treatment on the elderly who are physically or intellectually unable to protest.

Not all older people are as scared of mortality or as thoughtless as that. I've known plenty who faced their twilight with much grace -- even those who died sooner than they might have deserved.

Personally, my biggest end-of-life fear is not dying itself, but winding up as one of those tortured old people confined to a bed who is unable to stop forced treatment.

Death doesn't scare me. A slow slide into a miserable and painful "life" trapped in a hospital does.

So, too, does the idea that humanity might be so short-sighted as to reach for immortality while continuing to reproduce above replacement. I don't want to be alive to see the catastrophe that would inevitably cause.
Click to expand...

Well, one thing is certain, everyone will face decision day. When that one is reached, there is always the final solution. Interestingly, man has always adapted to challenges. Among them, how to feed and care for a growing population. There are vast, unimaginable stretches of uninhabited land. More land by a vast margin than land that is inhabited.

While the anti-humanists are certainly welcome to an early exit, I'm convinced the rest will survive quite well, and in clean harmony with mother Earth as new technologies are developed. That is the history of man after all.
 
ocean515 said:
I'm willing to bet there will come a time when your youthful sense of invincibility will crash into a grey haired man staring back at you in the mirror.
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First things first, ocean.

Let him experience his first chin hair and THEN remind him of the impending grey.
 
ocean515 said:
Does it have to be on the chin?
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I figured it would be just too long a wait until he experienced the myriad joys similar to my own where the most luxuriant growth emanates from the ears and eyebrows.
 
Gardener said:
I figured it would be just too long a wait until he experienced the myriad joys similar to my own where the most luxuriant growth emanates from the ears and eyebrows.
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A mystery, isn't it? However, I was thinking of a first hair someplace else. :cool:
 
ocean515 said:
A mystery, isn't it? However, I was thinking of a first hair someplace else. :cool:
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I had mine bronzed, it was such a momentous event.
 
AtlantaAdonis said:
I've been reading up on all of this research into aging and I have to say it's pretty frightening. Do we really need to come up with a way to worsen our overpopulation problem? Is aging really so bad that we need to destroy our planet in order to cure it? We don't need to be look into legislating restrictions on stem cell research, we need to be putting restrictions on aging research.
Click to expand...

Overpopulation is a myth, but yes, research into "medical immorality" seems quite ghoulish. I very much doubt such things are possible anyway, but I'd support a ban on such endeavors since they distract people from the true eternal destiny of human beings.
 
Gardener said:
I figured it would be just too long a wait until he experienced the myriad joys similar to my own where the most luxuriant growth emanates from the ears and eyebrows.
Click to expand...

Don't forget your nose.:)
 
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