Ever heard of Aubrey de Grey? Check out his essay Old People Are People Too: Why It Is Our Duty to Fight Aging to the Death . Here's an excerpt:
aging immortality life ethics gerontologyIn the Greek myth of Tithonus, the (mortal) eponymous Trojan warrior won the heart of the (immortal) goddess Eos. Being too junior a deity to be able to immortalize her lover, Eos asked Zeus to do this–but “forgot” to ask that Tithonus also be eternally youthful. He thus became ever more frail and decrepit, such that eventually Eos had no choice but to turn him into a grasshopper.
The survival of this myth is a shining example of the pro-aging trance in action.
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...discrimination of any sort is passé. Old people are people too, so aging must be seen for what it is: a scourge that deprives far more people of far more healthy years than any other. Aging, in a word, is repugnant, and we would be wiser to follow Kass’s general maxim than his specific conclusion. To persist in defending aging is psychologically excusable – fear of the unknown is a reasonable emotion, in particular – but it is ethically inexcusable.
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2 comments:
Please understand that Aubrey's core message is both a humanitarian and a very American one: needless suffering and death is unacceptable. Here in America, 90% of us who die do so because of aging-related diseases.
Our great nation has overcome many other challenges in the past. Along with the war against violent extremists, we must collectively work to solve the problems that kill 100,000 of us every day.
I personally support Aubrey's mission and I welcome every American to join me.
I just recently discovered Dr. Aubrey, and found his views very different and challenging. Thanks for visiting!
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