I read an article in the New York Times today that stated that researchers have discovered an antibiotic that appears to prolong life in mice:
Rapamycin treatment had the remarkable effect of extending life even though it was not started in the right dose until the mice had lived 600 days — equivalent to a person at age 60. Most interventions that prolong life in mice, including a very low-calorie diet, need to be started early in life to show any effect.
So this is a good thing? Okay, so it will most likely take at least another decade or so before anything will be proven with any certainty at all but as I fully intend to still be living at that point I really have to wonder if this is a good or thing or not.
Improving quality of life for the elderly is always a consideration of course and if this new discovery pans out and shows that the effects of this antibiotic can most assuredly improve that the lives of the elderly than fine and dandy. However, I would have serious reservations if the normal aging process would also be delayed for those who start taking an anti-aging wonder drug while they’re still in their 20’s and 30’s.
Why?
Can you imagine having a bunch of adults running around who are still able to have children well into their 60’s? All personal feelings aside for the moment, I really don’t think the world can support this. It’s already overloaded as it is, it certainly doesn’t need any more of us stomping around on it. So if, in the future, an anti-aging drug becomes readily available perhaps it should be restricted to those already considered elderly. Say at legal retirement age? Make those “Golden years” really worth living?
Wouldn’t that just cause a hullabaloo. Anyway…
If that wasn’t the case then we’d need a way off obviously. If Gene Rodenberry was right and well before the 22nd century people had the average life span of around 140 years give or take, then we’d definitely have to have a way off this planet. Just a few other planets that we could screw up live on so we didn’t end up totally destroying this one with our over abundant population.
People living longer—what a concept to ponder for an hour or so during those rainy weekend afternoons. Considering how much trouble we can cause ourselves (“We have met the enemy and he is us!” - Pogo), would this really be a good thing?
[...] this one found lurking in the comments section of a couple posts back. It was left by a guy called “Electronic Cigarettes”. Now that’s a fairly well thought out [...]