Wellness Corner

Life extension is the science of using advanced medicine to increase the life span of the average human. In other words, life extension would allow a majority of us to live beyond age 100. This is something which causes great excitement for some people and great concern for others. A terrific opinion piece over at MSNBC takes a moderately excited approach to debunking some of the fears that concern people about life extension.

One of the major concerns about life extension is that we will be creating a big population of people who will deplete our resources. We think of old people as being a drain on our society and we envision that this drain will get worse if we allow people to age longer. The article points out that the purpose of life extension medicine is to increase the amount of time during which we have healthy and productive lives. Instead of being a drain, this older generation would be a resource for society.

Question of the Day: What is your initial reaction to the idea of life extension and do you think that additional information could change your view?

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