Curing Aging: An informational pamphlet Why should we cure aging? Over decades of mental and physical decline, the natural aging process progressively makes our bodies susceptible to a vast array of diseases. In the developed world, the diseases of aging kill about 90% of people, and these diseases usually kill people very painfully. Aging makes us look unattractive and eliminates our stamina and zest for life. It makes us weak, emotionally unstable, and puts a huge financial burden on family members who must take care of us into old age, and watch as our personalities and memories die piece by piece. Even the “best” ways to die of old age, such as via heart attack, are some of the most painful human experiences, and separate us permanently from our families following death. A cure to aging would mean halting the natural aging process, or reversing it, so that we could maintain a healthy youthful state, even as we get older chronologically. Isn’t aging natural? Smallpox, rabies, and polio are all natural. Hurricanes are natural. Earthquakes are natural. We all think these things are bad and that we should use technology to eliminate their negative effects. Centuries ago, and still today, some people believed that we should not use vaccines because it was against the order of nature. Today we know that this position is nonsense. Nature does not have intentions because nature is not an entity. Nature is mountains and rocks, and rivers and stars. Nature does not have a mind, but we do. Isn’t curing aging impossible? Biologists have developed theories of aging which allow us to say with high confidence that aging is possible to cure 1 . Furthermore, there are several examples of organisms in nature which do not age, which strongly indicate that biological rejuvenation is possible in principle 2 . In recent decades, scientists have demonstrated the ability to extend the healthy lifespan of small mammals by up to 30% 3 . It is quite probable that this ongoing research may one day allow us halt or reverse the natural aging process entirely. How can I help cure aging? There are a few organizations that perform direct research to cure aging. You can donate to the SENS Research Foundation, the Longevity Research Institute, or the Methuselah Foundation. You can also help this cause by raising awareness among friends and family, or by donating to an advocacy organization such as the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation. If you are young enough, you can make the decision to work in the field by studying biology, and doing research into the underlying causes of aging at a university. We believe that people who donate to or work directly for organizations that explicitly research a cure to aging will have the greatest impact. References 1. Longo, V. D. et al. (2015, August). Interventions to slow aging in humans: are we ready? Aging Cell, 14 (4), 497-510. Retrieved from http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC4531065/. 2. Petralia, R. S., Mattson, M. P., & Yao, P. J. (2014, July). Aging and longevity in the simplest animals and the quest for immortality. Ageing Research Reviews , 16 , 66-82. Retrieved from http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133289/. 3. Wein, H. (2017, September). Drugs extend healthy lifespan in mice. Retrieved from http://nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/drugs-extend-healthy-lifespan-mice. 4. The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Sequencing-Human-Genome-cost. 5. Facts About Healthy Aging. (2018, June). Retrieved from http://ncoa.org/news/resources-for-reporters/get-the-facts/healthy-aging-facts/. 6. Gopnik, A., Griffiths, T. L., & Lucas, C. G. (2015, April). When younger learners can be better (or at least more open-minded) than older ones. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 24 (2), 87-92. Retrieved from http://cocosci.princeton.edu/tom/papers/LabPublications/GopnicketalYoungLearners.p df. Wouldn’t curing aging lead to overpopulation? Every technology that saves lives increases the number of people who are on Earth. This objection works equally against any life saving endeavor, such as eliminating mass shootings, war, or genocide. Besides, there is a simple method of reducing the burden of overpopulation: stop having more children. If given the choice, would you rather die at 75 from Alzheimer’s, or stop having more children? For me, the choice is clear. Moreover, technological advances over the past two centuries have allowed us to provide food and shelter to a much larger population, and this trend seems likely to continue. Looking ahead, we may even expand into new habitable areas of the Earth, and in the long term, colonize other planets. Won’t the cure only be available for the rich? Typically, technologies become cheaper as time goes by. One example is whole genome sequencing, which dropped from $100 million to $1000 in 15 years 4 . There seems to be no reason to expect advances in life extension to be an exception. So, while the wealthy may be the first to have access, eventually anti-aging medicine will be available to the masses. It would be absurd to ban all forms of medical and technological progress because the rich would be the first to benefit. A far better solution to the problem of inequality is to advocate progressive taxation and the provision of subsidies to allow the less well-off to access new medical treatments. If we didn’t die from old age, wouldn’t we get bored, or become unmotivated? It’s often said that death motivates us to do great things. This is pure nonsense. Aging is not a motivator. People who are old generally retire and stop producing anything of economic value precisely because they are unhealthy from the natural aging process. It is instead those who are furthest from natural death, the youth, who produce the most economic value through their healthy labor. If we could cure aging, then everyone could be just as vigorous, intelligent, and healthy as twenty-year-olds are now. The people who are least likely to be bored with life are those who are healthiest. The world has far too many hobbies and adventures for seventy-something years to be long enough! Isn’t desiring immortality foolish? Curing aging would not mean that everyone would automatically be immortal. What we want is for everyone to have the choice of how and when they die. Right now, everyone is forced to die via natural aging, whether they want to or not. Technology could bring this dire situation under control. Even if the universe will one day wind down, and true immortality is impossible, it is still better to keep people in good health until then. Aren’t there bigger problems in the world? For humanity, it is hard to think of a bigger problem than aging. Worldwide, aging is the cause of the vast majority of suffering and medical expenditures 5 The risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and injury are all amplified in old age, and only get worse as time goes on. One of the oldest maxims in medicine is that a doctor should treat the underlying cause of a disease rather than merely palliate the symptoms. Since aging is the root cause of most diseases in the world, our number one medical priority should be to get it under control through technology. Doesn’t humanity make progress through death? Research has shown that those who are most closed-minded are those who are old 6 . It is the young, whose minds have not deteriorated from natural aging, who are the most plastic, and able to adapt to change. By curing aging, we would make faster technological, intellectual, and moral progress. Furthermore, wishing that everyone should die so that humanity can make abstract progress is an ethical abomination. We would rightly condemn anyone who suggested that genocide was an appropriate way to speed up human progress. We should not accept aging for the same reason.