In fact, in some experiments the animals are vigorous and, to all outward appearances, youthful until just a few hours before death, when they succumb suddenly.
In our society, there may be a problem in those organizations
where seniority is very important, such as corporations,
unions, philanthropic organizations, and governments, allowing officeholders to hold power for many decades before dying. In industry, if the old life-extended executives do not
adapt to new situations, their companies will eventually go
out of business because of competition from young, innovative companies. In government, which allows no competition,
the problem may well be more serious. The seniors on Capitol
Hill may uphold older thinking, in opposition to younger constituencies.
Structural reforms may alleviate the difficulties
(such as less power for seniority and more frequent turnover
of elected congressmen). Biochemical reform to increase the
imagination and creativity of congressional seniors may also
be possible. Or government as we now know it may simply
become less important as a source of leadership.
- What about the survival of social institutions in a society
of long-lived people? Can marriage still be meaningful when
people are living two or three times longer than at present?
What about family structure? Will great-great-great-great-
great-great-grandparents still be concerned about their descendants?
These are difficult questions to answer, involving entirely
novel situations. We can’t perform experiments to let us know
what will happen to these human institutions. It seems reasonable to suppose that family and marriage will continue to
exist in varied and modified forms because they are basic
parts of our genetic heritage. We can count on the development of new social institutions to replace older ones that no
longer function well. People will continue to care about one
another and to have social groups. A long-lived individual will
still seek friends and other social relationships. People will
certainly continue to want offspring, though the timing of
childbearing may be altered.
- Life extension will destroy society because the people
who extend their lives will be opposed by other people who
disapprove of life extension.
In many science-fiction stories, life extension techniques
were generally available only to a few rich, politically powerful, or genetically fortunate individuals, thus creating envy in
the rest of the population. But today’s life extension technology is available to all who have the desire to make use of it and the willingness to acquire the necessary knowledge. Neither power nor riches nor genetic luck are necessary in an effective life extension plan. Government programs which transfer wealth from young to old—particularly Social Security—have a very real potential for creating serious class friction, and irresponsible politicians often thrive on worsening class polarization.
- Life will become boring.
If you’re bored now, you’ll probably be bored in the future. But you’ll have more time to find out how to stop being bored. If you’re not bored now, there is no reason to suppose that you’ll be bored later, especially since the rates of social, scientific, and technological change will continue to acceler ate.
- If a person lives long enough, he or she will use up all the
brains’s memory storage capacity and be unable to absorb any new experiences.
This is a problem that may occur with regularity in the
declining years of an ordinary life span. Neurochemicals required for memory and data processing decline in concentration in the brain of aging individuals, making it more and more difficult for these people to acquire new memories and to learn. However, biochemical therapies now exist for some of these problems. Memory may be improved by a variety of nutrients and other chemicals, and there are also a variety of creativity-increasing substances that have been developed,like Modafinil and Piracetam (but these are not yet widely available, due to the Food and Drug Administration regulations).
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