From: Eugen Leitl (eugen@leitl.org)
Date: Tue Apr 23 2002 - 16:35:25 MDT
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 11:31:15 -0700
From: chris arkenberg <carkenbe@adobe.com>
To: fork@xent.com
Subject: Re: Immortality and Personal Finance
>So the question is: does my personal financial contribution to
>immortality research probably matter quite a lot? Or does it probably
>matter fairly little?
Well, if you think you'll actually be around to benefit from your
investment & your research...
Given the current projections for population growth and the ongoing
depletion of the world's natural resources, life extension research
in general tends to exist in a vacuum of selfish fantasy. You either
end up with the most privileged 3% living to 400, or a population
bloat of 15 billion impoverished humans. LE research also seems
somewhat ignorant of the very real problems which threaten the lives
of people every day.
From the CDC for 1999:
725,192 deaths from cardiovascular diseases
549,838 deaths from malignant neoplasms
167,366 deaths from cerebrovascular diseases
In the past 2 years I've watched a 50 year old man die of ALS 6
months after diagnosis, and stood by the side of a 48 year old woman
as she died of an acute bone marrow transfer. It took 3 weeks from
diagnosis to her death.
I contribute to my 401(k) and my Roth IRA but, hell, I'm not even
sure I'll make it long enough to reap the benefits - and I'm only 31.
I feel that the brilliant minds in LE might do better researching
cancer or heart disease or immune deficiencies. I'd rather have a
rich life of 80 years than live to 170 and watch generations of
friends and family die from disease.
http://xent.com/mailman/listinfo/fork
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