Monday, January 12, 2015

Should we slow the aging process?

Every time I hear someone mention how cool it would be if we could slow or stop the aging process, I think of how that would affect population growth. I never hear this issue discussed and wonder if I am the only one who thinks about it (I am sure that I'm not, but it feels like it). This makes me think of "The Imitation Men" movie I recently saw. Everyone was so focused on cracking Enigma, the Nazi code machine in World War II, that they did not think about what would happen if and when they finally deciphered the code. Luckily, the man who was tasked to lead the team of mathematicians, Alan Turing, realized what would happen if they used the information to avoid all incoming attacks and decided to keep it a secret even from his boss. He was forced to make heartless decisions regarding who lived and who died in the war. Like I said, the Allies got lucky that Alan Turing was driven by logic and not emotions but can we hope to get as lucky again with the aging process?

If we create a cure for aging, eventually somebody like Alan Turing will have to make the tough decision to implement a form of population control that will most likely create a great amount of controversy among normal people around the world. If people stop dying naturally, people will either be limited to one or two children or humans will have to agree to end lives at after a certain amount of time. Somebody is going to have to determine how long we will be allotted based on natural resources and consumption rates. The planet simply cannot allow our population to grow at the rate it has been growing for much longer. In the past 200 years or so, the population has grown from 1 Billion to 7 billion people. 


As morbid as it may sound, I have a hard time finding a solution that doesn't involve euthanasia as well as a child limit. A universal age limit of, say, one hundred years or so as well as only having two children. I believe there should be exceptions of course that can be applied for. For example, if one of your children died you should be able to have another one. Also, if you are reaching the end of your allotted time but are very close to completing very influential work, you should be able to apply for an extra amount of time.


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