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I gave a talk in Philosophy on the morality behind Aubrey de Grey's work in life extension
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The Morality of Ending Aging
Is it possible?
Aubrey de Grey
The Science
• Aging is result of evolutionary neglect, not intent
• Metabolism » Damage » Pathology
• 7 types of damage; No new type of damage identified since 1982
7 Types of Damage
• Cell loss/atrophy
• Protein crosslinks
• Extracellular junk
• Death-resistant cells
• Mitochondrial mutations
• Lysosomal junk
• Nuclear mutations
Longevity Escape Velocity
Remaining Life Expectancy
Time
Time
100 80 50
30
0
Should we do it?
Aging is undesirable
Utilitarian
• A life without old age results in more pleasure; therefore ending aging is morally acceptable
Transhumanism
• Improvement of humanity through means other than evolution
• Example: Writing, Medicine
• We value life extension
Life Expectancy
Year Expectancy
1800 30 years
2000 67 years
Objections
• Not Natural
• Boredom
• Overpopulation
More information
• www.billerickson.net
• Aubrey at A&M next semester
• Aubrey at BIL