There is an interesting opinion piece at the BBC by the director of the SENS Institute on why we may all live to be thousands of years old.

I enjoyed reading it. I always like to read things which are optimistic about the future, and at the very least not succumbing to the frailties of old age is I think a very uplifting idea. I'm feeling a bit glum about creaking joints now, and I'm not even 40 yet.

Dr de Grey mentions in passing that dramatically extended lifespans will have a dramatic effect on the way we live our lives. He is not kidding.

At the very least, the entire basis of pensions would change. The idea of the current generation of workers paying to keep the workers of the past in food is already dangerously obsolete given how long people live now, but at least the difficulty of people in their golden years not being able to support themselves should disappear.

Here's a prediction, though: the Roman Catholic church will come out against life extension technologies, just as they already have against contraception. They have to do this, because they are caught coming and going otherwise.

Firstly, if people are living longer and remaining fertile then they cannot approve of that without changing their position on contraception because otherwise there will be too many people for the planet to support. Arguably this is already the case, but since the Catholic church does not seem to believe in any form of population control now, I don't see how they could support longer lives.

Secondly, there's the small matter of judgement.

The whole premise of Catholicism (actually, Christianity in general) is that you should accept a sucky life now because everyone will get their just reward in the afterlife. But if people are not dying so quickly then fewer are being judged: without that payoff in the afterlife, a lot more people are likely to start questioning the Church.

So look for a future papal bull about the evils of life extension.

(actually, I don't want to start Catholic-bashing - although I dislike the Church's more venal tendencies, the one think I like about Catholicism compared to, say, any Protestant sect is that they have purgatory which is a great "Get Out Of Jail Free" card for atheists like me)

On balance though, I hope Dr de Grey is right, although I also profoundly hope that the therapies he talks about don't require me to wear a beard like his.

Posted by Dunx at December 6, 2004 12:55 PM