If you're going to be with us over the long haul (and we certainly hope that you will) you'll probably become familiar with certain names. In nanotechnology, you'll become familiar with Ray Kurzweil. In robotics, the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. And just for biotechnology and aging, there's Aubrey de Grey, who is passionate about defeating aging. He works in genetics at Oxford University in the UK.
De Gray has been writing about aging for over a decade. His latest article in the Guardian is pretty much of a summary. His main points:
1. Science can 'beat' aging, which kills about 100,000 people a day
2. It can do so without increasing frailty or bringing on some other imaginary horrors associated with increased longevity, such as overpopulation, unequal access to the benefits of long life, boredom, etc.
3. That because we look at deterioration due to aging as both horrible and inevitable, we try pretty hard not to think about it at all.
The article is here. His website is here. This is the start of a long discussion, so let's start by getting some of the basics down.
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