Ethical Issues on Aging and Longevity

1. Ethical Issues on Aging and Longevity Soraj Hongladarom Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University

2. Overview • Advances in medical technology. • Human lifespan poised to extend dramatically. • What are the ethical issues? • Is it always desirable to extend lifespan further and further?

3. Advances in Medical Technology • The mechanism of aging is now more understood. • This results in attempts to prolong and extend ‘healthy lifespan.’ • Main motivation of modern medicine: avoid death at all cost.

4. Possible Future Scenario • Humans living more than one hundred years will become more common. • In order to maintain population balance, fewer children will have to be born. • What will happen to the family structure? • Many laws and regulations have to be rewritten - insurance policies, retirement age, pension, etc.

5. Extended Lifespan and Meaning of Life • This increase in lifespan prompts a question on the meaning of life itself, as well as that of death. • The basic thinking behind this attempt is that death is to be avoided at all cost. • Perhaps one should pause and reflect on what exactly is desired when one wishes to extend one’s lifespan.

6. The Buddhist Viewpoint • Buddhism prompts one to question the meaning and value of life. It differs from the Judeo-Christian tradition in that it does not consider life to be sacred in itself. • On the contrary, Buddhism regards life to be only valuable when it is meaningful. • To be meaningful means that life has to contribute to the main goal, which is liberation from the cycle of births and rebirths.

7. Peter Singer • Re-evaluation of traditional Western ethics • Rethinking Life and Death • Affinities and differences with the Buddhist thought.