Extending Lives--But at What Cost - 877 Words

Even though the prospect of extending life indefinitely via the philosopher’s stone has been around since the ancient Greeks and has also been mentioned in the Bible, modern-day biochemists and biomedical engineers are much closer to achieving the ideal of immortality. Life extension has also had its role in popular culture in movies such as Logan’s Run. The movie depicts American society in 2274 when a totalitarian government is in power. Due to the limited resources, the dystopian government dictates that all citizens must die when they reach age thirty, and all the citizens of this government live with a watch that ticks down the time they have left to live (talk about a literal biological clock). This is a darkly humored film that can be viewed as an interpretation of Malthusian theory (described in 1798), which states that while resources like arable land, food, and natural oils grow linearly, the human population grows exponentially. Although life extension is an intriguing idea for some people, the potential problems it would likely cause, in addition to the existing problems that it would exacerbate, would greatly outweigh the benefits. Specifically, there are drawbacks behind extending the average human’s lifespan by a considerable amount, like extending the individual’s life past his or her health span and functionality. People could be sustained through biotechnology past their prime just to live in pain due to the tissues not integrating themselves correctly intoShow MoreRelatedNew Jersey Proposed Pilot Program to Extending School Days and Hours: A Progressive Idea or Exhausting 1248 Words   |  5 Pagesand chatter on whether NJ students will benefit from longer days, or if it is just a political maneuver and waste of money we do not have. However much the cost, extending the the length of time spent is school, is a sold foundation for creating more competitive and college ready students. Our schools systems were design ed for agriculture lives, providing brakes and hours fitting of a farmers life and a harvest. Restructuring brakes and hours to match todays family needs is an idea that should haveRead MoreIssue of Gay Marriage1216 Words   |  5 Pagesfound their soul mate and they intend to get married as soon as possible. There is only one issue preventing them from getting married, not financial issues, and there are no love triangles. Depending on where they live, their marriage may not be recognized in the state they live in. The right of gay and lesbian couples to marry has been debated for many years with valid reasons supporting but the proponents and supporters. The minute a human being is conceived, it is already endowed with theRead MoreCurrent and Future Technological Advances in Sri Lanka: Under the sections of Travel, Home and Work1297 Words   |  6 Pagessectors. Those gadgets are appalling with any sectors and at home as a network, achieve benefits likes flexibility, team working, less distraction, time controlling and work speedily, proximity to home and family, less stress, more productivity, cost saving by organization as well as employees. In figure 2 analysis of 2010 Survey data, national level 10 percent of the population is computer literate. Western province reported the highest computer literacy rate of 15.3 percent and the lowestRead MoreThe Issue Of Longevity : How Much Difference A Recognized Number Of Attitudes And Behaviors Can Make1191 Words   |  5 Pagessuccessful. Rather, it is heavily dependent on the concept that individuals are all part of a system, and for enduring gains in health, communities should shift their tactics away from trying to change individual behavior to optimizing the surroundings they live in. Dan Buettner performed extensive data analysis and research to pinpoint hot spots—regions called blue zones to locate the world’s longest lived people. He focused primarily on geographic localities that had not only the highest medium of 100-year-oldsRead MoreDr. Ira Byock s The Best Care Possible1463 Words   |  6 Pageswritten from a personal perspective as one of the foremos t palliative-care physicians in the country. Dr. Byock shares stories of his experience with patients in his clinical experience to illustrate how end-of-life care affects each person. He explains what palliative care really is and how to make humane choices in a world obsessed with conquering death. Byock presents an agenda for end-of-life care that stresses compassion, dignity, and each patient being viewed as a unique case with the opportunityRead MoreMedical And Health Of Medicinal Protection1300 Words   |  6 Pages Medical And Health Medicinal and Health protections are presently extremely extravagant particularly with the regularly extending populace yet the purposes for the high costs have their reasons. Innovation is one element. The headways of innovation have extraordinarily contributed in the wellbeing protection industry and the expense for keeping up this innovation is high. Along these lines the expense of having this mechanical progressions and supplies are incorporated in regular expenses inRead MoreThe Ethics Of Age Based Rationing977 Words   |  4 Pagescare. Life extending medical technology and procedures are extremely expensive. A recent Mount Sinai School of Medicine study found out that out of pocket expenses for Medicare recipients during the five years before their death amount to about $39,000 for individuals, $51,000 for couples, and up to $66,000 for people with long term illnesses like Alzheimer’s. There is great debate whether or not these medical procedures such as transplants should be rationed based on age due to the costs and limitedRead MoreThe Computer Science Of Robots958 Words   |  4 Pagesactives since I was a young boy. Through the Compute r science class last year I was introduced to coding. This year all of my loves found a single form, this form is called Robotics. Robotics is the science of robots, you create robots, then program them what to do. This helps the world by making new house hold robots that could do your laundry, or do your dishes, the possibilities are endless. Household inventions are not the only things that robotics help, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)Read MoreThe Key Factors Of The Aol Success When Compared With Its Competitors850 Words   |  4 Pages The key factors that contributed to the AOL success when compared with its competitors: †¢ AOL provided a wide range of interactive, information services to meet the varied needs of its customers, which included real time conferences, emails, live chats, and bulletin boards, online educational services, interactive shopping services to name a few. †¢ When compared with its competitors, AOL’s pricing structure was the easiest for customers to understand and enabled them to anticipate their spendingRead MoreCase 1: Segmenting and Targeting the Electric Car Market958 Words   |  4 Pagesmarket. The big auto companies have their planned models and so do numerous venture capital start-ups. They all seem to be about 2-3 years away from launching their products. The problem is battery range and power. With today’s technology, a small, low cost mass produced eCar would have a range of about 80 miles on a charge and a top speed of 60 miles an hour. This is considered not good enough for the market that is used to gasoline cars with top speeds of 100+ and with a range of 300+ miles. The eCar