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Here’s a contrarian opinion on longevity: I think all people should eventually die (rather sooner than later), so humanity can progress faster.
Changing culture is hard, and while technology accelerates change, there are still billions of people chanting religious mantras today. It seems like increasing the lifespan of current generations might be a little premature.
Don’t get me wrong, I see major individual advantages in living longer, but I also see danger in that.
Imagine living in a society where people born into a cultural standard of slavery were still in power and in good health. Even today, we have a ton of strange beliefs in mainstream society - some of these are cultural, coming from religion or “heritage.” Speaking for myself, I surely don’t want us, the “backward savages of the future,” to stick around for longer than necessary to block progress 100 years from now.
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Although one can argue that stubborn conservatism (generalization, for lack of a better term - not trying to shame conservatism as a political view) is a consequence of the brain’s diminished ability to learn and form new synapses - a problem longevity research aims to tackle - it’s actually a much more complex function of aging, status, and habits (and beyond). Besides, I'm sure you get to meet plenty of healthy young individuals with some pretty strange opinions daily. Of course, living for a longer period than others can give you advantages in knowledge, status, and wealth accumulation (well, good for you). I also acknowledge that it could give you more time to solve bigger societal problems (good for us). Motivations can vary, but chances are we’re all not that special. My unfortunate hunch from observing the hype scene of longevity is that the more time people spend occupied with their own immortality, the less they spend thinking about what that means for progressing as an entire species.
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