The Fountain of Youth: Cultural, Scientific, and Ethical Perspectives on a Biomedical GoalStephen G. Post, Robert H. Binstock Oxford University Press, 08/04/2004 - 496 páginas A wide variety of ambitions and measures to slow, stop, and reverse phenomena associated with aging have been part of human culture since early civilization. From alchemy to cell injections to dietary supplements, the list of techniques aimed at altering the processes of aging continues to expand. Charlatans, quacks, and entrpreneurs proffering anti-aging products and practices have always exploited uniformed customers and instilled doubt and apprehension toward practices intended to extend life. Recently, however, the pursuit of longevity has developed into a respectable scientific activity. Many biologists are substantially funded by the government and the private sector to conduct research that they believe will lead to effective anti-aging interventions. While many embrace this quest for "prolongevity"--extended youth and long life--others fear its consequences. If effective anti-aging interventions were achieved, they would likely bring about profound alterations in the experiences of individual and collective life. What if aging could be decelerated to the extent that both average life expectancy and maximum life span would increase by forty percent? What if all humans could live to be centenarians, free of the chronic diseases and disabilities now commonly associated with old age? What if modern scientists could find the modern equivalent to the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon sought? This book addresses these questions by exploring the ramifications of possible anti-aging interventions on both individual and collective life. Through a series of essays, it examines the biomedical goal of prolongevity from cultural, scientific, religious, and ethical perspectives, offering a sweeping view into the future of aging. |
Índice
1 | |
The Perennial Quests for Extended and Eternal Life | 9 |
The Science of Prolongevity | 131 |
Ethical and Social Perspectives on Radical Life Extension | 269 |
Extended Life Eternal Life A Christian Perspective | 387 |
Annotated Bibliography | 397 |
Primary Literary Sources on Prolongevity | 433 |
445 | |
455 | |
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Palavras e frases frequentes
age-related aging process Alzheimer's disease American animals anti-aging interventions anti-aging medicine antioxidant associated become behavior Binstock Bioethics biogerontologists biological biological immortality biologists biomedical body C.S. Lewis Callahan caloric restriction cancer Carnes cells century changes consequences damage death decelerated aging dietary effects elderly eternal evolution evolutionary expectancy extended function future genes genetic Gerontology goal God's Grey Haldane Hayflick health span Heinlein hormone human aging human life span immortality implications increase individual Institute on Aging issues J.B.S. Haldane Jewish Kass limits live longevity Masoro maximum life span mechanisms ment metabolism mice mitochondrion mortality rates mutations myth National Institute natural selection old age older Olshansky organisms Oxford oxidative stress persons philosophical political population possible posthumanism potential prolonged prolongevity rejuvenation reproduction rodents role scientific scientists senescence social species studies survival telomere theory of aging therapy tion University Press virtue ethics vitamin vitamin E York youth