Ethical Implications of Prolonged Lives

Abstract

This article explores the scientific prospect and ethical implications of prolonging the human lifespan through genetic or other types of biomedical interventions. It suggests that when a potential scientific development raises profound theological, ethical, or social issues, it is preferable to assess the implications in advance, in order to decide whether and how to proceed. The analysis underscores that interventions to increase average life-expectancies in an already aging society pose economic, health, and environmental burdens that societies would be hard-pressed to sustain. The required resource-transfers would also have a profoundly negative impact on intra-and inter-generational equity.