The Fountain of Youth (eBook, PDF)

Cultural, Scientific, and Ethical Perspectives on a Biomedical Goal
Redaktion: Post, Stephen G.; Binstock, Robert H.

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. April 2004
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780198038047
• Artikelnr.: 38131976

Autorenporträt

Post, Stephen G. (Associate Professor, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, USA) / Binstock, Robert H. (Professor of Aging, Health, and Society, Case Western Reserve University, USA)

Inhaltsangabe

* Introduction
* Part I: The Perennial Quests for Extended and Eternal Life
* 1: The search for prolongevity: a continuous pursuit
* 2: The quest for immortality: visions and presentiments in science
and literature
* 3: Decelerated ageing: should I drink from a Fountain of Youth?
* 4: A Jewish theology of death and the afterlife
* 5: In defence of immortality
* Part II: The Science of Prolongevity
* 6: In search of the Holy Grail of senescence
* 7: The metabiology of life extension
* 8: Extending human longevity: a biological probability
* 9: Eat less, eat better, and live longer: does it work and is it
worth it?: the role of diet in ageing and disease
* 10: Extending life: scientific prospects and political obstacles
* 11: An engineer's approach to developing real anti-ageing medicine
* Part III: Ethical and Social Perspectives on Radical Life Extension
* 12: An unnatural process: why it is not inherently wrong to seek a
cure for ageing
* 13: Longevity, identity and moral character: a feminist approach
* 14: L'Chaim and its limits: why not immortality?
* 15: Anti-ageing research and the limits of medicine
* 16: The social and justice implications of extending the human life
span
* 17: The prolonged old, the long-lived society and the politics of age
* Epilogue: extended life, eternal life: a Christian perspective