|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
5th
EMBL/EMBO Joint Conference 2004 |
|
|
Session IV |
|
|
The choosy reaper From the myth of eternal youth to the reality of unequal death |
|
|
|
Alex
Mauron, Professor of Bioethics, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Presentation
[PPT]
Our increased biological
understanding of aging has revived prospects for
a radical anti-aging medicine and even for the abolition
of mortality. Ethicists have often tried to argue
against these endeavours, with little success. Arguments
appealing to the natural order are either circular
or self-defeating. For instance, it is claimed that
the death of death would bring evolution to a halt,
since no new organisms would come forward to be
selected for or against. Now it is true that to
have something to work on, evolution 'needs' mortality.
But who needs evolution? Not Homo sapiens, who dislikes
the prospect of being superseded by a 'new and improved'
species, unless it has directed its design. Indeed,
current post-humanist utopias posit the replacement
of blind evolutionary chance by the self-directed
reengineering of human nature. Similarly, invoking
the invariants of the human condition cuts no ice
as rational argument and often turns into an avowedly
irrational appeal to the wisdom of the 'yuck reaction'
evoked by exotic technologies. Does that mean that
anti-mortality technologies are ethically innocuous?
Not if we consider the reality of unequal death
in today's world. Differences in longevity match
the gap between the haves and the have-nots. More
interestingly, even in affluent societies where
the basics of food, shelter and medicine are widely
available, the Reaper is very much class-conscious
[as shown for instance by Marmot's pioneering epidemiological
studies]. Therefore, until molecular genetics provides
new miracles, the best proven recipe for longevity
is obvious: be born in a rich country. Even more
important: be affluent yourself and/or find yourself
in a position of authority. Be a self-reliant, self-satisfied,
entrepreneurial alpha male.The life-extending eugenics
of tomorrow will increase inequality, not because
these technologies are evil in themselves –
they are not – but because they will flourish
in a world that has turned its back on the passion
for equality that was once a hallmark of the Enlightenment.
|
|
|
|
|
