WOULD LIFE BE BETTER WITHOUT DEATH? [engl.]
What would it mean for human kind when we could slow down the natural aging process to the point where death would be avoidable? If death itself were to die out, would we then lose an important part of what it means to be human? Or would rather a part of our life be brought to an end that we rightly regard with indignation? Would some people consciously decide to die and thus lend the idea of suicide a new meaning? The theoretical bio-gerontologist Aubrey de Grey and the bio-ethics expert Andy Miah discussed the consequences of eternal life and the preconditions modern science is currently producing.
Aubrey de Grey British biomedical gerontologist, is chief science officer of the SENS Foundation (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) and editor-in-chief of the high-impact, peer-reviewed academic journal Rejuvenation Research. His research work revolves around the molecular and cellular changes in the human body responsible for the aging process. He claims that it will soon be possible to comprehensively repair this "damage" and thus radically extend the healthy lifespan. He is also cofounder of the Methuselah Foundation, a fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), and an advisor to numerous organisations involved in future technology. www.sens.org
Andy Miah, bioethicist and cultural theorist, is "Fellow of Visions in Utopia and Dystopia" at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, University of the West of Scotland. His research discusses the intersections of art, ethics, technology and culture and he has published broadly in areas of emerging technologies, particularly related to human enhancement. Alongside his work on bioethics, he has written extensively about digital culture. He is the editor of 'Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty' (2008, Liverpool University Press and FACT). www.andymiah.net