Posted 13 March 2005 - 06:25 AM
Haha, I don't know about genetic basis, but I'd certainly say it has a demographic basis. Look at what a large chunk of the population baby boomers are, and look at how they're all approaching retirement age. When you have such a large portion of the population that has passed mid-life and is now heading full-on into the discomforts and inconveniences of old age, with death not being far behind, then people are going to be paying a lot more attention to anti-aging cures.
Whether it's taking less time than we thought, it still won't be too soon for me. I'm a GenX person, so I'm not at mid-life yet, but I still want to know that the anti-aging cures will be there for me when I need them.
And no, I don't feel the slightest bit embarrassed saying that I don't want to get old and die. Nor is it pleasant to see loved ones suffer the same fate.
But I'd say these developments are very timely, since the Baby Boomer demographic is so large and represents such a major chunk of our society. If Baby Boomers can regain more health and vitality, then they can remain more productive members of society, not just able to enjoy themselves more, but also able to contribute to society more.
The Baby Boomer demographic will play a major role in getting anti-aging research to snowball into something very large, once the ball gets rolling. Perhaps we'll even see some kind of runaway Moore's Law effect, as market demand ramps up and translates into medical advances.
