2 November to 9 November

Ethics and the endless perpetuation of life

I recently presented a paper at the 10th annual Metanexus Conference Cosmos, Nature, Culture in Phoenix, Arizona. The Metanexus Institute is dedicated to the promotion of transdisciplinarity across all aspects of human endeavour, and facilitates the sharing of wisdom by encouraging holistic dialogue between 'science and religion'. One session during this conference highlighted both the potential of genuinely holistic thinking and how difficult it is to achieve.

      That session concerned developments in the science of gerontology. The speaker prefaced his talk by making clear that he does not 'do' ethics, in the sense of questioning whether what he is doing is right or desirable. Rather his focus is on whether what he is doing is technically feasible. He confidently predicted the emergence of technologies that will hold the potential for virtually ageless human life, within perhaps 50 years. He put forward a scenario that he called the 'longevity escape velocity' in which successive technological advances in treatment will allow us to repair the damage of aging almost without end, making humans virtually immortal. Mute horror struck me on hearing this. We have long debated the ethics of creating life: the ethic of its endless perpetuation needs to be discussed. Urgently.

Dave Hufton, Centenary PhD Student, School of Applied Global Ethics

An earlier version of this reflection first appeared last week as an international reflection.

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