Thursday, February 24, 2005

A Question from a Reader: Life Extension and Information Ethics

Thanks for the question-- How wonderful that I have an answer.....several really. First, the whole field of life extension and CR/CRON (Calorie Restriction/Optimal Nutrition) illustrates how hard it is to have information taken seriously when it doesn't fit societal expectation. As Kuhn said, we don't see what we don't expect to see; we can't see data if we don't have the conceptual framework to put it in. We don't expect cars to run on Diet Coke, so if they did, we probably would believe it enough to try it. I know, there are better examples.
Next, I've worked on the syllabus for BioInfoEthics. I still need to figure out how to copy and paste here or insert image files stored somewhere else. Maybe my nex project should be a literature review of the ethics of life extension. I'd start with Art Caplan's article that I need to find again. Any help from you all out there? Let me get busy and look for articles, books, etc. I'll post some here.
Thanks again reader.

2 comments:

April said...

Hi Mom!

AprilCR

Anonymous said...

Hi!

FWIW, 3 works on the subject w/which I'm familiar & which support my biases are:

Overall C. Aging, Death, and Human Longevity. 2003 Feb; Berkeley: University of California Press.

Mackey T. An ethical assessment of anti-aging medicine. J Anti Aging Med. 2003;6(3):187-204.

de Grey AD. The foreseeability of real anti-aging medicine: focusing the debate. Exp Gerontol. 2003 Sep;38(9):927-34.

Live long -- live young!

-Michael