How Much Would You Pay To Live Forever?
No, really, how much would you pay to live forever?
Think of it this way: What is your willingness to pay to live forever? I'd happily pay all my earnings in excess of $10,000 in perpetuity - a present value of millions of dollars.OK, but what is your willingness to pay for a bottle of medicine that a spammer says will let you live forever? I wouldn't pay a penny.
Are doctors no more credible than spammers? That's going too far. But the bottom line is that life is precious, but at least on average, medicine is not.
Those interested in healthy life extension should also be interested in the economics of medicine, research and life itself. Attaining an understanding of the basics and the subtleties is well worth it (and a good start would be to add the Ludwig von Mises Institute daily articles and blog to your reading list). Understanding the whys and hows of cost - in the wider sense of the word - is key to understanding how a society of individuals works (or doesn't work) in order to advance medical technology. Thus it is also key to understanding what efforts are likely to help the development of working longevity medicine after the SENS model. Economic thinking is a good thing: embrace it.