George Dvorksy at the Longevity Dividend Seminar
Via the IEET, a transcript of George Dvorsky's presentation at the Longevity Dividend Seminar prior to last week's Transvision 2007 conference: "Life is good, death is bad. That pretty much says it all for life extensionists. There is the general notion that death at 17 is tragic, while death at 87 is natural. That is based on our conditioned response and expectations regarding maximum lifespan. If we could live to 1000, we would consider the death of someone at 350 to be just as tragic. ... A great quote from J.R.R. Tolkien. 'There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that happens to Man is ever natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident. And even if he knows it and consents to it, an unjustifiable violation.' The quote is the obverse to Leon Kass's assertion that the finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not. Another argument is that death is wasteful, destroying memories and experiences. Moreover, it is a terribly thing to have to deal with death. Eliezer Yudkowsky, who experienced the death of his sibling a few years ago, wrote that 'No sentient being deserves such a thing.' Life extensionists are cognizant of the fact that people are dying every day of age-related diseases."
Link: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorskytrans20070723/