Struggling to Break Out of the Old Paradigm
From RedOrbit, an example of someone caught halfway between paradigms: learning about the potential of longevity science, but having trouble envisaging the changes it will herald for institutions of insurance, development, and regulation. "Currently our drug development and approval systems aim at disease-specific treatments. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration approves medications only for specific indications, and 'mortality,' a universal condition, would seem unlikely to qualify under the current system. Further, if senescence begins in one's 30s but the outcome (that is, death) can be measured only in one's 70s or 80s, how will researchers be able to perform timely clinical trials in humans? ... Health insurance is based on the principle of risk pooling. Because nobody can be certain that they will remain healthy, the disease-free are willing to share the cost burden with the sick ... But if resveratrol-like drugs are recommended for everybody over 30 at risk for mortality (a universal condition), there would be no risk pooling." When you catch yourself asking "how will this ever fit?" then the answer is usually "it won't fit, and will never fit in the present structure, because things will change in the future so as to accommodate it."
Link: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1558015/listening_to_resveratrol/