The Mary Shelleys of Fearmongering
by Ronald Bailey
December 20th, 2007
Daniel Callahan thinks prolongevists are frustrating! Then he accuses pro-technology proponents of “scientism.” And finally he pulls out the argument of the desperate and compares his opponents to Hitler and Stalin! At that point one wants to quote the great philosopher (and comedian extraordinaire) Steve Martin: “Puh-leese!” Since I am traveling and without internet connection except via Blackberry I will be brief. My vision of a future in which effective longevity treatments are available is one in which individuals get to choose to use them or not–no government gets to decide how long its citizens will be allowed to live. That would truly be tyranny. In the meantime, if Callahan chooses to go “gentle into that good night” I wish him well of it, but his job is to warn us the dangers he sees arising from radically extended lives and that’s all very well. He should allow the rest of us to ignore his advice and find out for ourselves whether he is right or wrong. Let us learn freely from trial and error as people always have done.
