According to Roland Piquepaille at ZDNet, a report prepared for the National Intelligence Counsel chronicles six "disruptive technologies" that are likely to appear before 2025. Among these six is something called "biogerontechnology."
What is biogerontechnology?
Well, according to the report,“[b]iogerontechnology offers the means to accomplish control over and improvement in the human condition, and promises improvements in lifespan. The advancement of the science and technology underlying the biological aging process has the potential to not only extend the average natural lifespan, but also to simultaneously postpone many if not all of the costly and disabling conditions that humans experience in later life, thereby creating a longevity dividend that will be economic, social and medical in nature.”
Why is that potentially disruptive? Well, for one, do you really think people will easily relinquish their age 65 Social Security benefits just because life expectancies have dramticially improved?
That's the problem with entitlements: Nobody wants to give them up, even when the circumstances that originally justified them cease to exist.
No comments:
Post a Comment