A debate: Should we extend healthy lifespan?
Dramatic advances in our understanding of the biology of aging raise the prospect that it will soon be possible to artificially manipulate the aging clock and extend human lifespan, possibly quite significantly. While such biotechnology holds tremendous promise for forestalling or attenuating age-related disease, there are vitally important societal concerns about doing so, prompting the need for public discourse. This debate will launch a discussion of these issues at UCSB by addressing the motion: Humans should extend healthy longevity. Two teams, each with one scientist and one ethicist will debate opposing views to the motion.
Team in favor of the motion:
Dr. Joel Rothman, PhD, Distinguished Professor of MCD Biology and Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Wilcox Family Chair in Biotechnology, and Director, Center for Aging and Longevity Studies, UCSB
Dr. Michael Waltemathe, PhD, Visiting Professor, Theology Department, Technical University Dortmund
Team opposed to the motion:
Dr. Luc Jaeger, PhD, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science and Engineering, UCSB
Dr. Leslie Francis, PhD, JD, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Alfred C. Emery Endowed Professor, College of Law, University of Utah
Moderator:
Dr. Charles Stolar, MD, Rudolph N. Schullinger Professor Emeritus of Surgery and Pediatrics, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
