Ageing Demographics
As we move further into the 21st century we are dealing with an increasingly ageing demographic, particularly within developed countries.
Many of the diseases that will take an increasing toll are intimately tied to the processes of ageing and I don't believe it is possible to investigate them adequately in isolation from each other.
Between 2015 and 2050, the number of older people living in high income countries is forecast to increase by 56%, compared with 138% in upper middle income countries, 185% in lower middle income countries, and by 239% low income countries. Rising life expectancy is contributing to rapid increases in numbers, and is associated with increased prevalence of chronic diseases like dementia.
We estimate that 46.8 million people worldwide are living with dementia in 2015. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 74.7 million in 2030 and 131.5 million in 2050. These new estimates are 12-13% higher than those made for the World Alzheimer Report 2009.
Now these are for just one type of disease (dementias).
If we take into account the vast spectrum of diseases that increase as people age then the situation becomes even more concerning.
For those of us who are interested in Life-Extension what we are talking about is adding useful years to a person's lifespan.
Add Life to Years
That is completely pointless.
The way to think of it is adding "life to years, not years to life" - I forget exactly where I read that quote but it has always stuck with me.
In addition to that we will end up spending larger and larger amounts of money to look after and care for them.
I believe it is better to prevent people ending up in that state in the first place.
The basic objection is that such treatments and technologies will only be available to the rich.
Whilst I can sympathise with people's opinion and feelings I think it is a patently absurd view point to hold.
Almost all new technologies start out as being very expensive and the domain of the wealthy. I can think of few things that did not begin this way.
Mobile phones were an incredibly expensive luxury when they were first released. Now they are actually more common in some developing countries than they are in wealthier nations.
I think these kinds of objections come from an ideologically based opposition to anti-ageing technologies.
The last time I used LinkedIn was years ago when the site was quite new and much less developed.
I have also noticed that they have a vast array of discussion groups and I have created the "Life Extension & Anti-Aging Technology" group on LinkedIn specifically for discussing these topics, which you can find here:
Life Extension & Anti-Aging Technology Group Link
Here is an excerpt from the about page:
A group for people who are interested in the interplay between ageing and disease, life extension technologies and related fields. Share interesting stories, papers, research and anything which you feel is relevant to this.
Rather than doing any kind of hard sell, if people find articles they like it might make them more likely to become curious about Steemit and make it one of their regular sources of information.
It is also another great place to attract new bloggers from.
