Research

Name: Pham Ngoc Hong Huyen

JCU ID: 13270108

Should scientist spend time, money, and resources to help people live 100 years or longer ?

Human lifetime is a cyclic process from birth, being mature to getting old and death, that originally and physically follows the law of nature. Howerver, thanks to a variety of technological advances in the science field nowadays, people are increasingly capable of changing the world and a longer life expectancy is not an exceptional object. Scientist are yearning for uncovering genetic structure, function and manipulation as well as inventing new medicines to protect and cure patients from diseases. Nonetheless, extending life beyond 100 years or longer which the body is physically able to last, will bring about a lot of issues rather than benefits for our planet and society.

First and foremost, according to the findings of Pew Research Center, if people lived decades longer than it is possible today, overpopulation would become a serious problem. Human society’s needs will be escalating because of longer life expectancy, as a result, it will strain our natural resources such as land limitations, freshwater stress or energy scarcity. Along with natural resources, jobs could be another issue. As mentioned by Daniel Wesley, the period of time from 2000 to 2009 has been a decade of steady unemployment in the United States with a sharp rise up to 9.3 per cent. Recently, in accord with the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rate has been recorded at 5 percent in November 2015 which could be seen as a positive sign but population is still struggling with and seems not to have effective solutions to overcome this situation. Otherwise, more active and healthy older people tend to hold power or work placements longer so that there are not various opportunities for younger generations.

Therefore, before spending time, money, and resources on doing research, taking a look at the negatives of a longer lifespan...