Death and Life Extension
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Advancements in technology and public health have allowed us to live longer and healthier than ever before, and may someday be able to extend our lives far beyond current limits. This raises new questions: Is death a bad thing, and if so, how bad is it? If death is bad, does that mean it would be good to extend life? Is it better to extend existing lives instead of replacing the dead with new generations? Would life extension affect our society for the better or worse?
Come discuss these and other questions, and their implications, at the next meeting of Silicon Valley Socratic Society. Everyone of any background or level of experience is welcome to join and share their thoughts.
No prior reading will be needed, but if you'd like to explore this topic in advance, here are some resources:
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Death (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/death/)
- Thomas Nagel: Death (http://dbanach.com/death.htm)
- Leon Kass: The Case for Mortality (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41211234)
- Adrian Bunn: The Ethics of Life Extension (https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/9314059/73548)
- Brian Green: An Ethical Analysis of Life Extension (https://www.scu.edu/ethics/all-about-ethics/radical-life-extension/)