Professor of Epidemiology of the University of Chicago, Jay Olshansky helped to introduce the concept of the Longevity Dividend: pursuing the sum of health, social, and economic benefits attained from a seven year delay in aging. A leading proponent of research into increased human longevity, he gave a presentation at the “Securing the Longevity Dividend” event in Chicago organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. There he argued for the necessity of reducing health risks by slowing the biological process of aging.

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Public critics of radical life extension have made such various claims as “There is no known social good coming from the conquest of death,” and “The finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not.” Ronald Bailey, who servers as science correspondent for Reason Magazine, set out to refute these assumptions in his talk at the 2007 event held by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies entitled “Securing the Longevity Dividend” by noting the wealth of research suggesting that the trend toward increasing lifespan has resulted directly in greater overall wealth and social good.

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Patrick Hopkins, Anders Sandberg, and Mark Walker at Transvision 2007

Anders Sandberg Ph.D. is a Swedish neuroscientist and futurist. He occupies the roles of James Martin research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, and research associate at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. In his talk at the July 23, 2007 Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies event entitled “Securing the Longevity Dividend,” Dr. Sandberg brought up four possible scenarios surrounding the public reaction to the emergence of radical life extension.

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