100% agree the messaging should focus on health rather than lifespan—not only because it’s far less controversial (most people want to be healthy), but because it’s true: we work directly on health, of which longevity is but a side effect. Glad you picked up on the multi-morbidity part too, tackling age-related sickness as a whole by focusing on fundamental ageing damage rather than treating diseases separately is crucial. Probably we’ll be talking about morbidity compression for a while yet; this is a crux that allows us to discuss medicine that actually works without having to acknowledge the Biblical-scale consequences of it. At some point though, laboratory results will become so compelling that the delusion collapses, and then all hell will break loose.
If it turns out healthspan aligns well with longevity
It can’t not. People don’t die because they get old, they die because they get sick.
While the term “healthspan” can be useful for public messaging it is not necessary to use it instead of “lifespan” as study after study shows. When the word “lifespan” is used in the correct context people are very willing to embrace even radical lifespan extension. It seems prudent to combine both concepts.
Asked “If doctors developed a pill that enabled you to live forever at your current age, would you take it?” a surprising number of people turned out to be hardcore life extensionists: “There were no differences by age...Among young adults, 40.0% indicated they would not take the pill, 34.2% indicated they would take the pill, and 25.8% indicated they were unsure.”
Barnett, Michael D., and Jessica H. Helphrey. “Who wants to live forever? Age cohort differences in attitudes toward life extension.” Journal of Aging Studies 57 (2021): 100931.
100% agree the messaging should focus on health rather than lifespan—not only because it’s far less controversial (most people want to be healthy), but because it’s true: we work directly on health, of which longevity is but a side effect. Glad you picked up on the multi-morbidity part too, tackling age-related sickness as a whole by focusing on fundamental ageing damage rather than treating diseases separately is crucial. Probably we’ll be talking about morbidity compression for a while yet; this is a crux that allows us to discuss medicine that actually works without having to acknowledge the Biblical-scale consequences of it. At some point though, laboratory results will become so compelling that the delusion collapses, and then all hell will break loose.
It can’t not. People don’t die because they get old, they die because they get sick.
While the term “healthspan” can be useful for public messaging it is not necessary to use it instead of “lifespan” as study after study shows. When the word “lifespan” is used in the correct context people are very willing to embrace even radical lifespan extension. It seems prudent to combine both concepts.
Asked “If doctors developed a pill that enabled you to live forever at your current age, would you take it?” a surprising number of people turned out to be hardcore life extensionists: “There were no differences by age...Among young adults, 40.0% indicated they would not take the pill, 34.2% indicated they would take the pill, and 25.8% indicated they were unsure.”
Barnett, Michael D., and Jessica H. Helphrey. “Who wants to live forever? Age cohort differences in attitudes toward life extension.” Journal of Aging Studies 57 (2021): 100931.