There is a negative correlation with age (48% of adults 18-29, 46% of adults 30-49, 37% of adults 50-64, 31% of adults 65 and older)
This may be because as people get older they have more medical problems and so when they think of life-extension they think of not life-extension as extending the very healthy years as much as extending how they currently are or soon will be.
and with income (47% of those earning 30k and less, 42% of those earning from 30k-75k, and 39% of those earning 75k+). The income result in particular surprises me, as my intuition was that people with a higher quality of life would be significantly more pro-life extension.
This is less surprising to me. Higher income means one has more to lose by things which impact the stability of society severely.
I think another possible reason for the negative correlation with age is that as people get older and death becomes more imminent, they (in my experience) try harder to convince themselves and their peers that it is a good/natural/acceptable thing, to lessen the sense of fear and helplessness.
The median ideal life span is 90 years – about 11 years longer than the current average U.S. life expectancy, which is 78.7 years
I’d guess that there’s nothing magically wonderful about living to be 90. The more important part seems to be wanting to live longer but not wanting (or wanting to want) anything that seems implausible or socially abnormal.
It would have been interesting to see if greater age was correlated with holding a stronger view either for or against radical life extension. I would predict that older people hold stronger views, since the issue is more relevant to their current life experiences.
Younger adults, to whom old age may seem far away, are more likely than those 65 and older to give an ideal age of 78 years or less (19% vs. 6%). The median ideal life span of adults under 30 – at 85 years – is lower than that for older adults.
I did not expect this. And it seems weird, since young people are also more optimistic about their futures. And more likely to want to undergo radical life extension. Plus they haven’t suffered the effects of aging (having many loved ones die, illness and pain, etc.).
Old people may be against radical life extension in principle, but they don’t personally want to die just yet. I’d be curious to see what the typical 90 year old lists as their ideal life span; or more generally, at what age (if ever) people start actively wanting to die soon, measured as listing an ideal life span within 5 years of their current age.
at what age (if ever) people start actively wanting to die soon
I don’t think that wish to die is directly correlated with age—I think it’s mostly a function of the state of one’s health (which is correlated with age, of course) and the consequent quality of life.
That’s my intuition as well: that someone who lists 90 as their ideal life span while young and then makes it to 89 without obtaining some debilitating and painful illness will change their mind about dying at 90. The fact that older people list higher ideal life spans despite being less gung-ho on life extension in principle suggests to me that “wanting to die eventually” is Far. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was no age at which the median person wanted to die soon, no matter what their youthful ideals about aging may have been.
I did not expect this. And it seems weird, since young people are also more optimistic about their futures. And more likely to want to undergo radical life extension. Plus they haven’t suffered the effects of aging (having many loved ones die, illness and pain, etc.).
Didn’t predictions for the Singularity follow a similar trend? Older people predicting 30-40 years until the event, and younger predictors being more pessimistic because they’re likely to still be alive even if it happens in 60 years?
I bet it’s an effect from the correlation of age and religiousity.
I strongly doubt that given that the study found only an extremely weak correlation between religiosity and being against life extension, and by some religion related questions, no correlation at all.
Indeed, since the tradition maintains that Methuselah lived to be almost 1000, so there is nothing obviously wrong with a long life.
I don’t think that’s what is going on either here- most Americans don’t know much about that section of the Bible, and one traditional explanation for the shortening of lifespans is that the long lifespans somehow contributed to the problems leading to Noah’s Flood.
This may be because as people get older they have more medical problems and so when they think of life-extension they think of not life-extension as extending the very healthy years as much as extending how they currently are or soon will be.
This is less surprising to me. Higher income means one has more to lose by things which impact the stability of society severely.
I think another possible reason for the negative correlation with age is that as people get older and death becomes more imminent, they (in my experience) try harder to convince themselves and their peers that it is a good/natural/acceptable thing, to lessen the sense of fear and helplessness.
I’d guess that there’s nothing magically wonderful about living to be 90. The more important part seems to be wanting to live longer but not wanting (or wanting to want) anything that seems implausible or socially abnormal.
It would have been interesting to see if greater age was correlated with holding a stronger view either for or against radical life extension. I would predict that older people hold stronger views, since the issue is more relevant to their current life experiences.
I did not expect this. And it seems weird, since young people are also more optimistic about their futures. And more likely to want to undergo radical life extension. Plus they haven’t suffered the effects of aging (having many loved ones die, illness and pain, etc.).
Old people may be against radical life extension in principle, but they don’t personally want to die just yet. I’d be curious to see what the typical 90 year old lists as their ideal life span; or more generally, at what age (if ever) people start actively wanting to die soon, measured as listing an ideal life span within 5 years of their current age.
I don’t think that wish to die is directly correlated with age—I think it’s mostly a function of the state of one’s health (which is correlated with age, of course) and the consequent quality of life.
That’s my intuition as well: that someone who lists 90 as their ideal life span while young and then makes it to 89 without obtaining some debilitating and painful illness will change their mind about dying at 90. The fact that older people list higher ideal life spans despite being less gung-ho on life extension in principle suggests to me that “wanting to die eventually” is Far. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was no age at which the median person wanted to die soon, no matter what their youthful ideals about aging may have been.
Didn’t predictions for the Singularity follow a similar trend? Older people predicting 30-40 years until the event, and younger predictors being more pessimistic because they’re likely to still be alive even if it happens in 60 years?
Not really: http://lesswrong.com/lw/e36/ai_timeline_predictions_are_we_getting_better/
I bet it’s an effect from the correlation of age and religiousity.
I strongly doubt that given that the study found only an extremely weak correlation between religiosity and being against life extension, and by some religion related questions, no correlation at all.
Indeed, since the tradition maintains that Methuselah lived to be almost 1000, so there is nothing obviously wrong with a long life.
I don’t think that’s what is going on either here- most Americans don’t know much about that section of the Bible, and one traditional explanation for the shortening of lifespans is that the long lifespans somehow contributed to the problems leading to Noah’s Flood.