I don't understand why living long and having lots of children is necessarily useful for survival of the species if they have little predation...doesn't overpopulation become a problem?
I don't have a strong Ecology background, but I think that the carrying capacity for the mole rat remains more or less the same whether or not there are predators around. This will increase competition between individual mole rats, but will not be negative for the species as a whole.
There are also the ethical considerations with this research. Should it even be conducted?
Personally, I think that this and other research devoted to ending senescence is necessary. Therefore, I'm very interested in an ethical discussion of the potential impact of slowing or stopping the aging process. This thread has begun to approach this question from an environmental perspective, so I'll focus on that first.
In my opinion, the environmental impact of life-extension research does not necessarily have to be negative. We are beginning to adapt to our current increase in lifespan, and it is conceivable that we will continue to adapt to further increases. In the developed world, our population growth is leveling off. For example, the number of deaths in Europe and Japan is beginning to exceed the number of births. The population of the United States continues to grow, but is also starting to level off. The undeveloped world is primarily responsible for the growth in world population, and it is my hope that this will also begin to decrease as their economic status approaches that of the developed world.
In the event that this does not occur, I think we would find it rather easy to regulate population growth in developed countries. We could give people a simple choice. If you decide to stop aging, you have to have your reproductive ability medically removed. However, this leads to all sorts of problems like people freezing their sperm beforehand, or certain religious groups declaring the ultimatum to be cultural genocide. A lot of the difficulties associated with legal control are resolvable, but some aren't, and it is my hope that humans will continue to adapt to increases in life-expectancy.
As you've no doubt noticed, my response is mostly speculation. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict the long term impact of life-extension on the environment. There are entirely too many variables for me to dispel all potential fears. However, I would point out that the arguments of those actively seeking to stop this research are also primarily speculation.
I welcome any further discussion on this issue from the environmental or any other perspectives. |
