I Wish This Was Science Fiction
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
An article in MIT Technology Review made me shiver with fear. “Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging.” Antonio Regalado informs us, "The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem.” At first glance, some might respond, “Yippee! Who wouldn’t want to live longer?” Yet, scratch below the surface, and ethical issues jump out at you.
The multi-billion-dollar fund is managed by “a former May Clinic endocrinologist and the onetime chief scientist at PepsiCo,” Mehmood Khan. Khan stated, “There is not a bigger medical problem on the planet that this one.” I would disagree. The most significant medical problem on the planet is inequitable medical care. Now, imagine what the cost of the wonder anti-aging drug will cost. We are living in one of the most segregated periods of human history. The culprit of this segregation is economic disparity. With the advent of this drug, not only will the have-nots continue to have less and live shorter lives due to subpar medical options, but now, life will be dramatically extended for those who already have all the benefits.
Next, imagine the benefits of living longer, further exacerbating the distance between the haves and the have-nots. It doesn’t take Warren Buffet to explain that the longer you invest, the more money you make. This anti-aging drug will be an investment in your long-term investments if you are initially rich enough to pay for the wonder drug. If not, you will be even further away from financial opportunities. Next, consider if the drug is only available to Saudi Arabia, who flipped the bill for the research, or countries that are willing to accept Saudi Arabia’s horrific humanitarian injustices. The ethical problems are endless.
I would raise one further issue. As people of faith in our Triune God, is death to be avoided at all costs? There are worse things than dying. The best-case scenario is this anti-aging drug will be given widespread distribution. Unfortunately, availability creates other unintended consequences, including an explosion of over-population on our finite planet. This earth is one stop in our faith journey. We have “a new heaven and a new earth” to experience after death. Living and suffering in expanded old age is often a curse rather than a blessing. When we embrace faith to include trust in life after death, we can avoid the terrible consequences of anti-aging drugs.
