[extropy-chat] Andrew Weil on ageing

[Robert J. Bradbury]

A copy of a note I sent to the GRG list (which also picked up
the commentary on Weil...)


On Mon, 24 Oct 2005, L. Stephen Coles, M.D., Ph.D. wrote:

> Ref.:   Andrew Weil; Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and
> Spiritual Well-Being

> >>     "I think those are very wrong ideas," he says during a recent
> >> interview at his Vail ranch, about 30 miles southeast of Tucson, AZ.
> >> "Aging is a universal natural process, and I think if you set yourself
> >> up in opposition to it, you're in a very wrong relationship with nature."
>

This entire article has attracted some rather negative commentary on the
Extropian list.  But I will simply offer my opinions.

1) "Who died and made 'nature' GOD?"  Nature doesn't exactly run around trying
   to preserve the lives of various animals.  In fact the survival of all predators
   requires the death of other animals.  So by definition people who embrace 'nature'
   are embracing 'death' (as well as pain and suffering).
2) Genomes are programs.  Nature evolves them to allow for survival and reproduction.
   (Wrapped up in that process is evolution and natural selection).  That does not
   imply that the "natural" process is the most efficient or the best process for
   increasing complexity.  I doubt anyone who understands programs and programming
   would ever argue that a sophisticated program is "complete" or cannot be improved
   upon.  Obviously the supporting the idea that aging is a "universal natural process"
   suggests one thinks it is a good process.

It sounds to me like "sour grapes" [1] to me.  Weil is getting old (he is currently 63),
his previous efforts at preventing aging/increasing longevity have failed and so the
rationalization that "aging is natural" seems the logical course.  I have seen this
before in aging researchers/gerontologists.  It seems to be a general result of the
complexity of aging and the fact that before the last decade it has been so complex
and so difficult to *really* understand and envision doing something about it.

Ultimately, I think there will be a lot of this in people aged 50-60 or older who have
not seriously taken the time to really understand neuroscience (how information
is organized in the brain), cryonics and molecular nanotechnology.  People who
fail to have a robust understanding of those areas who are facing "death's door"
do not realize there is an alternative to "death".  The result will be lots of
handwaving to rationalize death.

Robert

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes