[ExI] 08-healthy disability-Longevity Dividend OPED

[Morris Johnson]

08-Disability and Health

 "Health Canada and the FDA  argue that  aging is not a disease but a
natural, unstoppable, inevitable process ; I would argue the middle ground,
that aging is a progressive  disability worthy of more than palliation".   "Oh
dad you are one sick puppy…everybody  before 1900  who ever  claimed there
was a cure for aging has one thing in common, they are dead.  Putting  humpty
dumpty together won't cure aging"   Well kids, for over a decade I have been
mentored by members of The *World Transhumanist Association* ,  an
international nonprofit membership organization which advocates the ethical
use of technology to expand human capacities (
http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/index/ ) .  They support the
development of and access to new technologies that enable everyone to enjoy
*better minds, better bodies* and *better lives*. In other words, they want
people to be *better than well.  From what I have learned I think there is
good reason to be optimistic about the future.
http://www.wfs.org/MArch-April08/WF2008_preliminary.pdf*

 Every technology designed to make life indistinguishable from normal for
the disabled can now  be adapted to enhance the abilities of the able
bodied.  For example scientists pushing themselves harder to be smarter are
now  major consumers of ritalan a drug popularized for hyperactive kids.

Raymond Kurzweil (  http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1  )views the
body as a complex software program coded as DNA..  It's the millions of
feedback loops from all the subroutines that make us what we are as much as
the source code.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2006/07/07/heinbaugh.blind.reader.affl
,  http://www.knfbreader.com/  document the dividend digital technology is
now able to provide to disabled persons.

 Savants show what magic a mind can accomplish. The true potential of a
human mind is breaking new ground. (
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/05/07/miraculous.memory/index.html
).

Breaking  the communications barrier for autistic brains will bring
happiness and purpose to imprisoned personalities.  USA Lawmakers  may 07,
2008 introduced legislation designed to speed the development of new, safer
therapies for brain and nervous system disorders and injuries, which affect
an estimated 100 million Americans and costs an estimated $1.3 trillion
annually to treat.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=legislation-introduced-to    According
to http://www.Chronicdiseaseimpact.com<http://www.chronicdiseaseimpact.com/>forward
planning to eliminate future disability can have a significant
payback.  The difference in 2050 USA GDP for eliminating disability at all
ages is projected to be 5.668 Trillion (17.6% of 2050 GDP)

 Disabled persons at this stage of technology might resemble movie cyborgs
because the mechanical/electronic devices are clunky; but they do work.

Raymond Kurzweil's "universal language translator" software  and

( http://www.physorg.com/news130152277.html )  a baseball cap wired to allow
EEG to control household electronics devices  (
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/matsuoka)

 ,  for physically disabled individuals, for home care for the elderly,
medical monitoring, and exercise training are disjoint technologies that are
breaking new ground.     Oscar Pisorius (
http://womensbioethics.blogspot.com/2008/05/bionic-athletes-stepping-out-of-debate.html
)  made able bodied athletes feel disadvantaged,  like he did before his new
legs.  (http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080504/ ).

 Biomarkers may soon predict disabling diseases like alzheimers before even
the sufferer is aware of it.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20783/?nlid=1079&a=f

One may think of disability as a critical catastrophic fault supported by
long creeping degenerative processes.
http://www.gsexperience.com/gseblog.html  and
http://www.gsexperience.com/archive/index.html  describe a potential
mechanism for systemic diseases (spalting)  which may develop in humans who
survive well beyond what we consider old and pose monumental new health
challenges.

 Feb 21, 1963 John F. Kennedy said "It is not enough for a great nation to
have added new years to life.  Our objective must also be to add new life to
those years".   To put myself at risk of being partisan , we need to repeat
the pledge to "put a man on the moon before the end of the decade" in the
form of a new pledge " to end physical and mental disability for the average
global citizen before 2025".   Governments around the world must put
pro-life ahead of pro-death and lead by consorting with technologists and
futurists and  not by the permission of uninformed pollsters.  The old adage
"garbage in , garbage out" is no laughing matter.

 Harrison Ford at the end of Indiana Jones saga  says "A prize greater than
a city of Gold is knowledge"

As we prevent disability we enhance the wisdom of  old age to become a true
asset.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/health/research/20brai.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/health/research/20brai.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
.
You may send your feedback attention "Pharmer Mo" at
extropian.pharmer at gmail.com
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