To Age or Not to Age, documentary film by Robert Kane Pappas

March 10, 2010

FILM WEBSITE | Imagine a 120-year-old living like today’s 50 year-olds. Possible? Yes, according to the scientists in Robert Kane Pappas’ new film, To Age or Not to Age. The scientists featured have found the means to postpone and possibly mitigate diseases tied to aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes. Genes that control aging, among them SIRT2/SIRT1 genes, when altered, may, as a side effect increase our lifespans.

While the film profiles the science of aging, it also addresses some of the moral, religious, practical and economic implications of increased, lifespan. Who will have access to the medicine? Who will benefit from the breakthroughs? Will the price of these compounds make this a drug for the elites?

There already exists a potentially catastrophic problem with overpopulation. What happens if we live even longer? What does that mean for societal structures, family, marriage, social security? If we can postpone aging, should we? Or are we arrogantly challenging the laws of nature? Where does evolution fit in?