Coping with Methuselah
Coping with Methuselah
Lu’Ciana S. Knight
Eng./215
Date February 26, 2013
Tracy A. Boothe
Coping with Methuselah
Methuselah was a patriarch of the Bible who was said to have lived for 969 years. In the essay “Coping with Methuselah” they discuss the possibility of manipulating the genetics that shape living beings. Also, with the declining rate of human mortality year after year we will soon see humans living well in to a century or more. With this rise in life span also comes a rise in healthcare, pension eligibility age and social security and Medicare cost. If it is possible for the molecular biology to be made to lengthen a human’s lifespan, at what cost will we pay to attain such a non-God given gift.
Henry J. Aaron is the Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. He has also written many books and articles on aging economics. This creation of this essay is shared with William B. Schwartz, who is a professor of medicine at UCLA. Together these two men have edited this essay from which this information was taken from.
It was said that in 1953 there were two scientists, which were able to identify the double helix that it comprised of four nucleotides that are entwined in the code of all human life. A nucleotide is component of RNA and DNA. Also in 2001 two scientific teams where able to produce human genome draft. This introduced to medical professionals a therapeutic era that make the slowing of human aging possible. It has been said that scientist believed that human life spans have a natural limit. All things whether human or in human have a life span and eventually the parts will wear and give out. No one is able to decipher if a humans genetic make up plays a role in their life expectancy so how will it be possible to work with a persons DNA to prolong it? In was found by August Wiseman, who is a 19th century scientist that cells stop reproducing once they have divided a certain number of times. So again I say who can say that this will be
Lu’Ciana S. Knight
Eng./215
Date February 26, 2013
Tracy A. Boothe
Coping with Methuselah
Methuselah was a patriarch of the Bible who was said to have lived for 969 years. In the essay “Coping with Methuselah” they discuss the possibility of manipulating the genetics that shape living beings. Also, with the declining rate of human mortality year after year we will soon see humans living well in to a century or more. With this rise in life span also comes a rise in healthcare, pension eligibility age and social security and Medicare cost. If it is possible for the molecular biology to be made to lengthen a human’s lifespan, at what cost will we pay to attain such a non-God given gift.
Henry J. Aaron is the Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. He has also written many books and articles on aging economics. This creation of this essay is shared with William B. Schwartz, who is a professor of medicine at UCLA. Together these two men have edited this essay from which this information was taken from.
It was said that in 1953 there were two scientists, which were able to identify the double helix that it comprised of four nucleotides that are entwined in the code of all human life. A nucleotide is component of RNA and DNA. Also in 2001 two scientific teams where able to produce human genome draft. This introduced to medical professionals a therapeutic era that make the slowing of human aging possible. It has been said that scientist believed that human life spans have a natural limit. All things whether human or in human have a life span and eventually the parts will wear and give out. No one is able to decipher if a humans genetic make up plays a role in their life expectancy so how will it be possible to work with a persons DNA to prolong it? In was found by August Wiseman, who is a 19th century scientist that cells stop reproducing once they have divided a certain number of times. So again I say who can say that this will be
References: Henry, J. A., & William, B. S. (2003). Coping with methuselah. The Brookings Review, 21(4), 36-39. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/195571477?accountid=35812 Webster’s New Dictionary, Copyright 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., 407 Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.