TRIBUTORs
rsity of Chi-
~，rick Cancer
ns Analysis，
Preface
People have been intrigued， as long as history has been recorded， by
the dream of extending life， and the twentieth-century person is no
exception. Something is different now， however. For the first time，
society may see those dreg. ms come true. In this century alone life
expectancy at birth in the United States has increased by twenty-
four years. Techniques no~xon the horizon will not only continue to
eliminate premature death from accident and disease， but will po-
tentially change the length of the normal， full life span. Drugs， ge-
netic interventions， and life-style changes may， within the lifetimes
of some people living today， add twenty， thirty， or forty years to the
life span. Although these interventions are in a very early stage of
research and development， and most specialists in the field believe
that significant clinical applications are still many years away， one
drug already on the market for other purposes was found in prelimi-
nary laboratory tests to increase the life span of mice by 25 percent.
Millions of dollars of government funds are directed to research on
the mechanisms of aging. Private pharmaceutical companies and re-
search centers are vigorously pursuing scientific breakthroughs
whose social impact will be phenomenal. Our notions of work and
leisure， the family， education， and normal health will be uprooted.
The Social Security Administration， as now constituted， will be un-
workable.
The existing and foreseeable technologies for increasing life ex-
pectancy and/or life span are numerous and problematic. Research
and development are currently underway on technologies to cure
specific diseases， replace failing organs with artificial prostheses， de-
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