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Many scientists today are working to retard
the aging process in humans so as to increase both life
expectancy and the quality of life. Over the past decade
impressive results have been achieved in targeting the mechamisms
and pathways of aging. In The Quest for Human Longevity,
Lewis D. Solomon considers these scientific studies by exploring
the principal biomedical and anti-aging techniques. The
book also considers cutting edge research on mental enhancements
and assesses the scientific doubts of skeptics.
The Quest for Human Longevity is
also about business. Solomon examines eight corporations
pursuing various age-related interventions, profiling their
scientific founders and top executives, and examining personnel,
intellectual property, and financing for each firm. Academic
scientists form the link between research and commerce.
Solomon notes that the involvement of university scientists
and researchers follows one of two models. The first is
a traditional model in which scientists leave academia to
work for a corporation or remain in academia and obtain
business support for their research. The second is a modern
model in which scientists use their intellectual property
as a catalyst for acquiring equity interests in the firms
they organize. Critics have pointed to the dangers of commercialized
science, but Solomon's analysis, on balance, finds that
the benefits outweigh the costs and that problems of secrecy
and conflicts of interest can be addressed.
If scientists succeed in unblocking the
secrets of aging and developing drugs or therapies that
will allow us to live decades longer, the consequences for
society will include profound social, political, economic,
and ethical questions. Solomon deals with the public policy
aspects of significant life extension and looks at the conflict
between those who advocate the acceptance of mortality and
the partisans of life. The Quest for Human Longevity
will be of interest to policymakers, sociologists, scientists,
and students of business, as well as general readers interested
in these compelling issues.
Lewis D. Solomon is Theodore Rinehart
Professor of Business Law at George Washington University
Law School. A prolific author on legal, business, public
policy, and religious topics, he has written over fifty
books and numerous articles. He is an ordained rabbi and
interfaith minister.
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