Bostrom’s “The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant” is a story of two opposing sides. Those who believe death should be fought and those who believe death is a natural part of life. In the dragon-tyrant there is a kingdom that is plagues by a dragon with a horrendous appetite for humans. Every evening the dragon demands a sacrifice of thousands of people Most of those sacrificed were the elderly, it was believed that they should be sacrificed first because they had at least been given the chance to live a life. In the years past many tried to defeat the dragon with no success, the people had come to accept that they would eventually become the dragon’s nightly meal. Vast sums of the kingdom’s economy were devoted to the dragon in one way or another.
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People have come to expect aging and death as a fact of life but if instead people looked at it as an unnecessary evil then it could be stopped. Senescence has the potential to be stopped if instead of fighting smaller battles as the king did with the tigers and the rattlesnakes people instead focused on how to end and reverse aging. Bostrom does not necessarily believe in increasing people’s life span but instead increasing their health span. Through “The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant” brings to light how we as humans are hindering ourselves from finding a cure for ageing. Whether it be though our own personal beliefs about ageing and death or belief that it can’t be stopped. Bostrom also believes that we fail to realize how urgent the need is to stop ageing. Our lack of urgency leads to the death of millions of people every year. The sooner we take this issues seriously and make genuine steps towards ending senescence the sooner we can bring an end to unnecessary aging and …show more content…
Perhaps my beliefs came from my religious upbringing or perhaps they stemmed from my own understanding of how life works. However, I have found my thoughts on the matter have changed in some aspects. We have been given great intelligence and understanding about how things work and have used these to make the world into a place that thousands of years ago no one would have ever thought possible. The thought that we can use our intelligence to create technological advances to increase human’s health span and life is in my belief the next step. Those who do not agree are doing nothing more than hindering the progress that scientists could be making. If society as a whole prioritized this type of research it would do tremendous amounts of good for society as a whole. To ignore our abilities and our technological advances simply because we believe that death should be expected would be a moral
People have come to expect aging and death as a fact of life but if instead people looked at it as an unnecessary evil then it could be stopped. Senescence has the potential to be stopped if instead of fighting smaller battles as the king did with the tigers and the rattlesnakes people instead focused on how to end and reverse aging. Bostrom does not necessarily believe in increasing people’s life span but instead increasing their health span. Through “The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant” brings to light how we as humans are hindering ourselves from finding a cure for ageing. Whether it be though our own personal beliefs about ageing and death or belief that it can’t be stopped. Bostrom also believes that we fail to realize how urgent the need is to stop ageing. Our lack of urgency leads to the death of millions of people every year. The sooner we take this issues seriously and make genuine steps towards ending senescence the sooner we can bring an end to unnecessary aging and …show more content…
Perhaps my beliefs came from my religious upbringing or perhaps they stemmed from my own understanding of how life works. However, I have found my thoughts on the matter have changed in some aspects. We have been given great intelligence and understanding about how things work and have used these to make the world into a place that thousands of years ago no one would have ever thought possible. The thought that we can use our intelligence to create technological advances to increase human’s health span and life is in my belief the next step. Those who do not agree are doing nothing more than hindering the progress that scientists could be making. If society as a whole prioritized this type of research it would do tremendous amounts of good for society as a whole. To ignore our abilities and our technological advances simply because we believe that death should be expected would be a moral