Mixed views about radical life extension
Background: Recent studies on public attitudes toward life extension technologies show a mix of ambivalence toward and support for extending the human lifespan (Partridge 2009; Dragojlovic 2013; Funk et al. 2013). Attitudes toward genetic modification of organisms and technological enhancements may...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Norwegian University of Science and Technology Library
2015-05-01
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| Series: | Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1829 |
| _version_ | 1819135625346940928 |
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| author | Allen Alvarez Lumberto Mendoza Peter Danielson |
| author_facet | Allen Alvarez Lumberto Mendoza Peter Danielson |
| author_sort | Allen Alvarez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Recent studies on public attitudes toward life extension technologies show a mix of ambivalence toward and support for extending the human lifespan (Partridge 2009; Dragojlovic 2013; Funk et al. 2013). Attitudes toward genetic modification of organisms and technological enhancements may be used to categorize individuals according to political or ideological orientation such as technoprogressive or conservative (Hughes 2010) and it could be easy to assume that these categories are related to more general categorizations related to culture, e.g. between Traditional and Secular-rational values in the World Values Survey (Ingelhart & Welzel 2010). This paper discusses how attitudes toward aspects of radical life extension may be related to cultural values as revealed in an online deliberative survey among university students conducted between January 2012 to January 2013. Survey results suggest that attitudes toward radical life extension tend to be mixed among groups categorized as Traditional, Secular-rational, Survivalist, and Self-expressionist. The study explored the relation between responses of 326 university students to 5 key questions on radical life extension (RLE) and the cultural values they tend to favor as indicated by their response to 20 statements from the World Values Survey.
Design and Method: The survey consisted of 3 stages: an online pre-discussion survey, face-to-face discussion, and post-discussion survey. After completing the 5 main survey questions in stage 1, participants were presented two additional questionnaires: one on cultural attitudes using 20 statements from the 2004-2008 World Values Survey (WVS) and another on health attitudes with 12 statements from Dutta-Bergman’s 2004 study. In stage 2, participants were engaged in a face-to-face discussion in class focusing on their responses to the five key questions. After the discussion, they were invited to reconsider the choices and reasons they posted in stage 1 in the light of the face-to-face class discussion in stage 2.
Results: Responses to the five survey questions showed that there tended to be more individuals across groups who disagreed with adopting technologies that radically extend the human lifespan beyond the current limit of 120 years. Attitudes toward radical life extension did not correspond to cultural attitudes indicated by responses to the WVS questions. The proportion of agreement/disagreement to statements presented in each of the five questions varied across cultural groups and there tended to be more individuals who disagreed with radical life extension in all groups. Changes in responses after the discussion stage were not significant and most respondents maintained their prior views.
Discussion: Cultural attitudes associated with familiar technologies may not correspond with attitudes toward newer technologies since beliefs and values may need to be adapted to new imagined situations that the new technologies elicit. Moral understandings associated with familiar technological habits and beliefs are not necessarily carried over to new technologies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T10:22:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e1075543719347cfa32f0b8563ecb3cc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1890-3991 1890-4009 |
| language | Danish |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T10:22:03Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | Norwegian University of Science and Technology Library |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e1075543719347cfa32f0b8563ecb3cc2022-12-21T18:29:36ZdanNorwegian University of Science and Technology LibraryEtikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics1890-39911890-40092015-05-019110.5324/eip.v9i1.18291656Mixed views about radical life extensionAllen Alvarez0Lumberto Mendoza1Peter Danielson2Program for Applied Ethics, Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Philosophy UP Diliman Quezon CityW. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics School of Population & Public Health Univ of Brit. ColumbiaBackground: Recent studies on public attitudes toward life extension technologies show a mix of ambivalence toward and support for extending the human lifespan (Partridge 2009; Dragojlovic 2013; Funk et al. 2013). Attitudes toward genetic modification of organisms and technological enhancements may be used to categorize individuals according to political or ideological orientation such as technoprogressive or conservative (Hughes 2010) and it could be easy to assume that these categories are related to more general categorizations related to culture, e.g. between Traditional and Secular-rational values in the World Values Survey (Ingelhart & Welzel 2010). This paper discusses how attitudes toward aspects of radical life extension may be related to cultural values as revealed in an online deliberative survey among university students conducted between January 2012 to January 2013. Survey results suggest that attitudes toward radical life extension tend to be mixed among groups categorized as Traditional, Secular-rational, Survivalist, and Self-expressionist. The study explored the relation between responses of 326 university students to 5 key questions on radical life extension (RLE) and the cultural values they tend to favor as indicated by their response to 20 statements from the World Values Survey. Design and Method: The survey consisted of 3 stages: an online pre-discussion survey, face-to-face discussion, and post-discussion survey. After completing the 5 main survey questions in stage 1, participants were presented two additional questionnaires: one on cultural attitudes using 20 statements from the 2004-2008 World Values Survey (WVS) and another on health attitudes with 12 statements from Dutta-Bergman’s 2004 study. In stage 2, participants were engaged in a face-to-face discussion in class focusing on their responses to the five key questions. After the discussion, they were invited to reconsider the choices and reasons they posted in stage 1 in the light of the face-to-face class discussion in stage 2. Results: Responses to the five survey questions showed that there tended to be more individuals across groups who disagreed with adopting technologies that radically extend the human lifespan beyond the current limit of 120 years. Attitudes toward radical life extension did not correspond to cultural attitudes indicated by responses to the WVS questions. The proportion of agreement/disagreement to statements presented in each of the five questions varied across cultural groups and there tended to be more individuals who disagreed with radical life extension in all groups. Changes in responses after the discussion stage were not significant and most respondents maintained their prior views. Discussion: Cultural attitudes associated with familiar technologies may not correspond with attitudes toward newer technologies since beliefs and values may need to be adapted to new imagined situations that the new technologies elicit. Moral understandings associated with familiar technological habits and beliefs are not necessarily carried over to new technologies.https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1829Radical life extension ethicsonline deliberative surveycultural values |
| spellingShingle | Allen Alvarez Lumberto Mendoza Peter Danielson Mixed views about radical life extension Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics Radical life extension ethics online deliberative survey cultural values |
| title | Mixed views about radical life extension |
| title_full | Mixed views about radical life extension |
| title_fullStr | Mixed views about radical life extension |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mixed views about radical life extension |
| title_short | Mixed views about radical life extension |
| title_sort | mixed views about radical life extension |
| topic | Radical life extension ethics online deliberative survey cultural values |
| url | https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1829 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT allenalvarez mixedviewsaboutradicallifeextension AT lumbertomendoza mixedviewsaboutradicallifeextension AT peterdanielson mixedviewsaboutradicallifeextension |