Thank you Marina for a well-researched and hype-free article about this topic. Personally I find it ironic that in a nation where 86% of people are fat and 40% are clinically obese, life extension should be such a hot topic. As even the most rudimentary self-care is clearly beyond the vast majority of people, life extension would simply mean a slightly slower waddle towards the grave, more illnesses, and even more insane levels of healthcare spending. As for me, I regard death as a merciful way of avoiding having to watch people do the same stupid things over and over and over and over and over again, never learning anything whatsoever from experience. I can think of few things worse than being made to extend my brief moment of existence. Perhaps most people imagine they want to live longer for the same reason they imagine they want their magic pixie to build a happy-hunting-ground-in-the-sky: they fail to live fully when given the chance and (wrongly) imagine that a second chance would somehow be different. It would not be: the same people would do the same things, only for longer. If you never truly live, you'll never be ready for death. Conversely if you do take hold of life and live it to the fullest possible extent, you'll be more than ready for the final curtain, whenever it comes.