Science and imagery in the ‘war on old age’.
Paper present to RC-11, World Congress of Sociology, Durban 30th July 2006.
John A. Vincent
Department of Sociology, Amory Building, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4RU
United Kingdom. JVincent@exeter.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper is a preliminary presentation of research in progress. This research builds on
papers published in Sociology and in Vincent, Phillipson and Downs Futures of Old Agei.
These papers are concerned with contemporary changes in the social construction of old
age. The ‘biologisation’ of old age raises the prospect of the scientific understanding and
the technical manipulation of ageing processes. This has spawned a number of
controversies in the bio-gerontological community. One is the desire to distinguish
genuine science of ageing from quack or bogus claims to reverse ageing and extend life
formulated in quasi scientific or medical styles. Another is the plausibility and emphasis
to be given to programmes to massively extend the human life span. These controversies
provide the opportunity to observe the ways in which science of old age influences and is
influenced by wider cultural phenomena and plays a critical part in the social devaluation
of the final part of life.
The research has involved the textual study of the scientific output of bio-gerontology in
popular science and specific academic journals and publications, attendance at biogerontological conferences and events, and following and documenting the two
controversies Olshansky et al versus A4Mii and the reaction to Aubrey DeGray’s SENS
(Scientifically Engineered Negligible Senescence) programmeiii. It is proposed to extend
the research by exploration of anti-ageing practices encountered in fitness clinics, beauty
clinics and biological laboratories. The ideas presented in the paper will centre around the
language and imagery which are used to characterise ‘old age’ and which are located in
the sources currently accessed.
Several professional groups present themselves as ‘waging war’ on old age. They
construct old age as a naturalised self-evidently negative biological phenomenon, which
must be attacked and defeated. These groups differ in the weapons with which to defeat
ageing based on their differing claims to technical expertise and ability to control natural
phenomena. There are those whose direct their control of the body to the removal of the
signs of ageing, whose activities might be characterised as cosmetic. There are those
whose objective is to control fundamental intra-cellular processes where the objective is
to extend or break the limits to the human life span. There are those who equate old age
with ill-health and identify themselves as warriors in a battle with disease. Examination
of the language and symbolic practices of these groups can reveal the dynamics of the
dominant cultural devaluation of old age and older people. The most prolific use of
military metaphors comes from the first and third of these groups. The second group
disguise the contradiction of their approach to old age by use of such terms as ‘healthy
life span’ which avoids having to confront the desirability of death.
Introduction
Recent scientific interventions have achieved dramatic increases in longevity amongst
nematode worms, fruit-flies and mice. It is suggested that these experiments open the
possibility of greatly extended human longevity and such views are reflected in
popularising science. This paper examines the impact of the culture of science on the
meaning of old age. In particular it examines claims that science can stop or postpone
ageing and death, either completely or in the very long term. This examination reveals the
methods through which old age is constructed and devalued by reference to death.
‘Age’ is both a verb and a noun: it stands for both a process and also a set of categories.
Some parts of the trajectory of social and biological change over time are identified as
‘ageing’. It is understood as a sequence of stages and statuses to which specific age based
normative expectations are attached. The specific content of those processes and
categories are contested; their meanings are not fixed. The future life course may have
different life stages; new divisions in the 20C have included teenager, and ‘third ager’.
There may also, in addition or instead be a breakdown in the structure of the life course
with less definite stages or sequences. There is much useful historical gerontology that
documents changing understanding of old age and the rise of the modern dominance of
medical definitions of the phenomenon (Achenbaum 1978, Van Tassel and Stearns 1986,
Cole 1992, Lupton 2000, Thane 2000). Foucault classically illustrates shifts in the
understanding of death:
“The aged body became reduced to a state of degeneration where the meanings of
old age and the body’s deterioration seemed condemned to signify each other in
perpetuity. By recreating death as a phenomenon in life, rather than of life, medical
research on aging became separate from the earlier treatises that focuses on the
promise of longevity.” (Foucault 1973:41)
While Katz locates the discourse of senescence:
“in France in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, medical research
developed what we have called a discourse of senescence: a new organization of
associated ideas and practices that captured the aged body through three commanding
perceptions.(Katz:1996:40)
He lists these as (i) ‘the aged body as a system of signification’ - now physicians examine
bodies for indications that they mask ‘inner states of disorder’; (ii) the aged body as
having a distinct pathology requiring medical therapy; and, (iii) the aged body as dying.
He argues that in premodern society, death was a mysterious external force while the
science of the early nineteenth century reconceptualised death as an internal phenomena
of the body. I suggest that contemporary science is also engaged in reconceptualising
death and old age. Hayflick observes that it is impossible to die of old age in America
today because it has been removed as on the 130 definitions – categories acceptable to
put on a death certificate.
Cultural categories are established through boundaries - contrasts which mark semantic
space. Meanings cannot be established in isolation, categories are part of meaningful
systems which interlock. To understand old age it is necessary to know its boundaries,
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how to recognise it, and thus the markers which indicate the boundaries between what is
old age and what is not. If we examine the language and the communications of those
involved in this world we can see how the meanings they create are achieved, what kinds
of distinctions are important, what are the key categories used, what components of the
concepts used to explain and understand old age (c.f. Doyle 1997). The debates examined
are in essence about defining the boundaries of the subject, who can count as a bone fides
scientist of old age, who can claim knowledge about old age and on what basis and with
what consequences. Thus the basic frame of the paper is to look at old age as a cultural
category and to look at science as a form of culture to see how that culture constructs
what is means to be old.
Katz usefully reminds us that such debates have long histories:
“Thom’s investigations destroyed the idea that an individual could conserve vital
powers and extend life beyond the normal range of statistical and medical
expectations. In so doing, he contributed to a medical fixing of the human lifespan
proposed in other institutions, such as life insurance and pension and retirement
programs. Premodern writers had assumed that a person could live to about 200 years
given the right physical, moral, and environmental conditions. One can hardly
question that a lifespan of 80 or 90 years, implied by Thoms, is obviously more
realistic than one of 200 years. However, Thom’s work had a more important impact:
it signalled the conceptual shift from the human lifespan as a miraculous possibility
to a clinical, biological certainty.” (Katz 1996:45)
Thus the meaning of old are is established in communication in concrete situations, using
linguistic and cultural resources on which the communicants can mutually draw. This
approach can be used to examine the field of bio-gerontology and examine from the point
of view of its participants what is the nature of old age and what is so bad about it.
Military metaphors are particularly useful because they explicitly or implicitly identify an
enemy.
What is “anti-ageing medicine” and what is it against?
If we examine the debates, controversies of anti-ageing science, we can identify contested
boundaries. As a starting point we can draw on the participants for an initial definition of
the field:
“Anti-aging interventions – a wide variety of ambitions and measures to slow,
arrest, and reverse phenomena associated with aging…” (Post and Binstock 2004:1)
“this paper regard anti-aging medicine as a social movement…Anti-aging’s core
mission [is to] to herald and operationalize aging itself as treatable…” (Mykytyn
2006:644)
“Like it or not, "anti-aging" now has a number of quite different common meanings
and connotations. Each is championed by a particular group or loose coalition of
interests, …

For the scientific community, anti-aging research refers exclusively to
slowing, preventing, or reversing the aging process…

In the medical and more reputable business community, anti-aging
medicine means early detection, prevention, and reversal of age-related
diseases…
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
The wider business community - including a great many fraudulent and
frivolous ventures - views "anti-aging" as a valuable brand and a
demonstrated way to increase sales. … Broadly, and very charitably, we
can look at these varied definitions of anti-aging as meaning "to look and
feel younger in some way" - which has no bearing on how long you live or
how healthy you actually are.”
http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/what_is_anti-aging.cfm
Types of anti-ageing science
Several professional groups present themselves as ‘waging war’ on old age. They
construct old age as a naturalised self-evidently negative biological phenomenon, which
must be attacked and defeated. These groups differ in the weapons with which to defeat
ageing based on their differing claims to technical expertise and ability to control natural
phenomena. They can be classified into four groups:
1. There are those whose direct their control of the body to the removal of the signs of
ageing, whose activities might be characterised as symptom alleviation.
2. There are those who equate old age with ill-health and identify themselves as warriors
in a battle with disease.
3. There are those whose objective is to control fundamental intra-cellular processes
where the objective is to extend or break the limits to the human life span.
4. There are also people whose explicit aim is to achieve immortality.
Thus we can construct a set of sub-categories of anti-ageing science.
Symptom alleviation - Cosmetic

Cosmetic – powder and paint, anti-wrinkle cream to disguise the signs of ageing

Prophylactic – exercise, diet or dietary supplements and life style programmes
intended to stave off the onset of physical ageing and its signs

Compensatory – human growth hormone, viagra, HRT, designed to re-invigorate
failing functions to a youthful standard.
Curative – Medical

Regenerative medicine, for example stems cell therapy, transplant surgery, to reestablish failing organs

Clinical interventions, particularly drug therapies, for specific diseases of old age
such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, (as opposed to palliative therapies).

Medical therapies based on diet, exercise designed to restore failing abilities.
Preventative – Biological

Epidemiological research – survey of centenarians and other long lived people to
establish what is special about them; for example, their characteristic genes or
their distinctive functioning. The objective being to use the science to generalize
the knowledge to extend the particular causes of longevity to the rest of the
population or to develop therapies using the knowledge.
4

Evolutionary modeling – Application of scientific understanding of survival and
reproduction strategies to the issue of human longevity; including how
evolutionary processes are manifest in the genome; for example disposable soma
theory and critics. The thrust of this research is finding and bypassing
evolutionary limits to the life span.

Science of cell processes and in particular cell senescence - the basic biological
processes of cell metabolism, cell functioning, cell reproduction – how cells live
die and reproduce. This knowledge has expanded rapidly and is fuelled by
research money and effort related to particular diseases particularly cancer where
aberrant cell function is crucial. This science is tightly linked to understanding the
genetic basis for ageing. It looks at the transformation of complex molecules
through the cell cycle. – seeking modifications and therapies for pathological cell
processes. This science is closely link to the fourth sub-type, both of which have
been responsible to creating experimentally greatly extended life spans in model
species.

Genomic science – scientific work to map gene sequencing and identify genetic
processes and products. New large scale laboratory processes are used to conduct
experimental work identify specific alleles / mutations and their effects. The
volume of data is now so great that a new science of Systems Biology attempts to
collate and integrate these experimental results – modeling complex gene protein
cell process using advanced computational and mathematical skills. There is no
single gene or set of genes for ageing, but the science hold out the prospect of
gene therapies / genetic modification to slow, halt or reverse ageing processes.
Elimination – Immortalists

Commercial products and technical devices – The Cryogenics corporation offer to
keep your body frozen until science has progressed sufficiently to revive you and
keep you alive, a Californian service offers to clone your pet as thus through the
mechanism of an identical replacement offer a form of immortality.

Scientific programmes for biological immortality - there are a number of
Biologists / theoreticians who have presented detailed programmes of scientific
research to achieve immortality. The include work by Shostak (2002) and the
most widely publicised – Aubrey De Gray and his programme for SENS
(Scientifically Engineered Negligible Senescence).
The fourfold classification of anti-ageing science used here does not represent a set of
groups with hard boundaries but a continuum. We can take the example of the ageing
brain by way of illustration. There are anti-ageing commercial entrepreneurs selling their
dubious brain exercise CDs who clearly fall into the cosmetic category. But they make
their sales pitch by appealing to well founded research which shows mental stimulation
reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. There is serious medical and bio-gerontological
research into drug therapies for Alzheimer’s, and there is an important debate for
example, about Aricept (donepezil) and its effective use. This is clearly medical research.
There is linked research into brain enhancement drugs which have a preventative effect
on dementia but which also increase the mental faculties of pilots (Yesavage et al 2002),
soldiers, and can be marketed for children taking exams. In terms of biology, cell biology
5
and bio-chemistry, enhancing cell protection and repair chemistry could potentionally
sustain unimpaired functioning for longer. The immortalists on the other hand build on
the science of stem cells to foresee the possibility brain cell replacement and repair and
thus continuing undiminished mental function in extended life spans. Proper and bogus
science is contested across all four categories.
Language and Imagery
When communicating about old age both in bio-gerontology and in more popular
discourse metaphors of the body are employed. These metaphors are frequently of the
body as a machine. Further the body is further objectified and distanced by thinking of it
as a battlefield.
Mechanical metaphors can be seen as an essential part of the medical approach to the
body whose roots lie in the enlightenment and the development of modern science. The
French philosopher Rousseau wrote of the body in the following manner: “I see nothing
in any animal but an ingenious machine, to which nature hath given senses to wind itself
up, and to guard itself, to a certain degree, against anything that might tend to disorder or
destroy it. I perceive exactly the same things in the human machine, with this difference,
that in the operations of the brute, nature is the sole agent, whereas man has some share
in his own operations,” (Rousseau 1755). Lupton (1994:62) suggests that “Since the
industrial revolution, the mechanical metaphor has been frequently used in discourses on
the body.” The steam engine is one such metaphor:
Living forces had been considered as standing apart from the rest of nature. Vital
force, or vitality, had been thought of as something distinct in itself; and that there
was any measurable relation between the powers of the living organism and the
forces of heat and chemical affinity was of course unthinkable before the formulation
of the doctrine of the correlation of forces. But as soon as that doctrine was
understood it began to appear at once that, to a certain extent at least, the living body
might be compared to a machine whose function is simply to convert one kind of
energy into another. A steam engine is fed with fuel. In that fuel is a store of energy
deposited there perhaps centuries ago... The engine then takes the energy thus
liberated, and as a result of its peculiar mechanism converts it into the motion of its
great fly-wheel. With this notion clearly in mind the question forces itself to the front
whether the same facts are not true of the living animal organism. (Conn, 1903)
These mechanical metaphors reflect the technology of the time; electric metaphors;
‘recharging our batteries’, ’blowing a fuse’, clockwork metaphors; feeling ‘run down’; or
hydraulic/ plumbing, transport (cars planes), computer, metaphors.
“The mechanical metaphor includes the idea that individual pasts of the body life
parts of a car or plumbing system, may ‘fail’ or stop working, and can sometimes be
replaced. The metaphor has the effect of separating mind and body, of valorizing
medical techniques which focus upon locating a specific problem in part of the body
and treating only that part …. Hence the importance of the technological imperative
in biomedicine: the dependence upon the use of machinery to fix machinery …
(Lupton 1994:63)
The literature of bio-gerontology is full of mechanical metaphors of the body and how it
ages. For example the classis popularising texts of Alex Comfort (1979) and Tom
6
Kirkwood (1999) are replete with such images and contemporary debates at biogerontological conferences makes use of them. For example Jan Vigg (at ICFGAiv) stated
that “functional genomics is a tool box… the question is how to use it in the correct
way”. Aubrey De Gray at London Regenerative Medicine Network presentation used
“stopping the super tanker” metaphor to describe halting the ageing process; and
repeatedly uses the analogy of powered flight from the Wright Brothers to jets planes to
predict the future of anti-ageing “therapies”. He also talks about “escape velocity” to
describe the point where progress in lengthening the life span is faster than the decline in
life expectancy with age. Across the whole field of bio-gerontology but particularly in
anti-ageing publicity material there are many images of clocks, and hour glasses to stand
for time and reversing to overcome ageing, one specific example being the use of these
images in the Alcor promotional DVD.
Lupton discuss the military metaphor and its use in medical discourse to good effect.
“The language of warfare is extremely common in modern medical and public
health discourses … The immune system for example, is commonly described as
mounting a ‘deference’ or ;siege’ against the ‘invasion’ of ;alien’ bodies or tumours
which are ‘fought’, ’attacked’ or ‘killed’ by white blood cells, drugs or surgical
procedures…
In such texts, bacteria are anthropomorphized into wily aggressors, deliberately
changing themselves to elude detection and attack from their human foes…
Scientists… used colourful metaphors of war to describe their efforts; language that
perhaps gives their endeavours legitimacy and a sense of great importance, position
them as the ‘generals’ in the battle against disease.”
“Stein (1990), as a medical anthropologist working in an American hospital,
engaged in participant observation of physicians treating their patients. … Doctors
working in the hospital repeatedly described themselves as being ‘on the front line’,
in need of a ‘getting aggressive’ with patients and using ‘shotgun therapy’ or ‘magic
bullets’/ The commonly described working in the emergency room as being ‘in the
trenches’. (Lupton 1994:67)
War metaphors.
“Aging is not inevitable! The war on aging has begun!” Slogan of the American Academy
of Anti-aging medicine. Within the field of anti-ageing medicine, the relationship of the
people who are ageing (i.e. all of us) to old age is constructed as antagonistic through the
metaphor of war, and the practitioners of anti-ageing medicine as soldiers/warriors and
their techniques imaged as weapons. I will examine in turn examples from each of the
four types of anti-ageing science identified above - symptom alleviation (cosmetic),
medical, biological, and immortalist. Then attempt to draw some general conclusions.
Cosmetic
Examples of war metaphors within cosmetic approaches to ageing are many and various.
Examples from my field notes include their use in advertising material by the cosmetic
firm Dove and prominence in literature promoting the A4M and many others. I suggest
that these metaphors are particularly characteristic of public pronouncements by this
group. References to a “war on ageing” seem to be used most frequently by commercial
anti-ageing institutions selling products or treatments.
7
Waging a War Against Aging
The Latest in Anti-Aging Techniques
By Teri Brown
Ask any number of women how they feel about aging, and chances are you will
receive some very passionate replies. It seems to be a topic most abhor, yet many
obsess over. Traci Draper, 33, of Springtown, Calif., is no exception.
"I am fighting it all the way," says Draper, laughing. "I don't believe I’d ever
undergo surgical treatments, so I am fighting it now while I still have a chance. I
exercise, drink lots of water and lather lotion on my face every morning and night
… no matter what!"
Although Peg Cochran of Grand Rapids, Mich., believes that aging is inevitable, she
still combats aging the best ways she can: through exercising, reading and
moisturizing.
9/8/2005
Frank Rummel Report From Trenches Of War On Aging
To Help Win the War on Aging
Apply Line-Ease Serum Concentrate to expression lines and wrinkles am/pm
Nourish your skin's barrier with a lipid-rich moisture creams am/pm
Using the 'twin-finger' method, apply a UVA/UVB SPF 15 or higher sunscreen
every day..
Avoid facial cleansers that leave your skin feeling tight
Dont' smoke. Chemicals in tobacco smoke harm every cell in your body -including your skin..
Limit sugar, alcohol and caffeine
Sleeping Peel
The latest weapon in the war against aging, this amino acid antioxidant
exfoliant literally levels your fine lines (in less than a week), while
simultaneously lightening dark spots from sun damage. Use daily under
moisturizer to slow your complexion's clock.
Moisturise, moisturise
A wrinkled skin is the price you pay for forgetting your before-bed moisturiser - and
that means men too. While you sleep skin turnover speeds up so last thing at night is
the ideal time for applying moisturiser as it's absorbed by the skin at a faster rate.
Look for creams containing the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E which will help in
the war against free radicals, unstable molecules that can wreak havoc with skin
cells. http://www.saga.co.uk/health_news/article/C580ACFE-D082-11D6-B8B100508BAEC55C.asp?bhcp=1
8
Anti-Ageing
Don't give in to ageing skin without a fight! These treatments have been
specifically developed to give you the best chance in the war against fine lines and
wrinkles, skin discolouration and loss of skin tone.Try a treatment moisturiser or
serum to encourage cell turnover and to keep skin fresh and younger-looking.
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http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/health-products.asp
Medical
In medical discourse on anti-ageing there are examples of researchers and practioners
using military metaphors including, including for example, heart specialists attending
ICFGA, (Gridelli, Ruiz-Cabezas). Introducing his presentation on the use of stem cell
technology to repair damaged hearts a Sicilian surgeon asked “What is the real
emergency for society” which both clinicians and scientists are trying to solve. His
answer is “end state organ failure”. He is a transplant surgeon. This scene setting for his
presentation carries the implication that role of medicine and science is to ‘defeat’ [solve
the problem of] death. But in my notes on imagery from ICFGA, military images are
largely absent. I suggest this is because the participants had a self definition of
themselves as scientists at a knowledge exchange gathering and not engaging in
polemical or ethical debates. Such metaphors are more common in popular science
journals life Nature, or Scientific American, than in the professional journals like Cell.
Examples from popular science include “Is a fountain of youth in your future? By
elucidating the factors that drive the aging process, researchers are hoping one day to
postpone the ravages of age – and perhaps prolong life.” v; “The quest to beat aging” vi.
Biological
The physiology of the aging cell has been a source of great interest for decades, with
numbers of scientists internationally devoted to cell senescence and other bio-chemical
processes. The many biologists concerned with ageing mechanisms with the cell such as
Martin, Campisi, Longo, Stanbrook, Guarente, use a variety of metaphors to explain and
characterise cells and cell processes. A common strategy is to anthropomorphise them –
talk about ‘cells deciding’ or bio-chemists can talk about a “very intelligent molecule”.
Other images are available - stem cell therapists talk about their ‘live’ products as like
‘chemicals’ or ‘drugs’. Frequent references to classical (Greek and Roman) themes –
Prometheus came up several times at ICFGA. – indicate a desire to locate themselves in a
particular intellectual and educational tradition. “Klotho” gene is referred to as the
“killing gene”vii. “Wouldn’t it be great if they could live healthy as they live longer” was
the aspiration of Nir Barzilai at ICFGA who discussed this gene. With some exceptions, I
9
found few references to military metaphors in conferences and professional journals.
There was lots of talk about damage and repair – although these are not strictly military
metaphors – they do image conflict carry connotations of what ‘ought’ and ‘ought not’ be
happening in a cell. Therefore such discourse does contain a normative evaluation that
ageing is ‘bad’.
Immortalists
There are biologists who propose routes to immortality, these include De Gray, Shostak,
Magalhaes. These people frequently use military metaphors.
“I want to conquer aging because aging is and will be the major cause of suffering
and death among the ones I love. I want to end aging to safeguard the future because
I want to choose my future instead of being ruled by this hostile force. I want to cure
aging because otherwise I will die. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I know I will not
quit since to quit is to die.” Magalhaes
De Grey at the London Regenerative Medicine Network talks of “The War on Ageing – a
real war” (not like 1971?) and speaks of doing “serious damage to ageing soon”. The
quote “Conquering the blight of involuntary death…” Life Extension Conference
publicity Nov 5. 2005.
Ammunition in the war on ageing.
10
In: The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans (B.J. Klein et al.,
eds.), Libros en Red, 2004, in press.
After the war on aging: speculations on some future chapters in the never-ending
story of human life extension Aubrey D.N.J. de Grey
Q: You've gotten quite a bit of attention lately for predicting that we will have the
science within our lifetimes to extend human life spans to possibly thousands of years.
Could you explain your point of view?
A: It comes in three parts. Within ten years, with proper funding-about $100 million a
year-I think we can develop a panel of seven types of "rejuvenation therapies," three
of which I just mentioned, that will at least treble the remaining lifespan of already
middle-aged mice.
That will initiate a genuine "war on aging" which will attract many billions per year,
which will, I think, translate such technology to humans by 2030, allowing middleaged humans to live to about 130 on average.
That, in turn, will let such people survive-in good health, mind-long enough to benefit
from the second-generation rejuvenation therapies that may be needed to combat
subtler aging components that we haven't yet discovered, so they will live even longer,
so they'll get third-generation therapies, etc.
That "bootstrapping" cycle means that people will live several hundred years because
they will only die of accidents and such like. If they get more risk-averse as a result,
as I predict, this will rise to thousands of years.
Aging is an enemy. It saps our strength and ability to enjoy life, cripples us, and
eventually kills us. Tens of millions die from age-related conditions each and every
year. Comparatively few people know that degenerative aging can be modestly slowed
with diet and lifestyle choices, as is the case for many medical conditions.
Comparatively few people are aware of serious scientific efforts, presently underway,
aimed at understanding and intervening in the aging process - in order to one day
reverse its effects.
One day, scientists will find a way to defeat aging. We would like this breakthrough to
happen while we are still alive and in good health to benefit from it.
http://www.longevitymeme.org/start_on_healthy_life_extension.cfm
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Defeating death solves old age
“I'm afraid to die. No, that's an understatement. I'm terrified about it. The impossibility
to conceive the nothingness that happens after death is so dreadful. Death is infinite
suffering, an everlasting prison. As far as I can tell, my death is the end of the world.
I'm atheist, which means I don't have religion to give me hope--and doesn't hope
derive from a fear to face reality? I'm my own God, showing, perhaps, a certain
egocentricity but also leaving no hope of salvation except at my own bare hands.”
Assuming you live that long, your future is forgetting your children names, becoming
sexually inactive, going five times a night to the bathroom, and having as main
activity getting bored in hospital waiting rooms--assuming you're not in pain. My
future is a future of unknown paths; my future might be to die tomorrow in a car
accident or it might involve a holiday in Mars by the year 3000. I want to be a part of
the future and not just a road to it. .” Magahlaes
12
Immortalists, frequently, often implicitly, have a fixed view of the age at wish they wish
to live the rest of their lives. They see their biological ageing as halting at 13 or 25 or 32
or some other specific chronological age. It could well be argued that this s a middle aged
person’s perspective. Older people can look back at transitions and research tends to
suggest they adapt to bodily change (Oberg 2003). Children tend to not to have
developed an understanding of the passing of time, they don’t have an understanding that
they themselves will become old. Immortalist also lack a positive vision of themselves
progressing to further life stages which comes with maturity, experience and adjustment.
They discount the social process of ageing and do not seem to have understanding that
society and social relationships do not stand still – with immortality how will a marriage
develop over a thousand years, and will raising children become a fleeting transient
relationship?
Interpretation
What is the nature of this foe we are to fight in the war on ageing? Can we make peace
with it? We can classify the different meanings to old age and reference them against the
enemy in the war, and weapons and strategies used in the conflict. These are set out in
Table 1. In diagramme 2 the same data is indicatively set out along two dimensions. The
first of these dimensions is the time span by which the technique or intervention will
extend the human life span. From limited time preservation of age as appearance on one
end, to indefinite extension envisioned by the immortalists on the other. The second
dimension is that of scientific credentials. The claims of the participants as to the
scientific nature of their interventions are of course highly contested. However, if we use
a rough rule of thumb based in academic position and publication in peer reviewed
journals we can locate people on one end employed by commercial companies in
marketing positions with no medical or biological certification who write only publicity
material, to on the other end scientists with established laboratory positions in major
Universities with substantial publication records in leading peer reviewed journals. This
diagramme serves the useful function of illustrating that main stream science in the sense
of rigorous hypothesis testing, experimental model of knowledge creation can be applied
to the complete spectrum of anti-ageing activity from cosmetic to infinite longevity.
War images are more prevalent on the left side of the diagramme. They are part of the
rhetoric of people which is address to a non specialist audience from the perspective of
limited credibility (non-main stream science). ‘Hard’ scientists are not immune from it,
but need in their exchanges with each other, rather more specific language and metaphor.
For example, ‘senescence’ is a term which has moved into the bio-gerontological lexicon
and is now a specialist term and essential is to their vocabulary of cell processes. The war
images tend to used by those being excluded - those who are struggling to get inside the
respectable science networks and who are most frequently addressing themselves to non
specialist, non-scientific audiences.
Dramatic images using military metaphors are useful for fund raising and publicity, less
so for gaining recognition within the established academic and medical worlds. One
leading London biologist summerised cosmetic and immortalist anti-ageing practitioners
who he wished to exclude from science as “quacks and loonies.” The cosmetic charlatans
can readily be excluded from main-stream science as quacks, less easily excluded are
science based cosmetics – e.g. cosmetic surgery. Immortalists are excluded as lunacy, for
13
putting forward fantasies that are beyond current abilities of science. However, it is also
more difficult to exclude those who are researching within main stream biology
laboratories and greatly extending the live spans of model species.
How the does the main stream academic bio-gerontology legitimate its activities. What
values and symbols to they appeal to? Main stream bio-gerontological science does not
proclaim loudly its ability to extended human longevity by longer and longer periods.
Rather it makes a continual appeal to what is referred to as the ‘health span’. These
scientists present themselves as studying fundamental biological processes in order to
improve the health of old people – they ignore, dismiss ideas that their objectives to are
extended the life span although they readily concede this may be a consequence of their
research. Under the cover of this concept of ‘health span’ the mainstream can exclude
“quacks and loonies” because the trivial cosmetics and dubious value of immortality are
not primarily concerned with disease. The use of this rhetorical device can be illustrated
with reference to interviews with scientists conducted at the ICFGA
A: “If we can age in better health not as old old but healthy old age – J: and then one day
die?- A: Yes (embarrassed laugh).
B: “Not so much to prolong ageing but to reduce societal costs and pain.”
C: “if we can ease the ageing process, why not? The aim is to ease suffering not
necessarily to prolong life”
D: “caloric restriction prevents cancer and could really improve the quality of life. Maybe
it will also extend the life span to 150 years but that is not the driving force.”
This ‘health span’ concept is the dominant mode of explanation but it is not without its
problems. For example, much of the epidemiological research suggests life style factors
are significant in health extension, with factors such as diet, exercise, avoidance of stress,
and mental activity being relevant. This leave space for ‘anti-ageing medicine’ which
take similar forms to ‘new age’ life style gurus marketing ‘alternative’ therapies but
which can refer to science based studies of lifestyle influences on longevity. However,
the use of the concept cannot entirely avoid the moral and social dilemmas which arise
from a fundamental change in the human life span.
Conclusion
The most prolific use of military metaphors comes from the Cosmetic and Immortalist
categories of anti-ageing science when appealing to non establishment audiences. On the
other hand the Medical, and particularly, the Biological type disguise the contradiction of
their approach to old age by use of such terms as ‘healthy life span’ which avoids having
to confront the desirability of death.
The rhetoric of a ‘war on ageing’ positions the practitioners of anti-ageing medicine on
the moral high ground as valiant warriors against a terrible fate, and insofar as a claim to
scientific status can be successfully sustained, it means that their failures are because
insufficient money and resources have been devoted to the battle. Because culturally
scientific knowledge is understood as inevitably progressive and represents true
knowledge it is seen as infallible in its potential control of bodily mechanisms.
Importantly this rhetoric positions older people as the defeated.
14
However, as old age becomes increasingly ‘biologised’ it is in fact, in parallel to
biological understanding of ageing, becoming fragmented and loosing coherence as a
concept. There are many biological stories of ageing, and more are being produced, there is not a single story of the biology of human ageing. Biology could tell a variety of
stories about old age and death and not all are necessarily negative. The good old age
could be constructed as a positive final stage in life concluded by a healthy death. It
might also be constructed as the death defying capabilities of an enhanced/super human/
cyborg (c.f. Haraway 1991).
15
Table 1: Typology of anti-ageing science
Type
Length of Battle against (The enemy)
life
extension
Symptom
Now
Wrinkles, skin tone, obesity,
alleviation
fatigue, loss of sex drive, hair
(Cosmetic)
loss / colour.
Loss of Self-esteem, socially
acceptable body image, inner
balance,
spirituality,
the
pressures of modern life
Curative
A
few Diseases and their symptoms:
(Medical)
years
Cancer, heart disease /
circulatory
disorders,
respiratory
disease;
autoimmune disease, arthritis;
osteoporosis, dementias –
Alzheimer’s
Specific genetic disorders progeria.
Techniques
armory)
(Weapons, Desirable
outcomes
(Victory)
Snake oil,
Looking good,
Creams
feeling good, Surgery
meaning looking
Drugs hormone replacement, young,
feeling
Growth hormone,
young.
Exercise, fitness, life style
changes to smoking, diet.
Research
–
drugs
and Cures
(or
therapies.
possibly
the
Clinical practice, technical elimination
of
innovation and improvements disease)
e.g. heart surgery, transplants,
stem cells
Application
of
science
(genome
research)
to
treatment, cure, or prevention
of specific (genetic) conditions.
Preventative A number Senescence,
Manipulation of genome and Extending
the
(Biological) of years
Declining efficiency of cellular protein cascades to prevent or health
[life?]
reproduction and integrity.
repair senescence. Or research span
into
prophylactic
dietary
supplements
Eradication For ever
Death, bodily ‘failure’
Science based regenerative Slowing,
(Futurist)
techniques to systematically stopping
or
renew or replace failing organs reversal of the
and processes
(single?) ageing
process
Who
involved
Dove,
and
others
is
A4M
many
Many
–
example
of
heart
specialists
attending
ICFGA,
Gridelli, RuizCabezas
Martin,
Campisi,
Longo,
Stanbrook
Guarente, etc.
De
Gray,
Shostak,
Magalhaes
16
No life
extension
Hypoallergenic skin
creams
Low Scientific
Credentials
Hair colour
replacement
stem cell
therapy
High Scientific
Credentials
Human growth
hormone
therapy
Diet and
exercise
regimes
Stem cell
cardiac
therapies
Cryogenics
Long life
extension
17
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Huber Warner, Julie Anderson, Steven Austad, Ettore Bergamini, Dale Bredesen,
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iv
v
‘Making Methuselah’ Scientific American 1999 p. 32
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Scientific American 2000 p.8-15
vii
"Klotho" a gene named for the Greek Fate purported to spin the thread of life,
contributes to life expectancy in humans, according to a team led by Johns Hopkins
scientists who report their findings in the 15th January 2006 online version of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
20