Anti-Aging and Human Enhancement Need Better PR
Public polling shows most Americans do not want to receive anti-aging or human enhancement treatments. Negative public perception of the treatments is likely driven by a variety of factors including negative depictions in Hollywood movies.
A study on life extension conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Center found that 56% of people surveyed would not want to live decades longer. In 2016, Pew found that 66% did not want enhanced cognitive abilities while 63% did not want enhanced physical abilities. Links to the full results of the studies are provided below.
Why this news is important
Organizations pursing life extension and enhancement therapies need to prepare the public to positively embrace coming breakthroughs. If popular opinion becomes too negative, these society altering therapies could be outlawed and driven underground. It should be a priority for organizations pursuing these breakthrough to specifically articulate how individuals and society will benefit.
Image credit and references
Image of genetically engineered character from the movie Morgan, IMDB, September 13, 2016.
Images of survey results from PewResearchCenter, September 13, 2016.
