"The Fountain Of Youth" Is Not A "Where," But A "What.."

The chemical equation that causes human ageing might have been solved. Video from Russia Today via Godlike Productions.

On the surface, this is amazing news. Skulachev has found the antioxidant that will change History. Imagine a future where people barely(if at all) age, and people easily live to be 150 years old! The overall health of the world skyrockets to previous levels of health, and society can move on to other planetary problems. Awesome, but.. Seven billion people living 150 plus years consuming resources the way we do now? Not so much.

During the 20th century, population control has been addressed in think tanks, books, and UN subcommittees. Family planning and reproductive health clinics were available in the U.S. from the 1960's, and many countries enacted some pretty stringent laws and programs, but far too few(programs) to have any noticeable effect in the overall direction of world population. And people are living much longer, so world population has exploded in the last 50 years to the tune of almost four billion people. There were more people born since 1960 than were living in 1959. Think on that a moment..

If this new antioxidant is indeed the Real Deal, then debate on Population Control will have to follow. Hopefully, with advances like this in societal health, the planet-wide debate can take place publicly, and without the negative connotations that allowed us to reach where we are right now. Please note the difference between immediate Population Control (Which I find to be sinister, to say the least), and long term, planned Population Control, aimed more at zero population growth, gradually reducing resource usage to acceptable, sustainable levels. Population Control for the future without the buzzkill of aggressive Eugenics is called Proper Planetary Planning.