Do We Really Want to Live Longer?

As I read about the researchers who are looking for ways to extend our life spans and of the people egging them on, I truly wonder if we humans have not lost all reason.

In my own lifetime, the world’s population has risen from 2 billion to more than 5 billion, and demographers are projecting 10 to 12 billion total in the next 50 years--in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren.

Species are going extinct every day because we humans are polluting and crowding them to death. Can’t we oldsters graciously exit so the next generation can have its turn? Better yet, can’t researchers bend their energies to figuring out how to keep human fertility in balance with the rest of God’s creatures?

ANNE G. PHILLIPS

San Luis Obispo