TRIBUTORs<br >rsity of Chi-<br >~，rick Cancer<br >ns Analysis，<br >Preface<br >People have been intrigued， as long as history has been recorded， by<br >the dream of extending life， and the twentieth-century person is no<br >exception. Something is different now， however. For the first time，<br >society may see those dreg. ms come true. In this century alone life<br >expectancy at birth in the United States has increased by twenty-<br >four years. Techniques no~xon the horizon will not only continue to<br >eliminate premature death from accident and disease， but will po-<br >tentially change the length of the normal， full life span. Drugs， ge-<br >netic interventions， and life-style changes may， within the lifetimes<br >of some people living today， add twenty， thirty， or forty years to the<br >life span. Although these interventions are in a very early stage of<br >research and development， and most specialists in the field believe<br >that significant clinical applications are still many years away， one<br >drug already on the market for other purposes was found in prelimi-<br >nary laboratory tests to increase the life span of mice by 25 percent.<br >Millions of dollars of government funds are directed to research on<br >the mechanisms of aging. Private pharmaceutical companies and re-<br >search centers are vigorously pursuing scientific breakthroughs<br >whose social impact will be phenomenal. Our notions of work and<br >leisure， the family， education， and normal health will be uprooted.<br >The Social Security Administration， as now constituted， will be un-<br >workable.<br > The existing and foreseeable technologies for increasing life ex-<br >pectancy and/or life span are numerous and problematic. Research<br >and development are currently underway on technologies to cure<br >specific diseases， replace failing organs with artificial prostheses， de-<br ><br >