Healthy older people are productive citizens longer.

Question: Does the study of aging benefit humanity?

Robert Butler: Yeah basically because if we can at the same time that we have lengthened life can reduce the onset of disease, then it is highly desirable. I mean no one well from an economic point of view of society or from a societal point of view or an individual point of view, we can't take pleasure in the advent of so many diseases and disablities with age.

So, by virtue of investing and basic research on aging, we may dramatically reduce the painful advent of all those conditions which would be a great step forward.

Robert Butler: Well, older people are often fantastic. I was just reading about Roget's Thesaurus, which was the guy he lived to something like 90 and [Inaudible] tons and tons of writers whether for the newspapers or whatever, your lives and Thesaurus is [Inaudible]. So, what I am saying is that I think there are many benefits to older people who continue to contribute, are productive, and many of them are great composers like Elliot Carter at 99, still composing music. So, there are many advantages to age for everybody, not just for themselves.   

Recorded on: Mar 17 2008