The Future of Gerontology in a public culture reshaped by Biological Reductionism

1
The Future of Gerontologyin a public culture
reshaped by Biological Reductionism
Andrea G. Drusini University of Padova, Italy
EuMag Malta, June 2005
2
Research Projects on Ageing Physical Anthropology
Unit, University of Padua (Italy)

• THE ANCHYSES Project 1996 2001 A
  Multidisciplinary Research on Ageing EXCELSA
  1996 2001 Cross European Longitudinal Study
  on Ageing
• Adelaide, Australia 1999 Migration and ageing
• Nasca, Perù 2003 Biocultural determinants of
  ageing

3
Anchyses was the father of Aeneas, the mythical
ancestor of the Veneti, a population that arrived
on the Adriatic sea together with the Trojans
some 2000 years ago, peopling the vast territory
of North-East Italy that Romans named X regio
Venetia et Histria
The Anchyses Project
A Multidisciplinary Research on AgingAndrea G.
Drusini, M.D.,Ph.D. University of Padua, Italy
Aeneas carrying the old father Anchyses (Vatican
Rooms, Rome)
Anchyses is also an emblem of old age wisdom.The
roman poet Virgil ( Aen. I, 242-252) wrote that
Trojan King Antenor, a Veneti chief, was the
founder of the city of Padua
4
THE HUMAN COMPLEXITY Edgar Morin, 1973
REDUCTIONISM dividing up, separating, breaking
down
THE REAL WORLD complexity, globality, planetarian
Our Universities educate all over the world too
many specialists in specific, artificially
circumscribed disciplines, while most social
activities, like the same development of science,
requires men with a wide perspective, capable at
the same time to deeply focusing the problems,
looking at a new progress beyond the historical
boundaries of disciplines (A. Lichnerowitz)
5
THE AGEING PROCESS
Aywhere something lives, there is, open in some
place, a register in which time is
inscribed (Henri Bergson, 1859-1941)
6
THE ATOMIZED APPROACH IS UNPRODUCTIVE
In the most common and probably the most
important phenomena of life, the constituent
parts are so interdependent that they lose their
character, their meaning, and indeed their very
existence, when dissected from the functional
whole. In order to deal with problems of
organized complexity, it is therefore essential
to investigate situations in which several
interrelated systems function in an integrated
manner (René Dubos, 1965)
7
CRITICS OF REDUCTIONISM "Extreme analytical
reductionism is a failure because it cannot give
proper weight to the interaction of components of
a complex system. An isolated component almost
invariably has characteristics that are different
from those of the same component when it is part
of its ensemble, and does not reveal, when
isolated, its contribution to the interactions"
Ernst Mayr Mayr E., 1982a, The Growth of
Biological thought. Diversity, Evolution, and
Inheritance. The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Mass., London,
England, p. 61.
8
THE HOLY GRAIL OF BIOLOGY
Over the course of the past decade billions of
dollars have been invested in the Holy Grail of
Biology the mapping of the human genome (M.
Lock, 2003)
DNA
9
THE HOLY GRAIL OF BIOLOGY

• Knowledgeable commentators suggest that human
  genome maps are equivalent to having a list of
  parts for a Boeing 747, but with no idea as to
  how they go together and no knowledge of the
  principles of aeronautics

DNA
?

10
DNA
The Human Genome Mistery
Neuroscientist Alberto Oliverio stated that the
human genome map is equivalent to have a map of
the Adriatic coast, but with no idea of where
cities and villages are located
11
S.J. Olshansky, B.A. Carnes,2001 THE QUEST FOR
IMMORTALITY
In 1990, biodemographers Olshansky, Carnes, and
Cassel published a review in Science entitled "In
Search of Methuselah Estimating the Upper Limits
to Human Longevity" (Science, 250634-640). In
the article they argued that, despite the
astounding increase in life expectancy during the
20th century (increasing, in the United States,
from a mean age of 45 at the beginning of the
century to 78 at its end), it was doubtful that
we would witness an increase in longevity to ages
older than 85 during the foreseeable future.
12
AGEING AS A MULTIFACTORIAL PHENOMENON
As all natural phenomena which are under the
effects of uncertainty and disorder, the ageing
process is greatly unforeseeable
ENTROPY OF AGEING
13
THE THERMODYNAMICS LAWS
THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS You can't create
or destroy energy THE SECOND LAW OF
THERMODYNAMICS Energy spontaneously tends to flow
only from being concentrated in one place to
becoming diffused or dispersed and spread out
ENTROPY IS THE MEASURE OF THE DISORDER OF A SYSTEM
14
ENTROPY
Entropy is no mystery or complicated idea
Entropy is merely the way to measure the energy
that disperses or spreads out in a process (as a
function of temperature) Also, entropy is the
uncertainty associated with the nature of a
situation
15
A very conservative view of what can be done
about aging

• Considering the "entropy in the life table, it
  would be far more difficult to increase life
  expectancy by curing illnesses in elderly persons
  than it had been to nudge life expectancy upward
  by reducing infant mortality
• Any increase above the age of 85 would require
  biomedical breakthroughs in our ability to affect
  the basic processes of aging itself and not just
  in our ability to treat diseases

16
THE BIODEMOGRAPHERS PESSIMISM
The biodemographers pessimism, while
controversial, provided a much-needed shot of
realism in a field in which some researchers were
seriously predicting that life expectancy would
soon rise above 100
17
UTOPIAS OF HEALTH
Plato and Aristote
It was common in premodern utopias of health
associate healty minds and correct behavior
with the health not only of individual bodies but
with the collective of society One of the best
known examples is that of Platos Republic, where
he argued that social justice would come about
naturally if individuals conducted themselves
correctly and virtue was lauded as salubrious
(M.Lock, 2003)
18
UTOPIA NO PLACE
Thomas More coined the term utopia in 1516, for
which the original Greek meaning of No place is
usually conveniently forgotten In Mores book,
Utopia, a calm and regular functioning of the
body is considered one of the greatest pleasures
in life In order for his ideal society to thrive,
however, More argued for the necessity of
practicing active euthanasia
Thomas More (1478-1535)
19
Samuel Butlers 1872 Erewhon an anagram for
nowhere was perhaps the last example of the
grand escapist tradition Erewhon was set in New
Zealand, the exotic Other
UTOPIA NO PLACE ISLAND
THE REAL WORLD
Mores utopia, like so many similar premodern
fantasies, was located on an island, a space
removed from the real world
20
Nowhere Man - The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)
Hes a real nowhere man Sitting in his nowhere
land Making all his nowhere
plans for nobody
Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
In the Butlers mind, mans moral nature is not
adequate to rule machines, for the society would
be unavoidably made corrupt by the materialism of
a technologically dominated society
Writing at the same time as Herbert Spencer and
later Charles Darwin, Butler was accused by his
contemporaries of being opposed to the advances
of science
21
and thats the same today!
ANY CRITICS TO REDUCTIONISM IS CONSIDERED AN
ATTACK AGAINST SCIENCE AND A BACK TO MIDDLE AGES
22
DANGEROUS DIAGNOSTICS
In most developed countries, the obsession of
the absolute health became a prevalent
pathogenic factor in a world prostrated at the
feet of the instrumental ideal of technological
science, the medical system creates every day new
care needs. Everybody claims the progress must
eliminate all diseases, extending the life span
to infinity maintaining the freshness of youth
no more ageing, no more pain, no more death.
23
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY GAZETTE November 16, 2000
THE REDUCTIONISTS LAST DISCOVERY
Ageing as a disease
24
Cato Maior de Senectute Marcus Tullius Cicero
Senectus ipsa morbus est
25
Cato Maior de Senectute Marcus Tullius Cicero
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Senectus ipsa morbus est
If ageing is just a disease in se, how can we
distinguish the unhealty elderly from the healty
one? (E. Durkheim, 1895)
26
A telomere is a region on the very tip of
chromosomes. They are composed of a repeating
series of six nucleotides (TTAGGG). A typical
human telomere may have more than 15000 such
repeats in it. Their relevance to the ageing
process is being investigated. (Source Medina,
1997, p. 276, with permission of the Editor)
27
The Extraordinary deeds of Caenorhabditis elegans
NEMATODA (ROUNDWORMS)
Caenorhabditis elegans is a small (about 1 mm
long) soil nematode found in temperate regions,
used worldwide for genetic ageing experiments
28
THE BIONIC DROSOPHILA
Catalase and superoxide dismutase are two enzymes
that destroy ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species). If
these enzymes are inserted into embryonic fruit
flies, their life span was extended 33 when
compared to controls.
29
ROS TWISTER

• Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are
• molecules like hydrogen peroxide
• ions like the hypochlorite ion
• radicals like the hydroxyl radical it is the
  most reactive of them all
• the superoxide anion which is both ion and
  radical.
• A radical (also called a "free radical") is a
  clusters of atoms one of which contains an
  unpaired electron in its outermost shell of
  electrons.
• This is an extremely unstable configuration, and
  radicals quickly react with other molecules or
  radicals to achieve the stable configuration of 4
  pairs of electrons in their outermost shell (one
  pair for hydrogen).

30
HEALTY ICONS
Mitochondrion
Biologists estimate that our cells undergo every
day some 10.000 potential sources of damage
FREE RADICALS Free radicals are simply the
by-product of millions of chemical reactions that
everyday happen in our organism eliminating all
the free radicals means eliminating the life
itself
31
THE FREE RADICALS WAR
The proposal of a massive use of vitamins and
other anti- free-radical products to reduce
cellular damage remembers the debate about the
Star Wars the mathematical demonstration of a
lucid madness based on a perfect protection
system of the world through nuclear weapons
32
DON QUIJOTE SANCHO PANZA UTOPIA
DISENCHANTMENT
Scientist today should be a sort of di
compromise between utopia and disenchantment.
Utopia gives sense to life, because it demands
life to have a meaning Don Quijote is great
because he insists on believing, against any
evidence, that the barbers basin is the
Mambrinos helmet, and that crude Aldonza is the
enchanting Dulcinea. But Don Quijote, alone,
would be sad and dangerous, like utopia when it
coerces reality changing the dream with reality
(Claudio Magris)
33
Don Quijote y Sancho Panza Between Illusion and
Reality
Don Quijote needs Sancho Panza, who sees that
the Mambrinos helmet is the barbers basin and
perceives the Aldonzas muck smell, but
understanding that world should be neither
complete, nor true without looking at that magic
helmet and that shining beauty. Like Don Quijote
and Sancho Panza, Utopia and Disenchantment must
support and correct each other
34
An increasing technological level is always
counterbalanced by a decreasing cultural level
Ageing as a bio-cultural process The word
culture comes from the Latin colere, which means
to cultivate  These concepts of culture and
cultivation are indeed European Technology
culture healthy ageing
35
The elderly are living today in a new milieu
..intermediary between nature and man
... the technological world
36
BIOTECH UTOPIA cui prodest?
37
Old age is completely subjective
Technique pretends subjects to be uniform,
interchangeable, not creative (as the transplants
industry)
38
Science is measuring Galileo Galilei
PPlatos measures of man  -    métron  is the
measure we get approaching the object from the
outside -  métrion  represents what is
 suitable , fitting, with regards to the inner
status of any living being
39
as Nietzsche said, being human is the real
illness
40
DOXA survey on the principal causes of physical
decay and death in elderly (Italy, 1996)

• 1. spouse/husband death
• 2. abandonment by sons
• 3. isolation
• 4. disease
• 5. economic necessities

41
The elderly in the age of technique
In his work Prometheus, Aeschylus describes the
two gifts the Titan gave to mankind the oblivion
of the hour of death thanks to Hope, which
cannot see, acting as a medicine and fire,
which represents technique
42
AGEING IN A TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD

• The three questions on the table
• Did reductionist techniques improve the quality
  of life of elderly people?
• It Is it true that the  faith in the future  -
  that is the utopian research of biotechnologies
  holds back the solution of some major problems
  such as ageing, handicap and malaise?
• What shall gerontologists do in order to correct
  this direction toward a science and technique
  profitable to everybody?

43
BIOMEDICINE AS JANUS BIFRONS
44
BIOMEDICINE AS JANUS BIFRONS
STATISTICS RESULTS Decreased infant
mortality Increased life expectancy Disappearance
of many infectious diseases Revolutionary
scientific discoveries More effective therapies
ANTROPOLOGICAL INQUIRY How are you? ANSWER
? Fear of future Increasing needs Increasing
expectation for medical care Increasing distress,
depression, suicide
45
Ageing and the conquests of modern medicine

• According to the data by Jay Olshansky1 if we
  consider the two major causes of death cancer
  and heart disease we shall notice how
• ? could cancer be defeated overnight, then the
  average age of the population would only increase
  by 2 years
•   ? by eliminating all heart disease the same
  would increase only by 3-4 years2
• 1 Olshansky S.J., Carnes B.A., 2001, Prospects
  for human longevity. Science 291 1491-1492.
• 2 Olshansky S.J., 1998, On the Biodemography of
  Aging A Review Essay. Population and Development
  Review 24(2) 381-393.

46
WORLD RECORDS 10.000 m MEN
AGEING ACHIEVING A RECORD

• First under 31 min 3058.8 Jean Bouin FRA
• 1911
• First under 30 min 2952.6 Taisto Mäki FIN 1939
• First under 29 min 2854.2 Emil Zátopek TCH 1954
  
• First under 28 min 2739.4 Ron Clarke AUS 1965
• First under 27 min 2658.38 Yobes Ondieki KEN
  1993

47
World Records 10.000 m men linear regression
with proiections calculated on real times from
1911 to 1993 (r 0.90)
48
MEDICINE MAY BE REDUCING THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO
SURVIVE C.N. Stephan, M. Henneberg Medical
Hypotheses (2001) 57(5), 633-637
It appears that limited natural selection is
taking place in populations of developed
countries, since most individuals survive and
have the full opportunities to reproduce. This
paper adresses contemporary natural selection in
a developed country (Australia) using the
biological state index. This has two apparent
consequences. First, the fitness of individuals
will decrease, since less favourable genes can
accumulate in the population, and secondly,
disease processes will remain fit as they adapt
to the selective pressures exerted by medicine.
49
THE EXTENDING LIFE PROGRAMME
Biologists have loose control on the biological
condition and biocracy..
..and biomedicine witnesses the transition from
the physical body to the fiscal body
The technical progress has overtaken the ethical
progress
50
A NEW FETISH THE HUMAN LIFE
Biomedicine ceased to look at the suffering of a
sick person the object of its care became
something called a human life (i.e to save a
life)
This ambiguous fetish emerging from the
scientific speech runs the risk to overshadow the
(legal!) concept of person
51
TOWARDS A NEW POLICY FOR AGEING
The inventors of new values are born far from
markets and from glory " (F. Nietzsche)
52
CHIRON
Chiron the Centaur, the inventor of medicine,
wounded by Heracles with a poisoned arrow,
embodies the image of the " wounded healer ",
hinting to the pain intrinsic in human nature,
linking doctor and patient well beyond their
roles (G. Gadamer) This is to say that not only
is the patient himself a doctor, but that any
doctor is himself a patient
53
THE FASCINATION OF UTOPIA
We only act under the fascination of the
impossibility that is, a society wich is
incapable of generating an utopia and to devote
itself to it, is under the threat of sclerosis
and ruin. Wisdom, which is never fascinating,
recommends the given, existing happiness man
refuses it, and this refusal alone makes him an
historical animal, I mean, an imaginary
happinesss lover (Emil Cioran, The History of
Utopia)
54
Ebisu, God of Fortune. Ceramic, height cm 15,
Bardis Collection, XIX Century (Museum of
Anthropology, University of Padova, Italy)
You need sixty years of life to know your soul
then, you will stay young forever (Chinese old
saying)