Word: lifespan
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fusion of hydrogen to form helium marks the beginning of a long and stable period in the evolution of the star−a combination of adolescence and middle age that constitutes 99% of the lifespan of a sun-size star. During this period, the tremendous energy radiating from the star's center neutralizes its gravitational force, and the great glowing orb shrinks no further. But as it must to all stars, death eventually comes. How long a star lives depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive a star is, the shorter its life is. Stars with a mass...
Speculation about the far-out possibilities of science have always raised fascinating social implications. The new feeling is that so many of the obstables to what once was science fiction are now merely technical problems that will be solved in time. The everyday hygenics that have advanced the average lifespan 30 years in the last century pale beside the new methods of postponing death. Surgeons make daily use of ceramic and metal bones, synthetic arteries and electronic blood pressure regulators and bladder stimulators. Miraculous innovations that quickly have become almost commonplace suggest the great issudes medical ethics will be confronted...
...Obviously there is little point in waiting for a young woman to die of exhaustion from a spreading cancer if you hope to freeze and revive her after means of curing cancer have been developed which will allow her to live out her full lifespan. The best chance of success would come from preserving her while she is still in good general health. But would a patient be committing suicide by deliberately entering a frozen state while well? Or would a doctor be committing murder by processing her under these conditions? There would be no way to know in advance...
...awful immortals, the struld-brugs? Would conflict between generations supersede hostility between classes and races? How could insurance and pension plans continue payments for decades longer? Will aging control become as vital an issue as birth control? In short, the changes resulting from a drastic extension of the lifespan, or even from a series of life-extending bonuses, may eventually exceed those brought about by splitting the atom or man's voyages to the moon...