Convenor: Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy and Center for Ethics of Science and Technology,
Chulalongkorn University
Humans are undoubtedly living longer. Advances in biomedical technologies have made it the case that longer life span will be reality. In the near future we will see more and more people having lived for more than a century. This situation naturally gives rise to many perplexing questions. First of all is the age-old question of value: What exactly is the value of living a longer life? What kind of life is worth living? Furthermore, there are a large number of corollary questions. What about pensions and retirement? What about family structure? Developing countries like Thailand are facing the same problem that has been experienced by developed ones; their population is getting older. What are the best ways to care for the aging population? In Thailand and other developing cultures, there has been an emphasis on children and grandchildren taking care of their aging parents and grandparents, but as there are more and more 'grandparents' will this special cultural trait be threatened? What should we do? These are only some of the questions that are pertinent to this panel.
Papers exploring any of these topics related to aging, death and the longer life span are welcome to the panel. They can come from a variety of disciplines. Please send your paper proposals (no more than 2,500 words) to Dr. Soraj Hongladarom, Convenor of the Panel. The deadline for submitting the paper abstracts or proposals is 30 November 2006.