Does increasing longevity have a beneficial effect on society?
Although, increasing longevity gives people more possibility in their lives, I think it will not be a beneficial effect for our society. Actually, it is likely to give us some issues in terms of labor, cost and resources.
First of all, in developed countries like Japan, there is a problem about lack of working population because the number of elderly people has been increasing for some decades. Needless to say, the problem would be more serious if people could have lived longer. Some senior citizens may be able to continue to work after retirement but many of them cannot avoid to live depending on pension but salary.
In addition, increasing the cost for social welfare is inevitable since elderly people need such support to stay healthy. When it comes to social development, the annual budget should be utilized for business investment, education and so on, in order for society as a whole.
Finally, increasing longevity fosters resource shortage in this society. It is no doubt, considering the acceleration of consuming food, energy and material due to a large number of senior citizens, natural resources are gone soon. Indeed, each one of them does not spend much resources, however, growing elderly population leads to mass consumption.
In conclusion, I think increasing longevity doesn’t bring any benefit to society. Rather, it has some disadvantages for modern and future society.