It is true that aging as such is not considered a disease. However, many of its side effects also occur as symptoms of illness, which means that the concept of anti-aging medicine rightly claims that the prevention or reduction of age-related health problems is a medical task. Nevertheless, many bioethicists are of the opinion that anti-aging medical measures should be regarded as enhancement at the latest when they are no longer aimed at a healthy realization of the "natural" life expectancy, but at its considerable expansion. Some scientists even hope that biotechnological processes could slow down the human aging process to such an extent that a lifespan of several centuries is conceivable, or that within the next few decades the aging process could even be brought to a complete halt. 

Scenarios of a considerable extension of human life span are on the one hand a challenge for such theories of a happy life, which regard the finite nature of human life as a decisive prerequisite for its success. Even if many people would accept the offer of a significant extension of their lifetime without much hesitation, it is questionable whether a longer life is always a more fulfilling one. Furthermore, scenarios of radical life extension raise concerns about equality, as discussed in relation to many enhancement procedures (cf. Section III.3 on the ethical problems in the main text of this Blickpunkt). It would be an especially extreme manifestation of inequity if, in the future, very expensive biotechnological processes were to help a privileged upper class extend their life span by several decades. The following monograph covers the entire range of philosophical considerations on the possibility of extended life spans: