The afternoon session was devoted to theological and philosophical responses to the prospect of radically extending human life. Interestingly, Allen pointed out that a belief in justice has been a powerful motivation for people to postulate an afterlife. Good people suffer in this life, but will be rewarded in the next. It was generally agreed by the panel that there was no theological objection in principle to extending human life. After all Methuselah lived 969 years according to Neuhaus.
Death is incoherent.
Death is absurd. In Judaism the primary metaphor for God is that God is Life, he explained. Yes, answered the Rabbi. Panelist include Thomas Okarma, CEO of Geron, Michael West, CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, Gregory Stock of UCLA Med School, Arthur Caplan, head of the Center for Bioethics at U Penn, and Charles Harper, executive director of the Templeton Foundation.