Thanks, I skimmed those references and didn’t find anything convincing, but I’ll give it a more careful read later. I think a rigorous (doesn’t necessarily mean quantitative or in terms of utility) argument for longevity research would be very interesting to read — especially something that digs into each of those assumptions seriously.
Sometimes your post focuses on one thing and the HN discussion finds another aspect more pressing :-)
I was flippant about the arguments against longevity only because other authors (linked in the appendix) have done such a thorough job of making the case already. The goal of this piece was to help push the longevity discussion past that a bit.
Completely agree that the arguments against longevity should be taken seriously. I just happen to think they're wrong.