Future state and normalization (Score 1)

Dr. Emanuel makes an error when he assumes he knows how he will feel at age 75. Humans are notoriously bad at predicting their emotional state at some future time or in response to some event. Even if he casts it in the hypothetical ("If I were to get multiple myeloma at age 75...") there is no guarantee that he'll have the same emotional state as the one he predicted. Furthermore, most of us have a great capacity for reframing and normalizing adverse circumstances. One may claim that life confined to a wheelchair, for example, would not be worth living; but after a period of adjustment, life in the wheelchair would become the new normal. Lastly, the transition from being vital, healthy people to dependent, non-functional, elderly doesn't usually happen as one giant step. It is an accumulation of small functional declines each of which has its own adjustment and normalization process. I don't disagree with Emanuel's conclusions about the futile pursuit of long life at all costs, though.