This event may be attended in person or on zoom. When you RSVP, please indicate in the COMMENTS box whether you will be in person or online. For those who attend in person, after arriving at Tarrytown United Methodist Church, go to the Admin Building (just South of the main church) and to the 2^nd floor meeting room. Parking is available on the street and accessible parking is available in the parking garage under the building. There is an elevator just inside the parking garage entrance.

The Biology of Aging. There is the biological question of why our species has its particular life arc. Why do our capacities decline and why don’t we live longer? After all, many other species have greater longevity than we do—a certain kind of fish, the rockfish, lives up to 200 years. Tortoises live 150 years and some trees live to be 3000 years old. Of course, it is also true that many species have very short life spans.  What explains all of this?

Aging is a most democratic human condition as it does not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, geographic origin or economic status. Its main characteristics are physical and mental decline, and a shrinking future. Even so, the vast majority of people strenuously struggle to avoid the one remedy that finally ends the effects of aging.

Marshall Missner, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin/Oshkosh, where he taught philosophy for 38 years. He currently is on the faculty of University of Texas Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).