Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard
Date and Time
Time in Longevity Biotechnology: Quantifying the Good Life and Reconfiguring the Social Order
Speaker
- Oliwia Mandrela, PhD Candidate in Sociology; Research Assistant, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków.
Chair
- Sheila Jasanoff, Faculty Associate. Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies; Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy, Committee on Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
Contact
Tenzin Dadak
tdadak@hks.harvard.edu
Abstract
As longevity biotechnology advances, it promises not only to redefine the biology of aging but also to transform the normative meaning of the good life. Rather than merely extending healthy lifespan, geroscience increasingly positions longer lives and prolonged youthfulness as desirable social and political ideals. Drawing on scientific literature, legal documents, and media discourse in the United States, I examine how this emerging sociotechnical imaginary acquires legitimacy before the technologies themselves become widespread. I argue that this emerging bioconstitutional transformation operates on two interconnected levels. First, it medicalizes the good life through the temporal quantification of human life, making longevity and biomedical metrics increasingly central to human flourishing. Second, it reconfigures the social order by reshaping temporal expectations surrounding the life course, age identities, and the organization of social institutions. In this way, I argue, longevity biotechnology extends beyond technical innovation to become a site of political contestation over the good life and the desired social order.
Bio
Oliwia Mandrela is a PhD candidate in Sociology and a Research Assistant at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is currently conducting the National Science Centre Poland-funded project The Quest for Longevity: Biotechnological Revolution and Public Reason. Alongside her doctoral research, she works on the EU-funded project FAMOS, which brings together engineers, social scientists, and local stakeholders to co-create socially acceptable futures for floating islands in Europe. In addition, she contributes to teaching STS and sociology courses for MA students and helps build the local STS community through the Capturing Invisible Lab. In 2024–2025, she was a Fellow at the Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard Kennedy School. Her work has appeared in Current Sociology.