The Ethics of Biological Longevity

What if we were to cease the symptoms of aging, reverse the aging process all together, and reach a kind of immortality? There are many that offer speculation as to the path to that end; some adhere strictly to biological solutions: by understanding more thoroughly how cellular structures respond and react to gene/enzyme manipulation and encoding, aging might be considered simply as another disease with a cure. Some point toward nano/non-biological solutions; small robots programmed to root out the source of aging and reprogram cells to respond accordingly; or perhaps, uploading the self into a virtual system which could keep "life" contained within a system that self-corrects-- that all it would need are minor hardware fixes (which it could also self-correct). Or we could develop an increasingly more intelligent artificial entity that could solve all of our aging problems for us, perform the necessary procedures, eliminate needless threats to longevity (climate change, war, vicious habits, etc), and allow us to live on in harmony until the end of time. Regardless of the approach, the end is what I'm concerned mostly about. Assuming we can reach such a point, where it is no longer about when death will come, but what to do now that death is no longer the norm.

Perhaps the value of life itself would stabilize; since everyone ought to have the same or similar ability to extend life, the choices we make come down to methodology. Perhaps, however, life would become so much more valuable, since the loss of life would be that much more tragic. In a world where everyone has the chance to live as long as they please, tragic death would seem all the more devastating.

Suppose we do end up reaching this end. Who is entitled to the extension of life? Will it cost money? Will it be contingent upon who has what resources to expend to obtain "immortality?" Will religions fade away, or surge back into global consciousness? Would we have to consider branching out into space to account for the population explosion that would inevitably come? Could we extend longevity, as such, to other forms of life? There are so many questions that arise when considering such a profound potential, it is difficult to fully understand the implications.