‘Beat dementia’: the ethical risks of a triumphalist slogan

In her book on Alzheimer’s disease, the anthropologist Margaret Lock writes that ‘no amount of preventive measures’ can truly prevent dementia: ‘nor can dementia be ‘wiped out’ as though it is an infectious disease—aging and dementia cannot be disentangled; all we can strive for is to find ways to stave off or halt the progression’ of symptoms.