I suspect you might be reading a little bit too much into people's skepticism about anti aging research.
Sure, death and aging are hard topics.
But not having any more data about what funding bodies have to say, I would go for the sad and simpler explanation : all proposed "cure for aging" in the history of mandkind have turned out to be ineffective (either disappointing or scams)
(Whereas "cure for fatal disease" have kind of a track record.)
This, I believe, will end the day we have a tech that's "promising enough", but "enough" will be hard to reach.
I don't find it unfair to have a higher bar to clear for "elixir of youth" than for "covid-19 vaccine".
I would agree with you on the cause of skepticism, for one caveat - there is no substantial public funding whatsoever when it comes to anti-aging research.
This shows that people are more content with ignoring the horror of death than actually trying to fix it.
It's one thing to not fund an organization you've never heard of, that is making claims you're unsure of. It's another thing to not even try to solve a pressing problem with public funding and/or initiatives.
Clearly, people find death problematic, given the lengths we go to avoid it when it comes within striking distance. We moved the world to deal with the imminent threat of COVID. But when death is not near us, we tend not to think about it at all - we actively avoid thinking about it, even.
I think future historians will find this general shortsighted behavior quite interesting - how can a species that so profoundly fears death collectively ignore the issue of aging so as to not even dedicate a noticeable fraction of money, time, and effort into solving aging?
In all likelihood, the first products of the longevity research will not "cure aging", but reset the internal clock of the body slightly back. For example, five years.
That would still be a major boost to health of said individual.
Most of such improvements will probably be invisible. If they manage to reduce skin age, too, they will wallow in money.
Your last line made me wonder if there is any serious R&D in the cosmetics industry (or if all money goes to hiring better-looking celebrities to advertise products that do the same nothing as they have done in the past - which sounds like a much saner business plan than "actually trying to fix aging").
Sure, death and aging are hard topics.
But not having any more data about what funding bodies have to say, I would go for the sad and simpler explanation : all proposed "cure for aging" in the history of mandkind have turned out to be ineffective (either disappointing or scams)
(Whereas "cure for fatal disease" have kind of a track record.)
This, I believe, will end the day we have a tech that's "promising enough", but "enough" will be hard to reach.
I don't find it unfair to have a higher bar to clear for "elixir of youth" than for "covid-19 vaccine".