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life extension for real?

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:00 pm
by bitWISE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4003063.stm

I had no idea this kind of stuff was so well researched. You guys think it will happen?

I don't know about it being available to my generation but I think we'll be able to do it within the next century.

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:06 pm
by werldhed
Extending lifespans has been researched for a while, particularly by manipulating DNA telomeres. I think de Grey has a different approach, but his is much more theoretical.

Personally, I don't think too much about de Grey; he's not well published if I recall.

I had a conversation with MQ about this guy and his theories a while ago... I'll see if I can dig it up again...

EDIT: Found it: http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11319

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:07 pm
by 4days
what a stupid beard.

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:09 pm
by plained
wa was it de grey?

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:37 pm
by seremtan
well, since copying errors creeping in during mitosis is a major part of ageing, it's physically possible i guess

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:41 pm
by SplishSplash
De Grey may not be all that credible, but he's the only guy who really focuses on this area.

At least he brings attention to the field.
Other scientists don't seem to care much about dying for some reason.

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:39 pm
by tnf
It won't be happening soon IMHO. But people who read the bible literally believe that people used to live to 900+ years, so maybe they were actually right...hmmm. I wouldn't be surprised to see average life spans extend to 100 years in the next 30 years or so....

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:53 pm
by feedback
I reckon coupled with that you'll also see a rising suicide rate for the sandwich generation (20-40's) as well as increased rates of child and elder abuse. Living longer is only a good thing if the people still have very high quality of life.

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:59 pm
by Pext
i've allready got the hots for regular grannys. but with this... :drool:

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:22 pm
by Underpants?
just what we need, a buncha 1,000 year old pricks driving around 20-35 mph slower than everyone else, or else holding up a line of 12 people whilest staring like pasty, drooling chimps at the automated checkout screen in the grocery.

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:23 pm
by Underpants?
...not to mention landfills overflowing with used depends and colostomy bags.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:34 am
by Massive Quasars
feedback wrote:I reckon coupled with that you'll also see a rising suicide rate for the sandwich generation (20-40's) as well as increased rates of child and elder abuse. Living longer is only a good thing if the people still have very high quality of life.
The process is somewhat self-correcting, if indefinitely long life is universally insurmountably burdensome people will off themselves prematurely to end their misery. Therefore rendering life spans something less than indefinitely long for the vast majority of individuals in this scenario.

------

"life extension for real?"

It's not here yet, so no.

Aubrey's activism is admirable, involuntary death is an obstacle to many a long-term goal. I'm not equipped to critique his theoretical work, but he's gotten some not so insignificant attention from the scientific community. His work apparently isn't outright easily dismissed, but from the scientific criticisms that will/is follow(ing) I suspect something good will come of it either way.

A $20,000 SENS challenge was organized with the aim of debunking SENS over at the MIT TechReview. As I understand it, they've yet to announce the winner(s).

http://www.technologyreview.com/sens/

These are the judges.
Rodney Brooks, PhD, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and chief technical officer of iRobot Corp. IRobot is one of the most successful makers of robots in the world.

Anita Goel, MD and PhD, founder and chief executive of Nanobiosym.

Vikram Kumar, MD, cofounder and chief executive of Dimagi, and a pathologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Nathan Myhrvold, PhD, cofounder and chief executive of Intellectual Ventures, and former chief technologist at Microsoft.

J. Craig Venter, PhD, founder of the Venter Institute. Venter developed the process called whole-genome shotgun sequencing, which sped up the human genome project.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:38 am
by MKJ
yes, we need more people :icon14:

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:44 am
by day
i'd only go for this if the words "Time Extended" flash brightly over my vision every time i reach a turning point in my life

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:04 am
by Synergy
We don't have enough room as it is.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:55 am
by I cant spell u
I wouldn't want to live to be 1,000 years old anyways.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:03 am
by Transient
I would. I think.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:20 pm
by Tormentius
I cant spell u wrote:I wouldn't want to live to be 1,000 years old anyways.
Why not?

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:22 pm
by SplishSplash
I just wish people would stop saying we have enough people and the planet is overcrowded already and stuff. Like wars couldn't take care of that.

No, the real problem with immortality is that people would stop doing things. Procrastination ad infinitum, literally.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:30 pm
by Captain
So...basically you're saying...there'd be a demand for more plumbers?

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:31 pm
by [xeno]Julios
wars actually don't serve as effective population checks.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:33 pm
by Captain
Except for the States :olo:

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:34 pm
by Grudge
Wars are effective in keeping the population in check though.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:48 pm
by Ryoki
Not these pussy wars we got nowadays. All that counter insurgency crap... shoot someone here, burn a hut there.... what ever happened to huge tank battles and mindless trench warfare?

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:51 pm
by Grudge
No, I meant controlling your own population by making them fear an external enemy a la Orwell.