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Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

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Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#61

Post by skarap »

saiya-jin wrote: post #33
01Michael10 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but no... We have 7 billion people on this planet already and the last thing we need is for them to be living longer. You can't fulfill your potential in 75 years? Why would that change if you had 150 years? Hopelessness in the face of death? I am 46 and that is not even in my thought process yet... We don't need drugs, technology and genetic engineering to live longer. We need less poverty (better/fairer distr…

these movements are not about everybody living much longer, only selected wealthy elite. otherwise, this cash would be dedicated to matters you mention (and I fully agree with what you write). Just look at people beyond 80 - most of them are a mere shadow of their former self in all aspects. Living till 120 just for the sake of living sounds more like a nightmare - that tells me they are terrified of death, meaning a…

> these movements are not about everybody living much longer, only selected wealthy elite

This is probably what concerns me the most. And in fact this is already reality. E.g. in my country if an average person discovers they have cancer, their chances are pretty grim in contrast with e.g. Switzerland. And there are countries which are really poor where a infection which is curable for $20 can kill people.

An interesting movie to watch on topic: In Time (2011) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637688/ . This South Park episode is also exactly on point: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1198003/ .

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#62

Post by skarap »

slfnflctd wrote: post #25
skarap wrote: post #21

Not only it is an inevitable fact of life, it (and death) is the single most important attribute of life. Especially in the case of humans aging and death limit the amount of damage one single person can do. I'm not saying it's absolutely impossible to change. Just that it shouldn't.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I completely disagree with you. I would argue that the primary reasons people fail to better fulfill their potential are lack of time, poor health and grief or hopelessness in the face of death. I also strongly believe that the epidemic of disastrous short-term thinking among us (particularly our 'leaders') is directly linked to the fact that each of us knows we're going to die all to…

The thought of an eternal life obviously raises questions about the meaning of (eternal or not) life. Nobody has the right answer to those questions. That's why I think there will always be different (but equally valid) opinions about eternal (or very long) life.

I, for one, think that immortal humans will be less like elves and more like Gollum.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#63

Post by astazangasta »

kolev wrote: post #60
astazangasta wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about the mole rat, but bats cheat by shutting down their metabolism (basically hibernating) most of the time.

Why do people try to boost their metabolism (or demise) these days then? I strongly believe that being physically lazy (i.e. not expending much energy and keeping metabolism slow), but mentally active, and walking 30-45 minutes a day is the healthiest lifestyle one could have (if they can afford it).

Because heart disease is the main killer, and obesity and poor vascular fitness resulting from inactivity are major risk factors. Plus people want a tight ass.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#64

Post by kolev »

astazangasta wrote: post #63
kolev wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people try to boost their metabolism (or demise) these days then? I strongly believe that being physically lazy (i.e. not expending much energy and keeping metabolism slow), but mentally active, and walking 30-45 minutes a day is the healthiest lifestyle one could have (if they can afford it).

Because heart disease is the main killer, and obesity and poor vascular fitness resulting from inactivity are major risk factors. Plus people want a tight ass.

I don't exercise and I'm fine although genetically I have 30% higher risk of obesity, so, just don't eat more than you have to and find pleasures in creation and discovery, in socializing, not in eating!

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#65

Post by Mz »

scotch_drinker wrote: post #45

"They live a lot longer than human beings, yet they are living in the wild, without going to the doctor or any of the perks of human society.." Followed by: "By studying these whales and other extraordinarily long-lived creatures, de Magalhaes and colleagues hope we can find new medicines that will similarly slow down the human body’s decay and delay death." Has to be one of the most ironic things I've seen lately an…

Maybe human understanding will evolve and we will start studying these things in order to better understand the lifestyle that gets them this result rather than how to make a pill to replicate some piece of the chemistry.

Great comment. Thank you for making it.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#66

Post by eli_gottlieb »

azatris wrote: post #40
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's the laws of physics, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics pushing the arrow of time forwards. Beyond that, not much is actually inevitable: people just prefer to rationalize anything awful as Inevitable because this gives them a comforting sense of metaphysics.

2nd law of thermodynamics only applies on macroscopic scale. So not really inevitable. Plus, the laws of physics are based on a set of axioms, which don't necessarily have to be true.

>Plus, the laws of physics are based on a set of axioms,

Well no. They're based on empirical observations.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#67

Post by PepeGomez »

nabla9 wrote: post #24
skarap wrote: post #21

Not only it is an inevitable fact of life, it (and death) is the single most important attribute of life. Especially in the case of humans aging and death limit the amount of damage one single person can do. I'm not saying it's absolutely impossible to change. Just that it shouldn't.

What I suspect is true but obviously can't prove: Person with completely healthy brain at age 200 would not be well functioning human being in the society. When we grow we gain experience. That experience shows as habits, perceptions, attitudes and thought trains that makes functioning in the society easy. We learn to see the world trough the past experience. All this turns from asset to liability when society where…

You know how tatoos will look ridiculous on you when you get older? That never happened because by the time it could become a concern, older peole with tatoos became common too.

For your second concern - How do you know that this loss of adaptability isn't an effect of aging?

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#68

Post by PepeGomez »

skarap wrote: post #21

Not only it is an inevitable fact of life, it (and death) is the single most important attribute of life. Especially in the case of humans aging and death limit the amount of damage one single person can do. I'm not saying it's absolutely impossible to change. Just that it shouldn't.

I don't think so, I think it greatly increases the amount of damage they do.

First, some people are willing to harm society, because the effects are so slow there is no way they could live through the consequences. It encourages short term goals over long term ones.

Second, evil people could be weeded out of society over time. There is only so much wrong one person can do before people realize what's going on. And there would be fewer inexperienced people they could abuse.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#69

Post by PepeGomez »

mikekchar wrote: post #13
wobbleblob wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could only live to be 80, but as healthy as I am now, I'd sign for it

Exercise. It's not "as healthy as I am now", but it makes a big difference. Anecdotal evidence, but my 73 year old father still rides his bike over mountains (and shot his best ever golf score last month). He does complain that he wishes he had the body of a 60 year old ;-) My wife's uncle has to be pushing 90 and still runs 2 km every day. If you just keep going, it's amazing what you can accomplish even in the late…

Or maybe they are able to do that because they didn't age as much as the average person...
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