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Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

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Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#81
post #56

I'm not a billionaire and I'm not old, but I am so excited about anti-aging. I know Hacker News is super negative, but who doesn't want to live longer?! Of all the pain points humans experience, you'd think death lies pretty high on the list. Why are people fighting this?

Death is not the problem, the agony is.

Thanks for the response, agreed.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#82
post #56

I'm not a billionaire and I'm not old, but I am so excited about anti-aging. I know Hacker News is super negative, but who doesn't want to live longer?! Of all the pain points humans experience, you'd think death lies pretty high on the list. Why are people fighting this?

So long as increased longevity also comes with better geriatric health overall, I'm very much on board. A life worth living is not just avoiding death, it's also being able to physically and mentally function properly as well.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#83
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was a billionaire I might start early, leaving it late just seems like poor planning.

Wasn't the first act of a Pharaoh traditionally to begin construction of their tomb?

Glad to have individuals in our world we can plausibly compare to Pharaohs. That's justifiable.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sometimes talk about wanting to live forever and get weird stares. Are you joking me?? I want to hike every trail in the world. I want to climb every mountain. I want to play every video game. I want to beat the hardest raids in every expansion of WoW. I want to learn multiple langauges. I want to spend several years living in every biome. I want to learn all of the programming languages. I want to go back to schoo…

Not enough time? Perhaps, but forever is a long time. Quite possibly it's exactly our limited time that has us achieve great things. If you have all the time in the world why bother starting that business or learning that new skill today? Might as well start tomorrow ... I also find it at least a bit disturbing that WoW is so high on that list. Then again, if you have all the time in the world ...

I'm unsure if anyone who thinks "there's just not enough time" is the kind of person who would sit around because of their immortality.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#86

How come none of the wealthy has tried the trick of getting blood transfusions from young people? That seemed to have a lot of hype behind it not too long ago.

Peter Thiel is doing this.

Really? Is there a citation for this? Is it something he's continuing to do?

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#87

How come none of the wealthy has tried the trick of getting blood transfusions from young people? That seemed to have a lot of hype behind it not too long ago.

It's well-proven in mice but the quantities of blood needed are gargantuan and make a transfusion-based approach extremely difficult. The most effective mouse models have used parabiosis -- not a palatable or moral technique for humans. However, there's ongoing research to isolate and synthesize the chemical factors responsible for the effect -- which may provide a viable therapy.

(Source: my girlfriend worked in a lab studying young blood.)

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#88
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> real good by funding research Like the planet need humans to live longer???

The planet doesn't need billionaires, but there they are. Cue George Carlin.

All we know is that the planet needs plastic... etc.

All due respect to Mr Carlin, the guy was insightful and funny, but a solution he did not provide.

He made a lot of money out of pointing out what was wrong with the setup, a solution to the shithole we're in was not part of his schtick.

I love the man and will point people at his skit on 'save the whales' but nothing he's done or said changes shit.

He would be the first to admit that btw.

We're royally fucked.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#89
post #56

I'm not a billionaire and I'm not old, but I am so excited about anti-aging. I know Hacker News is super negative, but who doesn't want to live longer?! Of all the pain points humans experience, you'd think death lies pretty high on the list. Why are people fighting this?

I sometimes talk about wanting to live forever and get weird stares. Are you joking me?? I want to hike every trail in the world. I want to climb every mountain. I want to play every video game. I want to beat the hardest raids in every expansion of WoW. I want to learn multiple langauges. I want to spend several years living in every biome. I want to learn all of the programming languages. I want to go back to schoo…

Thankfully death comes along and sorts through the wants from the willing. It has a nice way of making space for a newer generation of thinkers. Old prejudices die, new thinkers arrive.

There's nothing wrong with your thinking. In my humble opinion it shows your personal desires without much concern for everyone else. I guess this is the rub I get from most people that extol the Silicon Valley dream of extending the lives*

*of those that will inevitably be able to pay for it.

Re: Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing

#90
post #56

I'm not a billionaire and I'm not old, but I am so excited about anti-aging. I know Hacker News is super negative, but who doesn't want to live longer?! Of all the pain points humans experience, you'd think death lies pretty high on the list. Why are people fighting this?

I dunno. Constraints give us meaning. They're what force us to make choices, and it's choices and opportunity costs that let us define who we are at people. If we lived forever, we wouldn't have to make any hard choices - we'd just do it all. And paradoxically, being able to do it all means that none of it means anything.

It's like playing a game with all the cheats on. Sure, they let you "win" super easily, but because it was super easy, it stops being fun.

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