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Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

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Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#101
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks so much. I don't know why news headline writers are so insistent on bullshit, when they could have taken a cue from you and said 'gene therapy increases mouse lifespans by 30%,' which would have been just as short and interesting but vastly more honest.

Not quite. The actual article title is far more correct than either the clickbait headline or your headline: "In Vivo Amelioration of Age-Associated Hallmarks of Progeria by Partial Reprogramming" ( my addition )

But that is really hard to understand for a non-specialist. Means nothing at all for me.

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think that someone who "can't find the time" to do anything interesting in an 80 year lifespan would accomplish anything with another 100+ years? The majority of the population would still be stuck slaving away for minimum wage for their entire life, regardless of the length of that life. If the key to immortality were to be found as part of a universal enlightenment that completely abolishes the conce…

Kids aren't too productive till they age. Perhaps we discover that 40 is the new 18. Or maybe there's more value to life than productivity. There must be polarity for movement. Some must have more than others. Excellence comes only from competition. You're inborn desire to find equality is beaten by natures desire for fitness. You may be less depressed when you see that a game where some win and some lose is better t…

Excellence comes only from competition.

I reject that premise as overbroad and dismissive of historical examples of artificially limited supply (eg craft guilds) or other arbitrary constraints which nevertheless resulted in high output quality, and I could point to examples of that in nature too.

You're inborn desire to find equality is beaten by natures desire for fitness

This sounds like a very individualist approach to evolution though. I think there's good reasons to consider the idea of humans as eusocial animals that can operate as individuals but are biologically driven to group up, and that groups themselves are distributed organisms capable of collective thought.

It's not that I'm against individualism, but I'm saying that there may well be selection pressures that do favor altruistic behavior, and there's certainly research documenting its persistence in the wild. Finally, it's rather odd that you talk of an 'inborn' desire but then contrast it with 'nature.' I feel you view of this topic is a little simplistic.

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only rich people will get it. (no tech has ever done this.) Virtually every tech starts that way, though. The societal upheaval of rich people getting smartphones a few years earlier is probably not something you can extrapolate to the societal upheaval from "you could live forever but you don't have enough money right now".

> The societal upheaval of rich people getting smartphones a few years earlier is probably not something you can extrapolate to the societal upheaval from "you could live forever but you don't have enough money right now". I'm not sure that would happen. Consider that they have an eternity to pay it back -- or really, a few hundred years given everyone will likely experience at a fatal accident on such a long timelin…

Oh, interesting. Like a whole new kind of financial indentured servitude that you can't even die your way out of.

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#106
post #50

Its very noisy to read these 'blip' articles, rather like following the stock ticker blow by blow ... Its wonderful that we see these interesting reports every week, but as a non-specialist you never how it will impact human longevity, and when. What I'd like to read is a well considered "state-of-longevity-science" report - by someone not Aubrey DeGray (give the man a medal) but equally cognizant, perhaps more conse…

I could put one together. Or you could read the last few years of posts at Fight Aging! and get the gist. But I'm pretty pro-SENS so it might not agree with your preferences. The short answer to your question is that the impact of everything viable that is not SENS is probably going to be about the same as exercise or calorie restriction in your life span if you are in the middle of life now. Which is to say +10 year…

What's SENS?

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#107
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could put one together. Or you could read the last few years of posts at Fight Aging! and get the gist. But I'm pretty pro-SENS so it might not agree with your preferences. The short answer to your question is that the impact of everything viable that is not SENS is probably going to be about the same as exercise or calorie restriction in your life span if you are in the middle of life now. Which is to say +10 year…

What's SENS?

Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negl... gible_Senescence

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The societal upheaval of rich people getting smartphones a few years earlier is probably not something you can extrapolate to the societal upheaval from "you could live forever but you don't have enough money right now". I'm not sure that would happen. Consider that they have an eternity to pay it back -- or really, a few hundred years given everyone will likely experience at a fatal accident on such a long timelin…

Oh, interesting. Like a whole new kind of financial indentured servitude that you can't even die your way out of.

Look people, it's very simple.

Many countries are currently addicted to population growth. Their mentality hasn't adjusted to the rise of automation and the decline of demand for human labor. They still think we need to keep high birth rates to fund social security schemes.

What will happen in the next few decades is that fewer people will be needed to do anything really productive. More people will study and raise their kids. A smaller, richer population would be more sustainable when it comes to overfishing, overpolluting etc. We will turn the world into farms and hopefully plug all the holes that will result. Ecosystems will be much different with less variation, and humans will be trying to constantly keep the balance.

It is in this environment that we place advances in longevity.

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#109
post #50

Its very noisy to read these 'blip' articles, rather like following the stock ticker blow by blow ... Its wonderful that we see these interesting reports every week, but as a non-specialist you never how it will impact human longevity, and when. What I'd like to read is a well considered "state-of-longevity-science" report - by someone not Aubrey DeGray (give the man a medal) but equally cognizant, perhaps more conse…

To my knowledge no such report exists. The only answers you'll find will come from reading dozens of articles like this one over a long span of time, mixed with reading "primary sources" (put in quotes because as often as not those sources may be trying to sell you something). While I am not qualified to put together a comprehensive report, I've been following this subject with some interest for a while, first as a s…

The main problem now is delivery of such gene therapies. Crispr is pretty limited.

And human in vitro modification is taboo also wrapped in politics.

Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids aren't too productive till they age. Perhaps we discover that 40 is the new 18. Or maybe there's more value to life than productivity. There must be polarity for movement. Some must have more than others. Excellence comes only from competition. You're inborn desire to find equality is beaten by natures desire for fitness. You may be less depressed when you see that a game where some win and some lose is better t…

Excellence comes only from competition. I reject that premise as overbroad and dismissive of historical examples of artificially limited supply (eg craft guilds) or other arbitrary constraints which nevertheless resulted in high output quality, and I could point to examples of that in nature too. You're inborn desire to find equality is beaten by natures desire for fitness This sounds like a very individualist approa…

Grouping effectively is a competition. Dogs have tails they wag, humans have eye whites and emotional attachment to eye movements, even language.

Competition requires 3 things. 1. A win condition 2. A contest 3. Participants. Pretending that equality amongst creatures exists anywhere that an individual can be discerned from the masses is futile. Equality of outcome moves indirectly proportional to freedom or individuality, tautologically. Equality is the enemy of specialization. You can't win a football game with 11 quarterbacks on the field.

The group out performs the individual, its why we're multicellular. It's also why you have natural and other monopolies. Notice the diversity of organs in your body, each good at what they do and little else. Would not equality dictate perhaps you be filled with bladders for the heart has it too good?

Team good. Specialize good. Win competition good. Have fair game to not rob potential winners of chance, good. Force equality down throats so winners lose and losers win. Bad.

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