tldr for biologists out there. They made a transgenic mouse line of doxycycline inducible Yamanaka factors in progeria (LAKI) background. Too high induction lead to mortality and teratomas, which is known. They cyclicly induced the Yamanaka factors and found it reversed signs of aging (prolong lifespan by ~30%)
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.
Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
121–130 of 205 posts
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Immortals will still die occasionally due to accidents and other non-age related causes. Unless risk is totally eliminated from the world, there will always be a positive replacement fertility rate.
Actually, I think the greatest risk in a society of immortals would be murder. Everyone would constantly be eyeing each other as a potential resource to allow themselves to reproduce.
Most advanced societies in the world are peaceful.
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Careful what you wish for. Aging and death are woven deeply into the fabric of society, indeed, into the fabric of life itself. Old growth needs to be periodically swept away to make room for new growth. The only logically possible outcome of immortality is that sooner or later the entire biomass of the planet is consumed by immortals, at which point all growth must stop. Imagine being the last person born into such…
Accidental death catches up with you in 1000-3000 years. Birth rates would have to slow. But not stop.
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ending aging will reverse this trend. The crisis then won't be population decline but the side effect of population growth.
Ending aging won't stop accidents, homicide, suicide or (probably) even most modern physical failures like diabetes and heart attacks.
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
#126Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#127Summary of pro death arguments re: longevity progress Fairness Only rich people will get it. (no tech has ever done this.) Better to give money to the poor than science. (family,city,state,nation, has proven local investment beats foreign.) Bad for society Dead people make more room for new, other people. (consider going first.) Run out of resources (live people discover/extract/renew better than dead or nonexistant)…
Death ensures adaptation. For example, climate change denying oil barons have done much damage to the world, but we can take some comfort in the knowledge that they will soon die (or at least retire) and that their successors will probably be a little more enlightened. It may be too late by then, but at least it will happen.
>Run out of resources (live people discover/extract/renew better than dead or nonexistant)
One resource we are running out of is housing in economically productive areas, and it's not for lack of ingenuity, but by choice. The choice of the established, whose grip on power you propose to extend. Similarly, there is plenty of food to go around, just not enough value to trade for it in some parts of the world. What we're missing is not farming methods, but economic systems and power structures to implement then.
>You're literally asking for others to die out of your fear
The currently powerful, propertied generation is in a position to hold onto that power and property forever, via compound interest and seniority. If the current crop of 60-year-olds gets to be 600, the age of majority for voting will be 540 by the time they get there. And we will never outspend them on anything; even 20 years is a significant head start on saving and investing.
If they continue in their policies of environmental destruction and the monopolization of critical resources, like the underdevelopment of city land on aesthetic grounds, then we might not just be asking them to die, but going to war to claim those resources (and the helms of government, business, etc) for the young, to manage in different ways.
Not to get too bogged down in the specifics of particular issues, but age-related death does ensure a peaceful transition of power towards people more concerned with the present era's challenges and realities, rather than trying to, i.e., save the jobs of the last century or the sexual morality of the one before it.
Maybe age doesn't come to them soon enough to prevent the damage, but it does mitigate it.
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#128The consequences of longer lifespan to social order are unimaginable. Even increase by dozen of years may result in wars and chaos, especially if the treatment will not be available to everyone. From where I stand it seems that relatively little resources are spent on the research of consequences of longer lifespan compared with the discussions we have about friendly/enemy AI, machines replacing jobs, universal incom…
We have been hearing that for a while though, when do you think "soon" will be ?
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#129Lets hope so!
Careful what you wish for. Aging and death are woven deeply into the fabric of society, indeed, into the fabric of life itself. Old growth needs to be periodically swept away to make room for new growth. The only logically possible outcome of immortality is that sooner or later the entire biomass of the planet is consumed by immortals, at which point all growth must stop. Imagine being the last person born into such…
Absolutely, if the alternative was not existing at all. Unless I'm being eternally tortured for some reason.
Re: Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifespans by 30 percent
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
You never step in the same river twice. If life gets too boring for you, remember the saying, cut down the tracks, not across the street. Might it be easier to cure boredom than decay? You need only become forgetful right? You wouldn't ask the restaurant to take items off the menu because you might not like them, would you?
I would expect a great cultural and scientific renaissance because you could devote a lot more time to creative pursuits. Even if many people are too lazy, the few geniuses with much longer lifespans would turn the world over. An interesting side effect could be that public figures would become more careful, because if you're sunk, you'd be done forever. Plus the shift from old people retirement driven politics. Much…
Genius appears to decline with age. Prolonging life would not necessarily preserve genius, even if it preserves life.