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Age Reduction Breakthrough?

joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com

101–110 of 426 posts

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#101

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

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Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#102
post #70

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

At risk of sounding absolutely insane: There's probably no way to prove that this hasn't happened. Anyone who realizes they're not aging normally would likely have taken on a new identity elsewhere for fear of: 1. being burned at the stake 2. being trialed in repeated experiments 3. being deified, and then subsequently being burned at the stake. --- I realize my comment sounds like a joke, but I'm entirely serious. I…

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Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#103
post #90
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At risk of sounding absolutely insane: There's probably no way to prove that this hasn't happened. Anyone who realizes they're not aging normally would likely have taken on a new identity elsewhere for fear of: 1. being burned at the stake 2. being trialed in repeated experiments 3. being deified, and then subsequently being burned at the stake. --- I realize my comment sounds like a joke, but I'm entirely serious. I…

Might I recommend the "The Man from Earth" ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/ ). Definitely worth checking out.

It's a low budget film, but I agree that it's worth watching.. especially for the socio/psychology elements.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#104
post #70

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

At risk of sounding absolutely insane: There's probably no way to prove that this hasn't happened. Anyone who realizes they're not aging normally would likely have taken on a new identity elsewhere for fear of: 1. being burned at the stake 2. being trialed in repeated experiments 3. being deified, and then subsequently being burned at the stake. --- I realize my comment sounds like a joke, but I'm entirely serious. I…

Given how much people focus on looking youthful, it's probably reasonable to assume that appearing youthful has historically been advantageous, from a reproductive point of view. Which would lead such a mutation to spread pretty rapidly throughout the population.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#105
post #70

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

At risk of sounding absolutely insane: There's probably no way to prove that this hasn't happened. Anyone who realizes they're not aging normally would likely have taken on a new identity elsewhere for fear of: 1. being burned at the stake 2. being trialed in repeated experiments 3. being deified, and then subsequently being burned at the stake. --- I realize my comment sounds like a joke, but I'm entirely serious. I…

Someone I work with looks very youthful for their actual age, and that isn't always a good thing.

When the team went on an offsite morale event jet skiing, he was told by the proprietor that he couldn't participate because their policy requires you to be at least 16 years old. He was 27 at the time. He never lived that down with his peers. When he tries to go to a bar with friends, he's sometimes accused of trying to pass off a fake ID. These experiences are deeply embarrassing for him.

Imagine trying to get promoted to a senior director position at a company while looking like you are fresh out of college. In that case ageism takes a different meaning.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#106
Hmm. Well the epigenetic aging clock effects are hard to interpret, but they also show recovery of cognitive performance in aged rats treated with their magic plasma fraction. That is kind of exciting.

Nevertheless, there are significant conflicts of interest going on, so confirmatory studies by independent bodies in animal models are required. Then there are the human studies. They obviously want to use the epigenetic clock as a surrogate endpoint in humans, so the trial can be completed in a short time frame. Not sure about that, this is a fairly complicated surrogate endpoint we are talking about. Some more relevant biomarkers of aging in humans which incorporate functional readouts would be required at the very least.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.07.082917v1....

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#107

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

Death and aging is a feature of evolution. These features evolved to further enable evolution and allow it to iterate more quickly. Species that iterated more quickly, and therefore evolved more quickly were more successful. Features that are deliberately evolved exist within many different genes as a mechanism to protect the feature, this is why dropout works so well on neural networks.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#108

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

Let's say someone possessed that mutation. You have to remember prior to 200 years ago, your chances of dying from a disease, an accident, hunger, race, religion would have killed you anyway.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#109
post #67

Since it seems like the upshot of all of this is that Katcher is claiming to have discovered a set of signalling molecules which, when injected, rejuvenate tissue and presumably lengthen life, it runs into one of the most fundamental objections that can be leveled at theory of aging (or cure thereof): of the billions of humans that have existed, how is it that none of them have possessed a mutation which (in this cas…

People who had this mutation could have died of causes other than aging.

People who are immune to aging are not necessarily immune to a cannonball impacting their face.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#110
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear: I do not see this as good news. The only way new life and new ideas arise is in the wake of the deceased. Death is neccessary for life. If those at the top can further cement and accumulate their wealth and power due to living longer lives, this is bad for everyone else.

Maybe not: the only way we're actually going to realistically colonize space as a species is if people live so long that a few hundred years in a spaceship is a reasonable sacrifice. I would imagine that the same people who were willing to spend fortunes on rejuvenation would also be willing to spend fortunes exploring new galaxies.

Many science fiction writers who envisioned generations born and passing away on spaceships making their intergalactic journey to their new home world would disagree.
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