Age Reduction Breakthrough? • Hacker News Board

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#161

Post by jbay808 » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

troughway wrote: post #152

eganist wrote: 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…

That artist that survived both the Spanish Flu and COVID is 107. Go take a look at her photo.

This one? To be fair, this photo is back from when she was a youthful 102.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-107-this-artist-just...

But yeah, wow.

I once met a 102 year old man who lived alone in a big patch of private forest in BC that he bought in the '20s. He was still driving a car and doing jumping jacks.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#162

Post by jlongr » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

zarkov99 wrote: post #126

jlongr wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent comment didn't make any such claims or use any vulgarity. I think you are putting words in their mouth and taking a very uncharitable interpretation of what was said.

Fair enough, how do you interpret what he said? I removed the mild vulgarity, I agree it was not needed.

Many people are quite talented and intelligent. Yes, even as intelligent as any of the billionaire household names. There are people that could, in theory, do what those billionaires did to achieve their success.

But ultimately, some people will become billionaires and others of equal qualification and skill will not. This is because of luck and circumstance.

Not "anyone" can do what the billionaires did, but some people, somewhere, certainly could if not for poor circumstances or sheer bad luck.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#163

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #151

But aging, followed by death, is important. And not just for the biological evolution, but also for social progress. Besides, lifespan is measured not in years or the total length of the spaghetti consumed but in memories and accomplishments. So, I am not sure what exactly is the point of trying to extend human biological lifespan. There were people that in 30 years had accomplished more than other would not be able…

[deleted]

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#164

Post by chubot » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

maxander wrote: post #63

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…

I think Jared Diamond had a similar argument that seems valid.

Roughly speaking, it boils down to the fact that you need 90 out of 100 subsystems in your body to be working. Your lungs, your heart, your skin, your brain, etc.

They interact, but each part also needs to work on its own for you to live. Every one of those systems can fail and leave you dead.

Since evolution only "cares" about you to the point where you bear children and raise them, what are the chances that it engineered ALL those systems to last FOREVER?

And then it created a single hormone to control every system and make them stop decaying?

Such a fantastic over-engineering can't occur purely by chance, 100 times over.

-----

In fact ANY mutation that decreased life expectancy but increased fitness during the reproductive years would be selected FOR.

So it seems possible you have multiple mutations that prevent you from living much longer than "expected".

(I'd even conjecture there's a sexual selection effect going on in the "live hard die young" people, like rock stars, athletes, etc. Their hormones are selected for "living on the edge", and that strategy has proven useful over millenia... i.e. a tendency toward self-destruction is not necessarily something that gets weeded out by evolution)

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That said I think it's definitely possible for some treatment to make someone who would have lived 60 years last until 70, or even 100. It's harder to imagine going from 100 to 200 (especially with productive life).

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#165

Post by AnthonyMouse » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

yohann305 wrote: post #108

maxander wrote: post #63

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.

Even today this is true, from different causes. If you eat too many cheeseburgers you die of coronary artery disease before you die of old age. Anybody can still get into a car accident or get cancer. Even minor injuries can result in infection or blood clots. Every meal is another chance to get food poisoning.

Maybe the people who don't age just died of something else eventually.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#166

Post by lawrenceyan » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

It's impossible for an old cell to become young again, at least with our current level of technology, because that would require you to reverse all the mutations that have built up over time in that cell. If your argument is that our bodies have many different repair mechanisms, and that as long as we can figure out how to activate them properly, we can then reverse aging, I would caution you that while you're correct in that repair mechanisms do exist, it's important to remember that these mechanisms are themselves composed from the same components as the rest of your body, i.e. they too will age and begin to fail over time.

The only way to actually cure aging would be to develop sophisticated enough outside mechanisms that would be able to intervene and replace these biological mechanisms as they fail. Macro level replacements won't cut it either. Replacing an organ might give you a few years here or there, but it doesn't address the issue that aging fundamentally happens at a molecular / atomic level.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#167

Post by ahupp » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

notRobot wrote: post #43

ahupp wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the headline was "universal cure for cancer found!", would you also say "I'm missing the good news"?

Except it's nothing like "universal cure of cancer" so what's your point?

A universal cure for cancer would increase lifespan by (IIRC) 2 years. This would increase it by lots more. I'm having a hard time drawing a line here that says one is good and one is bad.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#168

Post by CerealFounder » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

entee wrote: post #116

maxander wrote: post #63

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…

There are tons of reasons this wouldn’t have happened. Lots of this is speculation but: Seems likely this is a gradient, not a binary thing, so perhaps someone with a beneficial mutation would just live a little longer. There’s not a ton of evolutionary pressure at the old age side of the spectrum, you’re not reproducing a lot, so it may not get picked up. Wilder speculation: it could be that indeed this has been hap…

Yup, your "hot take" is the core of "Lifespan" by Dr. David Sinclair.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#169

Post by crucio » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

pvijeh wrote: post #130

eganist wrote: 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…

this person exists--- his name is Jared Leto.

Interestingly he is vegan. Many people I know that follow a plant based diet look suspiciously younger than the norm (I get the same comments often too). Causation or correlation - who knows.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#170

Post by etrautmann » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

maxander wrote: post #63

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…

It would have to confer benefits before reproductive age in order to be a trait for which there's evolutionary pressure (to first order). Something that makes you more likely to live an extra decade almost certainly won't make you have more kids or make your kids more likely to survive, so there's no selection pressure for those genes.