Age Reduction Breakthrough? • Hacker News Board

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#201

Post by pmiller2 » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

ativzzz wrote: post #143

sirtaj wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the price of insulin in the US nearly triple in 10 years? The market is not always particularly efficient.

One of the counterpoints is that it's not the same insulin, it's constantly new and improved insulin that functions better than the insulin we had 10 years ago, but of course each improvement comes with a price increase.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it still only costs about $6 per vial to manufacture human grade insulin: https://www.businessinsider.com/insulin-prices-could-be-much...

Apologies for citing Business Insider. It was just conveniently on the first page of Google search results.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#202

Post by rantwasp » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

waynecochran wrote: post #73

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…

Evolution may not select for long life? https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-e...

this is the right answer. once you reach reproduction age and you are able to reproduce, from an evolutionary point of view you're done.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#203

Post by pmiller2 » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #97

Pfhreak wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on who has access. Do you think everyone will have equal access to this treatment?

Are there any elective treatments that people don't have equal access to?

Almost all of them, due to cost.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#204

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

eganist wrote: post #70

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…

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…

[deleted]

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#205

Post by greatpatton » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

lawrenceyan wrote: post #166

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 correc…

Yes we can partially do that with our tehcnologies:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15174-3

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#206

Post by Udik » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

ishjoh wrote: post #177

nardi wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an evolutionary biologist, but why wouldn't the selection pressure be related to the speed at which offspring are produced, and not the age of the parent? And why wouldn't a parent that lives a long time and thus produces more offspring be evolutionarily fit?

The older you get the more difficult it is to conceive children as well as raise them. Given that most people have a partner that is roughly the same age as them, and that there would be a much smaller percentage chance of pairing with someone with the same long life trait, the period of time that they are likely to have children probably stays consistent with societal norms. Therefore living a long life wouldn't inc…

> The older you get the more difficult it is to conceive children as well as raise them.

Are you trying to provide an evolutionary justification for aging by using aging itself as a reason?

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#207

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:56 PM UTC

crucio wrote: post #169

pvijeh wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Probably can't chalk it to that - I mean, Keanu Reeves is ageless as well and he's not.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#208

Post by dwaltrip » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:57 PM UTC

erpellan wrote: post #150

dwaltrip wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some animals that don't "age" like we do. These animals can live indefinitely, until they are eaten or die in some accidental way. Aging is a set of complex bio-physical-chemical processes. We have actually made a lot of progress in recent decades understanding how this happens. There is no fundamental reason we won't be able to better understand these processes and then mitigate them heavily, if not entire…

I'm terrified. Imagine the current crop of elderly rich mostly white men in positions of political power. Now imagine they're never going to die or retire. Sounds pretty dystopian to me.

Guillotines would still work, so there's that. But it's true, there is definitely potential for it to go badly.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#209

Post by pmiller2 » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:57 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #27

fredley wrote: post #7

Do we really want to live in a world where the billionaires live forever?

The implication of the article is that the treatment may not be extremely costly. Idk why you immediately start talking about billionaires. The divide would likely be between the poor and the middle class.

A vial of insulin costs $6 to manufacture, but up to $300 to purchase without insurance. Simply because the treatment is inexpensive to manufacture does not mean it will be affordable to average humans.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#210

Post by sterlind » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:59 PM UTC

rantwasp wrote: post #202

waynecochran wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evolution may not select for long life? https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-e...

this is the right answer. once you reach reproduction age and you are able to reproduce, from an evolutionary point of view you're done.

Eh that's too simple in humans. Hanging around longer to tend children and pass on knowledge benefits the survival of your grandchildren, who carry your genes too.