Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Age Reduction Breakthrough?

joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 426 posts

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#251

Post by strbean »

tantalor wrote: post #124
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…

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140520-the-girls-who-ne... > A handful of girls seem to defy one of the biggest certainties in life: ageing. He has identified four girls with this condition, marked by what seems to be a permanent state of infancy, a dramatic developmental arrest. He suspects that the disease is caused by a glitch somewhere in the girls’ DNA. His quest for immortality depends on finding it.

For a high-profile example, see Andy Milonakis[1]. He is ~40 in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb9UgsVDwI0

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#252

Post by themodelplumber »

koheripbal wrote: post #219
rantwasp wrote: post #213

Improving longevity is what the people at https://www.lifespan.io/ have been trying to do for ages. The research is being done, there are tons of new promising things - with the catch that they are experimental / not tested on humans. Before you get too excited and wonder where you can buy these magic pills, remember that there are things you can do right now to improve both your longevity and your quality of life: 1…

I believe the most impactful thing you can do is drastically reduce caloric intake - like by 50%. Experiments have show large increases in lifespan, across mammals.

By 50% TDEE, or by 50% of what? And for how long? If that's the most impactful thing, these factors should very much be included

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#253

Post by toasterlovin »

pharke wrote: post #160
toasterlovin wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Probably confounded by the social dynamics of human groups. There also isn't any evidence that it would extend reproductive lifespan either.

> There also isn't any evidence that it would extend reproductive lifespan either.

FWIW, it doesn't need to do this. It just need to result in more surviving children and grandchildren. Looking 5-10 years younger when you're a female between the ages of 25 and 40 could A) get you access to a higher status mate who can better provide for your children, and/or B) keep your mate more interested in you, reducing the likelihood that they will continue to provide for the children you have with them.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#254

Post by AnimalMuppet »

eganist wrote: post #245
yodon wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you or I found out we're not aging normally and look e.g. 25 by the time we reach 40, or 30 by the time we reach 45, would either of us remain in our current lives? I was routinely told I looked 25 at the age of 45, and can assure you I felt no need to start accumulating secret identities.

A surprising number of people have taken my comment rather personally.

Well, you know, the way you wrote the comment, it kind of invited us to take it as personal - as applying to ourselves.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#255

Post by hackinthebochs »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #239
hackinthebochs wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fair point about competing with the community. I was thinking of "parents" in aggregate, so the previous generation vs the next, but I didn't word it right. But if everyone lived longer than required, i.e. the minimum ideal for raising viable offspring, then this population stood to be out-competed by another population that aged at a more efficient rate. Individuals in a population aging at an optimal rate…

This might explain why genes for aging exist but doesn't really explain why genes for not aging don't exist. You could have a stable community where e.g. 15% of the population doesn't age and not run into community-level problems because they aren't that large of a percentage of the community, so where are they?

Hard to say. At least in the case of humans, high generational turnover might have been beneficial in our evolution from aquatic apes or whatever our ancestors were to modern humans. And so longevity genes were selected against. It might be the case that most species' environments are too dynamic for super longevity genes to be beneficial rather than faster population adaptation.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#256

Post by Ididntdothis »

saiya-jin wrote: post #247
Ididntdothis wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90 is not that old these days. Both of my parents have reached their 90s without doing anything like this. Let’s take a look at that guy in 20 years and see how he is doing.

Both of my grandparents from dad's side are 93 and still doing relatively well - self-sufficient, nothing horrible looming that we are aware of. Genes, good eating habits and healthy dose of exercise (rather low/medium effort that lasts long like gardening or foraging mushrooms in their case), coupled with obvious things like no addictions... and voila. They both had very good work ethics, on a level I can only envy…

“Bad part is, all of their friends and colleagues are dead by now. They can only meet their kids' generation.“

My mum says it gets weird when people your own age you know start dying in numbers but even weirder when people much younger start dying.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#257

Post by Nevermark »

bovermyer wrote: post #109
putlake wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If only we could subject enough people to cannonballs we might find one of the super humans I postulate exist.

But train wrecks would allow for significantly higher populations per experiment.

I must ponder this.

They call me Mr...

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#258

Post by saiya-jin »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #227
koheripbal wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the most impactful thing you can do is drastically reduce caloric intake - like by 50%. Experiments have show large increases in lifespan, across mammals.

It's weird to me to say so but this intervention is one of the few things that, even if it were to demonstrably increase my lifespan from ~80 to ~120 years, I probably wouldn't do. I don't know if that's because I enjoy food and bodily activity too much to value a longer life without them or because I'm addicted to food. I've wondered. What wouldn't you be willing to give up for a much longer life?

Depends which parts gets prolonged - if you are at 80 deteriorated +-same as somebody who dies at 80, and they just keep fixing the next thing that is going to kill ya, then yes, that's a pure physical misery and spiral down progressive dementia (almost all old folks suffer from some form of it).

Now if we would be 40-like in our 60s and so on, that's another story. But first thing that would probably change is retirement age.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#259

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ken wrote: post #123
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…

Probably, yes. I turn 40 this month, and was recently told by someone who just met me that I look 25. What exactly am I supposed to do differently now?

I recently returned to a workplace I left 15 years ago. There are a substantial number of staff still there who are around my age - early middle aged. Many look very similar, but what took me by surprise - as I've never studied a large group of aging people over a decade plus - is their skin. Superficially features, hair, body weight, etc., hadn't changed but to a man (ie across everyone) they all have "aged" skin.

So, if you want to tell if someone is 25 or 40, maybe their skin will give it away?

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#260

Post by eganist »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #254
eganist wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A surprising number of people have taken my comment rather personally.

Well, you know, the way you wrote the comment, it kind of invited us to take it as personal - as applying to ourselves.

My personal experience led to that assumption; I've never guessed anyone's age wrong by 15 years, hence the example. Sorry it hit you the way it did; wasn't my intent.
Post reply on HN