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Age Reduction Breakthrough?

joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com

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Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#381

Post by psychoslave »

chubot wrote: post #164
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…

>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?

This sentence turn things into such an anthropomorphic way, to the point that the concept of evolution en engineering don't make sense anymore.

In the (scientific) evolution theories, evolution doesn't "engineer" life. It shapes life forms by environment constraints alone. And these constraints are in no appearing way optimized for fostering life, which appear more like an accidental byproduct. No conceptual framework nor any concern for conscious parsimony of implementation or sense of elegance are underlying evolution forces.

Indefinite youthfulness span would sure seems impressive. But it is nothing compared to other challenges that should be overcome to attain an exceptional life span: an unswerving immune system, not being killed by any domestic accident, human social violence or natural catastrophe, and not suicide yourself over psychological disorders.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#382

Post by cko »

steelframe wrote: post #105
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…

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…

I am 34, and people always say I look 23. In my last job, upon meeting me, people asked if I was a student (intern) or just graduated.

It was nice. I can't grow facial hair though so I have no choice. What worries me is when I'm 45, I'll look like the world's oldest 30 year old or something.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#383

Post by chmod775 »

steelframe wrote: post #105
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…

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…

I'm 26 and but I look much younger (as long as I shave my beard). I regularly have to show my ID when buying alcohol for instance (which you can do with 16-18 in my country).

It's rather fun for me and I enjoy these kinds of interactions. Can't say it really ever hindered or embarrassed me in any way.

I suspect that if those people who feel embarrassed because they look young were looking older, they'd find something else to be embarrassed about. It's easy to find any number of shortcomings with yourself.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#384

Post by dvasdekis »

pmontra wrote: post #277
drclau wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on your comment, you will likely enjoy "The Boat of a Million Years", by Poul Anderson [0]. Needless to say, it's science fiction. It's about a very small number of people who are immortal, in the sense they stop ageing at 25 (iirc). They can be killed like anyone else, but smaller damages do heal faster. Also, they never get sick. Some are thousands of years old, some less. Some smart, some not so much. How th…

The Lords of Farmer's World of Tiers also stop ageing at 25 and are immortal unless killed, usually by other Lords. I loved that series when I was young.

Like in the Highlander.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#385

Post by gregwebs »

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.

Can you cite this research across mammals? As far as I am aware it is only in lab rats.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#386

Post by Auracle »

pmiller2 wrote: post #209
tootie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can get a vial of generic insulin at Walmart for 20 bucks or so. This treatment would go generic as well and then become affordable to the masses.

Even before then a company would rather get $200 a month from a large group of people than $50,000 from a small group.

There’s a balance that’s upset due to insurance - companies charging what people can actually afford to maximize their profits.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#387

Post by Auracle »

google234123 wrote: post #314
mdszy wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think someone can become worth tens or hundreds of billions of dollars without exploiting anyone then boy howdy do I have news for you.

You do know that it is possible to create value? For example, let's say I invent a pill that increases the average life span of a human by 5 years. It costs 1$ to make and I sell it to every person on earth for 4$ each. Who is exploited in this example?

Clearly you should be selling that drug for $1 you capitalist pig.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#388

Post by virgilp »

koheripbal wrote: post #341
Valgrim wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This meat bag is made from star dust, self-assembling from a single microscopic machine, into a form so complex that it's complexity, adaptability and computing power dwarves by several orders of magnitude all the machines and computers we have built or will build in the foreseeable future, combined. And billions of them exist, doing things like inventing imaginary worlds, loving each others, gardening and playing so…

This is not a logical comment. Everything is made of stardust - including the androids we'd construct. ...and while "complexity" is one word for our DNA - another more accurate term would be "complete fucking mess of code". It breaks frequently , is nearly impossible to model and predict, and can only be modified with agonizing inaccurate testing. Your only reasonable argument here is that computing power isn't up to…

> another more accurate term would be "complete fucking mess of code"

That just tells me you didn't write it, but I guess I already suspected that.

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#389

Post by silveroriole »

cambalache wrote: post #313
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.

Internet is full of these stories, I believe none. For one, even if there are people who look younger (say, Selena Gomez, or Lucy Liu) even them cannot pass to be 10+ years younger than they are, after looking at them in person. Have you actually met a 30+ year old person who could pass consistently as a teenager? I have never met one. The second thing is that if you are "routinely" told that you look XX or YY years…

I’m almost 30 and I know I look like a teen because salespeople who knock on my door ask if my mom is home and flight attendants don’t want to let me sit next to the emergency door (you have to be FIFTEEN for that!). I can buy child tickets to things without a question asked. Of course celebrities don’t really look like teenagers, because they’re meant to look attractive. Real people who look young look like gangly awkward teens :)

Re: Age Reduction Breakthrough?

#390

Post by lwansbrough »

busyant wrote: post #368

I thought one of the main purposes of research publications was to allow others to reproduce/verify or refute your work. If you look at the methods section, here is what you get for a description of the magic plasma: 'We used a unique plasma fraction "Elixir" developed by Nugenics Research.' This seems to run counter to the philosophy of reproducibility. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.07.082917v1....

To be fair, this would be a contender for the most epic discovery in human history. Would you simply give the solution away?
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