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Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

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Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#31
post #27

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

Life been tough, sure, but never at at any point did I think death is comforting, not even at the lowest point.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say I understand this viewpoint. If you feel you're going to become an agent of stagnation, as you put it, simply put effort into not stagnating.

I think we stagnate because we accumulate experience. As we grow old, we gain wisdom, but our wisdom is centralized in the past. We can't shed our experiences without forgetting ourselves. Steve Jobs also talked about "the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything." But I can't be a beginner again and again and again: some day my biases/old-dreams and stale-ideas/past-successes will dominate. No…

Perhaps stagnation is due to experience, perhaps it's due to accumulated, age-related brain damage. I doubt we'll know until people do live hundreds or thousands of years.

Surely you can be a beginner again. Pick something you've never done before, and do that. As fledgling as humanity is, humans already have millions of different traditions and areas of study. Just pick one (or many).

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#33
post #27

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

Longevity ≠ immortality. Death is inevitable, but maximizing (quality) existence should be a priority for humanity.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#34
post #27

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

There are reasonable arguments against significantly increased lifespans, although I strongly disagree. There are no reasonable arguments against preventing or repairing the damage caused by aging, which is both a humanitarian and economic disaster.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#35
post #27

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

I think people who feel this way should be perfectly free to, but not everyone does, and they should be free not to die as per their preference.

I think of it as, if my loved one (or me) were in the hospital with a fatal disease, but there was a cure, I would want the cure. I can't really see myself saying "Yeah, but death is so beautiful..."

I see aging the same way, as another fatal disease and I'd cure it if I could. I don't hope for an indefinite period of old age, but an indefinite period of good health, like 20-30s.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#36
post #27

Anyone don't want longevity for humans? I think death is a beautiful thing and for a lot of us including myself life has been really tough at times. The fact that there is an equalizer in death makes life comforting at times.

This should be an individual decision.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#37
If people were dying in troves of a disease (...) every effort would be put on saving them, right? How come some deaths are considered "fine", but others aren't?

No. Just No.

Let longevity come. Let immortality come. Let us live forever, sail the heavens, and travel to every world, every star, every galaxy, everywhere.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#38

If people were dying in troves of a disease (...) every effort would be put on saving them, right? How come some deaths are considered "fine", but others aren't? No. Just No. Let longevity come. Let immortality come. Let us live forever, sail the heavens, and travel to every world, every star, every galaxy, everywhere.

That's kind of selfish. You're ignoring the impact on parking availability for the rest of the universe.

Re: Longevity FAQ: A beginner's guide to longevity research

#39
I watched a documentary on Fred Beckey and then Valley Uprising. For a group that took a lot of risk, many of them seem to live or have lived till the age of 75. Fred Beckey himself lived till the age of 94. His entire lifestyle is a list of things to not to live long except for the exercise.
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