Any thoughts on how these efforts could conflict with our climate goals? Should we have an age ceiling? (that sounds awful, but so does the idea of everyone living to 150)
A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
141–150 of 214 posts
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
So how can I, as a software developer, meaningfully contribute to this area? I would very much prefer to live forever.
I guess you could dive into the world of home-brew biohacking? Understanding genetics and lab techniques doesn't seem out of reach for programmer types, but I don't really know.
I tried it (shoutout to The Odin's biohacking courses!) but I found it requires a lot more manual skills than I was used to from programming. Not out of reach but quite different, the most similar existing skill for me was actually cooking. Though I never made it past beginner stage, so take my experience for what it's worth.
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd definitely want immortality in the sense of stopping physical (and mental) deterioration. You can always just commit suicide if you're done. I discuss this with friends and family occasionally, and they all seem to have these ideas that we're "only supposed to live 100 years or so". But that seems like a logical fallacy (appeal to nature) to me, it's not an actual argument. And sure, there are plenty of dystopian…
I, too, would rather not die. But "the only real problem" you see being overpopulation speaks to a limited effort in thinking out the consequences. Let's imagine such a solution was available. Let's remember that insulin today is barely affordable to most people, a mere "stay alive and subsist" drug. So it's probably safe to assume that a literal immortality treatment would be only available to the most wealthy and p…
> Let's remember that insulin today is barely affordable to most people
If you are talking about the US, then it is a structural problem of your healthcare system: https://pharmanewsintel.com/news/insulin-prices-8x-higher-in...
If you are talking about many countries with socialised healthcare systems (both rich and poor), then it is free or minimal cost to the user. In New Zealand I have diabetic friends that get virtually free checkups and prescriptions (although they do have other out of pocket expenses like time off work, or replacing expensive electronic monitors).
If you are talking worldwide, then many poor people in some countries can’t afford insulin but neither can they afford other critical goods.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-i...
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#144Any thoughts on how these efforts could conflict with our climate goals? Should we have an age ceiling? (that sounds awful, but so does the idea of everyone living to 150)
No post body was provided.
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#145I love this. People are starting to realize how powerful the logic of life extension is. Think about this: if this startup succeeds only at extending human life expectancy by a single day , it's already worth it. A life is about 3e4 days, and there are 9e9 humans, so giving 1 extra day to every human is the equivalent of saving 3e5 lives.
Only if it's actually available to every living human on Earth, which unfortunately isn't the case for plenty of things we already have, like food, clean water, medical care and so on. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy[1] books explore what longevity treatments for some but not all could mean (along with terraforming Mars, and lots of other great stuff, that is).
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#146[deleted]
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#147There's nothing Silicon Valley billionaires will throw money at faster than the ability to live longer/forever. Makes sense in a way, but pretty much everyone in the field will tell you that the science is simply not there yet. Calico is similarly funded and has been at it for a decade now, with nothing to show for it.
I have snake oil for sale
On a funny side note, you can actually buy snake oil and it does actually have a metabolic purpose. It is most commonly used to relieve pain and inflammation and is used to treat arthritis and bursitis. The biggest contributing factor is the Omega-3 fatty acids. I prefer Krill oil for this as it sometimes also has Astaxanthin depending on the formulation.
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#148I wish our brightest minds were all working in areas like this instead of social apps and advertising. Is there even any doubt that with a better understanding of biology we could meaningfully prolong the human lifespan? What are we doing working on apps lol.
The problem is that anything related to the human body is super-heavily regulated, which creates a ton of friction and risk to doing anything innovative.
I think the folks that would get very excited about working on the problem of aging would not be excited about the amount of regulatory bureaucracy (trying to find a non-judgmental word to use there) that necessarily goes along with it.
In fact I think that the reason that so much innovation and wealth creation is concentrated in things which such dubious social benefit is exactly that it isn't regulated, because it doesn't matter. If it matters and is important, it becomes regulated, which slows and discourages innovation and the people who want to innovate.
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#149I love this. People are starting to realize how powerful the logic of life extension is. Think about this: if this startup succeeds only at extending human life expectancy by a single day , it's already worth it. A life is about 3e4 days, and there are 9e9 humans, so giving 1 extra day to every human is the equivalent of saving 3e5 lives.
I have a really big problem with this mathematical reductionist view of the value of life and human time. A life is much more that the sum of its days, basically because for any individual the loss of a single day is basically indistinguishable from a loss of 0 days over a lifespan, but obviously the loss of ~300,000 people would be a catastrophe.
Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth
#150There have been several companies formed in the past few years whose premise is researching in industry anti-aging or basic science more generally (Calico, Altos Labs, Arcadia, etc.)... Does anyone understand the underlying economics or motivations? They can't be gambles when they raise $B's, and I'm too cynical to believe these are altruistic endeavors. Certainly there is research that cannot be reasonably expected…
Does anyone understand the underlying economics or motivations? How much would you pay for a treatment to prevent or repair the negative effects of aging? For me the answer is "well over 100% of my net worth".
I'm looking forward to when all the people who can't pay either start murdering wealthy immortals or are galvanized by a strongman who convinces them that this is actually good for them because one day maybe they too could become immortal, and that who they should really hate are immigrants.