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A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

economist.com

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Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#161

Post by beepbooptheory »

Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer, but I guess I too have a portion of morbid curiosity to see just how much we keep screwing everything up. To actually witness cities becoming submerged.

Also, if I didn't have to slave away most of my life to survive, if I could live the life I want, I could probably have a full life by 60, with maybe only a few books still left to read. That would be sufficient and good, very few complaints. But with this stuff.. If I gained another 50 expected years, its just that much more work and sacrifice I gotta do to have a chance of retiring!

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#162

Post by avrionov »

mdavis6890 wrote: post #148
fairity wrote: post #121

I 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 reas…

I don't think that the main problem is the regulation. The regulations are a side effect of how difficult and harmful these experiments could to humans. In the software business when a project fails we can just used a starting point for the next iteration. In life sciences they don't have that luxury. There is no way to test something quickly (in seconds and minutes).

May be one day we'll have a complete model of the human body and medicine and drugs can be tested through a software.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#163

Post by yosito »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #161

Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer, but I guess I too have a portion of morbid curiosity to see just how much we keep screwing everything up. To actually witness cities becoming submerged. Also, if I didn't have to slave away most of my life to survive, if I could live the life I want, I could probably have a full life by 60, with maybe only a few books st…

> Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer

It is a popular myth that the world is getting worse. But by almost every measure of human wellbeing, things are getting better. Yes, climate change is a real problem, but it doesn't mean the end of human wellbeing. Even if we don't manage to slow/reverse climate change with innovation (I believe we will), we will manage to adapt. Climate related deaths continue to decline, despite real climate problems. Despair is not the only option.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#164

Post by alkonaut »

Pigalowda wrote: post #88

Maybe I’m interpreting the article wrong but it looks like they’re going to try temporarily activating a handful of transcription factors (Yamanaka) through a crispr mediated gene alteration/insertion. I suppose if you created a viral vector that injected an mRNA with a nuclear localization signal - what would you use to activate it? Include a steroid promoter (or other) and co-inject with cortisone? None of my predi…

> I hope they do skin first, I’m tired of looking like a wrinkle.

Imagine inventing a cream that actually makes skin look younger, and then realizing people have tried to sell that (without delivering) for a century so no one will believe you.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#165

Post by solveit »

grishka wrote: post #127
fairity wrote: post #121

I 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.

So how can I, as a software developer, meaningfully contribute to this area? I would very much prefer to live forever.

Competitive advantage says that in the vast majority of cases you should do more or less what you're doing now, perhaps adjust your behaviour to optimise for compensation, and spend/donate money to have more biologists work on this. This is very general advice for anyone with a cause that they would like to get done without regard to who does it.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#166

Post by seoulbran »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #161

Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer, but I guess I too have a portion of morbid curiosity to see just how much we keep screwing everything up. To actually witness cities becoming submerged. Also, if I didn't have to slave away most of my life to survive, if I could live the life I want, I could probably have a full life by 60, with maybe only a few books st…

The world aint that bad my friend, just a little crazy atm - it'll get better. Hang in there. If you're on this website, you're one of the lucky few that has their needs taken care of and an ability to traverse up Maslow's pyramid.

Besides, shit is just getting interesting. Strap in.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#167

Post by silksowed »

yeeetz wrote: post #36
maradona_yolo wrote: post #27

instead of dreaming of immortality, get off this dumb ass site and do something meaningful with your waning youth! and who wants to live forever in this hellscape anyways? just more of the same hollow experience.

Nah, I'm vibing.

vibes eternal? sign me up

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#168

Post by beepbooptheory »

yosito wrote: post #163
beepbooptheory wrote: post #161

Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer, but I guess I too have a portion of morbid curiosity to see just how much we keep screwing everything up. To actually witness cities becoming submerged. Also, if I didn't have to slave away most of my life to survive, if I could live the life I want, I could probably have a full life by 60, with maybe only a few books st…

> Considering the general trajectory of the world, its surprising people want to stay in it longer It is a popular myth that the world is getting worse. But by almost every measure of human wellbeing, things are getting better. Yes, climate change is a real problem, but it doesn't mean the end of human wellbeing. Even if we don't manage to slow/reverse climate change with innovation (I believe we will), we will manag…

I hope you are right! But I am not in despair, I know why these things are happening, what structures and systems cause them (which is in part why I don't personally share your optimism). I think humanity falling from grace and prominence is just as beautiful as us keeping going. It's all just a blip of time in the universe, no need to think about it so selfishly or tragically. Humanity as we know it might just be a moral allegory about energy and language anyway.

Re: A $3B bet on finding the fountain of youth

#170

Post by silksowed »

aresant wrote: post #8

This all feels like the Ocean's 11 version of biotech The straight laced CEO as foil with an amazing reputation and a ticking biological clock (1) The mad scientist known for mixing human and monkey embryos (2) The beautiful and brilliant husband & wife whiz kid team (3) All funded by the secretive Russian billionaire with questionable fortune originations (4) Grabbing the popcorn (1) https://altoslabs.com/team/execu…

simulation esque
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