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Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

theguardian.com

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Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#31

Post by mikeash »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #27
stanmancan wrote: post #12

I've always wondered what are the implications of extending life span and curing certain diseases that kill millions every year. What happens when all the sudden everybody lives 20% longer and some of the major killers heart disease, cancer) aren't a problem. Things like over population, resources and such.

This has proven to not be a problem in Europe in general and in Asia in Japan. In other continents, yes this would become a huge problem. Well, it actually is already today.

Japan's looming demographic crunch is thought to be a massive challenge for the country in coming decades. To say they've proven not to have this problem is like saying that falling off a building isn't a problem, because this guy is halfway down and still doing fine.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#32

Post by radicalbyte »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #24

I can't believe no one thinks this is a terrible idea. Of course I , selfishly, would love to live longer but doing so on a large scale is almost guaranteed to be a disaster. While we're at it why don't we just solve aging, provide infinite food supply, and eliminate predation for deer. That would be a great idea right? No way that would have any negative side effects, right?

Extending human life span to 200 years would be the single biggest thing you could do to combat global warming..

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#33

Post by kirse »

mikeash wrote: post #22
[deleted] wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Instinct, caused by the fact that our ancestors with such a preference had a better chance of surviving and procreating than other animals without it.

My mistake on deleting my reply.

Humans acting on this instinct for survival seems irrational in view of the scientific big picture, does it not? A longer survival nets nothing if the fate of all things (including the memory of those things) is nothingness. What is the payoff if one creature lives 10,000 years instead of 100?

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#34

Post by adrianlmm »

Ilverin wrote: post #30
eagsalazar2 wrote: post #24

I can't believe no one thinks this is a terrible idea. Of course I , selfishly, would love to live longer but doing so on a large scale is almost guaranteed to be a disaster. While we're at it why don't we just solve aging, provide infinite food supply, and eliminate predation for deer. That would be a great idea right? No way that would have any negative side effects, right?

"doing so on a large scale is almost guaranteed to be a disaster" Over the past centuries, human life expectancy has increased greatly and yet we have a much higher quality of life. It's an extraordinary claim to suggest that the continuance of this already-existing trend is 'almost guaranteed to be a disaster'.

>we have a much higher quality

Who is we?

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#35

Post by Houshalter »

kirse wrote: post #13

I always see anti-aging research as an expression of our inbuilt need for hope and significance (a desire to be known for eternity). It's far more philosophical than scientific. Many have concluded there is no meaningful eternity, and thus they seek to construct their own hope through anti-aging research. So it's slightly ironic that the article mentions anti-aging research as needing to address a "root cause", when…

You could say the same thing about curing small pox or any disease. Aging is just a really widespread one.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#36

Post by kiba »

kcovia wrote: post #26
andyrj wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything other than your speculation to back up your belief in individuals neural plasticity having anything to do with the social advances you mention? Young people have not had a great record of voting. So those changes you are attributing to neural plasticity are likely brought about by those old frozen minds you mention, and less so the young plyable ones if you ask me. But everyone has a right to an opinion I su…

Check out The Structure of Scientific Revolutions for an argument for this in the science world: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_R... In a nutshell: people don't change fundamental beliefs, even when confronted with evidence. Instead, they die off and the newer generation adopts the new theory.

I am sure Einstein and his generation would like a word with you.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#37

Post by Houshalter »

>And someday when the descendants of humanity have spread from star to star, they won't tell the children about the history of Ancient Earth until they're old enough to bear it; and when they learn they'll weep to hear that such a thing as Death had ever once existed!

From HPMOR.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#38

Post by anon4 »

zw123456 wrote: post #8

I too would like to live forever, but one problem I see is that if you just extend peoples physical age but their minds become frozen in time, then all progress stops. It is well known that as people age their neural plasticity degrades and they loose the ability to learn anything new. I have observed this with my Dad who is 84. If people lived to be 1000 but their neural plasticity was gone by 120, we would still ha…

I don't think you can extrapolate like that. The computer revolution took place much faster than generation turnover did, for example. And if the young ever find themselves under the yoke of a bunch of really old people, with no prospects at all, you can bet the more violent ones will take it upon themselves to "even the scales". Adapt or perish will continue to hold, it might just not look quite like what you're used to.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#39

Post by jmartinpetersen »

angrybits wrote: post #23

This scares the hell out of me from a retirement planning perspective. If I outlive my savings, what then?

This is where you consider buying a life annuity from a life insurance company if this really concerns you.

Re: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’

#40

Post by tmuir »

Ilverin wrote: post #30
eagsalazar2 wrote: post #24

I can't believe no one thinks this is a terrible idea. Of course I , selfishly, would love to live longer but doing so on a large scale is almost guaranteed to be a disaster. While we're at it why don't we just solve aging, provide infinite food supply, and eliminate predation for deer. That would be a great idea right? No way that would have any negative side effects, right?

"doing so on a large scale is almost guaranteed to be a disaster" Over the past centuries, human life expectancy has increased greatly and yet we have a much higher quality of life. It's an extraordinary claim to suggest that the continuance of this already-existing trend is 'almost guaranteed to be a disaster'.

The decline of global pirate population has correlated strongly with the rise of global temperatures, too.
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