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A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

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Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#11

Post by buyx »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Its a promising result, but a lot of mice experiments don't have the same effects on people. It would be ironic if this technique failed on humans subjected to a lot of exposure to botox :-) The fear is that suddenly not only would the rich get richer, but they would never die. That leads to some fairly depressing scenarios.

The political consequences will be interesting. One of the consolations if living under a tyrant is that they will, eventually die. I wonder if having Robert Mugabe around for another 40 years would excite Zimbabweans. The flip-side is that citizens could get more politically active if they couldn't rely on death to prevent gerontocracies.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#12

Post by lawl »

This is REALLY scary if you have recently read the following article:

Could we condemn criminals to suffer for hundreds of years? Biotechnology could let us extend convicts' lives 'indefinitely'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2580828/Could...

Edit: Since people have some issues with the dailymail, feel free to pick any other article on this topic:

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=prison+life+prolonging

I just googled and dailymail appeared at the top. Not sure if that was the article i read a few weeks ago.

Also please note that I don't want to stiffle innovation in this area in any way. I think it's awesome research. But I also find it interesting to explore other "applications" of this technology.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#13

Post by stcredzero »

edj wrote: post #3

Link to the abstract on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24582957 Original is behind a paywall. --- I'd take all this with a grain of salt, though. The biology of aging is incredibly complex. Seemingly certain answers to the question of what causes or mediates aging (e.g. free radicals) have turned out to be less conclusive and all-explaining than researchers originally thought.

There are seven distinct mechanisms for cellular and intracellular damage resulting from aging. Improving the regulation of mitochondria could completely fix one and slow down the rate of accumulation of a few other types of damage, but that's it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negli...

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#14

Post by tormeh »

lawl wrote: post #12

This is REALLY scary if you have recently read the following article: Could we condemn criminals to suffer for hundreds of years? Biotechnology could let us extend convicts' lives 'indefinitely' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2580828/Could... Edit: Since people have some issues with the dailymail, feel free to pick any other article on this topic: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=prison+life+prol…

Quoting the Daily Fail? Seems unwise. Not even going to read it and neither should anyone else.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#15

Post by jusben1369 »

“The aging process we discovered is like a married couple—when they are young, they communicate well, but over time, living in close quarters for many years, communication breaks down,” said Harvard Medical School Professor of Genetics David Sinclair"

- Totally off topic though but I think he's describing a couple heading to divorce. Nearly all successful marriages move in the exact opposite direction.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#16

Post by throwwit »

lawl wrote: post #12

This is REALLY scary if you have recently read the following article: Could we condemn criminals to suffer for hundreds of years? Biotechnology could let us extend convicts' lives 'indefinitely' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2580828/Could... Edit: Since people have some issues with the dailymail, feel free to pick any other article on this topic: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=prison+life+prol…

I would say the political/inequality ramifications are going to be foremost terryfying, unfortunately it's hard to research that beforehand.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#17

Post by lawl »

tormeh wrote: post #14
lawl wrote: post #12

This is REALLY scary if you have recently read the following article: Could we condemn criminals to suffer for hundreds of years? Biotechnology could let us extend convicts' lives 'indefinitely' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2580828/Could... Edit: Since people have some issues with the dailymail, feel free to pick any other article on this topic: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=prison+life+prol…

Quoting the Daily Fail? Seems unwise. Not even going to read it and neither should anyone else.

I'm not sure why that would be?

The idea is out there... Speculating if it will happen is pointless anyways, as it will probably take a long time before reversing aging could be done on scale.

So I really don't understand the downvote(s).

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#18

Post by tormeh »

ashray wrote: post #8
ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Its a promising result, but a lot of mice experiments don't have the same effects on people. It would be ironic if this technique failed on humans subjected to a lot of exposure to botox :-) The fear is that suddenly not only would the rich get richer, but they would never die. That leads to some fairly depressing scenarios.

The rich would not get richer. They would stay alive and stick around until they got poorer and eventually died.

That's not how capitalism works. Your earning potential increases with your capital, eventually making talent and effort negligible factors.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#19

Post by stcredzero »

ashray wrote: post #8
ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Its a promising result, but a lot of mice experiments don't have the same effects on people. It would be ironic if this technique failed on humans subjected to a lot of exposure to botox :-) The fear is that suddenly not only would the rich get richer, but they would never die. That leads to some fairly depressing scenarios.

The rich would not get richer. They would stay alive and stick around until they got poorer and eventually died.

In Larry Niven's Known Space books, some of the rich stuck around so long that they became hyper bored and so decided to become super criminals. He has one such minor character who is a woman over two centuries old, with all of the experience and knowledge that entails, with the body of an 18 year old.

Re: A New—and Reversible—Cause of Aging

#20

Post by mavdi »

ashray wrote: post #8
ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Its a promising result, but a lot of mice experiments don't have the same effects on people. It would be ironic if this technique failed on humans subjected to a lot of exposure to botox :-) The fear is that suddenly not only would the rich get richer, but they would never die. That leads to some fairly depressing scenarios.

The rich would not get richer. They would stay alive and stick around until they got poorer and eventually died.

You really haven't understood how this works
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