Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the argument would go "there's no fundamental reason we can't fix telomeres".
Isn't the reason cancer? Eventually the DNA copying errors add up.
You also fix the copying errors.
New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
91–100 of 535 posts
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#92Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#93There is no physical/chemical/biological reason you can’t live indefinitely with the health and vitality of a 25-35 year old. Aging isn’t a law of nature.
Physical/chemical maybe not, but biologically there might be strong reasons to not allow a complex organism to live forever. Evolution might be accounting for a lot of the reasons leading to the death of the individual organism. For one it would stimulate evolution itself and also alleviate the inevitable resource pressure. A species that lives forever must adjust to reproduce relatively slowly to not overwhelm the l…
You are mixing up evolutionary incentives with real chemistry-driven biological constraints. The base incentives of reproduction-driven natural selection may make aging inevitable under natural selection, but that says nothing of artificial selection or bioengineering.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
> no physical/chemical/biological reason you can’t live indefinitely with the health and vitality of a 25-35 year old We don’t know this. We know of no creatures as biologically complex as humans that demonstrate biological immortality. That might be because nature never bothered. It might be because it can’t. But you are generally correct: we have strong evidence healthspan-increasing interventions are not only poss…
Two points: (1) Yes we do have an example: us. Why is a baby’s cells young and healthy, and not the age of the parents? Dormant eggs are not the answer as you’d still get accumulating damage over time. Turns out there are mechanisms for cellular reprogramming which rejuvenates cells. There are mechanisms for making ages cells indistinguishable from young cells. We just haven’t fully harnessed this capability on thera…
> No physical law prevents restoring tissue to healthy young state. We just haven’t developed the tools to do so (yet)
You’re speculating too far beyond what we know to speak so definitively. Plenty of biology and even thermodynamics suggests there may be limits. That doesn’t prove they exist. But it’s in the same category as saying there are no know physics which prohibit time travel or transcending the human condition into a state of pure consciousness. Like, sure, there aren’t, but to use your analogy, ancient Romans didn’t know about the speed of light.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#95It is ironic that many of the people obsessed with life extension are also those deeply involved in creating systems that deliberately waste the time we already do have, via addictive algorithms, clickbait content, unnecessary consumerism, etc. “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achie…
I was already familiar with Seneca and that quote, but reading it now it sounds condescending. Of course a stoic would say that. Even if we concede that most people “waste” most of life, claiming it is “long enough” and we have a “sufficiently generous amount of it” is just opinion and not something to be prescribed to others. “Long enough” for what? For what Seneca enjoyed, maybe, he had nothing to do and only a fra…
There seem to be a few stoics on Royal Road O:-)
https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/search?globalFilters=fals...
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me, the sad part about dying isn’t the loss of agency in the world as much as missing the rest of the movie. At 43 I already feel like I’ve mostly realized my potential and I’m just here to raise my kids and then I become a burden. But I really want to know what happens next!
In Hollywood, they have 12 types of scenarios. Choose your type of life. Tragedy? Love story? Adventure? Becoming someone? Life is too short to experience all scenarios that is why we want live longer… After 60 life sucks. Not always but very often. So we should use Tim Urban's life-week calendar to being aware how little time we have and not waste it.
Immortality is a long time to waste on shit that don't matters.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I feel like we should be ok with living 80ish or more years and then clocking out. Some people would very much prefer if their consciousness wouldn't have an end date, after which they'll never experience or think anything and will just cease to exist.
Maybe, but I feel like most would eventually reach same conclusion as the (majority of) protagonists in the good place…
That's just terror management of death.[1] That's why we say things like "death gives life meaning".
Utter bollocks.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not dreaming big enough. "Accept death, it's beautiful" is cope. It's not beautiful. It's suboptimal horror. I find it offensive that so many "universe experiencing itself" entities willingly accept a return to dust. Our sun dies, and with it everything on this planet will become metal inclusions in a decaying solar body. You know what doesn't matter in light of that? All other perspectives. Every other concep…
Consider that some people have gotten past it, and that it's not a "cope". Enlightenment is real even if it horrifies you because you aren't there yet.
Sure if it helps you sleep at night, but it also leads to a lot of unhealthy behaviors such as drinking, smoking, and not taking care of yourself.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not dreaming big enough. "Accept death, it's beautiful" is cope. It's not beautiful. It's suboptimal horror. I find it offensive that so many "universe experiencing itself" entities willingly accept a return to dust. Our sun dies, and with it everything on this planet will become metal inclusions in a decaying solar body. You know what doesn't matter in light of that? All other perspectives. Every other concep…
Consider that some people have gotten past it, and that it's not a "cope". Enlightenment is real even if it horrifies you because you aren't there yet.
Enlightenment is cope. It's literally coping so hard you enjoy the cope itself.
Re: New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not dreaming big enough. "Accept death, it's beautiful" is cope. It's not beautiful. It's suboptimal horror. I find it offensive that so many "universe experiencing itself" entities willingly accept a return to dust. Our sun dies, and with it everything on this planet will become metal inclusions in a decaying solar body. You know what doesn't matter in light of that? All other perspectives. Every other concep…
Consider that some people have gotten past it, and that it's not a "cope". Enlightenment is real even if it horrifies you because you aren't there yet.
I've visited that space before. Its greatest tragedy isn't the ideas it births, but how seductive the nihilism becomes. You recognize its smallness once you've outgrown it.