Aging & Longevity News and Discussions

[raklian]

Random thought/question I had:

At what point in time will the average lifespan (either globally or in at least one specific country) pass 100 years?

Based on a rough extrapolation I just made -- 2150 or thereabouts, for most countries.

But life expectancy could become sort of meaningless if we reach LEV.

Life expectancy will change into Fatal Accident Probability.

[Cyber_Rebel]

I'm actually wondering how LEV would impact public policy in certain places. Say for example, people would be more inclined to support gun legislation here in the United States, due to the risk to their indefinite lifespans it presents. If the goal becomes to mitigate "accidents" then this would be sensible to consider. Same holds true for car accidents, which the public may start to feel more actual risk towards, incentivizing more investment towards self-driving vehicles.

It may be of selfish means inherently, but it would be a logical risk adverse way of approaching issues here, which some would be inclined to immediately benefit from.

[raklian]

I'm actually wondering how LEV would impact public policy in certain places. Say for example, people would be more inclined to support gun legislation here in the United States, due to the risk to their indefinite lifespans it presents. If the goal becomes to mitigate "accidents" then this would be sensible to consider. Same holds true for car accidents, which the public may start to feel more actual risk towards, incentivizing more investment towards self-driving vehicles.

It may be of selfish means inherently, but it would be a logical risk adverse way of approaching issues here, which some would be inclined to immediately benefit from.

Good thoughts.

And what if we become immortal in the sense we can recover from what we today consider fatal gunshot wounds? Will we regress back to lax gun legislation?

[Cyber_Rebel]

Good thoughts.

And what if we become immortal in the sense we can recover from what we today consider fatal gunshot wounds? Will we regress back to lax gun legislation?

I can only see that outcome with advanced molecular nanotechnology, or perhaps perfected 3D printing of organ replacement. But if that were to happen just imagine the obscene TikTok challenges we have now on steroids. There are always going to be those willing to push the limits I'd think, and Darwin will always be there to reward them for it. I'm no expert about this, but even biological immortality (not just LEV) has to have some sort of physics limit I'd assume.

On this specifically though, I'd actually say no with regard to guns purely, because what would even be the point of them in such case? Even if gun legislation became lax, the firearms have already lost their "teeth" unless we went towards something a bit more dangerous to post-human biotechnology. And in that case, the very concept of a firearm might be outdated compared to other methods which might affect us. So, a win-win situation depending on how you look at it.

People in America are kind of (I'll be nice and just say programed) to think firearms as a way of safety, protection, and general identity in a sense. Remove that entirely, and you remove the reasoning behind the NRA's existence. At this point, they'd probably only be ceremonial at best,

[Ken_J]

Larry Nivens Known Universe setting has radical life extension as part of it's worldbuilding. It's interesting to see a world with the ability to extend lifespan is just part of the worlds.

As for surviving bodily damage, I'm Hopeful for Cyberbrains/braincases like Ghost in the shell. The full life support cybernetic enclosure for a brain that can be installed like a hard drive in flesh or machine bodies. With concepts like 'organs on a chip' and life support systems and miniaturization of electronics and mechanics... I think we could get versions of this before Nanotech in any substancial sense.

I think life extension like discussed in the link above is they are often talking about genetics, and chemically. Which can go a long way, don't get me wrong, but mechanical failure and wearing out or accumulated damage... replacement with newly engineered parts will be needed, and the replacing process is itself damaging and will leave scarring that will accumulate over time, and I've met some amputees that have had dozens of surgical revisions to manage the damage that is done by previous surgeries. I've also heard cases of suicidal people who have so damaged their own wrists and circulatory system there that no interventions or natural healing from repairs will work on them anymore.

That kind of wear and tear will put a cap on the survivability of any and all tissues for too long. but being able to just install the brain in a clone or artificial body by a connector (as surgical grafts would leave some damage at the connection point, and subsequent repeats would likely have to be done further and further up the dwindling wick of the nervous system, but an implanted connector built for the use could be more robust) would be a huge ROI for development. But even then there likely to be brain wear out and cumulative damage that no natural or engineered biological process can fully resolve. and so we are likely to see, biological and technological replacement therapies that lead to ship of theseus questions. but that likely really only starts coming into play once life spans start to exceed 180-230 years.

It'd be great if we can reach the low hanging fruits fast enough, to afford many of us the century of work time to solve the issues of longevity before they even happen.

The pessimist in me says there may be a point where we reach mutually exclusive course choices, and either way we go will result in unresolved issues that now cannot be resolved, resulting in a life cap that no amount of time or brilliance will be able to work through. But Like my cancer survivor mother says: "It's not a question of if cancer (death) will come back, it's when. And the goal is to manage it so that that time is when it's too late to matter" basically cancer can be working up to returning, and it won't matter, because you're 90-110 and lived a life enough to be taken out in your sleep by old age or something else.

so I think if we can just make it to the starting line of LEV, that it won't ever really be me that get's indefinite lifetimes to live, somewhere along the way we'll 'fix' or replace or otherwise change something about me, and there may be a sudden or maybe a gradual dissolving of the me who experiences my existence, and there will just be somebody else piloting things, convinced it's me with all my memories and ambitions, but I'll have faded away. But that's like dieing in your sleep, you don't know it'll happen, you don't have long drawn out suffering or anticipation of stopping existence, it just occurs and nobody knows for sure if it did or not. and if it comes after 350 years or 2500, that's seems like a better deal than what's on offer now.

[wjfox]

New treatment reverses epigenetic age of rats by 67.4%

4th November 2023

A groundbreaking study into anti-aging has reported significant rejuvenation effects using exosomes, tiny particles which can be extracted from biological fluids such as blood plasma.

In recent years, the prospect of being able to halt or even reverse aging has begun to seem less like science fiction and more like a scientific milestone that could emerge in the relatively near future.

We have seen the age of skin cells reversed by 30 years, for example. A gene has been identified that makes heart cells appear 10 years younger. AI has found molecules with potential anti-aging effects. Young blood plasma given to older mice has reduced aging by 54% across multiple tissues. These are just some of the more notable developments – many others are reported on a regular basis.

Now, scientists have revealed what could be one of the most promising advances yet.

[...]

Epigenetic age measurements found major improvements in the liver (+77.6%), blood (+68.2%), heart (+56.5%), and hypothalamus (+29.6%), with an average tissue rejuvenation of +67.4%, equivalent to an 80-year-old human reverting to the age of 26. Learning and memory of the old rats given E5 showed a similarly dramatic increase.

https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... l-rats.htm

[raklian]

New treatment reverses epigenetic age of rats by 67.4%

Epigenetic age measurements found major improvements in the liver (+77.6%), blood (+68.2%), heart (+56.5%), and hypothalamus (+29.6%), with an average tissue rejuvenation of +67.4%, equivalent to an 80-year-old human reverting to the age of 26. Learning and memory of the old rats given E5 showed a similarly dramatic increase.

https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... l-rats.htm

Looks like the probability we will benefit from age reversal to some extent in the next 40 years has gone up. I'm leaning towards having a better chance than a random 50/50.

Dr. Sinclair's Information Loss Theory of Aging seminal paper in Nature and now this. What a time to be alive.

[raklian]

[raklian]

If you want to live to see LEV, avoid any alcohol consumption at all costs, including red wine.

[raklian]

Zombie Cells Have a Weakness. An Experimental Anti-Aging Therapy Exploits It.

By Shelly Fan
November 7, 2023

Senescent cells are biochemical waste factories.

A new study suggests that a way to wipe them out is a medicine already approved for eye problems.

Dubbed “zombie cells,” senescent cells slowly accumulate with age or with cancer treatments. The cells lose their ability to perform normal functions. Instead, they leak a toxic chemical soup into their local environment, increasing inflammation and damaging healthy cells.

Lucky for us, this constant release of chemicals comes at a price. Zombie cells use a “factory” inside the cell to package and ship their toxic payload to neighboring cells and nearby tissues. All cells have these factories. But the ones in zombie cells go into overdrive.

The new study nailed down a protein pair that’s essential to the zombie cells’ toxic spew and found an FDA-approved drug that inhibits the process. When given to 22-month-old mice—roughly the human equivalent of 70 years old—they had better kidney, liver, and lung function within just two months of treatment.


https://singularityhub.com/2023/11/07/z ... ploits-it/