Here is a short snapshot on how episode 8 (Can We Live forever?).

Over the past centuries, human life expectancy has doubled. This is a target already met, but the question is whether it is possible to overcome death ones for all. Is it really possible to rectify on-going degeneration that develops in our DNA? Or is it even possible to render our body more resilient by using better chemistry of life.

This upcoming episode provide interesting insight on how to eternity is defined in respect to human lifespan.

Video Insight: Cryogenic Preservation

Video Insight: Forever Young


Video Insight: The Omega Point

Source: Discovery (On Science)

Anti Aging, Immortality

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“The moment when technological changes become so rapid and profound, it represents a rupture in fabric of human history”, Lev Grossman said.

By mid-2020’s, computers will be able to acquire the human-level of intelligence. Kurzweil also estimates that during that time, there will be an enormous increase in the demands and power of ‘computers and a massive reduction of the cost with regards to labour’. This will have a billion times of artificial intelligence as compared to the number of human intelligence that exists today.

He was quoted saying to TIME that, “There are people who can accept computers being more intelligent than humans. But the idea of significant changes to human longevity – that seems to be particularly controversial. People invested a lot of personal effort into certain philosophies dealing with the issue of life and death. I mean – That’s major reason we have religion”.

He was then asked on whether computers can replicate the biochemical complexity of an organic brain. He says that he does not see any fundamental difference between flesh and silicon that would prevent the latter from thinking.

Therefore, he ended the interview in TIME with a remarkable statement that in the future, biotechnology and nanotechnology give us the power to manipulate our bodies and the world around us at a very detailed manner, even at the molecular level.

Source: IBTimes

Gerontology, Longevity

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On its own this type of data could make ones head swim. However, the pundits are now saying that we might be getting closer to the time when medical science can actually increase human life spans by twofold. This would be incredible if not for the fact that it is based firmly in falsehoods.

For a couple decades of new printed editions, the Guinness Book of World Records said that “there was not a single topic more covered in vanity, deceit, falsehood and deliberate fraud than the extremes of human longevity”

Data And Deceit

The chief instrument utilized to sway our thinking that we are surviving longer is statistical data. Certainly this information has its usefulness when it presents particular information; however, it may also be utilized to influence false hypotheses’. Due to the fact that many individuals appear fascinated where science data is concerned, the problem then becomes quite large.

We have been told time and again that statistics are factual. As true as this may be, those who lie still utilize statistics. As Mark Twain once said – “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Information normally utilized to define progress made in the realm of life expectancy is deceptive – at best. It utilizes a procedure based on less infant mortality, to imply that humans are surviving for longer periods. This kind of silliness, as much as it makes for exciting policy and money making potential – it hardly ever exhibits the legitimacy.

We need to understand that statistics first and foremost are medians, not specific facts. The phrase “life expectancy” simply defines the projected median age at the time of mortality. This means that when it is recorded that life expectancy has increased, it only means that based upon averages, a person born today is going to survive for a longer period than the person born in prior years, using extenuating reasons.

Investigating The Fable Of Longevity

At the start of the twentieth century, numerous kids passed away at a very young age, and these days that development has for the most part reversed itself. As today’s kids grow into adults, Their added years of living means the median age rises, which embellishes the stats when evaluated to years gone by.

In the previous ninety years or so – from about 1920 to now – The American infant death rate has dropped from better than one hundred per one thousand to 10.9 per thousand. However, throughout this period, life expectancy has actually risen from fifty to approximately eighty years, so it’s been said. That is about thirty years we are being told to accept as fact.

So think about this – Based on statistics, an adult living in 1920 who reached sixty years old could believe he would live for approximately sixteen more years. Currently, a sixty year old mature adult could believe he can live for twenty more years – or roughly eighty years old.

So, rather than the thirty year enhancement, we are really staring at only a four year disparity in life expectancy. In the last ninety or so years the only striking modification has been our ability to make it to the age of sixty years of age.

Stated in a different way, theoretically, fifty out of one hundred infants born in 1920 perish at birth or as infants and the remainder survive to one hundred years old, the median life span is an age of fifty years old. If every baby out of the one hundred born in 2011 live through their infancy and reach eighty years old – the average life expectancy would then be eighty years old. An initial look makes it appear that those born in 2011 are surviving thirty years more than the ones born in 1920, however, that number is only the median; showing that more infants were perishing.

The people in our culture that arrive at the age of eighty or ninety years of age remain the single generation adding to the factual statistics. Any others wind up in the median group – that are simply guesses and not actual assurances that we are surviving for a longer period.

Manic Age Reversal

Humans are too easily swayed by declarations of longevity because the idea of dying is off putting to say the least. The idea of extended life or utilizing age reversal products has been ingrained into us due to fancy media presentations and professional marketing campaigns. Nothing however, can reverse, impede, stop the progress of or even slow the progression of age. We are only able to enhance the resistance of our physical being to the many damaging things surrounding us regularly. Stated a different way, we can augment our physical defenses within our body and elevate our chance of establishing a healthy lifestyle in order to arrive at a happy old age. This is referred to as reaching our most inherent potential.

The ones among us, who do not believe this is the case, insist on masking our outer age indicators by utilizing cosmetics, Botox, cosmetic surgery and verbal lies to others. They mess with the inevitable attempting to flee from the unavoidable physical decline via counterproductive and even ridiculous methods.

Anti aging supplements or drugs are one more naïve observance. The scientific and medical communities have a huge control over the thoughts of individuals that are prone to these notions. However, there are two camps pushing the silliness to consumers – the conventional and unconventional. They reach the deepest of our fears and desires for longevity and extended well being mainly utilizing immoral methods.

Can Current Medical Science Extend Life?

Things that can kill us these days have altered significantly from the early twentieth century. Rather than infectious illnesses, today we witness larger quantities of degenerative ailments. Unfortunately, no matter how much we wish the cheesy declarations and promises of medical breakthrough drugs being able to fend off aging were true,  fact is human bodies just wear out. These methods can be utilized [with not much luck] to postpone, diminish, avoid, or eliminate chronic degenerative conditions – in the end they just prolong the inevitable sadness.

Today we are being hoodwinked and silenced into contentedly accepting a scheme that is far from backing up the unbelievable declarations being made. There is not a light in any tunnel where illness cures are concerned – no matter how many multi billions are poured into research.

As a global village we are staring down never before seen rates of deadly illnesses like heat disease, and cancers not to mention other ways of dying that simply can’t aid in extending life spans. Specifically at a time such as that, anything that breeds excitement about potential longevity is welcomed at our own risk.
 
Rather than pointlessly searching to extend our life or reverse age progression – by denying and masking our superficial appearance better that we place an emphasis upon a natural way of life and lessen our risk of disease. The kind of life we live is important rather than living in pain and discontent we can strive for a healthy life now. This is our best chance at sustaining peak physical and cerebral functionality.

These declarations that extended life spans are equal to disability are reckless and do not much more than make for a healthy profit in the coffers of the major drug corporations. Health professionals and news services need to keeps some kind of truth and preciseness in their reporting of this topic rather than deceiving the general population.

Aging with refinement has its own wonderful bounty such as acquired experience and wisdom, skills and polish. However, our largest success will be our capacity to live with the inevitability of our future and do so with serenity and acceptance rather than dissent. Being to obsessed about our physical being limits our ability to be thoughtful and opens us up to wrongheaded choices.

Our ability to provide what we know to society and family by being thoughtful of others instead of ourselves is one manner of assisting more. If we ever hop to do this to our best ability we need to maximize our biological capability and potential. This is how we can lead a fit and extended life and as our body begins to wear out, we can hope for the best and pray for a quick and painless decline.

Anti Aging Theories, Immortality, Longevity

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As scientific research into the medicine of human regeneration via stem cell therapies moves forward, more knowledge is acquired regarding longevity, life saving transplants – both organ and tissue – and with geneticists untangling secrets of senescence, science fiction is rapidly becoming reality.

Strangely, the people insisting that there are ethics concerning immortality have a preconceived answer in their heads even before debate erupts – it is NOT RIGHT! Much is being written in books, articles and editorials concerning individual moral torment from both sides of the issue about human beings sticking around much longer than God himself intended when he created our genetic codes.

What is it about the thought of potential immortality that strikes fear into so many? There are many reasons if a person spent a few minutes perusing the angst driven scrawling of the anti ager sect. More often than not the argument concerning medical research to develop a world of log living oldsters would cost us too much money – as if it came straight out of our own personal savings. It would be a horrific experiment, specifically on the oldsters themselves since a longer life would mean more age related ailments to contend with like osteoporosis, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and dementia, not to mention gum disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Who needs this kind of hassle?

Still one more argument is it isn’t right that we humans attempt to achieve immortality since it goes against the innate manner of things – it disrupts the tidy order of life. The maximum life we can expect and rarely achieve is about one hundred years old. Some manage longer due to pristine genetics and luck. One of us was even recorded to have survived to one hundred twenty two years old – a woman in France. When we speak of these extended ages we are way beyond what our Creator or nature ever intended for us.

Another concern about a world of immortals is that the younger generations will be denied their opportunity to shine – as if they could be stopped somehow. It might also get really boring and oppressive if these young and potential shining lights never had their opportunity to thrive in the world. The planet would be full of egotistical and ineffective individuals believing they are worthy of as much additional life as they desire – perpetually.

Do these topics of debate deserve our attention? Is it really that immoral to look to government and private industry to source out new ideas and concrete methods that would enable us all to live much lengthier lives?

So Can We At Least Live Longer – If Not Forever?

To begin with, we must remove the question of immortality from the equation. Nothing manmade yet exists – or is even close – that will aid humanity toward everlasting life. Some experts think that will change sooner than later – we will see. Forget about living forever at least in this lifetime. The real argument is whether we can actually extend life to the outer limits of existing life spans.

The debate that we should cease our effort to extend life because we will only grow older, more fragile and dependent is just ridiculous. No one is recommending that we break the bank to promote medical research in pursuit of life extension with the additional pain and suffering that goes along with advanced age. The plan surrounding drastic life extension is to be able to live a reasonably healthy life for a much longer time period. If life extension means staying alive longer while living in pain or worse still, the fog of Alzheimer’s disease – there really is no debate. However, this is not the issue or the argument.

As far as breaching some innate restriction if we last longer than we do now – whose restriction would that be? Our natural life spans have already been doubled in the past two millennia. Does this mean we are in the midst of an abnormal and corrupt period of our human existence?

If you look at the lives of many in the bible there is much evidence suggesting humans lived for hundreds of years. If you are not interested in biblical proof, take a look at evolution as a whole and you will notice there is no law regarding the length of time a particular species will survive. Some insects are here for a few days and you’ll find a species of sea urchin living for a thousand years – who decides? Nature has no cards in this game of how long we will live for – just that we will perpetuate the species. Innate life spans do not exist – only our capacity to do more with our medical health, industrial, technological and agricultural abilities.

There is a bit of fact in the theory of long living seniors making it tough on the younger generations to step up and show what they have to offer. No problem exists here wither if we can alter some existing social and cultural behaviors and rules that will make it easier for youth to shine and resources to be available for everyone. An obvious modification is to adjust the retirement age upwards but posting a time limit on the length of time a person can hold specific employment. This permits movement up the ladder for youth and fresh ideas.

A form of affirmative action for young people could be installed so the leadership ranks would be available to those who deserve the opportunity. At the same time employers could provide some enticing retirement packages for those who wish to opt out of the rat race early.

It also isn’t a vanity issue or self indulgent for people to want to extend their lives. Ask anyone close to your like your grandkids or friends, children or life mates if they want you around longer. It might be somewhat vain to contemplate immortality but the vast majority of those interested simply have a desire to be there loner for their loved ones.

Regardless of all the whining and allegations being made, there is precious little evidence that having a desire to live longer is immoral or something terrible. There is no case to support this and in fact it is a normal human condition to want to try and live longer for most. The species demands it. With that in mind, maintain your exercise regimen, offer support for regenerative medical research and find a source of sustainable income that pays well into your late nineties at least – you might need the money.

Anti Aging Theories, Immortality, Longevity

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The world is getting closer to this point due to organizations like SENS [Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence] – a venture looking at age prevention and a cure for the same. This is not merely an proposal, but rather an in depth and thorough design to restore every kind of miniscule cell and molecular harm we accumulate over the years. There are actually methods of doing just this operating right now either in their initial stages or in more advanced forms up to clinical trials. There are existing technologies available that beckon for a combined effort.

It is thought that every portion of the program should be functioning in mice over the next decade and perhaps another ten years to see these same protocols functioning within human beings. When these treatments finally arrive we will not be witness to gradual frailty and independence loss as we grow old and succumb to the ravages of age connected disease. No doubt that we are eventually going to perish – auto accidents, some new virus, random shark attack – we just won’t see that long term decline that accompanies today’s deaths.

The obvious question is “will we see these in time if we are alive presently?” Most likely. Due to the fact the treatments are for the repair of harm built up over time they will be useable by those of us in middle age who are suffering from a good deal of this type of injurious harm. Some believe that that first thousand year old could possibly be about age sixty right now. The process is quite complex since the whole aging process is complicated.

Just now there are seven chief kinds of molecular and cellular harm that will gradually take its toll on us all. This includes those cells that disappear and are not replenished along with chromosome transmutation. These effects are all repairable utilizing technology that is currently available or is in the midst of production.

Younger Not Fragile

Our life expectancy will be far more unpredictable than it is today since many people pass away within a slim time range of roughly sixty five years old to about ninety years of age. The difference will be that people will not be getting more decrepit and fragile over time as is the case now. The median age will hover about a few thousand years or so. Certainly this is all speculative at best regarding ages but there is a basis for thought given the rate at which people are dying these days. As a teenager today who is conscious of risk, being raised in a well off, low crime neighborhood – their chance of death over the following 365 days is a good deal below one in a thousand meaning if things remained that way that person could have a fifty – fifty chance of surviving beyond one thousand. Also remember that at no time during this period would that person be living in a fragile and decrepit state. Rather you would feel younger, from a physical and mental perspective right up to the point of going for a swim with the sharks.

Should Aging Really Be Cured?

Finding the cure for aging would dramatically alter our cultures in so many ways. The mere thought of this coming to fruition paralyzes some with fear as they believe we should simply accept the fact that we age and die. Many in the field of longevity think this manner of thought is deplorable since it is disallowing people their right to living a long life. Our capacity to have the option of living or dying is a rudimentary right for all. Equally, the responsibility to provide others this option is a most rudimentary responsibility.

What is the difference between saving a life and extending it? Both are providing the person with still MORE life. Simply stating that we should not find a cure for aging is nothing but pure ageism – the thought that older persons are not worth the time and cost of medical treatment.

Is This Playing God?

Some naysayer’s think we will get quite bored however, one must remember we will also have the resources to vastly improve the lives of all so we live life to the fullest. Folks will get a great education as well as have the extra time to exploit it – not unlike many enjoy today. These same people will never find a lack of novel things to do. There are those who think this is too close to playing God and is absolutely against all laws of nature. It is also totally unnatural if we simply accept life and our world as it is.

Since the time we first saw flames licking up from a fire and pushed around a circular stone as a first wheel we have displayed our intrinsic need to repair things that need to be repaired regarding ourselves and our surroundings. We would be revolting against the most rudimentary part of what being a human truly is if we make the choice to become old and fragile not to mention dependent on those around us when we had the option of living extremely extended lives. If accepting change and altering things in our world is playing God – this is yet another manner in which God himself made us just like him.

Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Immortality, Longevity

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As humans we do not tend to live for any extended period of time. There are some exceptions like Jeanne Calment who lived in France and passed away at the age of one hundred twenty two years – outliving every other human being who was registered. As a species we are living longer than ever before but there is no chance we can survive as they did in biblical times as Methuselah did to 969 years. Humans are self restricting – living to our median age of three score and ten – with a few notable exceptions. During this time we accumulate money, power and any other resource that makes us wealthier.

 There are those who are able to assemble these great riches during their lives and then bequest their wealth to their remaining offspring, in an effort to have it stay in the genetic family. As this happens over generations there is a propensity toward the development of a landed aristocracy, riches and resources accumulated to the point that certain families become so wealthy it is impossible for them to be extricated from their lofty heights as they ferociously cling to their power and possessions.

In America, there is a tendency to contemplate our society as one of meritocracy rather than an aristocracy and a number of our central principles echo this model. Paying an estate tax is one method of leveling the field of play as it put a damper on inherited influence. Initially considered inheritance taxation [or as some called it a “death tax”], estate taxation regulations were engineered to circumvent wealth from becoming too concentrated to only a few. It was meant to fracture mega accumulations of riches while producing some revenue for the government doing little if any harm to the economy. America in 1986 had a tax rate of roughly 50% on estates that were inherited and worth five hundred thousand dollars and the ones worth more than ten million dollars were nailed for 77%.

To this point we have talked about humans who perish and leave behind an accumulation of riches for other humans. However, there are other entities that are not actually mortal but have been given certain human rights.

Corporate entities have been given rights more frequently of late that were previously only granted to human beings. Corporations can be exceedingly long living entities, gathering ever increasing wealth, control and resources spanning numerous generations. They could potentially outdo not only our human longevity, but also those of the memorable biblical oldsters.

Presently there are eleven corporations existing that are over one thousand years old! They are hardly biblical entities. The most aged industrial corporate entity comes in at over six hundred years of age and is Stora Kopparberg Bergslags Aktiebolag in Sweden. Its claim to ancient fame was the funding of King Gustavus during the Thirty Year War from 1618 – 1648 that settled a Swedish authority throughout most of Europe for nearly a century – now that’s power.

A more contemporary kind of corporation started to appear at the dawn of the seventeenth century and there are roughly five hundred corporations that have survived for over three hundred years. No way a human entity can compete with that type of longevity in a single field of endeavor – corporate immortality or not – over their life span. In America these corporate entities have the capacity to grow and become stronger and varied as they age – unlike the human aging path which is one of decline and decay generally through ill health.

All that said; think for that moment – artificial humans – highly developed, self-aware, self centered artificial intelligence that almost seems as though it comes with a soul.

Think about that entity with an almost human like cleverness and the capacity to experience fear and anguish and that can communicate a concern for its own safety and self-protection. Mike Trader discussed this in his writing “Do Artificial Beings Deserve Human Rights?” talking of mobile machines that appear so human like we might not be able to discern between the two. The robotic Bina48, an earlier version, brings on an inclination urging us to bring to life seemingly human looking androids.

Incredible to say but even when they do not appear human – but clearly speaking and seemingly self aware, emotionally intelligent – specifically those that show fear, sadness, a sense of humor or some other human like emotiveness that we as human equate with being characteristically human we start to think the entity is in fact, human. It is bound to happen that there will be some difficulty in denying this sort of entity the human rights to life, liberty and even a pursuit toward happiness.

How are we as humans with an expiration date supposed to deal with this sort of immortality? If this sort of entity can be given human rights with no discernible limitations to lifespan, enabling it to accumulate resources ad infinitum – would this not be creating a new aristocracy and even established worldly pecking order?

Death and inheritance taxes restrict the ability of a family to pass forward their accumulated wealth and resources to some extent. Corporations that are managed by mere mortal humans are controlled by certain checks and balances as the staff is forever being modified over time. However, the potentiality of artificial, self protecting persons has none of these innate limitations.

Maybe, just maybe we humans will arrive there at some point. Scientists are striving to find methods of extreme life extension for healthy human longevity but it will not happen in the coming decades. Superior artificial intelligence might be. Vernor Vinge stated in 1993 that we will have produced an artificial, ultra human intelligence inside of a couple decades from now. Renowned life extensionist, Ray Kurzweil [The Singularity Is Near] believes we will witness this type of AI in our own lifetime.

Unquestionably we couldn’t require that this sort of entity needs to expire by a certain age – this would be the equivalent of murder, would it not? However, permitting complete human rights to possible immortal humans could develop a permanent over class. Conversely, restricting human rights to AI entities causes a predetermined kind of racism against these entities, an abomination to our idea of human rights.

What appears certain is that eventually we will be required to attend to this challenge and handle the cost and fallout. Methuselah from mechanics – whatever will we do when you come knocking? At the least we should be planning for your arrival now.

Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Immortality, Longevity

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The indefinite force of these cells is present in the cell’s potential to proliferate and grow indefinitely. The fascinating thing is that few people know that these cells originally came from a poor Southern tobacco farmer, named Henrietta Lacks. At Johns Hopkins University, she was provided with special treatment for cervical cancer. During the treatment, the doctor used samples of her body tissues to progress in research. She deceased some 60 years ago from cancer; nevertheless, her cells are still being used today but without her consent.

For instance, a book entitled The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca provides insight about how the cells have been used over years.

According to Skloot, Lacks’ cells were first being used in 1951. In that time, the potential use of these cells was unknown.

In that time, there weren’t any need to provide consents before taking tissue samples. It was a normal thing. Nonetheless, the unregulated medical treatments had its drawbacks as people could be injected with radioactive materials simply for experimental purposes.

The medical tests and research that were done on Henrietta’s body tissues could never have been predicted 60 years ago. It would be impossible to forecast that someone’s body tissues would become as important as the HeLa cell line.

In that time, DNA wasn’t even discovered. It is frankly logic that consent and rights associated to cells were totally inexistent.

For instance, when Lacks was provided with treatments for her cervical cancer, she was provided with chemotherapy and radiation. These treatments made her infertile, and the medical professionals didn’t even acknowledge that the medical intervention carried such a risk with it.

In the past, doctors did rarely give details of what medical conditions the patient was suffering from. People were simply given treatment and sent home.

According to Skloot, the treatment offered by the Johns Hopkins’ public ward was of a relatively high quality considering Lacks’ economic status as an African-American woman.

The philosophy in the past was simple. We provide you with medical care that you wouldn’t afford otherwise, and the disbursement will simply be that you will be used in research.

Moreover, America’s medical history has been a cause of division. For example, African American patients were commonly provided with inferior treatments. Besides, black patient received medical intervention only when their medical condition had progressed to a severe stage. They were also not provided with similar pain management treatment as for white patients. The result was that black patients were more likely to die from their diseases than white patients.

The same condition applied for Lacks. However, the struggle is who is going to earn all the profit from these stolen cells? The HeLa cells were the first cell to be grown and equally commercialized.

Currently, trading of tissues, cells and genes has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. According to Skloot the whole industry started with her cells.

For instance, Dr. George Gay was the one who first cultivated Lacks’ cells. He did also distribute the cell to colleagues at no cost. Some years after, even a factory was established for the production of HeLa (Henrietta Lacks) cells. There were nearly 6 trillion HeLa cells produced per week for profit.

Skloot claims that growing cells was often too time-consuming so scientists preferred to buy cells so that they could concentrate on the research itself. So in the past, growing and selling cells was mainly for science purposes with a diminutive profit.

However, today everything has changed a Vial of HeLa cells are available online for nearly $250 per vial.

The question is who should have the right to earn a profit from HeLa’s cells. The answer to this concern is complex. First if the cells of Henrietta hadn’t been used on the cancer table then they would already have died. It has required innovative technology to keep her cell line alive, and they have today helped in the development of various medical treatments. In other words, the HeLa cell line has saved the lives of millions of people.

Source: NPR.org

Immortality, Stem cells

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The article describes how Human Biological Immortality will turn out to be a direct result of natural evolution. This natural process can be accelerated in various ways like via the concept of ELPIs (Extreme Lifespan Through Perpetual-Equalising Interventions).

Marios Kyriazis MD, Biomedical Gerontologist says that the change from evolution to natural selection after the Darwinian notion is a fundamental transition in biology. The Kuhnian paradigm shift might soon be seen. (Kuhnian paradigm shift = change in assumption and belief associated to human evolution).

Aging as a cause of death is a phenomenon that scientific doctrines are unable to explain. However, progress and new paradigm provide insight why it is important for human to live for centuries for human intellect to evolve. Death caused by aging, is considered as a premature reason for decease and should be altered if not even eradicated.

Understanding Evolution

Our world operates through a very complex mechanism. For instance, organisms do constantly evolve to self-organise themselves into a higher level of dynamism. The whole universe ostensibly evolves in a similar way. Organisms do hierarchically progress to achieve exceedingly higher levels of complexity. Currently, the self-organisation of human neural tissues is considered as the most complex known evolution; human intelligence.

Since 14 to 20 billion years ago the universe began and the fundamental law of nature became prevalent. The gradual progress in the self-organization constantly occurred and organic life came to the existence some 4 billion years ago.
Since, 200 million years ago life became even more complex as the Darwinian Theory of evolution came to application. Living organisms began to evolve based on natural selection. Organisms slowly become more complex to reach higher levels of superiority. This progress constantly increased in pace. Besides, the modern human, (Homo sapiens sapiens), came to existence some 200 thousand years ago. Since then humans have steadily kept evolving and now we (humans) are even able to manipulate the evolution of the human species itself through technology.

Singularity

The notion of Singularity is increasingly important when talking about exponential progress.. It applies to ‘Technological and development Singularities’. The notion behind singularity is that progress increase at an exponential rate.

“…the idea that the most complex of the universe’s extant systems (galaxies, stars, habitable planets, living systems, and now technological systems) use progressively less space, time, energy and matter (“STEM”) to create the next level of complexity in their evolutionary development”.

Video on: The Singularity of Ray Kurzweil

In other words, singularity explains that the progress occurring by natural selection of evolution will gradually become less relevant as technology and development of human intellects are taking the forerun.

Humans will change through the ‘Developmental Singularity processes. This implies that complexity will be reaped at a faster speed. It might not take long before digital-assisted biological development transcends humans into ‘transhumans’. This transition will take decades. However, it will no longer take thousands or millions of years to see ‘radical progress’.

The interesting thing is that, the progress in human intelligence has to be realised quickly to stay-in line with the order of natural laws of self-development. The whole theory on progress in human intelligence is based on the concept of human longevity. Technology is likely to make humans superior beings akin to some type of super humans with self-conscious and super-intelligent systems (like the internet).

This theory is contrary to that of the Darwinian evolution theory, which states that living creatures have to die fast to assure natural replacement. This notion is linked to the Disposable Soma Theory,

The evolution that occurs through natural selection is simply a function that produces things for a purpose and then naturally discards them. This assures that things constantly progress into more complexity organisms but with an end due to aging.

Death through aging can be ended if evolution via natural selection is stopped. It should also be noted that the natural evolution is a nasty process which perpetually seeks to increase complexity. This process will progress, even if it means the demise of the human species.

The possibility to achieve higher complexity with the use of technology-assisted human intelligence can but a stop to the rude natural end of life. Sustaining the life of neural tissues might be the secret to solve aging and to stop death.

Source: ELP Theory

Immortality, Nanotechnology

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Ray Kurzweil, is a futurist who predicts that the space-age scenario will soon become a reality, but the most interesting part of what he foretells is that computers are gradually out-mastering the human brain. It might thus soon be time for the human brain to integrate into the world of supercomputers. In one of his books entitled, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, he described how man and machines can merge into one being. He also speaks about diminutive “nanobots” which can be injected into our body for the purpose of repairing aging cells and thereby increasing human lifespan.

He describes a future where humans can modify their appearance based on will or conscious. In other words, people will be living within a supercomputer, forever. The same experiences as in the real world are supposed to be felt when within this artificial world.

General Viewpoints

People remain pessimistic about the viewpoint of Ray Kurzweil. If virtual immortality was to happen, certainly it wouldn’t occur before the 2030s. However, many experts suggest that it will never happen.

Neuroscientists David Linden from John Hopkins says that Kurzweil is suggesting that the comprehension of biology will take off at an exponential rate similarly to how the knowledge and ability of upgrade computers did. However, Liden says that the kind of knowledge that needs to progress is still a bit uncertain.

If we were to bet on the future the ruling answer would probably be that in the near-future people will still be living naturally. We will be born, live, breath, think and die in the traditional way.

Source: AARP

Immortality

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Science investigators ball park the number of genes in humans as more than a chicken yet less genes than the average grape vine. Quite humbling indeed. The jury is still out on the number of genetic components required to engineer a human.

The precise amount of genes that comprise the human genome is still an unknown; this even though scientists claimed to have concluded mapping the human genome over ten years ago. The program designed to interpret the genetic sitemap of a human should have shown all the protein generating genes required to engineer the body of a human being.

Steven Salzberg from the University of Maryland states that we not only lack the knowledge of what the genes all are, Scientists have no idea really just how many there are. The majority of guestimates claim the human gene total is in the neighborhood of twenty two thousand genes, this number being somewhere in between the quantity of genes a chicken has and the amount making up a grape plant.

The grape vines contain thirty thousand four hundred thirty four when last checked. The poultry contains sixteen thousand seven hundred thirty six genes; this amount is probably going to rise since science teams are still working toward completing the chicken genome. The same with the human genome, the total amount of genes for the other species is also not quite nailed down and will likely change.

To find the most precise approximation of the human gene quantity one must look to the Reference Sequence database [or RefSeq] that is compiled by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, according to Salzberg. He has a good argument for the appeal of the estimation, like the fact it includes all of the verified genes to this point and presented in a report revealed in the journal Genome Biology.

Based on the RefSeq data, humans are made up of twenty two thousand three hundred thirty three genes. One other database maintained by the government has the total human gene count at thirty eight thousand six hundred twenty one. A company called Gencode states the number is accurate at twenty one thousand six hundred seventy one so who can really be certain?

The disparity in the numbers is due to the fact that genes make up just roughly one percent of the three billion As, Ts, Gs, and Cs that form the human genetic instruction book. Also it should be noted that these genes are not simply handily spread out in a single file of ongoing genetic code. Rather these human genes are located within protein programming components known as exons, combined with lengths of DNA that do not produce protein. These placeholders are referred to as introns. Just to add to the confusion, every exon within the gene programs for just a part of a protein. Cells will comingle and match unique amalgams of exons to make a variety of proteins.

By tradition, science investigators have utilized computer programs to filter all the way through the billions of DNA letters so they can accurately locate where the genes are. Through the years these programs have gotten better but still lack the same expertise as humans do for snatching exons from the ocean of introns and calculating how these protein programming sections are merged with one another, so says Clara Amid from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England and a computational biologist of some merit.

Amid works for the Gencode Program, an endeavor meant to classify all of the human genes as well as the numerous variations of those genes that could show the way to a head spinning quantity of proteins. Along with her associates, Amid and the team locate the genes in a tried and true fashion – using their hands. The investigators receive a good number of hints where the genes might be thanks to computerized gene finders that evaluate the sequence RNA generated by the genes as well as from assessments of human DNA to the genome from different species.

Blending all of the data gives researchers the ability to precisely locate and mark where the genes are found; this is referred to as annotation. Amid says that the top computer technological advancements can only duplicate the manual annotation to just forty or fifty percent of the time.

The group at Gencode has not yet completed its job. There are still some chromosomes requiring human handling. Gencode’s gene count at this point is twenty one thousand six hundred seventy one and definitely rising according to Amid. Their group has already found a number of novel genes at chromosome four with the credit going to RNA sequencing programs.

Currently it is up in the air as to how many new genes can be found by sequencing RNA rather than DNA. Investigators involved in the sequencing of RNA from fruit flies found one thousand nine hundred thirty eight novel genes according to another expert biologist.

There is another group taking on the challenge of documenting all the full length RNA types of genes, The Mammalian Gene Collection; they have a count of eighteen thousand, eight hundred seventy seven human genes. This count though will most likely be in the lower echelon of the actual finished gene amount states Salzberg.

If when utilizing new procedures for RNA sequencing investigators find the equal number of new genes in humans as there are in fruit flies, The human genome could increase by approximately three thousand more genes beyond what already exists in evidence by the Reference Sequence database. If this were the case it would be a thrilling outcome according to Salzberg and he would be quite astonished but says that they love being astounded in his line of work.

Anti Aging, Bioscience, Health And Aging, Longevity

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