Based on information recently released courtesy of the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society, U.S. citizens who are alive in the coming forty years will remain alive longer than the government is currently predicting. The data discussed pertains to more than just the life span of individuals but also the quality of their life.
Dr. Steven Joyal, a Vice President with Science and Medical Affairs for the Life Extension Foundation, a not for profit group working on forward thinking research with the hope of augmenting people’s health, believes that society is at the vanguard of a longevity uprising. Due to progress being achieved in nanotechnology, gene therapies, artificial intelligence and stem cell research, babies being born at this time should be as useful and dynamic when they are one hundred and twenty years old as hose people in their twenties and thirties are today.
To some people in the life extension community, the experimental gerontologists, longevists, call them what you will, folks such as Aubrey deGray, a professor at Cambridge University, think the theory of living indefinitely is a naturally organic likelihood. This belief has nothing at all to do with cryonics or data storing our thoughts into a hard drive.
The Methuselarity, [the moniker comes from the Methuselarity fly] is the techno nerd’s cool kid of the classroom, ordinarily described as that peak position when we arrive at “longevity escape velocity” [or LEV] as we progress in our anti aging tasks. DeGray recognizes aging as a predicament to do with the study and diagnosis of disease and the bodies chemical reactions necessary to sustain life. Since there have been some early successes in life extension with Methuselarity flies, the Cambridge professor thinks that with research into calorie restriction to broaden our metabolism, cell treatments to fight cell weakening, and genetic stimulations, life spans will increase. The excitement is not over a simple increase, but one of thirty years or more and quite soon, eventually leading to the day when we will be able to live on indefinitely.
DeGray also feels strongly that when we are able to prolong our life expectancy, the capability to do this will happen at an exponential pace. For instance, his belief is that the initial one thousand year old is most likely less than twenty years younger than the first one hundred fifty year old and that the first 10 to the N year old is quite likely fewer than two years younger than the initial one thousand year old.
In their book “Transcend: Nine Steps To Living Well Forever,” futurist Ray Kurzweil and Doctor Terry Grossman reinforce to us that our brain remains like all other muscles – we need to use it or lose it. We all should understand that working our mental agility with mind puzzles, crosswords, avid reading, writing, learning and maintaining interpersonal contacts with others aids in keeping our brains quick. However, would it not be easier to simply pop a pill in order to restore the cell structure degradation?
The author Kurzweil forecasts that sometime this century there will be molecular nanobots rooting their way within our blood streams keeping us healthy by searching out and destroying any harmful cancer cells, repairing DNA inadequacies, ridding us of toxins, increasing our memories and eradicating cholesterol before it can damage our arteries.
It is now understood that consuming natural supplements such as Acetyl-L-carnitine increases the strength of the mitochondria [the energy generating portion of the cell] and reduces any inflammation of brain tissue. You understand that “exercising your brain” is important, but were you aware that it is specifically helpful to the cerebellum, which is responsible for managing voluntary motion and this can be kept in shape by partaking in sports? Automobiles act as a useful metaphor here: The majority of autos were designed and manufactured with built in obsolescence – they are designed not to last. Imagine your body in the same way.
An additional case in point: Everyone understands how crucial it is to get a restful sleep at night, but it is not often that we consider the part that our hormones play in this. A choice piece of information from Kurzweil and Grossman is to ingest a supplement each night that contains melatonin [this is an innate sleep hormone] since, because of our natural aging process and life stressors, our levels of melatonin become diminished.
The authors suggest that melatonin is a perfectly harmless and non addictive method of achieving deep, rejuvenating and pleasant slumber. It assists in resetting the body’s internal sleep regulator, this alone being quite useful for those who travel extensively. In addition, melatonin is a very strong anti aging antioxidant, one that is predominantly adroit at treating breast cancer.
There is no doubt that this course of research is alarming to more than a few individuals. Numerous biogerontologists disagree with assertions that aging should be considered a disease due to the fact is an inevitable eventuality. They feel scientists such as Kurzweil and his like minded advocates of life extension are nothing more than dreamers of hopeless unreality, out to make a quick buck from anti aging products. A not far off the mark claim given that Kurzweil and Grossman have a branded anti aging supplement business.
There remain some moral factors deeply at issue here as well, externally from the laboratory. One must ask the question if the planet’s current concern with overpopulation does not become a cause for concern from an ethical perspective. Will only the very elite and wealthy be eligible for extreme life extension?
In the event that we will one day be able to control natural mortality, when accidental fatalities happen, will they not be far more tragic than they normally would?
From a religious perspective – what if there really is an afterlife with our creator, will we be giving up our chance for everlasting life in heaven?
Of course, there are the vampire-like quandaries to contend with. What happens to love if we begin living forever? What about unsustainable friendships and the ethical repercussions of no mortality?
Then there are the more practical problems that need to be sussed out like what do we do with the extra mouths to feed at the holiday dinners?
Ask yourself the final question: If this theory is not science fiction at all and is in fact a genuine expectation – how would you feel about living forever?
Wed, Feb 24, 2010
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Immortality, Longevity