reason

Radical Egalitarianism in Defense of Engineered Longevity

2008-09-08T03:16:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) Radical egalitarianism is an impossible ideal: that a utopian society could exist in which everyone is equal in some important way - in possessions, ability, or access to resources. Lesser arguments for egalitarianism are usually heard alongside the blandishments of green-eyed socialism: calls for a levelling brought upon anyone with greater wealth or better access to medicine. That type of egalitarian can often be seen speaking out against research into engineered...(read more)

The Scientific Debate That Will Determine How Long We All Live

2008-09-02T04:21:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) Last week, I pointed out an example of researchers who believe engineered longevity must be accomplished by gene engineering and changing the operation of metabolism to slow aging. In that worldview, any significant progress is far in the future, because the task is very complex indeed. Progress in the future is also largely irrelevant to those of us alive today, as slowing aging does next to nothing for people who are already age-damaged to the point of disease...(read more)

Attitudes of Aging Researchers To Healthy Life Extension

2008-08-09T18:57:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) I missed a social interest paper from earlier this year, in which gerontologists were questioned on their views of healthy life extension and longevity science. The abstract is a fair summary of what I've seen of ongoing debates on the subject: It is often assumed that there is broad public support for strong life extension research (i.e. research aimed at the dramatic extension of human life beyond the current maximum), and that there would be a near universal...(read more)

Three Decades From Now

2008-08-02T02:21:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) It takes 20 years, give or take, for a new technology to move through multiple cycles of development, commercialization, and competition necessary to evolve from experimental prototype to widespread maturity. A look back at the past few decades of medical progress suggests that 30 years is more likely in that field - there's one effect of regulation for you, a slowing of the technologies that manage to make it over the regulatory hurdle in the first place. What...(read more)

Casting An Eye Upon Alcor's Board

2008-07-25T00:37:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) If you're the type who likes to inspect the mechanisms behind the sausage, you should take a look at an article on Alcor's board over at Depressed Metabolism : In January 2008, Alcor’s self perpetuating Board came under renewed scrutiny after long-time Alcor member and cryonics activist David Pizer tried to raise interest for changing the current system to a member elected Board. Scrutiny of the board is a fine tradition for stakeholders in for-profit...(read more)

The Economics of Signing Up for Cryonics

2008-07-15T20:10:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) Via Marginal Revolution : If [cryonics] works, the benefits are high, and the probability of it working is greater than zero. Yet few people sign up for it. I think that we are afraid of looking weird if we sign up for it. The way to think about how and why people make decisions is to look at costs and benefits - which go far beyond mere money, of course. The discussion in the post revolves around "looking weird" as a cost. That's important for we folk...(read more)

Reporting from Last Month's Idea City Conference

2008-07-13T22:01:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) A number of folk from the longevity science and radical life extension advocacy communities were at last month's Idea City conference in Canada. A typically "balanced" but otherwise helpful article from the press showed up recently at the National Post : The idea of youth restoration and life extension has long captivated the human imagination, from Dorian Gray's cursed portrait and Ponce de Leon's fountain of youth to cryogenic freezing and...(read more)

Aging

2008-06-18T00:52:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) There's nothing wrong with becoming old, but everything wrong with aging. Old means experienced, invested, wealthier, time-tested and just all-round better for having been around the block. Aging, on the other hand, is the direct result of biochemical damage you picked up along the way - ongoing deterioration that is a side-effect of being alive. The passage of years brings a constant flow of opportunities for growth and self-improvement, until aging takes away...(read more)

500 Scientists

2008-06-14T00:23:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) The rough estimate of resources required to develop - for mice - the medical capabilities called for by the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) is presently $1 billion over ten years , give or take. Each of these [six lines of research] would require total funding in the range of $2m to $15m per year, spread over at least three and sometimes ~15 research teams. These teams will typically be working in a university or other research setting. [The...(read more)

Next Steps For Longevity Science at the Methuselah Foundation

2008-06-05T01:26:00Z

( Crossposted from Fight Aging! ) As you might know, Aubrey de Grey's Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) places the known forms of biochemical damage that cause aging into seven categories, each with a recommended path towards repair or prevention: 1) Too few cells: Some tissues lose cells with advancing age, like the heart and areas of the brain. Stem cell research and regenerative medicine are already providing very promising answers to degeneration through cell loss. 2)...(read more)