I've heard some say that Aging is a disease that could be curable. Does that sound possible? Even with genetic engineering. Everything on this planet-everything in this universe-seems to age. So what is meant by this. Reduce aging to a point that it's almost irrelevant? I heard of a 'aging' gene that may determine how you age and life span. Any thoughts anyone?
Is Aging A Curable Disease?
- Thread starter Cory
- Start date
LIGHTBEING
Registered Senior Member
Yeah...I heard this also. Imagine that....if they removed this gene from us we would stop aging!!!! This would be an amazing acheivement. I think it would help space exploration and possibly migrating to other planets due to over population.
Fountains of youth
The Future: Quoted from "Engines of Creation" by K. Eric Drexler
Aging is natural, but so were smallpox and our efforts to prevent it. We have conquered smallpox, and it seems that we will conquer aging.
Longevity has increased during the last century, but chiefly because better sanitation and drugs have reduced bacterial illness. The basic human life span has increased little.
Still, researchers have made progress toward understanding and slowing the aging process. They have identified some of its causes, such as uncontrolled cross-linking. They have devised partial treatments, such as antioxidants and free-radical inhibitors. They have proposed and studied other mechanisms of aging, such as - clocks" in the cell and changes in the body's hormone balance. In laboratory experiments, special drugs and diets have extended the life span of mice by 25 to 45 percent.
Such work will continue; as the baby boom generation ages, expect a boom in aging research. One biotechnology company, Senetek of Denmark, specializes in aging research. In April 1985, Eastman Kodak and ICN Pharmaceuticals were reported to have joined in a $45 million venture to produce isoprinosine and other drugs with the potential to extend life span. The results of conventional anti-aging research may substantially lengthen human life spans - and improve the health of the old - during the next ten to twenty years. How greatly will drugs, surgery, exercise, and diet extend life spans? For now, estimates must remain guesswork. Only new scientific knowledge can rescue such predictions from the realm of speculation, because they rely on new science and not just new engineering.
With cell repair machines, however, the potential for life extension becomes clear. They will be able to repair cells so long as their distinctive structures remain intact, and will be able to replace cells that have been destroyed. Either way, they will restore health. Aging is fundamentally no different from any other physical disorder; it is no magical effect of calendar dates on a mysterious life-force. Brittle bones, wrinkled skin, low enzyme activities, slow wound healing, poor memory, and the rest all result from damaged molecular machinery, chemical imbalances, and mis-arranged structures. By restoring all the cells and tissues of the body to a youthful structure, repair machines will restore youthful health.
Hyaluronic Acid: Hyaluronic acid (also called Hyaluronan) is a component of connective tissue whose function is to cushion and lubricate. Hyaluronan occurs throughout the body in abundant amounts in many of the places people with hereditary connective tissue disorders have problems such as joints, heart valves and eyes. Hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a common thread in connective tissue disorders. Interestingly, they are also common biochemical anomalies in most of the individual features of connective tissue disorders such as mitral valve prolapse, TMJ, osteoarthritis, and keratoconus.
Hyaluronic acid has been nicknamed by the press as the "key to the fountain of youth" because it has been noted that at least some people who ingest a lot of it in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages. ABC News had a show on a village in Japan and hyaluronic acid entitled, "The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?".
The Future: Quoted from "Engines of Creation" by K. Eric Drexler
Aging is natural, but so were smallpox and our efforts to prevent it. We have conquered smallpox, and it seems that we will conquer aging.
Longevity has increased during the last century, but chiefly because better sanitation and drugs have reduced bacterial illness. The basic human life span has increased little.
Still, researchers have made progress toward understanding and slowing the aging process. They have identified some of its causes, such as uncontrolled cross-linking. They have devised partial treatments, such as antioxidants and free-radical inhibitors. They have proposed and studied other mechanisms of aging, such as - clocks" in the cell and changes in the body's hormone balance. In laboratory experiments, special drugs and diets have extended the life span of mice by 25 to 45 percent.
Such work will continue; as the baby boom generation ages, expect a boom in aging research. One biotechnology company, Senetek of Denmark, specializes in aging research. In April 1985, Eastman Kodak and ICN Pharmaceuticals were reported to have joined in a $45 million venture to produce isoprinosine and other drugs with the potential to extend life span. The results of conventional anti-aging research may substantially lengthen human life spans - and improve the health of the old - during the next ten to twenty years. How greatly will drugs, surgery, exercise, and diet extend life spans? For now, estimates must remain guesswork. Only new scientific knowledge can rescue such predictions from the realm of speculation, because they rely on new science and not just new engineering.
With cell repair machines, however, the potential for life extension becomes clear. They will be able to repair cells so long as their distinctive structures remain intact, and will be able to replace cells that have been destroyed. Either way, they will restore health. Aging is fundamentally no different from any other physical disorder; it is no magical effect of calendar dates on a mysterious life-force. Brittle bones, wrinkled skin, low enzyme activities, slow wound healing, poor memory, and the rest all result from damaged molecular machinery, chemical imbalances, and mis-arranged structures. By restoring all the cells and tissues of the body to a youthful structure, repair machines will restore youthful health.
Hyaluronic Acid: Hyaluronic acid (also called Hyaluronan) is a component of connective tissue whose function is to cushion and lubricate. Hyaluronan occurs throughout the body in abundant amounts in many of the places people with hereditary connective tissue disorders have problems such as joints, heart valves and eyes. Hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a common thread in connective tissue disorders. Interestingly, they are also common biochemical anomalies in most of the individual features of connective tissue disorders such as mitral valve prolapse, TMJ, osteoarthritis, and keratoconus.
Hyaluronic acid has been nicknamed by the press as the "key to the fountain of youth" because it has been noted that at least some people who ingest a lot of it in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages. ABC News had a show on a village in Japan and hyaluronic acid entitled, "The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?".
Very informative quote/reference, Pine_net 
Although like other "incurable" diseases i think there's more money in the products the companies sell than actually curing or reversing aging. Know what i mean? Of course we can cure the cold, its just more lucrative to NOT cure it, and make billions each year selling cold medicines.
Although like other "incurable" diseases i think there's more money in the products the companies sell than actually curing or reversing aging. Know what i mean? Of course we can cure the cold, its just more lucrative to NOT cure it, and make billions each year selling cold medicines.LordRavenHawk
Registered Member
The real problem isn't with the normal body tissues like the bones lungs muscles etc eventually those could be cloned the real problem is the brain, extending brain life is the tricky part it is a well known fact that as one ages the flexibility of the brain declines making one more set in their ways, by about 100 half your brain cells are gone, the brain makes up for it by creating more connections. However the limit on the brain cells is the real problem of aging in my opinion the rest can be replaced with better technology. I mean it isn't too far fetched to think that a new custom made body could be grown and your brain transplanted into the new one to extend life espcially if the new bodies immune system is designed to except your brain, but eventually the brain will wear out and it is the only bit of hard ware in the body that can't be lost without you loosing your sense of self though i am sure it can be augmented or certain sections replaced but eventually many functions might not be easy to replicate if at all. (regardless of what the strong AI people believe) Not to say AI isn't possible just much more complex and harder a problem than people like to believe IMHO.
Ok i think that is enough for now, except to add that most ideas that extend life can increase cancer risks if they try to turn off the death gene. Since cancers are just cells that keep on replicating and not dying forming tumors more or less.
Ok i think that is enough for now, except to add that most ideas that extend life can increase cancer risks if they try to turn off the death gene. Since cancers are just cells that keep on replicating and not dying forming tumors more or less.
It is possible to regrow nerve cells that have died. Actually the brain does repair and restore dead and/or damaged nerve cells, but in extremely small quantaties. The body is only capable of sustaining the CNS (central nerve system) up to a point. With major traumas or serious aging there will have to be used a more radical method of reparation. The use of stem cells?
This is a scary thought. How can the CNS be replaced without replacing the personality. What of the soul. Can you transplant it? Is there such a thing anyway??
The fountain of youth is a holy grail of genetics. I have my doubts about the possibility of such a thing, but aging can most certainly be seen as an ailness or disease, so why not?!
This is a scary thought. How can the CNS be replaced without replacing the personality. What of the soul. Can you transplant it? Is there such a thing anyway??
The fountain of youth is a holy grail of genetics. I have my doubts about the possibility of such a thing, but aging can most certainly be seen as an ailness or disease, so why not?!
pumpkinsaren'torange
Registered Senior Member
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!
no.
no.
Aging is the cause of sooo many factors. One that I heard was the cusioning Hyaluronic acid, like Pine_net noted, that protectes DNA from damage, but once it wears down cells are unable to reproduce correctly or at all. I wouldn't call aging a disease because it happens in so many places and there's no one spot that pinpoints it.
By that time, we'll have replaced our brain with working hard drives and we can "load" memory into our brain.
that would be one interesting world.
Really, by the time we figure out how to "stop" aging we'll have other advances. The morality of making our lives infinite would stop us from doing it. We have learned our lesson from history not to jump right into a new techonology without first looking to the consequences of it in the future.
Really, by the time we figure out how to "stop" aging we'll have other advances. The morality of making our lives infinite would stop us from doing it. We have learned our lesson from history not to jump right into a new techonology without first looking to the consequences of it in the future.
pumpkinsaren'torange
Registered Senior Member
you mean we're not already???? meow.
meow.
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Hellspawn666
Registered Senior Member
I don't think aging is genetic. It's just a case of your body's various organs and tissues giving out after many years of activity. No one should live forever anyway that's dumb. Besides, there are some people I WANT to die. And since federal laws prevent me from doing it, I have to wait for stupid natural causes.
Hellspawn666
Registered Senior Member
That matrix uploading info into your brain stuff is entirely possible. The biggest obsticle is that we know virtually nothing about the brain, and since you can only learn more by cutting a living brain open, its hard to gain more information. All you need to know is what electrical impulses control what information. Then you basically just cut a hole in the back of a dude's head and shove a metal rod in, pump him full of info and boom! He knows some shit. The weirdest part is the fact that he would have no memory of where he learned whatever was implanted.
Because we're not perfect and cannot see everything in the future.