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I think there’s plenty of room for life extension Evolution doesn’t optimise for length of life, just propagation. A number of species have evolved to have ver

I think there’s plenty of room for life extension Evolution doesn’t optimise for length of life, just propagation. A number of species have evolved to have very short life cycles because that enabled greater propagation. Presumably shorter lives generally confer greater adaptability as it increases the opportunity for evolutionary change

labster 5y ago
Evolution can optimize for longer lifespans if it makes propagation more favorable. It happened in humans — grandparents make us more successful. Except when they run our governments.
- FredPret 5y ago
  Some of our greatest leaders have been very old. Good and old are unrelated concepts
  - labster 5y ago
    Great and good are also unrelated concepts. Google is a great company, but they decided “don’t be evil” is unnecessary for greatness.
- satisfaction 5y ago
  We need to evolve past the point where we expect to rely on government.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    Back to anarchy?
  - Johnythree 5y ago
    A benevolent Government is just Society. Nothing wrong with society.
Consultant32452 5y ago
Evolution does optimize longevity in at least one way. Chromosomes have a limited number of telomeres, each time the cell divides the telomeres become shorter. If your cell runs out of telomeres it can't divide anymore. This is one of the primary mechanisms the body balances repair against cancer risk. Current max of human life is about 120. If you don't "solve" the telomere problem you are not going to extend life past 120, though you may have more people live that long and may improve quality of life in later years. Our species has a good balance that lets us live well past reproduction age, presumably because there is evolutionary pressure (benefit) to having elderly people around to pass on knowledge, help raise grandchildren, etc. You can do things that extend the telomeres, but that makes cells more likely to reproduce out of control (cancer). This is a very hard "problem" to solve because cell final death is so important in preventing cancer. We are not even close to solving this, it would require revolutionary biological understanding.
- garyclarke27 5y ago
  Telomerase - an Enzyme found in Gamete and Stem (and Tumor!) Cells can reverse this Telomere shortening. Cycloastragenol derived from Astragalus herb can supposedly activate Telomerase - unfortunately it's very expensive to extract in significant quantities eg TA-65 costs $800 for 90 capsules. I tried it for a while and definitely noticed an effect, better skin, vivid dreams more energy. High cost and some concern over potential for Tumor promotion put me off continuing.
- gremlinsinc 5y ago
  Couldn't there be 1:1 replacement of pretty much everything in the human body? Organs, bad/old cells for good/new ones...etc? Nanobots at some point may be able to essentially destroy bad/old cells, and maybe feed/nourish good cells we want to keep, and when cells can't divide anymore, could those be replaced with ones that could ? I think back to the movie Bicentennial man, where he made completely real working human / robot interchangeable parts that basically allow for increased life and better health. Sure it's a movie, but we can 3d print organs and things, so it's not outside the realm of possibility...
  - 5y ago

labster 5y ago

Evolution can optimize for longer lifespans if it makes propagation more favorable. It happened in humans — grandparents make us more successful. Except when they run our governments.

FredPret 5y ago
Some of our greatest leaders have been very old. Good and old are unrelated concepts
- labster 5y ago
  Great and good are also unrelated concepts. Google is a great company, but they decided “don’t be evil” is unnecessary for greatness.
satisfaction 5y ago
We need to evolve past the point where we expect to rely on government.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Back to anarchy?
- Johnythree 5y ago
  A benevolent Government is just Society. Nothing wrong with society.

Consultant32452 5y ago

Evolution does optimize longevity in at least one way. Chromosomes have a limited number of telomeres, each time the cell divides the telomeres become shorter. If your cell runs out of telomeres it can't divide anymore. This is one of the primary mechanisms the body balances repair against cancer risk. Current max of human life is about 120. If you don't "solve" the telomere problem you are not going to extend life past 120, though you may have more people live that long and may improve quality of life in later years. Our species has a good balance that lets us live well past reproduction age, presumably because there is evolutionary pressure (benefit) to having elderly people around to pass on knowledge, help raise grandchildren, etc. You can do things that extend the telomeres, but that makes cells more likely to reproduce out of control (cancer). This is a very hard "problem" to solve because cell final death is so important in preventing cancer. We are not even close to solving this, it would require revolutionary biological understanding.

garyclarke27 5y ago
Telomerase - an Enzyme found in Gamete and Stem (and Tumor!) Cells can reverse this Telomere shortening. Cycloastragenol derived from Astragalus herb can supposedly activate Telomerase - unfortunately it's very expensive to extract in significant quantities eg TA-65 costs $800 for 90 capsules. I tried it for a while and definitely noticed an effect, better skin, vivid dreams more energy. High cost and some concern over potential for Tumor promotion put me off continuing.
gremlinsinc 5y ago
Couldn't there be 1:1 replacement of pretty much everything in the human body? Organs, bad/old cells for good/new ones...etc? Nanobots at some point may be able to essentially destroy bad/old cells, and maybe feed/nourish good cells we want to keep, and when cells can't divide anymore, could those be replaced with ones that could ? I think back to the movie Bicentennial man, where he made completely real working human / robot interchangeable parts that basically allow for increased life and better health. Sure it's a movie, but we can 3d print organs and things, so it's not outside the realm of possibility...
- 5y ago