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I always see anti-aging research as an expression of our inbuilt need for hope and significance (a desire to be known for eternity). It's far more philosophica
by kirse 12y ago
I always see anti-aging research as an expression of our inbuilt need for hope and significance (a desire to be known for eternity). It's far more philosophical than scientific. Many have concluded there is no meaningful eternity, and thus they seek to construct their own hope through anti-aging research.
So it's slightly ironic that the article mentions anti-aging research as needing to address a "root cause", when in reality there's a deeper spiritual need at work. And so the religion of science presses onward, simultaneously discarding all notions of spirituality while (quite obviously) answering the same fundamental philosophical questions and needs in it's own way.
- mikeash 12y agoBecause the desire to conquer aging couldn't possibly be a simple preference for living over dying.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- mikeash 12y agoInstinct, caused by the fact that our ancestors with such a preference had a better chance of surviving and procreating than other animals without it.
- kirse 12y agoMy mistake on deleting my reply. Humans acting on this instinct for survival seems irrational in view of the scientific big picture, does it not? A longer survival nets nothing if the fate of all things (including the memory of those things) is nothingness. What is the payoff if one creature lives 10,000 years instead of 100?
- mikeash 12y agoI don't understand what any of that has to do with it. Creatures with a survival instinct were better at passing on their genes. Apply this for a few billion years and creatures strongly prefer to keep living. That's it.
- mindcrime 12y agoHumans acting on this instinct for survival seems irrational in view of the scientific big picture, does it not? The fate of everything is nothingness on large enough time scales, at least based on what we currently know. Either the universe as a whole collapses into a singularity and crushes any living beings to death, or it expands forever and dies a cold, barren heat death. Intelligent life in this universe has a finite shelf life either way, unless we find something badly broken in our current understanding of physics and cosmology. Life is irrational, there's no real objective basis for anything but nihilism. But I like to go with the philosophy of "the meaning of life is a life of meaning". IOW, as I interpret it, we get to choose what meaning to apply to our own lives. Rationality be damned, we decide what we value and what we live for.
- Gatsky 12y agoWhat kirse is talking about is a real thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory
- mikeash 12y agoGiven his emphasis on religion, and especially the use of the phrase "religion of science," I don't think that's what he was referring to.
- Houshalter 12y agoYou could say the same thing about curing small pox or any disease. Aging is just a really widespread one.
- JoshTriplett 12y agoForget about being known. Quoting Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."