Welcome to the Rejuvenation Engineering News Adjunct blog for Mprize.org
This blog is meant to be a supplement to the Rejuvenation Engineering News section at the Mprize website for the Methuselah Fondation. The Methuselah Fondation is a non profit organization created to promote the science and technology of engineering the human body for agelessness and robust health. The Methuselah Fondation's chief vehicle for promoting such science for now is the Methuselah Mouse Prize or Mprize for short. Here you will find all the stuff that is coming down the pike for rejuvenation strategies for engineering the human body away from aging and decrepitude, sickness and yes even death, that doesn't quite meet the parameters for posting at the Mprize website. There the breakthroughs for Rejuvenation Engineering News must be available within 2 years for at least Phase III human trials.
Here I'll be a little less restricted and talk about the hope given us by really cool science and tech stuff coming down the pike in a farther flung future timeline useful for creating a world where human aging is nil and death rare for those that choose to take part in the science and technologies involved.
Individual choice is a big thing to the advocates of these technologies. Most take a laissez faire position towards government, life, society and interactions between individuals, a basically "live and let live" approach, allowing people to make their own choices about what to do with their own bodies and lives. Few, and I dare say probably none, would ever advocate refusing people their choice in availing themselves or not of Physical Immortality science.
Now what do we mean by Physical Immortality? We mean non magical extreme robustness of physical life spans. We mean you won't survive a ground zero bomb or being flattened by a pavement roller or some such extreme violence, but aging will soon be cured and most diseases will have been someday soon cured and/or some means, which I'll explain later, will have been designed to make any insult to the molecular integrity of human cells rapidly repairable invivo... on the hoof, so to speak.
In other words we aren't saying that if you take advantage of these sciences and technologies that you can never ever die. So we aren't competing with religion, although sometimes it's difficult to convince some folks of that. The question, "what comes after final death", will ever be a question that each and every individual someday must find the answer to completely on their own when all attempts to dodge such an event ultimately fail. The foolish say in complete seriousness, "I'll live forever", for on the day the universe ends they'll discover how wrong they were.
Could we individually or as a species live to see that end? Well that will be a topic of discussion for a later time, I don't wish to play all my cards in this intro. However, in very practical terms, notwithstanding discussion of exotic extreme solutions, the scientist that leads the Mprize and that developed the theory for how to re-engineer the human body for agelessness, Aubrey de Grey, developer of SENS -- Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senesence, believes mishap will statistically limit ageless life spans to about 5000 years.
Well, I'll take what I can get!, how about you? And when the year 7005ce rolls around maybe we'll have developed something really exotic for living another 5k or beyond! I often say to those that just don't quite get it right away, "Do you like taking that next breath and what the taking of that breath allows you to do, chiefly be with loved ones, appreciate art, beauty, watch grand chilkdren develop, etc., etc., ...all life offers?", and then follow with, "So if yes, then if you have a perpetual physical health of a 25-30 year old, what would make you wish not to take that next breath?". Folks then often get it when put that way.
Ok well that's basically it in a nutshell so I'll get to posting some neat things that science is on the cusp of soon and we'll get this party started!! Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is James Swayze, and if you see a picture of me when I was a little younger than nowadays you'll probably be compelled given my name to ask, "are you related to...?", and I'll say, yes we're distant cousins! Anyway, I have been a volunteer for the Mprize since about when it started and I administrate the Rejuvenation Engineering News portion of the website there. I decided there was a need for some public interactivity and discussion of what might be possible so here we are. -- James
Here I'll be a little less restricted and talk about the hope given us by really cool science and tech stuff coming down the pike in a farther flung future timeline useful for creating a world where human aging is nil and death rare for those that choose to take part in the science and technologies involved.
Individual choice is a big thing to the advocates of these technologies. Most take a laissez faire position towards government, life, society and interactions between individuals, a basically "live and let live" approach, allowing people to make their own choices about what to do with their own bodies and lives. Few, and I dare say probably none, would ever advocate refusing people their choice in availing themselves or not of Physical Immortality science.
Now what do we mean by Physical Immortality? We mean non magical extreme robustness of physical life spans. We mean you won't survive a ground zero bomb or being flattened by a pavement roller or some such extreme violence, but aging will soon be cured and most diseases will have been someday soon cured and/or some means, which I'll explain later, will have been designed to make any insult to the molecular integrity of human cells rapidly repairable invivo... on the hoof, so to speak.
In other words we aren't saying that if you take advantage of these sciences and technologies that you can never ever die. So we aren't competing with religion, although sometimes it's difficult to convince some folks of that. The question, "what comes after final death", will ever be a question that each and every individual someday must find the answer to completely on their own when all attempts to dodge such an event ultimately fail. The foolish say in complete seriousness, "I'll live forever", for on the day the universe ends they'll discover how wrong they were.
Could we individually or as a species live to see that end? Well that will be a topic of discussion for a later time, I don't wish to play all my cards in this intro. However, in very practical terms, notwithstanding discussion of exotic extreme solutions, the scientist that leads the Mprize and that developed the theory for how to re-engineer the human body for agelessness, Aubrey de Grey, developer of SENS -- Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senesence, believes mishap will statistically limit ageless life spans to about 5000 years.
Well, I'll take what I can get!, how about you? And when the year 7005ce rolls around maybe we'll have developed something really exotic for living another 5k or beyond! I often say to those that just don't quite get it right away, "Do you like taking that next breath and what the taking of that breath allows you to do, chiefly be with loved ones, appreciate art, beauty, watch grand chilkdren develop, etc., etc., ...all life offers?", and then follow with, "So if yes, then if you have a perpetual physical health of a 25-30 year old, what would make you wish not to take that next breath?". Folks then often get it when put that way.
Ok well that's basically it in a nutshell so I'll get to posting some neat things that science is on the cusp of soon and we'll get this party started!! Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is James Swayze, and if you see a picture of me when I was a little younger than nowadays you'll probably be compelled given my name to ask, "are you related to...?", and I'll say, yes we're distant cousins! Anyway, I have been a volunteer for the Mprize since about when it started and I administrate the Rejuvenation Engineering News portion of the website there. I decided there was a need for some public interactivity and discussion of what might be possible so here we are. -- James
posted by FutureQ at Welcome to the Rejuvenation Engineering News Adjunct blog for Mprize.org
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