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Engineering An End to Aging

Reason writes "Biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey has put forward a biological engineering plan to end human aging and co-founded the Methuselah Mouse Prize in recent years. Now he is finally getting some of the public recognition he deserves in an excellent David Stipp article at Fortune Magazine. If you ever wondered exactly how to go about engineering away the 50 million deaths due to aging that occur each and every year - and how to bring about a sea change in the scientific establishment - then this is the place to start. As an added bonus, I don't think you'll find a more succinct (and utterly British) answer to overpopulation objections to life extension than the one at the end of this article!"

49 of 986 comments (clear)

  1. some one has to say (do) it. by mpost4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If i lived forever I would get board, I probably join Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged in insulting the universe, we could insult everybody in it. Individually, personally, one by one, and in Alphabetical Order. I don't care if it is imposable I can dream can't I?

    http://hhgproject.org/entries/wowbagger.html

    1. Re:some one has to say (do) it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If i lived forever I would get board

      but would you learn to spell?

    2. Re:some one has to say (do) it. by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 3, Funny

      mpost4, You are a kneebiting... oh wait, I've gotten you before.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    3. Re:some one has to say (do) it. by vsprintf · · Score: 4, Funny
      If i lived forever I would get board
      but would you learn to spell?

      C'mon, if you gonna do it, do it right: but wood you learn to spell if you were board?

    4. Re:some one has to say (do) it. by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Funny
      When someone gets up on a plank like this, it really goes against my grain. Same old saw, time after time. It lacks polish, not to mention finish. I mean, branch out a little, why don't you? If you're going to stump for puns, don't just seed one and hope someone will twig to it... get right in there and employ a little graft. Really, it's as easy as falling off a log.

      In Soviet Russia, YOU are the Knothead!

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  2. I am just afraid... by stankulp · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that we are all going to die some day.

    --
    We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
    1. Re:I am just afraid... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just not on the same day.

    2. Re:I am just afraid... by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Look to the wisdom of Carl:

      "Whatever, you do your thing, I'll do mine. Y'know. Whatever. You're the stupid one. Think you're gonna live forever? Nope. Someone'll kill ya. Someone'll kill ya with a knife. Sorry, that's just the way it is."

      -Carl, ATHF

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:I am just afraid... by cosmo7 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Tyrell: What-- What seems to be the problem?

      Roy: Death.

      Tyrell: Death. Well, I'm afraid that's a little out of my jurisdiction, you--

      Roy: I want more life, fucker.

      Tyrell: The facts of life. To make an alteration in the evolvement of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it's been established.

      Roy: Why not?

      Tyrell: Because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies like rats leaving a sinking ship. Then the ship sinks.

      Roy: What about EMS recombination.

      Tyrell: We've already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate as an alkylating agent and potent mutagen. It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table.

      Roy: Then a repressive protein that blocks the operating cells.

      Tyrell: Wouldn't obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation and you've got a virus again. But, uh, this-- all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.

      Roy: But not to last.

      Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You're the prodigal son. You're quite a prize!

    4. Re:I am just afraid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The computer program has mutated and become a worm that can spread between people who touch the computer and cause them to go homicidal!!!!!!)

      Sounds like windows to me.

  3. My bet on who wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Dick Clark

  4. Job applications of the future by mccalli · · Score: 5, Funny
    Java/Swing developer required. Must have a minimum of 800 years of experience, with at least 600 of those having been gained in a financial environment.

    Cheers,
    Ian

    1. Re:Job applications of the future by period3 · · Score: 5, Funny

      If we're still using Java/Swing 800 years from now, then you can keep your immortality drugs!

    2. Re:Job applications of the future by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      If we're still using Java/Swing 800 years from now, then you can keep your immortality drugs!

      1964 Slashdot: "If we're still using COBOL 40 years from now, then you can keep your age-extension drugs!"

    3. Re:Job applications of the future by forrestt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or a person could spend 50 years in a career, then take 5-10 off and learn something entirely new...

      Most likly, they would spend ~50 years in a career, and then spend the next 1000+ living off Social Security.

  5. murder rate will sky rocket by millahtime · · Score: 4, Funny

    The murder rate will sky rocket because

    1) Wives will just get tired of thier husbands if they have to live together that long and vice versa.

    2)If people won't just die on their own then someone will end up killing them. Right now, we at least have the feeling that some peopel will just die someday.

    3)If you have my neighbors for that long of a time you might kill them too.

  6. An End to Aging by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, that should be enough time to learn emacs. Thank you.

  7. Re:Don't by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    People should not be allowed to live without aging. The world is already overpopulated as is

    Simple solution: Annual Free Motorcycle day!
    That'll take care of that overpopulation problem in a jiffy!

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  8. spam by millahtime · · Score: 2, Funny

    forget the penis enlargement spam. now, you can look 25 forever and get a penis enlargement. and of course it will come from my grandma who still looks 25.

  9. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Funny

    The problem is that I want to live forever, but I don't particularly want to have to share the world with everyone else being immortal as well. If world population were reduced by 75%, culling out the bottom 75% of the IQ curve, the world would be very nearly perfect.

    Heh. You've got a point. Oh well, if aging turns out to be curable, maybe stupidity will too. ;)

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  10. Heinlein... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...suggested breeding for longevity. His book Methuselah's Children talks about it some.

    Basically, you look for people who have all four original grandparents still living, and encourage them to breed with each other. Money was the incentive used.

    But then, his concept required that you start the project in the 1800s. Today, I imagine you'd probably look for people with all eight great-grandparents surviving.

    1. Re:Heinlein... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      you look for people who have all four original grandparents still living, and encourage them to breed with each other

      Wow, what a great way to populate the world with people from the Ozarks.

  11. Re:This is cute, but... by Timesprout · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually I got the record by replacing my mouse every 2 years with a younger one. I have had 6 incarnations of Fifi so far and amazingly she looks as young as ever.

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  12. Re:Off with their balls! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    If people are going to stop dying they had best stop reproducing as well. There's already too many of you people breathing my air and eating my corn chips.

    That's the roaches and rats, dude. Time to get a maid I thinks.

  13. Eat your heart out... by bozendoka · · Score: 2, Funny

    which de Grey figures will limit life expectancy to about 5,000 years.

    Eat your heart out, Leto II!

    Is anyone else a little freaked out by the spider-goats?

    --
    "You will soon be more aware of your growing awareness." - My first recursive fortune cookie!
  14. (Shamelessly ripped off from The Onion) by The-Bus · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news:

    World Death Rate Remains Steady at 100%

    World Death Rate, Annual
    ------------------------
    2004 (est) 100.00%
    2003 100.00%
    2002 100.00%
    2001 100.00%
    2000 100.00%
    Source: USA Today

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  15. Re:This is cute, but... by bfg9000 · · Score: 3, Funny

    But the whole purpose of wanting to live as long as I can is so I can eat more yummy MacDonalds!

    --

    I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."

  16. Re:for one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    As long as they take along the Everquest servers ...

  17. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by GoofyBoy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Culling of the bottom 75% of IQ is not the smartest thing.

    Cull the bottom 75% by physical beauty and then just rule over them.

    --
    The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
  18. Re:so, what your saying is.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    640 years should be enough for anyone.

    (ducks and runs)

  19. Government Checks by n9uxu8 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man...if this guy has his way, I'll never collect that social security check. Retirement Age: 4,634 Current Age: 36 Back to work, I guess... Dave

  20. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by polecat_redux · · Score: 1, Funny

    By 'secrets', I think I was referring to the things that would give us more insight into the nature of reality and perhaps God himself. No matter how benevolent of a creator he may be, I'm sure he's going to cop a 'tude if we begin to undermine his control over us.

  21. What do you mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I plan to live forever....or die trying.

    Vila

  22. Wow, that is hilarious! by gosand · · Score: 5, Funny
    As an added bonus, I don't think you'll find a more succinct (and utterly British) answer to overpopulation objections to life extension than the one at the end of this article!"

    FORTUNE is published biweekly and may also publish occasional extra issues. Cover price is $4.99. Rate good in U.S. only. In Canada, 6 issues/$6.95C, 14 issues/$13.90C, subject to GST, HST, and QST. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery of your first issue. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years.

    HAHAHAHAHAHA! Those crazy Brits!

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    1. Re:Wow, that is hilarious! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, I'm pleasantly surprised to see an American find the subtle, dry humour in that bit...

  23. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's the thought of being stuck with people like you for hundreds of years that frightens me. You suggest suicide but I think murder is a much more satisfying solution.

  24. Re:I'm currently 58 years old and I'm not bored.. by ashot · · Score: 2, Funny

    so if you are
    a.) 58
    and
    b.) not bored

    that begs the question.. what are you doing here?

    --
    -ashot
  25. Re:Longer Lives = A Better World by lyonsden · · Score: 2, Funny

    Death is bad

    You just say that because you haven't tried it yet!

  26. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by smyle · · Score: 2, Funny
    I also think that if people can live hundreds of years, having children at the time people are having them now is ridiculous - if your lifespan is around 1000 years, children should come at 100 or later, after you have a lot more life experience, instead of at 20.

    Talk about a generation gap!

    If I was telling my children "when I was your age, a hundred years ago ...", I'd expect them to end my aging process with a weapon.

    --

    Sleep is just a poor substitute for caffeine, anyway. -Bob Lehmann

  27. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh well, if aging turns out to be curable, maybe stupidity will too. ;)

    That one's easy - give them power tools.

    --
    "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  28. Copyright law... by jcdick1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    currently at "Life of the creator +way too many years"?

    Well, at least no one could make another derivative work of Michael Crichton's books.

    Yeah, I know its not truly derivative, since he wrote the screenplay, but you get the point.

    --
    What?
  29. Don Henley's Already Pointed out the Problem by AnonymousKev · · Score: 2, Funny
    These "Science Will Let Us Live Forever" articles always remind me of Don Henley's song Building the Perfect Beast. The last two lines point out a practical problem caused by pinching off the Circle of Life ...
    We're building the Perfect Beast
    (Building, Building)
    Ever since we crawled out of the ocean
    and stood upright on the land
    There are some things that we just don't understand:
    Relieve all pain and suffering
    and lift us out of the dark
    Turn us all into Methuselah-
    But where are we gonna park?
    --
    Anonymous Kev
    Proudly posting as AC since 1997
    (Finally got a dang account in 2004)
  30. The Usual Moronic Primate Responses on Page 1 by Master+of+Transhuman · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Who wants to live forever?" (That was a Queen song from "Highlander", a movie about immortals,BTW) I do, moron.

    Overpopulation? Not when we Transhumanists get through with you monkeys. Your population will be nicely culled, thank you - assuming you don't do it first with your brain-dead wars and inability to cooperate well enough to feed yourselves.

    Cloning? Au contraire, mon frere - cloning produces an entirely independent entity - does nothing for immortalizing YOU - unless you brain transplant which raises issues about the clone's brain. And it still leaves you biological and just as subject to death as the next clone.

    The only solution to immortality is direct replacement of human biology with nanotech - body, brain, the works - non-destructive, fault-tolerant, failure-tolerant, restartable and resurrectable procedures only.

    This will be done.

    And whatever you monkeys think about it is irrelevant.

    You're going to die. I won't.

    Have a nice day.

    --
    Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
  31. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by Cranx · · Score: 2, Funny

    That is a juvenile and irresponsible argument. That is precisely the same as the "if you don't want to be on the highway inside of a nice, big, safe SUV, then don't." It's selfish and it doesn't account for the cold hard facts about the earth's ability to sustain human beings at their present growth rate. Factor in an indefinite lifespan, and it's a nightmare waiting to happen.

    Just because indefinite-lifespan opponents and their arguments can be predicted, doesn't mean that earth's capacity issues have been solved somehow by magic, or that by ignoring it in favor of praising this new, exciting science the problem just solves itself. It doesn't.

    Luckily, we probably won't actually get indefinite lifespans. So you can play the part of the selfish bastard and have fun with it, knowing you'll never really have to pay the price for your stupidity.

    Childish, selfish boobs, the lot of you.

  32. Re:Once you can live forever... by sammaffei · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, that only works if you are in a domed city. Venture out into the wasteland and it turns clear. You also get to meet Peter Ustinov. :-)

    --

    Political correctness is the newest form of slavery.

  33. Re:This is cute, but... by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 3, Funny
    It seems to me that living forever would really suck.

    Maybe. Give me a thousand years or so to think it over. :-)

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  34. Woody Allen says... by tlambert · · Score: 2, Funny

    Woody Allen says...

    "Some people want to achieve immortality
    through their works or their descendants; I
    want to achieve immortality through not dying."

    -- Woody Allen

  35. Re:Don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Xeno? Didn't know you read slashdot...

  36. Re:In response to the anticipated flood ... by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

    interfering with nature / the divine plan
    you don't hear people going around debating the morality of having toilets.


    Speke for ye selfe. I tosse me shite out the windoe as olde tymes. This I wolde beseche thee hertely, rid ye selves of the infernal toilets! To be carnally mynded is to be emnyte agaynst God! Look ye and fynde how bleste to lyve.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.