Paypal Co-Founder Backs Anti-Aging Research Prize

Baldrson writes, "Anti-aging researchers, via The Methuselah Mouse Prize or M-Prize, are receiving an additional $3 million incentive to stop and reverse aging. Researchers win M-Prize money in increments by breaking longevity records for mice or reversing their aging. The philanthropic donation comes from Peter Thiel, co-founder and former CEO of PayPal. Mr. Thiel has pledged to match each dollar donated to the M-Prize with his own 50 cent contributions up to $3 million." The M-Prize was created by Aubrey de Grey, a controversial biomedical gerontologist in Cambridge, England.

Comments

Dawkins

[arun_s]

I recollect reading in atleast 1 book of Richard Dawkins (not sure which), that ageing was evolutionarily inevitable.
The reason being that parasitic genes in a host that usually end up killing or harming it will quickly be removed from the gene pool. So such genes are not evolutionarily successful.
On the other hand, if their effect was triggered only after a certain number of years (when an animal has already performed its main purpose of reproduction), there is no drive for it to be removed from the gene pool. An animal with the parasite would be as successful in spreading its genes as one without it. So over the years, the early-acting bad stuff has been wiped out bit by bit by natural selection, while the latent ones have been accumulating all along.
I'm sure someone with more knowledge in this will chip in.

Re:Dawkins

[MichaelSmith]

I recollect reading in atleast 1 book of Richard Dawkins (not sure which), that ageing was evolutionarily inevitable.

If evolution had meant us to fly it would have given us wings. It didn't, yet we do fly.

Its called engineering and its as much a result of our evolution as anything else. We already live 2 or 3 times longer than we did "in the wild" because of our engineered environment. I don't see why we couldn't go further.

Re:Heinlein had a better idea

[kfg]

On a base of 1000 years of selective breeding. In another 200 years they won't be going twice as fast again. In fact most of the improvement is in training methods improvements, not in the breed.

There are natural limits. Living longer isn't at all the same thing as not aging. People who die at 120 do so having been really old people for 40 years.

Bear in mind that I have a track record here of being Mr. It Isn't Aging, You've Just Let Yourself Go; and in the 1990s my Uncle Eli grabbed the all time record for oldest licensed driver in American history (he sucessfully passed his test at 104), but after 80 years all bets are off. You degrade, not how you live or what you do.

Uncle Eli will not be applying to be tested again.

This prize is aimed at halting the degrading.

KFG