The key to immortality?

[J.Dre]

Was searching the Internet for information regarding theoretical theories and whatnot (mostly experimental and theoretical science articles), and came across this:

http://i61.tinypic.com/6zr051.png

There are geneticists currently studying the anatomy of this specific fish. I expect within a few years, there may be some early trials on other animals through insertion of this fish's genetic code into embryonic cells, allowing them to grow (develop/mature), know as "mutagenesis" or gene replacement. It's an interesting concept, and I hope there is a breakthrough before the end of my life. :cool:

The New York Times published an article regarding this. If you'd like to read more, it can be found here (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?_r=0).

[Y2Quakepc2]

Who gives a shit about inmortality

I would like to know the key to bot immunity dude!

[DarkstaR]

I suspect you actually have no idea how genetics works. Yes, we can study the genes of a Jellyfish to determine why it's immortal. Will that help us become immortal? Likely not.

There's probably not some single magic gene we can insert into our genome that says "hey, don't die, okay?", because death (as a result of age) is a result of numerous (hundreds of thousands? millions?) factors, none of which have a single off-switch. Parts of our bodies start to decay over time, some cells can't be replaced, and some tissue can't be regenerated. Age is a factor of all these things, and more, and there's no one single-solution to mitigating it. We can maybe fix a few small things by learning from the jellyfish, but our genomes are so drastically different that even that is a long shot. It's not as simple as changing

int maxAge = 150;
int medianAge = 80;
int standardAgeDeviation = 20;

to

int maxAge = 999999999999;
int medianAge = 999999999999;
int standardAgeDeviation = 0;

[Y2Quakepc2]

I suspect you actually have no idea how genetics works. Yes, we can study the genes of a Jellyfish to determine why it's immortal. Will that help us become immortal? Likely not.

There's probably not some single magic gene we can insert into our genome that says "hey, don't die, okay?", because death (as a result of age) is a result of numerous (hundreds of thousands? millions?) factors, none of which have a single off-switch. Parts of our bodies start to decay over time, some cells can't be replaced, and some tissue can't be regenerated. Age is a factor of all these things, and more, and there's no one single-solution to mitigating it. We can maybe fix a few small things by learning from the jellyfish, but our genomes are so drastically different that even that is a long shot. It's not as simple as changing

int maxAge = 150;
int medianAge = 80;
int standardAgeDeviation = 20;

to

int maxAge = 999999999999;
int medianAge = 999999999999;
int standardAgeDeviation = 0;

A post from you is an eyegasm nowadays.

[Stusse]

A post from you is an eyegasm nowadays.
Now we know what to include :D: science. #triggered

[J.Dre]

Another tidbit of information I found:

Harvard scientists gave mice injections to re-activate the telomerase enzyme. They watched in astonishment as the mice appeared to age backwards, their organs repairing themselves. In other words, repairing the telomeres seemed to be able to reverse the aging process and make the mice physiologically younger. -Source (http://www.gizmag.com/telomerase-aging-harvard-reverse-process-telomeres/17107/)

Seems as though this type of research needs more funding, as does most. Progress is being made despite lack of interest/investment among the general populous, though.

[DarkstaR]

I'd lean more towards supporting stem cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell) research before this research, tbh. If we wish to achieve biological immortality, then stem cells are the clearest potential path. They give us a direct way to completely renew all parts of our body while retaining function. If we find a fool-proof way to inject stem cells into the brain and cure age-related neural deterioration, I'm sure we'll have the key to eternal life. Also, the article you quoted (http://www.gizmag.com/telomerase-aging-harvard-reverse-process-telomeres/17107/), and the associated paper (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7328/full/nature09603.html), don't mention anything about the Jellyfish. However, there is some portion of the work that is a result of stem cell research, which supports my position.

However, in the grand scheme of things, I would argue that biological immortality is a farce. Our bodies are a product of our environment, and while they are extremely complex, advanced, and suitable for life, they are also very ill-suited for a life of immortality. They are wasteful (in terms of energy AND space), hard to maintain, and can't survive much outside of an average Earth climate. Based on Moore's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law), it's only a few decades until we have computers capable of AGI (artificial general intelligence). At that time, we would be able to create immortal machines that have infinitesimal energy requirements (think of how efficient they might be with the energy density of nuclear fusion) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion#Neutronicity.2C_confinement_require ment.2C_and_power_density) and an ability to contemplate concepts at the same levels as a human (but potentially much, much faster). An array of conscious, intelligent machines could even communicate amounts of data in minutes that a regular human couldn't in a lifetime; they'd be a massively collaborative intelligence. These machines could traverse space, cyberspace, and potentially even hyperspace, where a human body could not (at least, not without large amounts of waste).


TL;DR; Biological immortality is great if you want a small handful of the population to live as long as they want (barring non-natural causes of death); and it may be achievable through stem cells or other similar research. Artificial immortality (in the form of mechanical AGI.. or even ASI) is great if the end goal is to perpetuate Humanity's existence and ideals throughout eternity in a way that has no physical restrictions (other than the speed of light, of course).


I would recommend reading these articles. They give pretty great layman explanations of topics that intersect directly with immortality and artificial intelligence. If you take the time to contemplate these topics as you read,this will easily eat up 8 hours. I hope that's okay with you ;)
The AI Revolution Part 1: The Road to Superintelligence (http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html)
The AI Revolution Part 2: Our Immortality or Extinction (http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html)
Fermi Paradox (http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html)

[iMike]

Looks nice, sadly I think that YOLO.

[maroxy]

Scepticism, "Nothing exists. If something exists, It couldn't be understood. If something could be understood, It couldn't be communicated.".

[raiQi]

Why the fuck would anyone want to live forever?

“The shortness of life, so often lamented, may be the best thing about it.”

[acrozo01]

The key to immortality , not dying

[auto]

I remember reading something in the paper years back that the first person to live to 150 has already been born. Pretty crazy to think that people will be able to kick on for that long

[Y2Quakepc2]

2015 and you still looking for this? So outdated

Common guys everybody knows we need the key to deletion-inmunity nowadays.

[Joshwa534]

This just reminded me of that episode in season 2 of Blacklist :p

[iMike]

buym any hps,uhs andfull bless, u shouldbe goo d
optpvp goodtoo

[softbzero]

Key to immortality has been broken years ago -> http://tibia.wikia.com/wiki/Broken_Amulet

[draadloos]

Was searching the Internet for information regarding theoretical theories and whatnot (mostly experimental and theoretical science articles), and came across this:

http://i61.tinypic.com/6zr051.png

There are geneticists currently studying the anatomy of this specific fish. I expect within a few years, there may be some early trials on other animals through insertion of this fish's genetic code into embryonic cells, allowing them to grow (develop/mature), know as "mutagenesis" or gene replacement. It's an interesting concept, and I hope there is a breakthrough before the end of my life. :cool:

The New York Times published an article regarding this. If you'd like to read more, it can be found here (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?_r=0).

At first, I dont belive that that fish will provide us the key to immortality. This simply, because of what darkstar also posted.
But, i belive, that immortality is a thing yet to be discovered. As far as stam cell's, i dont belive that these could provide us with immortality, but only can provide us with tools to live longer. For example, if you could grow all organs, new, you could ofc replace youre old ones. But, what happens when youre for example stabt and lose all youre blood? Good luck with youre new organs then.

But then, we need to ask our selfs the question, do we really want to life forever? Imagine that god exists, i dont belive so myself, but lets say he does. He comes for you, and asks if you want to be immortal.
You need to think about things, like, everyone arround you will die, youre loved ones, poeple you care about, they will all die.
And then, what happens when poeple find out? they will most likely perform all kinds of expirements to discover what makes you immortal. Those can be extramly evil, and extremly painfull.

But still, this stays a nice topic to discuss about.

[Gordo]

the key to immortality? the church or iron.

on a more cereal note, you don't have to be alive (physically) to be immortal.

Take for example the Greek warrior Achilles, dude live like 3000 years ago, yet we know who he was, some people just transcend time and will always be remember, ergo live for ever.