I don't see it as a problem to be solved at all. I see it as an important and necessary feature that allows for growth and adaptation as a species. It's a good thing.
Dude, even setting aside the question of whether eliminating aging is a good idea (for the economy, for the species, etc), what makes you think nobody’s working on it?
And lol, easily solvable? Scientists have been trying to figure it out for well over a century (and non-scientists probably since the origin of the man race). They’ve made marginal progress so far.
We can get right to it after we solve deaths by mosquitoes (half of all humans born were killed by mosquitoes), deaths by automobiles, lifestyle (diabetes, cardio vascular), pollution from fossil fuels (10M deaths/year from air pollution).
The problem is wildly more complex than typically portrayed.
First of all, there is a lot of work already going in to slowing and eliminating aging. Every "please don't smoke" campaign is actually a "smoking causes early death so not smoking prolongs life" campaign, if you think about it. Healthy eating, cancer prevention and treatment, dementia etc treatment and prevention, brain training, physical and mental rehabilitation training -> all are efforts to reduce odds of untimely death meaning all are efforts to expand life expectancy.
Outside of this, consider the magical curing of age related death tomorrow. Do people with unbearable conditions now have to live with them forever? With their quadrapligia, lack of long/short memory, parkinsons, etc? Suppose we can magic hand-wave our way around those.
What of births? Approximately 130-140 million children are born globally each year. That's another billion in ~8 years. We already struggle to feed our current population with ~700million facing food insecurity, and estimates say that using all available space, not wasting, and being more efficient with our diets we could perhaps support 20 billion on this planet. This would, however, require perfect cooperation between everyone on earth deciding to share perfectly and agree to move to plant based diets where required. At current birth rate, we'd have less than 100 years to solve food waste and build out the capacity. Or is birth now controlled a la China? Who gets to decide? What happens when the decision turns out to be wrong and leads to inbalance of viable mating pairs? Do we pivot to global sterilization? No more births until we colonize Mars?
And where does everyone live? If we are maximizing use of arable lands, humans can then only live in un-arable lands because we need farms and greenhouses on those lands. So we have to live above the green-line on mountains, tundras and permanent ice, and deserts. And the more food we have to grow, the less land we have to live in, meaning density increases meaning that the odds of a super-spreader disease increases meaning that people will die regardless because in all of this we never cured death but only age-related death.
>And when I look at the problem... it seems entirely solvable!
If that were the case, that you really saw a clear path, you'd write the proposals and get the funding. If it is the case, rather, that what you have is simplistic hope/belief that it "should" be solveable, then you're in the same boat as everyone already doing the research, minus any actual research contribution.
You’re right that immediately if nobody died anymore we would have overpopulation and resource issues but I consider them extremely secondary issues to not existing.
Maybe even kinda fun.
If you couldn’t die war would be fun. It might even be fun to get blown up.
Actually, there was a recent breakthrough that might be the door to open a path to addressing age related degeneration (I’m assuming this is what you mean, not immortality). The enzyme is called CMLase and it prevent the glycoslylation that leads to stiff collagen and aging in the skin. The keys are probably things like preserving cell metabolism, boosting mitochondrial function, preventing telomere shortening, and reducing repair from cellular damage (which can lead to “aging” and cancer). BTDubs aging is also 100% preventable - just don’t smoke anything, don’t drink, reduce grilled and smoked meat, limit sugar, use SPF 50 multiple times daily, exercise 3-4 times a week, etc. Basically don't do anything that leads to DNA repair or glycosylation and you become a superager. The number doesn’t matter as much as the experience of being that age.
You don’t really NEED a pill to do any of this. Instead we prolly all need a different type of society that is less stressful and prioritizes health education & supporting folks having great lives as they age. Ageism is killer, just take care of yourself.
You mean afte we have solved hunger, poverty, human trafficking, drought, famine, natural disasters problems ? Sure after all that, I am sure it can take priority.
I joke all the time where are the Renters Lives Matter signs?
The closest thing to modern slavery employed en masse is the work:rent game with ever changing values and conditions that always keep assets just out of reach haha. It’s cruel
> inb4 the closest thing to modern slavery is literal [forced labor] we use newspeak guys
And I know.
But still, it would be interesting to at least see real solutions of the world so much as being earnestly attempted rather than the constant charade.
I hope the aging never get solved. Certain garbage humans that use their wealth/power to inflict endless pain and suffering on the innocent is already heavy. Now imagine the said garbage -- Putler, Min Aung Hlaing, Lukashenko, and the list goes on -- living for another 750 years. Imagine Cheney, Kissinger, Polpot, and other fine humans lived for another 5000 years.
Couldn't you say ageing solved immortality? If nothing makes space for subsequent generations, there is no evolution, so anything that does evolve will outcompete it sooner or later. I (literally) never see any of that acknowledged by people who are upset about mortality, it all seems extremely selfish and short-sighted. Our own life is limited regardless of how long it lasts, so I think the greatest thing about life is that others live, too, and to know it will keep going on. And if immortality was available, the power grabs that already make the world such a shithole would get infinitely worse. There'd be five dudes breeding sex slaves and that's about it.
What are you even talking about? People have been trying to "solve" aging since forever. You are mad that not every single person is dedicated to this one issue? If it's so bloody easy, why don't you just solve it your damn self?
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 12.0 ms ] threadAnd lol, easily solvable? Scientists have been trying to figure it out for well over a century (and non-scientists probably since the origin of the man race). They’ve made marginal progress so far.
Go do a web search or two.
Op, consider using fewer absolutes. Many people have worked on aging science to identify how to prolong human lifetimes.
Suffering, absolutely. But I think there is more nuance to death.
First of all, there is a lot of work already going in to slowing and eliminating aging. Every "please don't smoke" campaign is actually a "smoking causes early death so not smoking prolongs life" campaign, if you think about it. Healthy eating, cancer prevention and treatment, dementia etc treatment and prevention, brain training, physical and mental rehabilitation training -> all are efforts to reduce odds of untimely death meaning all are efforts to expand life expectancy.
Outside of this, consider the magical curing of age related death tomorrow. Do people with unbearable conditions now have to live with them forever? With their quadrapligia, lack of long/short memory, parkinsons, etc? Suppose we can magic hand-wave our way around those.
What of births? Approximately 130-140 million children are born globally each year. That's another billion in ~8 years. We already struggle to feed our current population with ~700million facing food insecurity, and estimates say that using all available space, not wasting, and being more efficient with our diets we could perhaps support 20 billion on this planet. This would, however, require perfect cooperation between everyone on earth deciding to share perfectly and agree to move to plant based diets where required. At current birth rate, we'd have less than 100 years to solve food waste and build out the capacity. Or is birth now controlled a la China? Who gets to decide? What happens when the decision turns out to be wrong and leads to inbalance of viable mating pairs? Do we pivot to global sterilization? No more births until we colonize Mars?
And where does everyone live? If we are maximizing use of arable lands, humans can then only live in un-arable lands because we need farms and greenhouses on those lands. So we have to live above the green-line on mountains, tundras and permanent ice, and deserts. And the more food we have to grow, the less land we have to live in, meaning density increases meaning that the odds of a super-spreader disease increases meaning that people will die regardless because in all of this we never cured death but only age-related death.
>And when I look at the problem... it seems entirely solvable!
If that were the case, that you really saw a clear path, you'd write the proposals and get the funding. If it is the case, rather, that what you have is simplistic hope/belief that it "should" be solveable, then you're in the same boat as everyone already doing the research, minus any actual research contribution.
Maybe even kinda fun.
If you couldn’t die war would be fun. It might even be fun to get blown up.
It would be a different thing entirely
You don’t really NEED a pill to do any of this. Instead we prolly all need a different type of society that is less stressful and prioritizes health education & supporting folks having great lives as they age. Ageism is killer, just take care of yourself.
You mean afte we have solved hunger, poverty, human trafficking, drought, famine, natural disasters problems ? Sure after all that, I am sure it can take priority.
The closest thing to modern slavery employed en masse is the work:rent game with ever changing values and conditions that always keep assets just out of reach haha. It’s cruel
> inb4 the closest thing to modern slavery is literal [forced labor] we use newspeak guys
And I know.
But still, it would be interesting to at least see real solutions of the world so much as being earnestly attempted rather than the constant charade.
It must be what it feels like to be religious, yet mortal, and not care.