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144 Comments
- 3tcp, on 07/09/2009, -0/+69I don't want to extend the lifespan of the species, just my own.
- DarkBlueAnt, on 07/09/2009, -2/+37God, I hate being an amphibian. Not only are we sensitive to mutations, but we miss out on all the best drugs.
- doctechnical, on 07/09/2009, -1/+20Dammit, if only I were a mamma....
I mean, [cough] of course I'm human. Nothing to see here, move along... - airwalkery2k, on 07/09/2009, -0/+17Woah! This is convenient, because I am a mammal. SWEET.
- UselessTrivia, on 07/09/2009, -0/+16We do all kinds of ***** already that artificially extends the human lifespan. Just look at antibiotics. Without these I probably would have died when I was about 5 and caught pneumonia. Because of the antibiotics I recovered completely and have lived a completely normal life every since.
That's science making my life artificially longer. - novenator, on 07/09/2009, -18/+30FTA - "The researchers caution, however, that using this drug to extend the lifespan of humans might be problematic because it suppresses the immune system — potentially making people who take it more susceptible to infectious diseases."
Anything that takes away from a truly natural lifestyle ultimately leads to complications. Although this is fascinating, I fear that artificially extending the lifespan of our species is a mistake. - k3rfuffl3, on 07/09/2009, -0/+12Just to clarify this drug is already used in humans and we've known about it for a long time. A much less ***** title would be, "Immune suppressant drug found to extend life span of mice."
- PowderedToasty, on 07/09/2009, -3/+14Complications are just challenges to overcome. There's no good reason for humans to get old and die. That's how nature made it because nature had no other choice. Evolution needs generations to die, but humans are done with biological evolution. I say let's do whatever we can to extend our lifespan.
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+11THE SPICE EXPANDS LIFE!
- ozydingo, on 07/09/2009, -0/+10Although I understand the importance and relevance of animal models, one should definitely be cautious in extrapolating conclusions to human physiology. Particularly concerning lifespan, where mice and humans differ greatly. It's a bit misleading for the of tbhurst to state "extends lifespan in mammals" as so far as i can see there are no tests of this in any other species of mammal; the article only reports results in mice. It's perfectly plausible that it will work in other mammals, but draw conclusions cautiously.
- VonBargenJL, on 07/09/2009, -0/+10"He who controls the Spice controls the universe"
big pharma :( - JSager, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9ok, so if you want a truly natural lifestyle, I assume that you're declining medical treatment, antibiotics, appendix surgery, and so forth. Also, be careful when wiping. I wouldn't want you to get poison ivy. The main question is, did you dictate your response to someone else using a computer?
- goobly, on 07/09/2009, -1/+10In my experience religious people fear death just as much as non-religious people. Get off your high horse, *****.
- angusm, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but if rapamycin makes us live longer, are there other drugs that can make us live wider and deeper as well?" - HAL90000, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8Why would extending the lifespans of humans be a mistake?
- Rankao, on 07/09/2009, -1/+9Theres always war.
- WraTH017, on 07/09/2009, -2/+10Great, because politicians need to live even longer. Am I the only one that seriously hope they never find a way to extend human life? Call me pesimistic, but I can't imagine a world were Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdoch, and other ***** get to live to 120... Just saying.
That's the one good thing about life. It ends for EVERYBODY. - knuckles, on 07/09/2009, -0/+7Space travel, colonization etc. Also, if I knew that my life could be extended to 500+ years then you could bet that having kids would be on my backburner for a long time. So the population would not necessarily increase at any faster rate than it does now, it just means that whatever population in existence would stagnate for longer periods of time.
And if talk logistics of creating and selling this drug, I'd guess that (unless it was applied as a genetic treatment with permanent affects) that supplying the entire worlds population with this drug is simply impossible. Just look at the problems we have delivery flu and aids medications.
So in reality, only the upper middle-class and above would have access to this treatment making the issue of over-crowdedness a much lesser issue than it needs to be.
The drug doesn't prevent the fact that you're still a mortal being. So philosophically speaking, living longer increases your chances of dying a horrible death. For example, the chances of getting run over by a bus, falling in front of a train, getting shot or stabbed, dying in a plane crash all *increase* statistically. - Renork, on 07/09/2009, -1/+8Reducing birthrate is more important than keeping the death rate high.
It is actually astonishingly more important. - lordmike, on 07/09/2009, -3/+9Maybe, but you'll still be old and frail...
There was an old Greek myth where someone asked one of the gods for eternal life... what he forgot to ask for, though, was eternal youth... so, he became incredibly old, but incredibly decrepit.. it turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing... - CreamySmooth, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6Good news everyone!
- groo68, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6That's why you ask for magical powers. Jafar knew what he was doing. All he forgot was to ask to be a free genie, which is easily fixable if you promise more wishes to someone for setting you free.
- CloseYetFar, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6To be honest if I can make it to 85 and still be able to care for myself, I will be happy. I really want to give this to my dog, 12 to 14 years of life is just to short. It will only give him an extra 2 years or so but still.
- RetepNamenots, on 07/09/2009, -1/+7Now this'll be patented, manufactured for 3p, then sold for £59.99.
- PowderedToasty, on 07/09/2009, -2/+7How are humans not done with biological evolution? If humans are around in 100,000 years we'll be very different due to our technology, not biology. Of course I've considered resources and overpopulation. Have you considered that if people live for hundreds of years they would and should have fewer children? Population growth in our parts of the world isn't that high already, and could be lowered.
- df12, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Shhhhh. No one tell Aubrey De Grey...
- Paranor01, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5That information is in the article, if you take time to read it with any sort of comprehension.
- GhostInAShell, on 07/09/2009, -4/+9Fountain of Life™
- RetepNamenots, on 07/09/2009, -1/+6Stop posting that in the comments of every goddamned story.
- TBBucs, on 07/09/2009, -10/+15The thing is, we need death to keep the population under control. If people start living 120 years or whatever, resources are going to drain faster, the world would be overcrowded and therefore more susceptible to disease, etc. You can't mess with the cycle.
- TranquilNight, on 07/09/2009, -2/+7Immortality, here we come!
- mogdor, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5I don't buy this "let's not interfere with nature" *****. The human species was blessed with brainpower, we have the ability to choose how we evolve and decide our own destiny. I'm glad we don't all think like you, otherwise it would still be normal for people to die in their 30's.
- Terrywolf, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Option A (Most likely):
People will have to live more efficient lives. This could be done in virtual reality where the only resource we would need is electricity, maintenance for the VR machine and food. We could support A LOT of people like that.
Option B (Most Ideal):
We will be able to invent a warp drive that will allow us to both colonize and harvest resources from distant planets.
Option C (Most effective):
Figure out a population cap and people can only have kids when other people die from accidents. If you are living indefinitely you will be able to have children eventually.
Option D (A possible future)
All of the above. - PowderedToasty, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5It's in the link description! "Rapamycin, a drug commonly used in humans to prevent transplanted organs from being rejected"
- 0crabby0, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Try being a crab...
- Anomaly100, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Goobly: As a "Spiritual" person, I agree with you. I don't like religion itself because like power, it corrupts. Inciting fear is another religious tactic. Even Christians such as myself, do not believe in "religion". We all fear death. It's a human thang.
- W0LFRHIN0, on 07/09/2009, -3/+8Craziness!
- StaticThunder, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5I have yet to meet the person that lived his life as if death held no sting.
- acknotSW, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4It would have to be a voluntary thing; start taking the drug, no spawning for you. It's something I would accept in a heartbeat, I intend to live for a couple thousand years.
- drmobutu, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4The crazy thing is, there are practical steps, that everybody can take NOW, to improve their longevity and overall health, like quitting smoking, getting enough exercise, and proper nutrition, but they don't do it, leading to poor health in old age (middle age, even), and a miserable experience, in general.
- RagManX, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to start building my whuffie up so I can be in charge of a ride at Disney when I've got a few thousand years realtime under my belt. I don't plan on going deadhead any time soon, that's for sure.
- wpi97, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4"Anything that takes away from a truly natural lifestyle ultimately leads to complications."
You mean things like indoor plumbing, eye glasses, and antibiotics? \s - curtisag, on 07/09/2009, -2/+6That's happening already, there is no check on the growth of the world population. The cycle is broken. AIDS was a poor attempt by nature to slow it down.
- vaccumpony, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I fear that artificially making technology, language, medicine, music and any other ***** thing we didn't find on the ground or hanging from a tree is a mistake. Let's just dig a hole (with our hands) and stick our heads in there.
- Daerion, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5Let me guess - it was 'the government', right?
- DarkBlueAnt, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Nah. It's just my favorite food.
- Hermitwise, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5if Da Vinci were still alive today could you imagine how amazing he would be with that large amount of life behind him? The argument against immortality is always just people not wanting to accept it for fear that they don't get to be immortal but someone in the future will get to be. I think what Toasty meant by us being done with biological evolution is that it's too slow for us, we can change our biology far faster than evolution can in a single life time.
- Swivelstick, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4You have an extremely optimistic view of the pharmacetical industry RetepNamenots
- tavisjohn, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4"Now this'll be patented, manufactured for 3p, then sold for £5,999.99"
There I fixed that for you. - speedyparker87, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I would have sworn you were a dark blue insect!
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