Why We Need Anti-Aging/Life Extension Technology
Introduction
As I have discussed before I have an interest in anti-ageing technologies and I will be creating more posts to cover this field.
As we move further into the 21st century we are dealing with an increasingly ageing demographic, particularly within developed countries.
Many of the diseases that will take an increasing toll are intimately tied to the processes of ageing and I don't believe it is possible to investigate them adequately in isolation from each other.
This is going to put an increasing amount of stress on our governmental, social and health care structures.
If we take the example of dementias alone the statistics are startling. The following excerpt is taken from a summary of a 2015 global report on dementia:
Between 2015 and 2050, the number of older people living in high income countries is forecast to increase by 56%, compared with 138% in upper middle income countries, 185% in lower middle income countries, and by 239% low income countries. Rising life expectancy is contributing to rapid increases in numbers, and is associated with increased prevalence of chronic diseases like dementia.
We estimate that 46.8 million people worldwide are living with dementia in 2015. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 74.7 million in 2030 and 131.5 million in 2050. These new estimates are 12-13% higher than those made for the World Alzheimer Report 2009.
Now these are for just one type of disease (dementias).
If we take into account the vast spectrum of diseases that increase as people age then the situation becomes even more concerning.
Adding Life to Years, Not Years to Life
Most people understand the principle that prevention is better than cure.
For those of us who are interested in Life-Extension what we are talking about is adding useful years to a person's lifespan.
Nobody wants to live to be 150 years old if half of that time is miserable due to disability and ill health.
That is completely pointless.
The way to think of it is adding "life to years, not years to life" - I forget exactly where I read that quote but it has always stuck with me.
If we do not start to tackle the diseases of ageing head-on we will be left with a huge population of elderly people who have a miserable quality of life.
In addition to that we will end up spending larger and larger amounts of money to look after and care for them.
I believe it is better to prevent people ending up in that state in the first place.
The "Only Rich People" Fallacy
I want to keep this post brief so I won't be able to cover every single objection that people to anti-ageing medicine but I would like to mention this one.
The basic objection is that such treatments and technologies will only be available to the rich.
Whilst I can sympathise with people's opinion and feelings I think it is a patently absurd view point to hold.
Since when has this not been the case for any type of technology?
Almost all new technologies start out as being very expensive and the domain of the wealthy. I can think of few things that did not begin this way.
Mobile phones were an incredibly expensive luxury when they were first released. Now they are actually more common in some developing countries than they are in wealthier nations.
The fact is that all technology starts out expensive and becomes cheaper over time. There is a trickle down effect.
I think these kinds of objections come from an ideologically based opposition to anti-ageing technologies.
Life Extension & Anti-Aging Technology Group
I have recently started using LinkedIn more and I must say it is a lot better than Facebook. The site is a lot more professionally orientated and there is less of the usual "look at me" type posts.
The last time I used LinkedIn was years ago when the site was quite new and much less developed.
I have also noticed that they have a vast array of discussion groups and I have created the "Life Extension & Anti-Aging Technology" group on LinkedIn specifically for discussing these topics, which you can find here:
Life Extension & Anti-Aging Technology Group Link
There are no specific requirements for joining, all you need is an interest in these issues and a willingness to have sensible scientific discussion.
Here is an excerpt from the about page:
A group for people who are interested in the interplay between ageing and disease, life extension technologies and related fields. Share interesting stories, papers, research and anything which you feel is relevant to this.
How Can a LinkedIn Group Help Steemit?
I'm a strong believer that we can help to spread the Steemit message by stealth and one of the ways to do this it to share appropriate links on other social media.
Rather than doing any kind of hard sell, if people find articles they like it might make them more likely to become curious about Steemit and make it one of their regular sources of information.
LinkedIn tends to attract people with a more professional focus and I believe that is the kind of demographic that will bring greater outside investment into Steem/Steemit.
It is also another great place to attract new bloggers from.
Thank you for reading
All uncredited images are taken from my personal Thinkstock Photography account. More information can be provided on request.
I am a student from Argentina and to solve the expenses I worked as a computer teacher for seniors.
At least in my country the technology, represents a great leap for the elderly. They have grown up in a generation where this did not exist and to enter this new era is very difficult for them.
I met many people teaching and there was something that always surprised me, in all cases. They always wanted to learn, they always wanted to discover something new.
I teach from clicking a mouse or turning on a computer, to installing programs and downloading movies.
I really like what you do, I have always felt a special connection with older people and I think they deserve to be introduced in this era. Cheers my friend!
@tincho
That is fantastic! Thank you:)
There is one truth in my family history - we rarely reach old age. Not to be a self-fulfilling prophesy, I intend to live but when it's time to go, may it be quick and peaceful. That being said, quality of life is vitally important to me. As you've eluded to, there's no point in extending life if you can't live it.
Yes I remember you mentioned it before. I think we all hope for a quick peaceful death - the sad part is that isn't as common as we'd like.
This is true which is why I've told my boys it's all right if I go wandering the woods when the time comes, if you get my drift.
I always share my post to linkedin, twitter, facebook, stumble, tumblr, reddit - sometimes to pinterest, medium, voat, ello, academy. But I can't see if there are views from those media to my Steemit blog.
Yes some sort of analytics would be useful.
agreed!
Thanks:)
We don't need to live longer. We need to learn to live with each other.
True but your answer makes me think you didn't read what I said.
Busted.
Lol I think we all do it, but basically one of the points I was making was that the real focus is on improving the quality of life in old age rather than just living longer - that is pointless.
Agree, I will definitely read it. Thanks.
As written here,
adding life to yearsI do think adding quality to life is important. I don't think I want a longer life that is less meaningful.
Yes I think most people feel that way and I don't think anyone is trying to extend life without taking account of that as the primary focus.
It reminds me of people who talk about using caloric restriction as an interim life extension measure - I think it might make my life feel longer but I'm not sure I would want that if I can't enjoy the simple things in life like a good meal!
Living life is definitely not the same as "living". Sure we are all "living" meaning we were born and we will eventually leave this earth but how we spend our time here is what's all about. Too many people believe in just skating by, living in their comfort zone. Move away from that, otherwise you will regret not doing so many things. Bottom line...LIVE LIFE!
I wholeheartedly agree :)
such a good post
Thank you!
Sorry eh, but for me seem Humankind somehow Failed. To extend Life, i woulda say its great, but somehow the Life around me, its some crap and beside the Micro-organism world around me, About Death and Life every day.....Let me say so, there are no loving Humans around me. Or is it just me today, who is blind for that ? or even my Life long ?
I sympathise with your situation.
We don't need anti aging discoveries. Our world is overpopulated by a virus it doesn't need, a virus that's killing its host just to project purpose when we don't have one.
A very pessimistic view but I sympathise.
Don't use "we"! Maybe YOU don't, but some of us value extending our lives.
r u pho real? if the world is over populated by a virus, are you going to be the next cell to initiate apoptosis to lower the viral load?? Or are you one of these types that thinks the virus is caused by them... over there .. those... (put in your select group ..Caucasians/Africans/ Asians/ Persians/ Amazonian...) and elect to kill them off.
your post essentially paints you a Malthusian. Many a sky has not fallen despite all the Malthusian's shock and horror. Tech solves our next crisis. Overpopulation is not an issue at all. If you knew anything about demographics you would understand that the west has an issue with depopulation caused by insufficient birth rates. Country by country the western nations are failing to meet the required maintenance birthrate of 2.1 births per woman. The reality is we need anti ageing technologies like OP crytofiend attests, to keep people healthier and in the workplace for longer. The unaccounted for debts represented by various governmental superannuation schemes have every single nation with those structures in place marching head long to bankruptcy. We can avert the issue if we turn to tech and make 100 the new 65. This would allow people to continue to ply their trades/ sell their services/ continue to produce and enhance their communities instead of losing their vital skills to rest homes/ gated communities or geriatric golf courses.
There is no reason that those individuals couldn't elect to work for only 3 days a week for 6 months a year and then spend the remainder of the year with their loved ones doing interesting things like visiting the only remaining woven swing bridges in the world which date back to pre Conquistador times. I for one relish the idea of the opportunity of induced tissue regeneration, induced pluripotent stem cells, telomerase reactivation, peptide therapies, individualised cancer therapies, liquid biopsies all of which are in laboratories today, and are failing to be released because Luddite Malthusians are scared they'll get left behind.
No matter what problem you encounter, whether it's a grand challenge for humanity or a personal problem of your own, there's an idea out there that can overcome it. And you can find that idea.
-Ray Kurzweil
Thanks I like Kurzweil:)