I think 120 is pretty much the upper limit of the human lifespan and I doubt medicine will change that any time in the foreseeable future. It would be nice to be wrong.
Agreed. I’m under half of 120 and it’s depressing to think this is the best it would be for the next 60+. Things like vision, vertigo (those roller coasters just hit different after 40) etc.
The main cause for aging comes from the shortening of telemeres during cellular division and the reduction of organelle walls of certain nuclear components in cells.
I do not think it’s beyond our scientific ability to address these things, but it will be more expensive than the average person can hack if it ever becomes reality.
With current tech, I think it is semi-possible but has potential ethical problems. There have been studies witth moderately promising results but all rather limited in scope. (This is from what I know when I studied medicine, may be somewhat outdated by now)
What you need is to have either have stem cells preserved since infancy or use stem cells from early embryos. These can be combined with dna from the patient and then reintroduced to revitalize organs reaching the end of their telomeric lifespan.
Afaik the main issue here is that the prior option requires cryogenically preserved stem cells (which basically none of our elders today have) or harvesting stem cells from human embryos (which is prohibited in western healthcare). Aside from that there’s also an increased cancer risk.
I think they’ve explored using it as a countermeasure for alzhiemers, but don’t recall how effective it was. In any case, that particular avenue isn’t likely to get significant traction currently in the west. Legally dubious and way too expensive for any of us mere mortals to afford.
I don’t even mean Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Your brain cells only have a certain lifespan and most of them don’t regenerate. Some can regenerate, but eventually the brain just can’t keep repairing itself. Pathways break down. Can stem cells fix that? Maybe. I haven’t heard anything about it.
I do hear there are some possible solutions out there to the other major aging issue- telomeres.
Well, alz & other forms of dementia are directly related to atrophy of gray matter in the brain. The general idea of rejuvination by adding progenitor (stem) cells which have fresh telomerase (enzyme that replenishes telomeres, the reason stem cells can keep replicating longer than other cells) in the brain is that they could develop new nerve cells. On a rather basic theoretical level that should also help with basic brain aging. I’m no neurologist though and haven’t been keeping up with the topic lately.
We’ve apparently peaked and lifespans aren’t expected to continue to increase from today. There may be medical changes in the future, but we’re at our natural limit.
I think 120 is pretty much the upper limit of the human lifespan and I doubt medicine will change that any time in the foreseeable future. It would be nice to be wrong.
Only if medicine is also able to prevent the problems that arise from being so old
Agreed. I’m under half of 120 and it’s depressing to think this is the best it would be for the next 60+. Things like vision, vertigo (those roller coasters just hit different after 40) etc.
…and stop the earth from slowly turning into a far-right corporate dystopia with drastic climate deterioration.
Tell that to shell company owners.
The main cause for aging comes from the shortening of telemeres during cellular division and the reduction of organelle walls of certain nuclear components in cells.
I do not think it’s beyond our scientific ability to address these things, but it will be more expensive than the average person can hack if it ever becomes reality.
With current tech, I think it is semi-possible but has potential ethical problems. There have been studies witth moderately promising results but all rather limited in scope. (This is from what I know when I studied medicine, may be somewhat outdated by now)
What you need is to have either have stem cells preserved since infancy or use stem cells from early embryos. These can be combined with dna from the patient and then reintroduced to revitalize organs reaching the end of their telomeric lifespan.
Afaik the main issue here is that the prior option requires cryogenically preserved stem cells (which basically none of our elders today have) or harvesting stem cells from human embryos (which is prohibited in western healthcare). Aside from that there’s also an increased cancer risk.
I don’t know that any of that solves the problem of an aging brain.
I think they’ve explored using it as a countermeasure for alzhiemers, but don’t recall how effective it was. In any case, that particular avenue isn’t likely to get significant traction currently in the west. Legally dubious and way too expensive for any of us mere mortals to afford.
I don’t even mean Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Your brain cells only have a certain lifespan and most of them don’t regenerate. Some can regenerate, but eventually the brain just can’t keep repairing itself. Pathways break down. Can stem cells fix that? Maybe. I haven’t heard anything about it.
I do hear there are some possible solutions out there to the other major aging issue- telomeres.
Well, alz & other forms of dementia are directly related to atrophy of gray matter in the brain. The general idea of rejuvination by adding progenitor (stem) cells which have fresh telomerase (enzyme that replenishes telomeres, the reason stem cells can keep replicating longer than other cells) in the brain is that they could develop new nerve cells. On a rather basic theoretical level that should also help with basic brain aging. I’m no neurologist though and haven’t been keeping up with the topic lately.
We’ve apparently peaked and lifespans aren’t expected to continue to increase from today. There may be medical changes in the future, but we’re at our natural limit.