Cure of the Aging Disease

[marshal zhukov]

Ageing is the process of getting older. But is it inevitable? And since the body manages to repair itself without any problem, why does the body after a few decades starts to have problem in this reparing leading to decay at accelerating rates?

Everyday I listen to news about new drugs and treatment that are being developed to fight some kind of cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and as they say, other age related problems.
The fact is that I haven't listened to news about drugs or genetic treatment that could halt or stop the process of aging, it is as if it is impossible.
Instead of trying to find cures for each induvidual disease, we should focus on the real cause of all these diseases, and that cause is aging, which is, in my opinion, a disease, an evolutionary condition created with the purpose to allow evolution itself to occur.
It is of my knowledge, that without aging evolution would be slowed tremendously if not halted altogether, because if you allow living beings to live indefinitely they will reproduce indefinitely and that means that their DNA makeup will be passed on for an indefinite period of time. In the end you get a DNA that has been mixed up by really old DNA copies with new DNA copies, slowing the process down. That is exactly because I think that aging can be halted, because it is not something inherent of living things, it is a mechanism, something designed to limit your life independent of whatever, to end your existence once you reproduce.
Does anybody agree?
Any views to the contrary are welcome because I don't like to think that my own DNA is going to kill me.

 

[zjl56]

Aging is basicly the where on our bodies. Mostly our organs can only take so much until they stop working. Yet I have heard people could alot longer if they are frozen and put their heart beat has slowed drastically.

 

[Perfection]

Aging is both a combination of wear and timed destruction. Through arthritis and other ailments old people become less and less useful so timed aging is beneficial in that sense. So to combat aging you'd have to fight both forces.

 

[crystal]

Does anybody agree?
Any views to the contrary are welcome because I don't like to think that my own DNA is going to kill me.

To answer the question: yes and no.

Just the thought that current human population would occupy this planet indefinately horrifies me. Aging is no disease, it is an essential part of the evolution, which ensures that genetical evolution will occur when old individuals die out. I don't think that even our psyche could handle immortal life, but who knows. And btw, many "diseases" we face today exist because we haven't adapted to industrial society, or it's more like the society has not adapted to us:
http://www.primitivism.com/primitivist-critique.htm

Are you afraid of death? I don't think I would be, unless the death would be painful. Anyway, death is only a part continuous cycle of life in the nature. Ummh, now I sound like a freak... but I guess I'm a primitivist/naturalist or something like that on my ideology.

 

[Xen]

I htink the onyl way to stop death is to blow it up with multiple hydrogen bombs. That way, we kill death, we kill death dead.

 

[MummyMan]

I'm afraid i have the aging disease . I get older every day! The doctor's say i may only last for another 50 years!

 

[Raw is War?]

Just thought I'd throw a question in.
If aging was cured, would there be any need to reproduce?

 

[Suki]

Just thought I'd throw a question in.
If aging was cured, would there be any need to reproduce?

yeah to replace all the people how die from other things

 

[toh6wy]

Do we really *want* to keep more people around longer? The Earth is already becoming overpopulated as it is. If death by old age (or diseases caused by old age) was completely eliminated... well, I don't want to think about it.

Just thought I'd throw a question in.
If aging was cured, would there be any need to reproduce?

Eventually - just because no one could die of old age doesn't mean they couldn't die at all.

 

[Syterion]

No Aging=Superpopulated world.

 

[North King]

No Aging=Superpopulated world.

Unless we develop space travel and ship our old ones off to Alpha Centauri and other places.

I am afraid it is necessary, and I fear death. I don't like thinking about it, either, because I am agnostic, so I am not sure wether there is anything after death or not. I just hope there is and go about my life as best I can.

 

[marshal zhukov]

No Aging=Superpopulated world.

No aging will only mean a superpopulated world if there is no birth control.
Birth rates in declining in the industrialized world, and in countries like Brazil. Besides that is not the point.

If people didn't age, people would not feel pressured to have families by the time they hit 40 years old. So in theory birth rates would go down, not only due to the fact that people had all the time in the world to start a family but also due to more effective birth control methods.

I just don't think that overpopulation would be a problem and that is not the point. Overpopulation is a problem also because too many babies are being born and not only because people are not dying fast enough.

If people didn't age, I would start a family when I turned 100 years old, why not? I would look as young as if I were 30 years. In fact I would party until I was 90 years old and then think about starting a family.

See the spread between generations?

 

[Syterion]

^^Just because there will be good birth control doesn't mean people will use them. That's the chief reason for overpopulation today.

 

[marshal zhukov]

Good God, the purpose of this thread was to start awareness or discussion about the aging process being a disease not about overpopulation. I have failed apparently.

 

[Mark1031]

Research on aging is one of the hottest areas of basic biological research at the moment. Animals can be genetically altered to have life spans extended by up to 100% (so far). In mammals (and all species looked at including yeast) the only thing known to extend life span is severe caloric restriction.

 

[Zwelgje]

Aging is not a disease by any means, the thought that it is and should be combatted results in imbecils going to plastic surgeons to remove any wrinkle etc just to not look older. It's all so pointless...
Your argument that it's good to live longer because then your genes stay around shows your ignorance on genetics: you pass on your genes along with those of your partner to your children. No worries dude, if you reproduce your genes are here to stay.

I think the reason that you age is because your body is designed to live for a limited number of years: enough to reproduce. That's what happens to all animals on this world, once you've reproduced and are not able to do that anymore, your role is played and you are dismissed.
Learn to live with it, that's the way life is.

 

[Vietcong]

i dont plan on living past 50, dont wana deal with that crap..

 

[marshal zhukov]

Aging is not a disease by any means, the thought that it is and should be combatted results in imbecils going to plastic surgeons to remove any wrinkle etc just to not look older. It's all so pointless...
Your argument that it's good to live longer because then your genes stay around shows your ignorance on genetics: you pass on your genes along with those of your partner to your children. No worries dude, if you reproduce your genes are here to stay.

I think the reason that you age is because your body is designed to live for a limited number of years: enough to reproduce. That's what happens to all animals on this world, once you've reproduced and are not able to do that anymore, your role is played and you are dismissed.
Learn to live with it, that's the way life is.

I am sorry, but you didn't seem to understand the problem that is caused to the evolutionary process without aging.
Of course I know that along with your genes you partners are passed along as well, otherwise you would be cloning yourself whenever you reproduced.
It is funny how you say that I am ignorant in genetics ( I am, by the way), and at the same time agrees with me when you say that after reproduction we are no longer desirable, so we can just decay and die.

When you say that our bodies are designed to live a limited number of years, you seem to indicate that you also think that aging is something that happens intentionally, something programed. Aging is a "condition" written on our DNA that slowly reduces our bodies capacity to function eventually causing death.

To answer the question: yes and no.

Just the thought that current human population would occupy this planet indefinately horrifies me. Aging is no disease, it is an essential part of the evolution, which ensures that genetical evolution will occur when old individuals die out. I don't think that even our psyche could handle immortal life, but who knows. And btw, many "diseases" we face today exist because we haven't adapted to industrial society, or it's more like the society has not adapted to us:
http://www.primitivism.com/primitivist-critique.htm

Are you afraid of death? I don't think I would be, unless the death would be painful. Anyway, death is only a part continuous cycle of life in the nature. Ummh, now I sound like a freak... but I guess I'm a primitivist/naturalist or something like that on my ideology..

Aging is a disease because it impairs the functioning of the body. But you are right when you say that aging is essential to genetical evolution and only to genetic evolution. Aging doesn't help us, human beings, we don't need it. And that's why we should stop it from happening. "the gene is selfish".

 

[crystal]

Aging is a disease because it impairs the functioning of the body. But you are right when you say that aging is essential to genetical evolution and only to genetic evolution. Aging doesn't help us, human beings, we don't need it. And that's why we should stop it from happening. "the gene is selfish".

What if individuals are simply supposed to die off at some point? Anyway, I still hope that the aging "disease" is never "cured".

 

[Zwelgje]

When you say that our bodies are designed to live a limited number of years, you seem to indicate that you also think that aging is something that happens intentionally, something programed. Aging is a "condition" written on our DNA that slowly reduces our bodies capacity to function eventually causing death.

You're body isn't designed to decay after a while, it's designed to last for as long as it takes for you to reproduce in order to keep the species alive. The individual is not important and thus emphasis lies upon keeping the species for as long as possible instead of the individual.