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If a true elixir of youth existed, would you drink from it?
You do not have permission to vote on this poll. |
| Yes, I would love to live this long. |
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34 |
87.18% |
| No, I can't stand myself now. |
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2 |
5.13% |
| I don't know. |
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1 |
2.56% |
| I think I would, but I think people are not capable of filling their lifes that long. |
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2 |
5.13% |
| Total: |
39 votes |
100% |
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nitro
Registered: Sep 2001
Posts: 17946 |
10-13-09 05:05 AM
I have been studying why we age. It turns out that basically we are programmed to live and there is no genetic basis for aging, but it is damage to our cells that causes aging.
I believe that in the future, nano-technology will create extremely small robots that will be programmed to go into the body and repair cellls en-masse, extending life.
From another direction, people like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey
are identifying at the genetic and molecular level what actually happens and how we can extend life, to the point where we could live to be 1000 years old, and for much of that time we would be young.
The question is, would you want to live this long?
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nitro
Registered: Sep 2001
Posts: 17946 |
10-13-09 05:14 AM
One of my favorite episodes from Star Trek is:
"Requiem for Methuselah"
http://www.imdb.com/video/cbs/vi1699020825/
I think this is probably why I would love to live this long. Can you imagine? You can be Da Vinci if given enough time, or learn to compose like Brahms, to write like Shakespear, etc..
The first 100 years of your life you would be an idiot like everybody else, and then one day you would begin to appreciate the truly wonderous. Given 900 years, just about any of us could be amazing.
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dtrader98
Registered: Nov 2006
Posts: 1818 |
10-13-09 05:39 AM
I believe it is very possible. Not only nanotechonology, but the core instructions at the very DNA itself may be re-engineered (future will be a gold mine for those that reap).
That being said, it brings a very whole new set of philosophical issues to light, such as population dynamics and scarcity of resources. Considering how resources are hoarded by few, I shudder to think of the outcome.
Cosmetic vanity for those that can afford it (what happens to those that can't; survival of the fittest).
Of course, that's what fiction writers are for.=)
There was a good fiction story I read some time back about a senator that was a staunch, vocal religious critic of stem cell research (republican). Yet, when he found out he had Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, he himself quietly went to an offshore center for experimental research to use a stem cell based cure.
Not too far from reality, IMO.
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nazzdack
Registered: Jul 2004
Posts: 8412 |
10-13-09 06:57 AM
Quote from nitro:
.....we can extend life, to the point where we could live to be 1000 years old, and for much of that time we would be young.
1) 3-0-0-0
2) Would Larry King and Andy Rooney still keep their jobs? 
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