Why can't we just live forever by using CRISPR to edit our epigenetics to encourage telomerase which would encourage our telomeres to grow back instead of shrinking as our cells divide, eventually leading to senescence.
It sounds pretty straightforward to me.
Cancor might be an issue but I'd rather have the extra time to possibly find a cure for that or survive it than to do nothing.
>implying telomeres are the only factors of aging
The fact we can edit ourselves creeps me the fuck out. Like what is even going on in this universe.
Because, you know, overpopulation isnt bad enough already.
There's no actual evidence that telomere length is a limiting factor in human longevity. Even if it was, it wouldn't solve other aging pathways.
>Muh CRISPR
Actually gene therapy in adults is still decades away.
The first approach to life extension will come in pill form.
Also aging is more than telomeres. We don't know for 100% what causes it. But Aubrey de Grey actually has the best list to date.
>implying 1m people living forever will have any effect on the 400m/year increase of africa
Immortality should only be reserved for STEM majors tbqh.
What happens to those scissors you leave laying around, why do they not keep cutting?
>implying you can edit every cell in your body
Haha yep upvoted :O
Should just be reserved for jews
>Dude just like edit our genes and shit, cure aging, yknow. It's easy
>I totally know what Im talking about, i read some popsci articles about this
This is how you sound OP.
I don't why we can't but one reason we shouldn't edit it yet is because there is absolutely no reason to think we understand it yet.
You know, just because a woman lives forever doesn't mean they'll be fertile. Having an ever increasing portion of the female population being unable to have children naturally will slow things down considerably. Not enough for overpopulation to not be a concern, but long term it helps a lot.
This.
If we can keep people young forever then menopause should be pretty easy to deal with.
How do you think we're going to understand human genetic engineering? People ran electricity to their homes before we had a good understanding of it. You just have to go for it.
I dont remember the name of the company, but they were successful in increasing the telomere length of the president of said company by . 2nm or somethinghowever i heard of this a year ago and haven't seen anything since
Moron, that's not the only thing that causes aging.
>years and years of intron/Econ clipping
>polyA tail clipping
>exposure to O2 because of imperfect metabolism
>cosmic radiation point mutation
>viral insertion
>natural molecular degradation on genome due to imperfect molecular machinery
>slow loss of self tolerance in immune system due to point mutations leading to arthritis and other autoimmune diseases
We're meant to break down eventually. What could be the remaining selective pressure on humanity if not longevity at this point?
Fucking autocorrect
>introns and exons
I don't like this mindset.
The logic doesn't hold up.
Your points are valid, but this is from a faltering biology with no perceived need for extended longevity because we reproduce anyway. We have the tools (or almost) to circumvent that, just like we have tools to build bridges, buildings and rockets.
We have new and improved ways to manipulate the environment and ourselves, why not apply that instead of falling into to "it's built into our systems" fallacy?
Humans aren't meant to careen down the road at a breakneck 15mph, user.
Because there will never be a perfect system user. It isn't about the will of humans or even about what should or should not be as we define it. The universe marches towards entropy and we must do the same. It is the only way anything works. If we try to change our genes to live forever we will irreversibly be sat tinkering with them for all of eternity until our very will to live runs out and we eventually succumb to entropy anyway. End the suffering user
>We have the tools (or almost) to circumvent that, just like we have tools to build bridges, buildings and rockets
This is retarded. It's like you don't understand CRISPR at all. Saying we're close to having the tools for immortality is like saying we are close to having the tools to build a ladder to the moon because we just discovered a more efficient version of the hammer.
>edit our epigenetics
Do...do you know how CRISPR works?
>It sounds pretty straightforward to me.
Nigga tell me how you gonna get CRISPR to work in every single cell in your body.