Life extension and immortality research

[Ivan Seeking]

Cynthia Kenyon thinks we can have it all: health, wealth, hordes of children - and a long life. A very long life. She disagrees with prevailing ideas that we can only live longer by paying a high price in terms of reduced fertility or a sluggish metabolism. What made this professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, so sure? A little worm. James Kingsland was keen to discover the secret

http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp;jsessionid=HAKLOFHIJBEG?id=ns24171

 

[Jikx]

I think (i haven't looked for any evidence thus far) there are fundamental restrictions on how old we can live mentally.

Everyone knows as you grow older, your habits begin to cement in the mind, progressively harder and harder to shake off. Nerve connections become more and more permanent. When you listen to the elderly, they constantly recount the past. I think perhaps the biggest side effect of attempting to 'live forever' is that while your body could regenerate indefinitely - your mind would live only in the past.

Sure drugs could attempt to 'reverse' such effects to make the mind flexible again. Such drugs are also known as brain washing drugs. What a catch 22

 

[Monique]

I think elderly live in the past, since it is hard to make new connection in order to live in the future.

 

[selfAdjoint]

I am 70, and I think these last two posts are hilarious. Si la jeunesse sauvait, si la viellesee pouvait.

 

[Monique]

haha, you are right, I was commenting on jinx.. we both are talking about dementia where short term memory is lost, as we all know, the brain has a certain number of neurons which won't be regenerated when lost. If we want to live forever, we'd have to make sure that nerve connections can be regenerated.

I am not sure what you said there, something like: safe your youth, if life let's you?

 

[iansmith]

Originally posted by selfAdjoint
Si la jeunesse sauvait, si la viellesee pouvait.

If youth knew, if elder could.

It should be "savait" not "sauvait". It is two different word but it sounds the same.

 

[Monique]

viellesee is elder? I was thinking la vie :P

 

[iansmith]

vieillesse is from vieux and vieille which means old in the masculin and feminin respectively.