But there is one area where progress really seems feasible within a few years: radical life extension. The right combination of drugs affecting gene expression just might do it.
You will probably not get radical life extension by solely altering gene expression. You’ll need something more invasive.
and making sure that the path is clear to extending healthy life, not decrepitude.
You know that is in fact the current state of medicine, e.i. extending life a little, but not really increasing healthy years. For example warfarin (commonly subscribed to elderly at greater risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke), do not improve quality of life, more the opposite, since it reduces clothing --> increase bleeding, cause spontaneous bruising.
I’m all for healthy lifespan, but that is what I’m hoping initiatives like SENS might deliver as well as increase in lifespan.
Yes, and I think we should stop paying for some current procedures that prolong decrepitude.
That is highly problematic, since that will result in more strokes and mycardial infractions that—aside from causing death—result in an increase in morbidity.
And what if people want to live longer, even if the extra years added will have more decrepitude.
From a paper by Nick Bostrom:
One study assessed the will to live among 414 hospitalized patients aged 80 to 98 years,
presumably representing the frailer end of the distribution of the “old old”. 40.8% of respondents
were unwilling to exchange any time in their current state of health for a shorter life in excellent
health, and 27.8% were willing to give up at most 1 month of 12 in return for excellent health.
You will probably not get radical life extension by solely altering gene expression. You’ll need something more invasive.
You know that is in fact the current state of medicine, e.i. extending life a little, but not really increasing healthy years. For example warfarin (commonly subscribed to elderly at greater risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke), do not improve quality of life, more the opposite, since it reduces clothing --> increase bleeding, cause spontaneous bruising. I’m all for healthy lifespan, but that is what I’m hoping initiatives like SENS might deliver as well as increase in lifespan.
Yes, and I think we should stop paying for some current procedures that prolong decrepitude, as well as not funding new ones.
That is highly problematic, since that will result in more strokes and mycardial infractions that—aside from causing death—result in an increase in morbidity.
And what if people want to live longer, even if the extra years added will have more decrepitude. From a paper by Nick Bostrom: