The end of human ageing

[Dappy777]

I read a book a while ago called Ageless, by Andrew Steele. Steele argues that we're very close to being able to slow the ageing process, and maybe even reverse it (weirdly, it may be easier to reverse ageing than to halt it). I know that sounds like nonsense, but Steele is no fool. He had just completed a physics PhD at Oxford when he became interested in the subject and decided to write a book. He's also married to a GP.

Whether or not this will happen I don't know. A lot of the science goes over my head, but from what I gather there are numerous things on the horizon, from senolytic drugs to medical nanobots to gene editing and stem cells. Plus, of course, AI will turbocharge progress everywhere.

Leaving aside the science, how would you feel if this became a possibility? Steele said in an interview that at some point in the next decade or two there will be people in their 70s who look like they're in their 20s or 30s. And biologically they will be in their 20s or 30s. If there really were treatments that could reverse your biological age (obviously you can't reverse your chronological age):

1. Would you use them? Or would you choose not to? Imagine it is 2040 and your GP says "now you have turned 60 you have the option to undergo age- reversal treatment...if you wish."
2. If you did use them, what would you do after the treatment? I mean, let's say you are 68, undergo the treatment, and now have the looks and energy of a 20-something. Would you carry on as you are? Would you divorce? Start a new family? Re-train in something else? Move abroad?

Almost everyone I mentioned the book to (or who saw me reading it) said they'd rather not undergo the treatment.

Watch the film In Time. They learn how to stop the aging process but its super weird. This man and his mam look the same age but he's 25 and she's 60 or something. The man meets a girl he finds attractive but she could be 800 years old for all he knows. Very cool concept. It's a bit Sci fi, but you would probably find it interesting.

I would choose against treatment. Happy to age as I am x

1. If the age reversal can make me slimmer again and not just a fat elderly that looks 20, then yes, I’d take it.
2. Depends on the fat question tbh.

There is a documentary on Netflix about that billionaire guy that is trying to reverse his biological age. He has transfusions of his son’s plasma.

It’s a bit dull but quite interesting, you might like it.

The experts have dismissed his experiments as a waste of time. They say he's simply turning himself into a fit, healthy, middle-aged guy, nothing more. It won't extend his life. Without real anti-ageing treatments he'll still be finished by his late 80s.

How will you feel when you are 85? If someone offered you anti-ageing treatments on the NHS that could reverse your biological age so you looked and felt like a 28-year-old, what would you do? Would you turn it down? It would basically be a choice between death or another crack at life.

I'm 68 now so will probably miss all this excitement! However, in lots of ways I'm happy not to have to worry too much about having a wrinkle free face and neck anymore, not worrying about that niggly varicose vein, the little bruises from the aspirin I have to take now, and lots of other things. There's a time in life when it becomes a blessing to be invisible.

I have good health (knock on wood) and a good life. I don't think I'd want to jinx that with an anti ageing pill or anything like gene modification - I'd be the unlucky one who ended up looking like a dinosaur or something!

But who knows what the future holds? The AI thing is happening so fast that I think we might end up as embryos again someday!

I don't think I would be interested in that. I enjoy life, but I don't feel any need to live forever. Presumably when this happens, it will only be available to the very rich, so even if I were rich (which I am not), then I would keep on living while my friends died, and those who had the same points of reference and memories if childhood died. Which I think would end up being a very lonely place to be.

I would never ever take any treatment that promises to stop me ageing. Like I would never take the weight loss injections. I believe if something seems to good to be true, it probably is..............

Death. Every time. You're saying death or another crack at life, that's not accurate. It's death or live forever? Presumably if nothing bad happened to you, your body isn't aging, you will not die. I don't want to live forever, I can't think of anything worse x

Hopefully ethics would never allow it to happen. What a dystopian nightmare really.

Old age brings many rewards and being in your 60s and not having the sort of energy that makes 20-somethings dash around divorcing, starting families, undergoing some training resulting in more work is one of them.

You would need the motivation to match the new body and I'm sure most people could not be arsed.

It would be much better to put all the energy and money behind any project of this nature into keeping sick children alive and curing the serious diseases that take the lives of so many before their time is up.

Most elderly people who've had the blessing of a long and fulfilling like know they've had enough when the time comes.

Annoyed it didn't come in sooner. I'm quite pragmatic about this - as sad as it is, if you are still in the workplace there is a benefit to people not being able to guess your age.

I hate to say it, but there's a huge amount of prejudice that people hold. I'm a career changer and I've never revealed my age as never wanted to have to explain why I left my old career, how I didn't know what I was doing in my 20s, was recovering from psychotic family members.

Also, we are having to work longer, if I was say re-entering the work force or changing careers at 50, would I prefer to still look 30 something? Yes.

Women hold this prejudice a lot too.

If you are financially comfortable in this regard perhaps it matters less.

Were it not for the world of work I wouldn't give a shit.

I would absolutely do it! Why not?! So much more to see and do and learn than I can ever fit into one lifetime

I think I would be very very tempted if I could afford it.
I always thought we should come into this world as old people and become younger as we age so that we could benefit from our own wisdom and value ourselves more in terms of health, mental abilities (and shallow as it is, beauty also).

Lifespan by David Sinclair is also an interesting read. Most of it is mouse models only but some of it I'd be tempted to take a punt on, even with only limited or no evidence in humans.

I think it will take a while longer though - 25-50 years territory rather than 10-20.

It's more Altered Carbon scenario.

It would destroy society and the planet.

It would likely only be available to the rich and there would be billions of people unable to access it, all competing desperately for the tiny amount of resources left for them to share.

The super rich would be able to continue to accumulate wealth across an increased life span.

Hideous.

Ageing affects our DNA. The ends of our DNA are protected by sequences called telomeric caps which shorten as we age and cells divide. When Dolly the sheep was born, she was 0 days old but her DNA was 5 years old and she was put to sleep due to arthritis. Any DNA tinkering would be needed at a very early stage in an organisms life to have an effect, I guess. I'm not comfortable with that level of intervention. Live your life then get off the planet and make room for others.

I vaguely remember a film years ago I don't know what its called about a town where they drank something to stop ageing but when they reached 100 they where drowned to keep the population at the right level I might be remembering wrong

If it could repair my joints and guarantee I’d not get dementia I’d be in. Just having more years of wellness and ability to do and see. But only if DH could have it too.

Mixed feelings. On one hand more energy to keep exploring the world like I do now sounds good. I am okay with a finite lifespan though.

My first instinct was, yes, I'd take it for no other reason than to stay long enough to outlive my disabled child that will need care well into adulthood. But then, if she took it too, that would cancel that effect out.

Maybe things are just better left alone?

No thanks. I've lived a great life thus far and hopefully will for a few decades more. But life is to be lived and not frozen in time or revisited, other than in my memories. I'm lucky that I still have my health, my child, my friends, my job. When it's my time, it's done.

That book is a trip. Steele makes "the fountain of youth" sound like actual, boring science rather than sci-fi. In a heartbeat. Most people say "no" because they think about vanity, but if you ask them if they want to delete back pain or the risk of Alzheimer’s, they’d say "yes" instantly. It’s not about staying 21; it’s about the "hardware" not breaking down while the "software" (my brain) stays sharp.

I’d probably hit the "reset" button on my career. If you’ve got an extra 50 years of high energy, why not spend 10 of them becoming a pilot or an architect? The pressure to "stick with what you know" just vanishes when time isn't an issue.

Through my work with PlacidWay, I see people traveling to places like Mexico or Panama for stem cell treatments specifically for longevity. We aren't at "70 looking like 20" yet, but the early adopters are already trying to outrun the clock.
I think people say "no" now because it feels "unnatural," but once your neighbor does it and looks fantastic at 80, everyone will be lining up.

If you had the body of a 25-year-old again, what’s the one thing you’d start over from scratch?

No way would I want to have to go back to bloody work again!

The French series Ad Vitam was an excellent study on this too. It raises lots of philosophical questions about life.

I would love to be 29 again but I wouldn’t want to work forever!

'Married to a GP'

They have perfected knowledge and skill transfer via proximity or sex as well as living forever? All sounds awful.