Re: Acceptance of death

From: Martin Striz (metastriz@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Dec 03 2004 - 07:30:24 MST


--- Samantha Atkins <sjatkins@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 09:52:06 -0800 (PST), Martin Striz
> <metastriz@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > I believe that at the current rate of biomedical research, we will not
> obtain
> > the developments that we need for radical longevity within our lifetimes
> (being
> > born in 1978, I am programmed to die no later than 2100, no matter what
> > lifestyle choices I make).
>
> Check out Kurzweil's latest book, "Fantastic Voyage", to get beyond
> this attitude. It is quite likely that if you survive a couple of
> more decades in reasonable health that medical technology will enable
> you to survive to the next big jump-off point around 2050. From that
> point there is no more aging or death from diseases as we know them
> today. As pointed out in this book, your lifestyle choices in terms
> of fitness, what you eat and so on have a large effect on whether you
> survive those couple of decades and in what sort of health. Not
> making the right choices could easily result in a life threatening
> unnecessary serious illness. It also has a large effect on the
> quality of your life every day.

That's assuming the "next big jump-off point" will really be in 2050. I *hope*
he's right, but I can't offer my agreement that he is.

>
> I only recently changed various icky parts of my diet (more to go) and
> started working out every day. I can't believe the difference it
> makes in energy, alertness, focus, libido and so on. It would have
> been of great benefit to me to have started this years ago.
>

There are lots of good reasons to live healthy. I never said there weren't. I
merely stated that they won't offer *radical* longevity.

>
> > The only way that we'll be able to accelerate this
> > process is through new molecular techniques (most likely nanotechnology)
> and
> > more robust abilities to integrate concepts and solve problems
> > (supertintelligence).
>
> This is certainly not the only way to extend our lives and health.

Some studies have shown that given two cohorts, those who drink, eat high fat
diets, exercise little, etc., and those who do the opposite, the average
difference in life expectancy is only seven years (James Hughes has this data
in his new book). The only way to extend our lives *significantly* and break
through the eventual genetic ceiling will be to rewrite the genome, or leave it
behind.

Martin

                
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