Fight Aging!

Actuarial escape velocity is a term popularized by Aubrey de Grey, first put forward a while back and then in a 2004 PLoS Biology paper [1] following some of the bioethics debates of the past decade. Most of you will probably recall those debates in the context of somatic cell nuclear transfer, embryonic stem cells, and therapeutic cloning, but the various appointed bodies pontificated on aging and longevity science as well. Generally to say how terrible it was to even think about extending healthy human life, but hey, what can you expect? That is more or less the default position that most people still hold today [2].

To a certain degree one has to come to terms with the fact that most people in the world hold incoherent views on the topic of aging to death. If asked most of them say they want to: they want to do exactly the same thing they see other people doing. Conformity is a hell of a drug. But if asked if they want to suffer heart disease or Alzheimer's, they don't want that.

Then there is the hairshirt environmentalist death cult that tells us we're destroying the world, there are too many people, and we should all die. That is not actually much of an exaggeration of the actual viewpoints espoused. This has so pervaded society that you can find the average person on the street is concerned about living too long because they are someone burning up a limit faster. It's ridiculous. People look at the horrible consequences of war and kleptocracy in various regions [3],…

If you must read a book, Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey is maybe the best introduction but IMO you're still better off reading the papers/tracking the latest research if you're interested in the topic. You'll save a lot of time and be more up to date, as it's a rapidly developing field:

West, Michael D, Hal Sternberg, Ivan Labat, Jeffrey Janus, Karen B Chapman, Nafees N Malik, Aubrey DNJ de Grey, and Dana Larocca. “Toward a Unified Theory of Aging and Regeneration.” Regenerative Medicine 14, no. 9 (August 28, 2019): 867–86. https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2019-0062.

Shetty, Ashok K., Maheedhar Kodali, Raghavendra Upadhya, and Leelavathi N. Madhu. “Emerging Anti-Aging Strategies - Scientific Basis and Efficacy.” Aging and Disease 9, no. 6 (December 4, 2018): 1165–84. https://doi.org/10.14336/AD.2018.1026.

Brown-Borg, Holly M., and Rozalyn M. Anderson. “Metabolic Adventures in Aging Research.” Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Metabolism of Aging, 455 (November 5, 2017): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2017.08.012.

Longo, Valter D, Adam Antebi, Andrzej Bartke, Nir Barzilai, Holly M Brown-Borg, Calogero Caruso, Tyler J Curiel, et al. “Interventions to Slow Aging in Humans: Are We Ready?” Aging Cell 14, no. 4 (August 2015): 497–510. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.12338.

López-Otín, Carlos, Maria A. Blasco, Linda Partridge, Manuel Serrano, and Guido Kroemer. “The Hallmarks of Aging.” Cell 153, no. 6 (June 6, 2013): 1194–1217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039.

A…

This has been addressed many times (and btw, people wouldn't live "forever" -- you can still be hit by a truck, at least until we can backup brains).

http://fightaging.org/archives/2006/09/overpopulation.php

But in general, you have to ask if the problem that would be solved is bigger than this new potential problem, and do we have the right to make the decision not to develop these therapies and condemn future generation to die from aging? Every day that they are delayed, thousands die.

Maybe hard choices will have to be made: very low birth rates, or some rate of voluntary deaths (religious people who refuse to take the therapies, maybe?), etc. Maybe it'll be no problem because of technological advances (molecular manufacturing, advanced biotech, etc) and we'll have more than enough resources for everybody, and can colonize other planets.

But these problems caused by people not dying so much seem to be smaller than 100k-150k people dying each day after a long-period of suffering and frailty, causing pain to their families and friends. We've cured many diseases and fixed many of humanity's problems so far, and the benefits seem to outweigh the costs. Goal #1 is to cure diseases, living longer is just a side-effect, as it always was.

Objections to curing the diseases of aging must be at least as big as the problem. Otherwise it's the same old thing about overpopulation that has been going around ever since we invented sanitation and vaccines.

I have a strong belief that there definitely are lifestyle changes you can make in order to lower your chances of getting Alzheimer's, and there is some support for them, although they need more research in order to confirm the exact magnitude and effect. Some of the ones which I believe are worth taking a closer look at are listed below:

– Regular exercise may delay Alzheimer's in those at high risk of disease: https://inews.co.uk/news/health/regular-exercise-delays-alzheimers-high-risk-men-women-628337

– Dr. Dale Bredesen Protocol: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712873/

– Control Hypertension: https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/01/controlling-hypertension-reduces-dementia-risk-but-only-if-done-early/

– DASH diet: Healthy eating to lower your blood pressure: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/dash-diet/art-20048456

– Insulin Resistance and Alzheimer’s Disease: Bioenergetic Linkages: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671587/

– Alzheimer's Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

Some good reading and support for the herpes / viral hypothesis is provided below:

– Alzheimer's risk 10 times lower with herpes medication: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322463

– Alzheimer’s Disease-Associated β-Amyloid Is Rapidly Seeded by Herpesviridae to Protect against Brain Infection:…

> Have you also checked the source? It's not a scientific publication

That's probably something to do with Wikipedia's editing guidelines these days. They have a rule against using primary research citations. Only literature reviews, books, and other secondary sources are acceptable.

I found the original source for the claim, which may be no better for supporting the claim for a number of reasons (why has this not been replicated, or did replication fail?):

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0531556573900247

Effect of dimethylaminoethyl p-chlorophenoxyacetate on the lifespan of male Swiss Webster albino mice, J Exp Gerontol 8: 177, 1973

Author: R. Hochschild of "Microware Instruments Co" of California.

doi (for sci-hub): 10.1016/0531-5565(73)90024-7

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0531556573900247

Note: If anyone is actually interested in the field of biogerontology, I recommend following the https://www.fightaging.org blog for editorialisation of news and research papers coming out of the field.

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https://habr-com.translate.goog/ru/search/?q=%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B4%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82&target_type=posts&order=date&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en - habr ru - various technical weekly news

bookmarked:

https://www.datascienceweekly.org/newsletters - Data Science Weekly

https://this-week-in-rust.org - This Week in Rust

https://www.fightaging.org/archives - Fight Aging