Slowing Aging

[Archivist]

Not much good living to 150 if you are not mentally competent. "The projected growth of the population older than 75 guarantees a growing epidemic of dementia."
Better to live life so as to maintain good health, physically & mentally, until God chooses to take you home.

Please read the OP and attached article. What they are investigating is a treatment that would essentially take a 60 year old back to being 30.

 

[PaulEdwardMorgan]

Tell that to the still borns

Agreed! Or to anyone who has ever died. I hate it when people use that phrase as an overarching rule. So, anyone who has ever died did so because they sinned? My brother just died of ALS. Saying he wouldn't have contracted the disease if he would have been a better Christian is so offensive. He was an awesome human and didn't sin anymore than anyone else. I think anyone who believes that idea needs to look in the mirror and wonder why they were made with such a defective brain.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Scientists are now researching the possibility of delaying human aging. The hope is to greatly extend the human lifespan, whereby "someone who is treated at the age of 60 will be biologically reverted to 30." It is possible that this could be done multiple times giving a person a lifespan of 150 years or longer.

I thought this might make for interesting discussion. Is this tinkering that humans should not be undertaking? If treatments were developed that would give you a 30 year old body at age 60 and allow you to live to 150 or older, would you participate? Is it any different to treat and cure aging as a disease, as opposed to treating and curing cancer and other diseases?

An article on the topic can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180203-the-ambitious-quest-to-cure-ageing-like-a-disease

There are days today I wake up with stiffness and have trouble moving for the first hour of the day, or realize I tire easily and can't do what I did 30 years ago.

If the simple question is - would I take a (safe) treatment that restored me physically to the way I was 30 years ago? - the answer is a resounding yes!

 

[Alistair_Wonderland]

I don't think it's a question of morality. God made us in his image, not just physically but mentally. Like him, we have a constant urge to create, to expand. Discovering longevity is not harming people, nor breaking any written Biblical rules, so morally, I think it's ambiguous.

However, I certainly would not try out for such a procedure. The problem with this modern world is twofold: people treat it like it's becoming a perfect paradise when we are, if anything, inching further from paradise, and whatever their intentions, I think most modern scientists oversimplify very complicated things like the human body (yes, I think even those lengthy medical journals don't even begin to breach all that we have to learn about our bodies) and therefore tend to create half-baked results. I'm a writer, and have toyed with many ideas of immortality as a story device, and while I admit it could have some benefits, I feel it will in the end just become, like in my stories, the beginning of an ultimate form of racism, with the rich and powerful commanding life and death over the poor, or anybody who doesn't share their opinions.

Luckily, I believe God is supreme, and we all have our hour, and not any amount of science can change that. People who talk about 'playing God' seem to forget that, no matter how far we go, we never can come close to matching God. God is so vast that, even if we discovered how to create an entire cosmos with our science, we still would be specks to Him. After all, God made us in his image. While I personally don't like when people 'play God', as people call it, I think God likes to see us push our boundaries.

The thing I think that is the main problem with playing God is that we assume we know so much more than we really do, and because of that, we tend to mess things up rather than improve them. Oh yeah, and we overlook human frailty. I'll tell you what longevity is going to get us: a 150-year-old Kim Kardashian and dictators who don't die. And let me tell you, I don't want to live 150 years in a world with the Kardashians.

 

[Halbhh]

Scientists are now researching the possibility of delaying human aging. The hope is to greatly extend the human lifespan, whereby "someone who is treated at the age of 60 will be biologically reverted to 30." It is possible that this could be done multiple times giving a person a lifespan of 150 years or longer.

I thought this might make for interesting discussion. Is this tinkering that humans should not be undertaking? If treatments were developed that would give you a 30 year old body at age 60 and allow you to live to 150 or older, would you participate? Is it any different to treat and cure aging as a disease, as opposed to treating and curing cancer and other diseases?

An article on the topic can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180203-the-ambitious-quest-to-cure-ageing-like-a-disease

Though the Old Testament is full of metaphors, I think it's very literal that God limited the human lifespan to 120 years, as the text reads in Genesis chapter 6, and that's why it's been limited to 120 years in actual reality (though occasionally we hear unsubstantiated claims someone lived significantly longer, the only proven claims align to roughly near 120 years).

I do not expect us to succeed in routinely making people live much longer than 120 years, and for all we know, if it turned out we were close to being able to, it may even be a reason for divine intervention, or an acceleration towards the final days even (speculation).

 

[derpytia]

Scientists are now researching the possibility of delaying human aging. The hope is to greatly extend the human lifespan, whereby "someone who is treated at the age of 60 will be biologically reverted to 30." It is possible that this could be done multiple times giving a person a lifespan of 150 years or longer.

I thought this might make for interesting discussion. Is this tinkering that humans should not be undertaking? If treatments were developed that would give you a 30 year old body at age 60 and allow you to live to 150 or older, would you participate? Is it any different to treat and cure aging as a disease, as opposed to treating and curing cancer and other diseases?

An article on the topic can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180203-the-ambitious-quest-to-cure-ageing-like-a-disease

Eventually we will all die, regardless of how long we live. You cannot stop ageing indefinitely and I believe that God would put a stop to it if this ever got out of hand and humans tried to achieve this.

 

[creslaw]

Please read the OP and attached article. What they are investigating is a treatment that would essentially take a 60 year old back to being 30.

Actually what they are considering is a suite of treatments. My point was that to be healthy a person needs to be physically as well as mentally fit. Their suggested treatment for Alzheimers is not very promising.

 

[Archivist]

Eventually we will all die, regardless of how long we live. You cannot stop ageing indefinitely and I believe that God would put a stop to it if this ever got out of hand and humans tried to achieve this.

If you read the article you know that they are not talking about allowing people to live forever. At some point6 the body would no longer regenerate. The article is talking about lifespans of around 150.

 

[Archivist]

Actually what they are considering is a suite of treatments. My point was that to be healthy a person needs to be physically as well as mentally fit. Their suggested treatment for Alzheimers is not very promising.

And we may be very close to curing Alzheimers. http://www.viralnova.com/cure-diseases/

 

[ViaCrucis]

I don't fundamentally see much difference between the technological and medical advances we have been making over the last several decades and what we might see continue to happening. We have already prolonged human life considerably. Living to about 80 or 90 years old is generally pretty common now, it wasn't that long ago that most people wouldn't expect to live much more past 50 or 60.

If we can prolong life, while also improving the quality of life of the aged, I see that as a good thing.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Archivist]

I don't think it's a question of morality. God made us in his image, not just physically but mentally. Like him, we have a constant urge to create, to expand. Discovering longevity is not harming people, nor breaking any written Biblical rules, so morally, I think it's ambiguous.

However, I certainly would not try out for such a procedure. The problem with this modern world is twofold: people treat it like it's becoming a perfect paradise when we are, if anything, inching further from paradise, and whatever their intentions, I think most modern scientists oversimplify very complicated things like the human body (yes, I think even those lengthy medical journals don't even begin to breach all that we have to learn about our bodies) and therefore tend to create half-baked results. I'm a writer, and have toyed with many ideas of immortality as a story device, and while I admit it could have some benefits, I feel it will in the end just become, like in my stories, the beginning of an ultimate form of racism, with the rich and powerful commanding life and death over the poor, or anybody who doesn't share their opinions.

Luckily, I believe God is supreme, and we all have our hour, and not any amount of science can change that. People who talk about 'playing God' seem to forget that, no matter how far we go, we never can come close to matching God. God is so vast that, even if we discovered how to create an entire cosmos with our science, we still would be specks to Him. After all, God made us in his image. While I personally don't like when people 'play God', as people call it, I think God likes to see us push our boundaries.

The thing I think that is the main problem with playing God is that we assume we know so much more than we really do, and because of that, we tend to mess things up rather than improve them. Oh yeah, and we overlook human frailty. I'll tell you what longevity is going to get us: a 150-year-old Kim Kardashian and dictators who don't die. And let me tell you, I don't want to live 150 years in a world with the Kardashians.

I'm curious, if you were diagnosed with some form of cancer that could be treated would you undergo the medical treatment to cure it? After all, that would possibly prolong your life as well.

I agree with you on the Kardashians, but there have been and will always be people of that ilk in the world.

 

[Phil 1:21]

Scientists are now researching the possibility of delaying human aging. The hope is to greatly extend the human lifespan, whereby "someone who is treated at the age of 60 will be biologically reverted to 30." It is possible that this could be done multiple times giving a person a lifespan of 150 years or longer.

I thought this might make for interesting discussion. Is this tinkering that humans should not be undertaking? If treatments were developed that would give you a 30 year old body at age 60 and allow you to live to 150 or older, would you participate? Is it any different to treat and cure aging as a disease, as opposed to treating and curing cancer and other diseases?

An article on the topic can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180203-the-ambitious-quest-to-cure-ageing-like-a-disease

Luke 12:25-26

25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

 

[Archivist]

Luke 12:25-26

25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

I will ask you the same question I asked another poster: if you were diagnosed with some form of cancer that could be treated would you undergo the medical treatment to cure it? After all, that would possibly prolong your life as well.

 

[FireDragon76]

Why would a Christian want to extend this life when what is waiting for us is so much better?!

More opportunity to serve God here on earth certainly can't be a bad thing.

Advancing human age could bring an increase in appreciation for wisdom as society becomes dominated by the elderly rather than the young.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Luke 12:25-26

25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

It just means that you can worry all you want and it won't even add an hour to your life. It's about the ineffectiveness of worry to accomplish anything.

It doesn't mean that other choices you might make would not possibly either prolong or shorten your life, nor does it prohibit other choices.

 

[juvenissun]

Scientists are now researching the possibility of delaying human aging. The hope is to greatly extend the human lifespan, whereby "someone who is treated at the age of 60 will be biologically reverted to 30." It is possible that this could be done multiple times giving a person a lifespan of 150 years or longer.

I thought this might make for interesting discussion. Is this tinkering that humans should not be undertaking? If treatments were developed that would give you a 30 year old body at age 60 and allow you to live to 150 or older, would you participate? Is it any different to treat and cure aging as a disease, as opposed to treating and curing cancer and other diseases?

An article on the topic can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180203-the-ambitious-quest-to-cure-ageing-like-a-disease

To answer this question, we must have a clear answer to a simpler question:

Is it better to live to 90 than to live to 85? Why?

The answer is: it depends. What are you going to do with that extra 5 years? You are going to die anyway. Is it better to live 5 more years under the stress of aging, or to move to the Heaven for a much better new life when the time is up? But if you could use that extra 5 years to finish a book which could glorify God, then, of course, take it if you could.

 

[Phil 1:21]

It just means that you can worry all you want and it won't even add an hour to your life. It's about the ineffectiveness of worry to accomplish anything.

It doesn't mean that other choices you might make would not possibly either prolong or shorten your life, nor does it prohibit other choices.

None of which I claimed, but I thank you for your input.

 

[~Anastasia~]

None of which I claimed, but I thank you for your input.

Forgive me. No, that's true that you didn't claim anything - just posted Scripture without comment. I was trying to interpret it within the context of the discussion though. My apologies if I was in error.

It would seem your member-name quote would be appropriate though.

 

[akaDaScribe]

I’m sure it could be done. The question is what it will cost.

“The fix for the first (problem) of having too few cells is stem cell therapy,” says De Grey.

“Among the prominent approaches to increasing longevity is a gruesome-sounding procedure that is commonly known as “vampire therapy”. Dementia patients who were given transfusions of blood plasma from younger donors aged between 18 and 30 years old showed signs of improvement in a recent trial.”

If the “benefits” are high enough and the secular mindset continues to grow, I could see people basically becoming cannibals for their own self-preservation.

I’m going to have to opt out.

 

[steve78]

It's up to the individual. But I think it's a different topic anyway. My personal view is that I wouldn't want to live 150 years in this world!

Its a bad idea to live that long. People living to 150 will cause a serious drain on resources. If your a young person how will you find work when people start to retire at 100.