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Comment by zug_zug | Hacker News Reader

PSA - If you think you're never going to die, you're wrong and you are in emotional denial and talk it over with a therapist or something.

The human body is a machine with so many failure modes that we don't even remotely understand all the ways you can die. The idea that we'll find 1 magical variable (telomere length or some protein) that can be fixed and ALL the changes of aging (from growth, sexual development, menopause, brain shrinkage, skin wrinkles, bone density loss) will go back to exactly perfect AND any other ways you can die will all be prevented (car accident, cancer, diabetes, etc) is just about zero.

For example the human brain in constantly losing brain cells (which don't grow back obviously). Many body cells don't regrow at all[1]. I'm sure there are many other mechanisms in the human that never evolved to the point of >100 year reliability.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_cell

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> The idea that we'll find 1 magical variable (telomere length or some protein) that can be fixed and ALL the changes of aging...

Agree with this, but on the other hand: the idea that the body is "a machine" that comes out of the factory in "new" condition and slowly degrades by wear, accidents and corrosion is also a wrong analogy. The body doesn't just degrade because of entropy. Bodies bootstrap themselves to some pristine state and can return to it, after injuries or illness, for tens of years. The ability to restore an optimal state is just lost, it's not something that needs to be invented again.

Is this how you walk around talking to people? Get off your pedastal, mate. It comes across as rude, take a day off. Nobody needs to be informed about your "PSA".

Who hasn't had had someone close to us die?

Yes, I'm rude. And so are you. I don't care whether you like it.

I'm a participant in this forum and it's my perrogative to get people who post stupid stuff, like attempts at immortality, to stop, by downvotes and comments. Moreover from MY perspective you should have learned understand this forum isn't a place for a friendly speculation with people who know nothing relevant on a topic like your local pub.

PSA - your comments are never going to stop people from posting or commenting.

This forum has many different personalities and perspectives. People with soft skills and people with almost none.

Work on the soft skills mate. No need to be so abrasive.

You are well aware that every remark everyone says has some small impact on those around us, otherwise you wouldn't be making such remarks yourself.

Like I said, if you want a forum for jabbering on topics you know nothing about with friendly people, I'm sure you can find a local pub. I want a forum where inside experts who read peer-reviewed studies or have first-hand experience give a download, and the rest to hold their tongue.

I think you may be in the "the rest."

Do you think your comments are effective? People don’t generally react well to someone telling them “your idea is stupid, you need to see a therapist”.

Yes, I think my comments are effective, but I don't think they are pleasant.

It seems like you think it's wrong to give great advice that might hurt feelings, if that's what you think then I think you're wrong and possibly causing more harm in the long term.

If someone close to you was getting so obsessed with longevity that it was negatively affecting the other aspects of their life, then it might be reasonable to talk them about getting professional help. It could be a difficult discussion, but it might be the right thing to do.

But c’mon, suggesting the same to someone on the internet who hasn’t displayed any of those issues is ridiculous.

You don’t actually stand by that do you? Everyone who thinks longevity is a realistic possibility has some deep-seated issue about death?

There's never going to be a single treatment for aging, but there's an intervention everyone knows theycan take to slow down the inevitable decline until medicine improves to the point it can aid in in slowing and then reversing the decline.

Mostly, it involves exercise of various kinds.

Thank you for your efforts. Sadly, despite the image of rationality, the delusional thinking you infer to is widespread in industry.

I've had a manager telling me that aliens were going to offer us the secrets of immortality and "zero point energy", while another one seriously claimed that "We will develop time travel, and we will all rescue each other at the end of our lives in a chain of immortality". These are the more extreme examples, but the wishful thinking component is common. What is also common is that most of these people never spent time in a university biochem or genetics class.

If the idea of chemically-induced immortality gives one comfort, sure, I am irrational at times too so I understand. However, the complexity and depressing nature of human biology and human genetics will relieve you of this wishful thinking if you so choose. Feel free to look at reptile regeneration models; I did and I'm glad I had the sense to get out before it ruined my life.

For those naysayers desperate for their immortality fix, perhaps a fresh round of teenage blood transfusions[1] are in order?

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/02/could-young-...

On the bright side is there anything we can do to limit this loss of brain cells?

I guess my grand parents suggestion of eating almonds isn’t viable..

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