Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years - io9 Comments

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Amazonca — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:36:43 PDT

They'd better start tests on people from poor South African countries, where average duration of life is about 30 years. If they manage to live till 300 years old, we'll probably may live till 800.And another question: will we be still able to work in our 800?

signature: Cigarettes are killers that travel in packs.

Amazonca

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

historymakin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:15 PDT

Wonderful breakthrough but let's think about this... With global warning, food riots, lack of natural resources and OVER population... Do we really want humans to be living longer?!
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historymakin

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

markedward — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:25:34 PST

If people still lived to be nigh-1000 years old, the world would overpopulate very quickly; instead of growing old to be 80 and then dying, there'd be fifty generations of a single family living at the same time. The world population of 7,000,000,000 would probably increase exponentially, because people would still be starting new families, but no one would be dying of old age.

How would it affect the economy? Would money decrease in value if they had to make enough for so many people in effort to keep as little poverty as possible? How long would food last? Would we use it on cattle and pigs and chickens and other farm animals? What about fruits and vegetables? Where would everyone live? Would the entire planet turn into one huge city? Where would we grow our food? Would we just build up and up and up for housing developments? How many houses and cars would be made? With that many houses and cars being used, what would happen to our atmosphere? How long until resources, such as trees and metal run out since they'd be used so quickly? Would the ability to grow old prevent us from taking in other forms of health deficiences? Would it be 70 years of life and 730 years of being diseased and bedridden?

In my opinion, living that long with as many people in the world as there are now could only cause problems.

markedward

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Jachy — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:13:07 PST

800 years? That's nothing. When we reach the Singularity, an entire civilization can live 80 billion subjective years in one earth day, or about a million years per second. 2035 is a good upper limit, some people think it will happen in 2021. Want to learn more?
[yudkowsky.net]

Jachy

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

13579cat — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:14:36 PST

It's simple!
RNAi disables two genes to add a few years so:
1. Artificial immune system attempts to sort out yuck from you, and
2. Nanotech-derived artificial chromosomes with epigenetic matches enable tissue engineering to make you you (or you plus).
Meanwhile,
artificial immune system changes you (or you plus) into art (on a scale ranging from minimal yuck to yuck plus) and itself to the robot of someone else's dreams (all in about 100 years).

13579cat

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

herectus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:49:17 PST

Right, everything will be postponed: junior high - 100, retirement - 798. But, overpopulation - hardly, would You really engage in breeding with a just matured 250ager?
- this innovation will mean the end for our species!

herectus

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

spudzill — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:06:21 PST

Yeah, great. 800 years of poverty and the corresponding lonliness. DO NOT WANT.

spudzill

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

etho — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:10:21 PST

@SeeingI: "Damn, trumped by Vonnegut. Again!"

Don't worry about it, that happens to everyone.

Anyway, I thik this would only appeal to me if the aging process could be slowed or stopped as well. I don't want to get old and fragile, then have another 730 years of aging ahead of me.

etho

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

ObsoleteMeatBag — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:14:09 PST

If you choose to extend your lifespan to 800 years, doesn't that mean you just get to be around long enough to be exterminated by superior artificial intelligences who come to view human beings as a tremendously wasteful and inefficient use of limited resources? Out AI descendants might decide to keep a few of us around in zoos, but I can't imagine them tolerating a planetful of us old dimwit meatbags using up valuable resources.

ObsoleteMeatBag

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

geneticsbabe — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:22:42 PST

This is what we (scientists) call "sexy science." It looks good, gets papers published, and keeps the grant money flowing, but in actuality nobody is working on extending the lives of humans (there are too many of us on this planet already). What we are working on is how to make our life spans healthier. I think the best we can hope for is a "Brave New World"-esgue system in which we are young and healthy right up until "they" pull the plug. What many people overlook is the "caloric restriction" part of this article. This means you get to eat only 1/3 the amount of food you normally do for your entire life (i.e NO DESSERT...EVER). And I agree with the other molecular biologist who posted on this site that just because it works in yeast doesn't mean it can work in humans. There have already been many studies on caloric restriction in mice, and if you keep to this diet it alone will prolong your life.However, as there are many people in our world that are starving (not by choice) we can see that this won't make you live longer it just makes you more susceptible to disease...oh and it makes you infertile, or leaves your offspring severely deformed/mentally handicapped. We have evolved over mellenium to be the way we are, and while I love science, I put my trust in evolution, if living forever was good for us we would have evolved that way, we didn't so it isn't. But that is just my take on this whole thing.Yo can take it or leave it, and I must admit it would be nice to see what live would be like 800 years from now.

geneticsbabe

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:32:31 PST

Ecuatorian mutant yeast people are cool.

MarlboroTestMonkey7

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

SAGA — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:34:53 PST

Living 800 years is reckless, selfish and irresponsible on a global scale.

SAGA

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Metropolis — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:12:13 PST

Nice, I should just be finished paying off my student loans after 800 yrs. Time to party.

Metropolis

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Fagatron — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:32:56 PST

Yeast are not bacteria. Yeasts are fungi.

Fagatron

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

SeeingI — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:19:33 PST

@Gyrus: Damn, trumped by Vonnegut. Again!

SeeingI

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

r0ssar00 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:17:48 PST

dude, there's already a story about this (kind of). it's called pandora's star and (second book)judas unchained by peter f. hamilton.
1% of the quadrant's population controls the other 99%.
But we must wait until 2040 for the first human to get a long lifetime but after that everyone does it.
They do a 50 year life, get young again, then a seperate 50 year life, get young again, rinse and repeat.
I'd just like to live with the tech from the future.
Would Halo 35 be out? (they found more Halos in another galaxy!)
Star Trek XXXVI: The Delta Quadrant.
No terrorism!
Indie films are the most popular, there are no major studios.
Replicator anyone?

r0ssar00

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Unimodeler — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:50:22 PST

@AndyDuncan: Anyone under 150 voting Republican doesn't have a heart, anyone over 150 that doesn't vote Republican doesn't have a brain.

Unimodeler

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

braak — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:28:47 PST

@braak: Er. Any technology DISTINGUISHABLE from magic is insufficiently advanced.

Sorry.

braak

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

braak — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:28:26 PST

@Nebris: I like the corollary to law #3:

Any technology indistiguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

braak

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Nebris — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:18:03 PST

@EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy: A bit arrogant to claim that humans "are almost certain to develop life-extension", isn't it?

Clarke's three laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

So, the answer is "No, it's actually quite likely."

Nebris

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:49:19 PST

@Huxleyhobbes: A bit arrogant to claim that humans "are almost certain to develop life-extension", isn't it?

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

spatula42 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:30:16 PST

Sorry to spoil the fun, but as a molecular biologist I have to point out the fact that yeast are slightly less complex than human beings. As cells multiply unchecked, mutations build up very quickly. When this happens to a single-celled organism such as yeast, these mutations cause the cells to malfunction in various ways: they may lose the ability to metabolize essential nutrients, stop growing, or begin to multiply without any control. If the latter happens to the single celled organism, the new cells will simply run out of food and die. However, if a mutant cell in a human begins to divide uncontrollably, the "food" that it uses is the rest of the body. Enter cancer. There is reason for the senescence (aging) of cells: it keeps the whole organism (person) in better health, by preventing cells from dividing when they are not supposed to. While the findings of this study may have some benefits for cancer research, as many cancers arise from the failure of "aging" mechanisms in the cell, 800 year life spans will simply not happen. If all of the aging genes were shut off, we would just end up with more cancer patients.
That being said, if there were a way to reach 800 years old, I would be the first to sign up

spatula42

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

jaredly2 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:11:59 PST

This brings a whole new meaning to life in prison!

jaredly2

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Mister Adequate — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:55:31 PST

@dead_red_eyes: Why does this idea continue? The notion that science and technology will only advance in one area? Yes, we're almost certain to develop life extension to a radical degree in the near to medium future, but it's not like every other technology will be standing still while we do it.

I'd only elect to live for 800 years because by that time I'll be able to live for 8000, which would lead to 80,000, etc. People can choose to die if they want, but it's not for me. I have at least one entire universe to explore and that doesn't get done in a few decades.

Mister Adequate

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Jason-Michael-Smith — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:39:39 PST

I would love to be able to see what changes occur in science and space travel. Count me in.

Jason-Michael-Smith

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

AndyDuncan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:26:20 PST

I think the biggest issue would be having a bunch of 400-year-olds who have gone bat-shit crazy from all the shit they've seen over their three lifetimes, but who have amassed enough money to keep screwing stuff up for the rest of the population by voting republican.

Personally, I look forward to imposing my 21st century bigotry, worldview and outdated ideals on the children of the 28th century. Those lazy little shits.

AndyDuncan

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

92BuickLeSabre — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:21:33 PST

@guibom: Let me be clear. I would love to live 800 years. Just not at the expense of calories...or cigarettes...or coffee...or

92BuickLeSabre

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

dpgtfc — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:17:56 PST

@Gibgirl: Society is already changing drastically. There is going to be some serious strife in the near future, especially if this ability comes to fruition. All in all I think it is a good thing though. I think living for 800 years could be just as fun and rewarding as living like a fat pig munching fried fat and having trouble walking up stairs, or just the pain of getting old. With that kind of argument, you might as well do cocaine and E because you sure have fun, even if you only live 25 years.

dpgtfc

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

WickedGlee — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:17:35 PST

@SeeingI: And Euthanasia Centers in every town.

WickedGlee

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

thorshammer — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:55:56 PST

My biggest fear is of death, so anything to delay it is good in my personal book.
@kromekoran: That's very true!

thorshammer

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

urbalor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:52:05 PST

@whyaduck: For the chance of an individual marriage to end in divorce, no. But it's entirely possible for the average person to have 2.4 divorces to go along with their 2.1 children.

800 years, thrilling. Just what I always wanted, 720 years of Alzheimers. Sign me up now.

urbalor

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

EvilAng3la — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:49:57 PST

@guibom: No, you're far from it. I think there's entirely too much possibility for the future to not want to be around to see it happen. Yeah, extending peoples' lifespans by 10x would require numerous changes to society to handle it. But that doesn't mean we should just give it up.

I've always like to suggest the idea that someone in a society with such lifespans could live in cycles of education-work-retire. Do 5-10 years of schooling in a field, work in it for fifty years or so, then take 10 years off to work on personal projects, live a life of leisure, etc. Then do it again in a new field.

EvilAng3la

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

localman — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:42:23 PST

A "calorie restricted" diet isn't such a problem as it seems at first. I love love LOVE good food. But I am sure that they'll soon find a way for us to eat whatever we want without absorbing the calories. So maybe I'd have to be calorie restricted for a short while, but then I'll have 800 years to eat whatever I want.

I don't buy the idea that life is "good because it's short". My life, at least, is varied enough that I can't imagine being bored in 800 years. As long as I've got reasonable health, more life is better.

Here's hoping they get this figured out before I croak :)

localman

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

guibom — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:40:17 PST

Am I the only one that would love living 800 years? And if we did achieve 800 years, we would pretty much live forever (in 800 years the scientists would figure out a way to increase it even further).

Of course I lot would have to change... but I see myself doing everything. Studying things that I never had the time, working in different professions, taking a break of about 50 years and just go to an isolated island and think, etc...

The Earth would fill up very quickly, but at the same time, long space travels would be possible (inside self-sustained ships, etc).

guibom

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

92BuickLeSabre — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:55:04 PST

@Annalee: I wouldn't either. Count me in among the short-lifers, happy-lifers crowd.

92BuickLeSabre

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

kromekoran — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:54:25 PST

I would like to live for 800 years, but it would take the fun out of it if everyone else did too.

kromekoran

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Whyaduck — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:30:32 PST

800 year lifespans couldn't possibly be good for the divorce rate. Is it possible for it to be over 100%?

Whyaduck

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Moff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:23:58 PST

@Gann: And unlikely! Sadly.

Moff

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Gann — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:18:29 PST

@moff: Sounds delicious

Gann

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Moff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:15:19 PST

@Crashproof: Yes, and maybe my girlfriend is making rainbow cake for dinner, with cheerleader ménage à trois for dessert.

Moff

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

elizabethm — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:11:05 PST

"Tests have already started on people in Ecuador."

?! What? Seriously? I'm going to read this post again b/c everything after the above quote was lost in a wtf thought sequence.

elizabethm

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Crashproof — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:09:00 PST

@SeeingI:

Maybe people will also adopt longer-range thinking, in terms of health, the environment, relationships, etc.

Crashproof

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

zenpoet — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:50:23 PST

Have these people not read Tuck Everlasting? All they have to do is find the right spring to drink from. Sheesh, talk about a waste of research dollars.

zenpoet

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Klappstuhl — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:48:01 PST

@extracrispy: Up, Up, to Space!

"M. A. R. S. Mars. bitches." -Dave Chapelle

@SeeingI: See? Humans with a lifespan of 800 years. That's exactly what I meant when I called Æonpunk

Klappstuhl

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:45:02 PST

@92BuickLeSabre: Well, yeah . . . they're testing people with the same mutation. Which isn't, in fact, such a great mutation to have. Still I have to say that this is some of the most interesting research I've seen into life-extension. Though I'm not sure I'd want to live 800 years on a calorie-restricted diet.

Annalee Newitz

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

slapBOXmaster — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:38:55 PST

Give me 200 years of life and I will live long enough to scrap this meat sack for some useful hardware.

slapBOXmaster

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

VAST — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:36:03 PST

Sniff. Cough.

Nah, this is just a cold, you know, the common cold...

... that I've had for six decades.

VAST

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

braak — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:28:14 PST

Tests have already started on people in Ecquador.

Expect conclusive results in about 2808.

Suckers.

braak

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

extracrispy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:24:36 PST

The earth is way past overpopulated.

extracrispy

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

dead_red_eyes — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:18:05 PST

Ugh, this would be so horrible. The earth would become quickly overpopulated.

dead_red_eyes

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Gyrus — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:15:30 PST

@SeeingI: "I feel a short story coming on." Kurt Vonnegut already wrote it.

Gyrus

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:14:34 PST

junior high school would be about 100 years long...

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Gyrus — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:04:27 PST

as long as I can still retire at 65, I'm all for it. If I have to keep working at the same job for the next 750 years, then yes, suicide booth, here I come!

Gyrus

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

JoeyTheHobo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:03:00 PST

@jabber: Such a doomsayer! Must I be the only one promoting science?

Minded, we could save the life-extending for the top 1%, to make sure they have a firm, tight grasp over the underlings for generations!

JoeyTheHobo

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

92BuickLeSabre — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:52:07 PST

I do believe that...

"Tests have already started on people in Ecuador."

...is significantly (and thankfully) different from if less interesting than...

"The group is already studying a human population in Ecuador with mutations analogous to those described in yeast."

92BuickLeSabre

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

jabber — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:50:21 PST

Just because you can don't mean you should. This sort of Methuselah tinkering will come to no good end I tell ya. No good. Mark my words.

jabber

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

SeeingI — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:41:39 PST

If human lifespans ever do reach super-long spans - 150 or more - expect suicide to become socially acceptable.

Hmm. I feel a short story coming on.

SeeingI

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

Moff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:38:55 PST

If I can't eat McDonald's, why would I want to live for 800 years?

Moff