Realistic living for ever

 

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Is it even possible? Define it in terms of showing no decline in survival characteristics, no increase in disease incidence, and no increase in mortality with advancing age, then yes. 

I have speculated on immortality before. Let me introduce NS or negligible Senescence where latter means normal aging with progressive loss of strength, skin firmness, hair color, reproducibility etc. An NS animal is one that shows no real signs of aging. Evolution has placed us humans in aging and death part of most of the animals not because of any reason but because evolution is the survival of the fittest and technological part was possible only in species that possessed capability of adding to knowledge and dying to allow incrementalist even in limited by age by death of the old. Senescence happens because there are no evolutionary advantages to NS and because the idea of cheating death is automatic despite state for most.

To speculate on immortality requires some idea of ethics. Independent of how achieved, teen years and yo0ung ages are much less concerned with the value of elder population and their contributions. One day the mirror shocks the aging as me of how time has flown by. Increasing debilitation is then traced to normal aging and strong feelings about cheat death by eliminating aging for me and those I care for. Some usefulness of self post-death is not religious duty but the possibility of last use of my body (organ donation and body to medical students) and financial legacy and survival of some knowledge (discrete square root). I am done with legacy issues and turn full time to aging. I have written a lot last 1 year past my father departure and my responsibility assumption.

NS is required but insufficient for immortality and is medically achievable through actionable steps.

Species	Recorded lifespan
Lobsters	100+ years (Presumed NS)
Ocean Quahog clam	507 years
Greenland Shark	400 years
Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens)	152 years (Presumed NS)
Clams such as Panopea generosa	160 years (Presumed NS)

Possibly even more intriguing is the hydra, a species that is observed to have no lifespan limit, as it regenerates very quickly. Barring predation and changes to its environment, it is one of the few species for which the phrase “biological immortality” would be appropriate. Only human language stupidity still constrain us to objectification and personalization of abstractions like nature - I still use the normal language but drastically change my inner thinking. Nature is not a spirit or person and has no conspiracy against me or anyone. Most animals suffer from aging and death, but there are animals alive that are NS for up to 500 years and trees that have lived recorded to 5000 years! It amazed me some Roman time trees were very old in their time and still live today! Evolution is not my enemy or foe. I am the top predator species. Intelligent enough to analyze and plan.

And the good news is that there is no reason why humans could not enjoy considerably increased healthy longevity if the appropriate technologies are developed. It isn’t even beyond the realm of possibility that humans might achieve negligible senescence thanks to the march of medical science and technology. Some scientists, such as Dr. Aubrey de Grey, propose that we can engineer negligible senescence by using a repair-based approach to the damage that aging causes. This is the basis of SENS, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, and is being pursued by the SENS Research Foundation.

In 5-10 years, we will figure out how to live 50 more years. Time enough to figure out 500 year and live as long as sharks. Enough to figure out next 5000 years and live as long as trees. Enough ...