Living forever might be cool, but do we want to?
Want to live forever? The right genes will help. New research confirms variants of the FOXO3A gene are common in people who live past 100. If you want to live a long, healthy life these are handy genes to have. See recent PNAS paper.
Variants of the FOXO3A gene are common in people who live past 100. Researchers from Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, studied hundreds of people in their 60s through to those that have cracked the 100 barrier. They found that certain variations of the FOXO3A gene are common in 90 year olds, and even more common in 100 year olds.
It backs up similar studies suggesting that these gene variants are global in their link to longevity. The big picture implications are relevant to genetic treatments that might help us crack the century and do it with all our physical and mental faculties intact – which opens up all sorts of ethical questions.
How long can we live?
Even if I have a genetic test that confirms I have the longevity genes, it would be a reasonably safe bet that those such as myself in the 40-something age bracket won’t be benefiting too much from this and similar research. We will just keep drinking red wine and hope to die happy. But will your child live to a ripe old 120? What about your children’s children?
Even the conservative scientists are confident we will extend the human lifespan, and we are actually doing that, though an obesity epidemic in some of the developed nations might put a spanner in the works. But assuming we significantly extend our lifespan, do we really want to? I guess that depend on who you talk to. When this comes up in conversation at any TechNyou (yes, get used to the new name) workshop there is always the question of, why do we need to, there are already too many people on this planet…and so on. Even school students are tuned into the population debate and question the need to live forever.
However, there are plenty of people that want to extend their life as long as possible and a few (many?) that would like to live forever. Is immortality possible? According to some, it is.
Immortality, or close to it
If you want some views from those that would happily live forever and are trying to find ways or people who can find ways to make it happen, the following will give some insight: The Methuselah Foundation has put together the Mprize that offers $3.8 million for the first increase the lifespan of lab mice which can then be extrapolated to humans.
Also Aubrey de Grey, a computer scientist and self-taught gerontologist believes that children born today will be the first to live to 1000 years old. For de Grey, ageing is just a disease and if we can cure the disease we can eliminate ageing. Easier said than done, but when has that stopped people trying? There is some good stuff about him and his thoughts on TED
Other deGey info SENS
And for me…
Personally, I would love to live forever simply to see how the world will be in 100, 500, 5000 years time. I have no desire to live forever simply for the sake of living, or any fear of death, but the geek in me is intrigued about whether the human race will ever travel to the stars, perfect artificial intelligence, unlock the secret of immortality, maybe find out the biggest question of why are we here. I am a bit like a kid not wanting to go home in case I miss something. But then as one older gent put it to me in a recent workshop: “The world is moving too fast. How do I get off?