Re: Radical Life Extension and Language Learning
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 9:56 am
I have also read about and seen documentaries about discoveries in the field of ageing - like for instance that there is such a thing as telomeres. In short they are the protective ends of chromosomes, and they get shorter and shorter each time our cells divide, and when they become too short the cells die - and then we die. Maybe you can somehow insulate these telomeres so that they don't degrade, but I don't think we are there yet. There are other factors which may prolong life, but not make people into cliffhanger types with eternal life (unless killed by blade by one of your kin). As for the 'immortal' jellyfish I have read that its trick is to turn back to a larvae stadium of sorts - and lose everything it has acquired during its latest incarnation. I wouldn't like to do that - although some limited of rejuvenation with preserved skills would be nice.
So let's assume something less fancylike - like for instance fifty years more with preserved health. After all we have already done this trick once through medicine and simple cleanliness and less violence in the streets. That would mean that I had fifty years more to study ... but I might also have fifty years to get bored with studying, and then I would much of what I already had learned. And who says that it is possible to preserve mental health as well as the basic body functions? Fifty years with dementia doesn't seem like a pleasant thought, and even if a cure against Alzheimer is found it would take something more to keep mentally fresh and clear. I have already had periods where I painted and composed music and studied mathematics and participated in language gatherings. How many more hobbies would I have to come up and leave aside if I had to fill out fifty years? OK, I had the same kind of doubts when I was twenty - what the heck am I going to spend the next maybe sixty years on? OK, I survived, and I found things to do, but at the price of a number of very serious and valuable interests that just got sidestepped along the way for some reason.
And finally there are the social aspects. WHO would actually get the necessary treatments (which probably would be extremely expensive)? Methinks the dictators and the billionaires and drug barons instead of you? It is a bit like space travel and the American dream and participating in lotteries: the media show the few who succeeded, but your own likelihood of hitting jackpot in the same games is rather slim. I remember a participant in a quiz who made a wild guess under the slogan "Let's play the game" .. and lost. OK, if you positively LIKE to lose money then by all means visit Las Vegas or 'play the game' in a quiz show, but it would be more sensible to do a levelheaded calculus on the probabilities multiplied by the possible gain for each one of your choices - and then some games aren't worth playing. In my eyes this includes investments in dramatic changes in life expectancy. Unless most of the population can profit from it then it is not a positive thing - just think if XY#!Z§ (insert your least favorite dictator) lived and ruled forever and you had to pay his medical bills? Better bet on things that may postpone dementia for YOU - like learning languages...
So let's assume something less fancylike - like for instance fifty years more with preserved health. After all we have already done this trick once through medicine and simple cleanliness and less violence in the streets. That would mean that I had fifty years more to study ... but I might also have fifty years to get bored with studying, and then I would much of what I already had learned. And who says that it is possible to preserve mental health as well as the basic body functions? Fifty years with dementia doesn't seem like a pleasant thought, and even if a cure against Alzheimer is found it would take something more to keep mentally fresh and clear. I have already had periods where I painted and composed music and studied mathematics and participated in language gatherings. How many more hobbies would I have to come up and leave aside if I had to fill out fifty years? OK, I had the same kind of doubts when I was twenty - what the heck am I going to spend the next maybe sixty years on? OK, I survived, and I found things to do, but at the price of a number of very serious and valuable interests that just got sidestepped along the way for some reason.
And finally there are the social aspects. WHO would actually get the necessary treatments (which probably would be extremely expensive)? Methinks the dictators and the billionaires and drug barons instead of you? It is a bit like space travel and the American dream and participating in lotteries: the media show the few who succeeded, but your own likelihood of hitting jackpot in the same games is rather slim. I remember a participant in a quiz who made a wild guess under the slogan "Let's play the game" .. and lost. OK, if you positively LIKE to lose money then by all means visit Las Vegas or 'play the game' in a quiz show, but it would be more sensible to do a levelheaded calculus on the probabilities multiplied by the possible gain for each one of your choices - and then some games aren't worth playing. In my eyes this includes investments in dramatic changes in life expectancy. Unless most of the population can profit from it then it is not a positive thing - just think if XY#!Z§ (insert your least favorite dictator) lived and ruled forever and you had to pay his medical bills? Better bet on things that may postpone dementia for YOU - like learning languages...