Comment by layer8
1 day ago
If something like this ever becomes a practical application on the organismal level, the octogenarian dictators of the world will rejoice.
1 day ago
If something like this ever becomes a practical application on the organismal level, the octogenarian dictators of the world will rejoice.
An individual pancreas cell discovering the secret to immortality is a triumph for that cell, and a real bad thing for the body. This is like that, but for the entire human population.
Even if medical science one day eliminates aging and disease, nobody is going to live forever—eventually you’ll succumb to an accident, or war, or homicide.
I'd say famine is equally as likely if not more at scale.
Eh, we might see some benefit to leaders having a reason to care about stuff 10+ years from now.
I feel like AI has opened a door of plausibility to Black Mirror or Twilight Zone concepts more than any other novel technology in my lifetime.
What if living 300 years meant the entire tempo of human living changes. That we all just slow right down because having control over our aging and when it happens. To be able to decide to extend your 20s… or not. To spend decades in your 30s. How would that change what’s important to us?
I think it's much more likely that those who were first to 200-300 years old will use those years to build resources and deny them to others, especially those not yet modified. It would be a permanent over class. Less Issac Asimov, more Richard K. Morgan.
That'll be the commoners' problem; they'll be planning out how to survive the next 300 years.
They cannot survive the next 300 years unless we all survive the next 300 years. A dictator is motivated by having power over others, not being some lone survivalist fending for himself in nature.
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Putin keeps talking about living forever, which makes his nuclear threats a bit less worrisome.
If you're listening just covered this the other day, they did a good job, worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFE_3Mr4yQ (If you're listening is generally pretty good)
I’d be far more worried about this causing turbo cancer than immortality in dictators.
It might be beneficial if it gives turbo cancer to the dictators, of course.
It turns out that if you trigger all four Yamanaka factors—yeah, turbo cancer. But if you trigger only three of the four, you can trigger a reversion to the stem cell state without the increased cancer risk.
Dubious. Do you have a reference or two? In general biological systems are not this simple.
What if we cure cancer with AI very soon? Give it 10 years.
Remind me of the chance some same AI kills us all before 10 years?
Funny you mention that, I guess this is a new cult maxim for the faithful?
https://fixvx.com/Kalshi/status/2109791302674235656?s=20
Save us all from people like this.
To expand, we might find out the hard way that having an expiration date was a feature of our species, not a flaw.
Walk me through it: in order to get dictators killed, because they defend themselves very effectively, we should put everybody on the planet under a biological death sentence, which will get the dictators too.
No, I cannot endorse this.
Science moves forward one death at a time
So at least two systems run better with the implicit time limit.
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Humans who get old and comfortable often become quite terrible people.
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It's a feature of every species that evolves. You can't evolve if you're striving to outcompete your offspring. You quickly game out that not having offspring is the winning chess move there. Now you're not having offspring, and thus you're not evolving. Then the environment changes and you, being unable to adapt in any way, go extinct.
Cheating senescence is kind of the ultimate adaptation. If we can crack this then I'd expect designing other artificial adaptations to be quite tractable in the future.
Of course it's a feature; it still doesn't mean it cannot be stopped or considerably postponed.
I’m always fascinated by people who think death can be “stopped” (not postponed, but eliminated). Fascinating.
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Definitely a feature: Disposable soma theory of Kirkwood. Your germline is the real “you”.
Neurogenesis slows for a similar reason
That’s a coping mechanism because we can’t change it.
Wasn't death a requirement for us to reach this current stage of human evolution? I don't think it is a good idea to stop it entirely.
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All it would take would be one billionaire who invested in long term bonds, à la Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy…
Indeed; the biggest reason is surely cancer.
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Not to mention the two leading septuagenarian dictators: Putin and Xi.
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and the bourgeoisie, a temporary regulation would be needed in those areas of the world to separate the upper class from the capability of the rulers
in western nations where that’s not possible, I could see national bans, but one weak link globally and everyone wealthy will get their treatment there
The world of Altered Carbon seems more and more possible every day.
My goodness, what a show that was.-
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An undying trillionaire class definitely sounds like a possible future. Not an ideal one, mind you, but definitely in the realm of possibilities.
I'm calling it now, Qatar will be the place that allows these treatments once they're a real thing.
I have to imagine the Uber wealthy are pouring money into youthful longevity science.
The democratization of drones capable of carrying a spicy payload would put a check to that, I imagine.
The Island of Dr. Ellison
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