Should we live longer?
Модератор: zymbronia
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
Now and then I come across the opinion that aging and death are just diseases and can be cured in the future. But I always wonder how the proponents of this idea are going to tackle the consequences. Which seem pretty obvious. The only planet we can live on is already overcrowded. If people begin to die later or never at all, there will be less or no room for new generations. But I believe we need them. Because you can't teach an old dog new tricks. You have to replace it with a younger one.
There are exceptions to the rule, to be sure, but they don't change the general picture. So I think that for the sake of our evolution as humankind we will have to restrict the length of our lives anyway. Even if it becomes technically possible to live much longer.
There are exceptions to the rule, to be sure, but they don't change the general picture. So I think that for the sake of our evolution as humankind we will have to restrict the length of our lives anyway. Even if it becomes technically possible to live much longer.
-
- Сообщения: 1765
- Зарегистрирован: 04 мар 2018, 21:25
- Благодарил (а): 249 раз
- Поблагодарили: 865 раз
acapnotic,
I mentioned to someone that an operation on my old-ish dog would cost X amount.
Wow,the guy replied,
for this money you could buy three brand new puppies....
An actual story :... you can't teach an old dog new tricks. You have to replace it with a younger one.
I mentioned to someone that an operation on my old-ish dog would cost X amount.
Wow,the guy replied,
for this money you could buy three brand new puppies....
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
tourist
Pets don't count. If you want a 1000-year-old dog, why not? Dogs don't care about their evolution. They are fed by their masters. But if your 1000-year-old dog were intelligent enough, he would likely not approve of your living as long. Because that would decrease the flexibility of humankind and endanger its survival, and thereby the well-being of dogs.
Pets don't count. If you want a 1000-year-old dog, why not? Dogs don't care about their evolution. They are fed by their masters. But if your 1000-year-old dog were intelligent enough, he would likely not approve of your living as long. Because that would decrease the flexibility of humankind and endanger its survival, and thereby the well-being of dogs.
-
- Сообщения: 2285
- Зарегистрирован: 28 фев 2018, 23:48
- Благодарил (а): 2001 раз
- Поблагодарили: 1438 раз
I guess the enthusiastic "proponents of the idea" haven't read Jonathan Swift (or maybe haven't gone further than children's adaptation of his book).
An impressive extract - not, perhaps, about the consequences of immortality for humankind but rather about its very dubious value:
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/swift/ ... ter26.html
Isn't it really the mercy of nature to be deprived of the choice like this?So I think that for the sake of our evolution as humankind we will have to restrict the length of our lives anyway. Even if it becomes technically possible to live much longer.
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
That's the thought I have sometimes too. If there's some thruth in the idea of afterlife, what's the point of getting stuck here? It would be a really silly thing to do. The problem is we don't know anything for sure.
-
- Сообщения: 4348
- Зарегистрирован: 22 мар 2019, 17:15
- Благодарил (а): 821 раз
- Поблагодарили: 2909 раз
Nature has a way of balancing itself out. Humans are a lot more likely to self-destruct than to ever get immortality into mass production. So, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
-
- Сообщения: 4348
- Зарегистрирован: 22 мар 2019, 17:15
- Благодарил (а): 821 раз
- Поблагодарили: 2909 раз
We are looking at a serious infertility problem already, and it’s only going to get worse, mostly due to environmental pollution. Plastic pollution in particular is screwing up our hormones big time.
Not to mention that by improving medical care we have severely limited natural selection, too. Look at the infant mortality a hundred years ago and now. We are accumulating genetic mistakes rapidly and passing them on to our children.
Some go as far as to speculate that in a few of generations women won’t be able to have babies at all. While I don’t necessarily subscribe to that view, I don’t think overpopulation due to immortality is high on our list of problems. ))
- Kind_Punk
- Сообщения: 4731
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 14:41
- Благодарил (а): 178 раз
- Поблагодарили: 1168 раз
I totally agree. The future shown in the short story "Yoo Retoont, Sneogg. Ay Noo" is what will come.Easy-Breezy English пишет: ↑19 апр 2019, 17:54 Not to mention that by improving medical care we have severely limited natural selection, too.
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
Not that I am worrying too much, just wondering how people can be enthusiastic about longer life or even immortality when they don't have a solution to their obvious problematic consequences. But who knows, maybe they don't intend it to be for everyone.Easy-Breezy English пишет: ↑19 апр 2019, 17:47 Nature has a way of balancing itself out. Humans are a lot more likely to self-destruct than to ever get immortality into mass production. So, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
-
- Сообщения: 4348
- Зарегистрирован: 22 мар 2019, 17:15
- Благодарил (а): 821 раз
- Поблагодарили: 2909 раз
- gavenkoa
- Сообщения: 2800
- Зарегистрирован: 01 мар 2018, 13:00
- Благодарил (а): 3100 раз
- Поблагодарили: 582 раза
I am not completely sure but it looks like our DNA contains "counters" on the ends. Look for Telomere at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit
Each cell division Telomere reduces its size until division becomes impossible. Some cells, like embryonic stem cells divide using a bit different schema and are immortal.
I can't tell you how many human cell divisions are possible (I saw reports about 50-70 times before cell death) but we all have count down clocks inside each and every cell ((
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
gavenkoa, yes, I've heard of that too. But I am not concerned with the mechanism. My question is whether we should disable it or not. Would it be better or worse for humankind if people began to live singinficantly longer?
If this mechanism of aging can be turned off, I don't see why the problem of infertility can't be solved in the same way. Or why the aversion of women to giving birth can't be somehow circumvented. I think those are temporary obstacles.
If this mechanism of aging can be turned off, I don't see why the problem of infertility can't be solved in the same way. Or why the aversion of women to giving birth can't be somehow circumvented. I think those are temporary obstacles.
-
- Сообщения: 977
- Зарегистрирован: 21 май 2018, 22:03
- Благодарил (а): 159 раз
- Поблагодарили: 182 раза
Gradually people are living longer and longer. And they are looking younger, I mean ordinary people who haven't had plastic surgery. So I think this mechanism has already been included in the process of our living.
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
People live longer thanks to medicine. They look younger because they don't have beards. For example, look at this guy: wouldn't he look younger without it? https://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_gre ... void_aging
- gavenkoa
- Сообщения: 2800
- Зарегистрирован: 01 мар 2018, 13:00
- Благодарил (а): 3100 раз
- Поблагодарили: 582 раза
As it said it is due to development of medicine. Good bye cholera and tuberculosis ))
Also not that it usually means increasing of average age not absolute maximum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expe ... ctancy.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
It is fascinating that 50 years ago my parents might had died but now they are only at start of life decay.
-
- Сообщения: 977
- Зарегистрирован: 21 май 2018, 22:03
- Благодарил (а): 159 раз
- Поблагодарили: 182 раза
Have women ever grown beards? ))acapnotic пишет: ↑20 апр 2019, 10:50 People live longer thanks to medicine. They look younger because they don't have beards. For example, look at this guy: wouldn't he look younger without it? https://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_gre ... void_aging
- acapnotic
- Сообщения: 3939
- Зарегистрирован: 02 мар 2018, 07:49
- Благодарил (а): 280 раз
- Поблагодарили: 925 раз
They don't have to. If half the population turned fat, for example, wouldn't you think "People have become so fat"? It doesn't require all of them for you to have that impression. The same with beards. Men are people too, aren't they? :)
-
- Похожие темы
- Ответы
- Просмотры
- Последнее сообщение
-
- 2 Ответы
- 380 Просмотры
-
Последнее сообщение Yety
31 авг 2020, 15:26
-
-
Ищу Today1 SB и Live Beat 2 Class CD 3 !
Brow » 08 фев 2020, 17:06 » в форуме Основной педагогический форум - 11 Ответы
- 1639 Просмотры
-
Последнее сообщение Катерина Е
24 авг 2021, 19:26
-