this new genome research

[mrverve]

Pharmaceutical companies don't want to find a cure - there is no money to be made from cures - far more profitable to create treatments...

I'll give you an example (and there are a few I have seen over the years)... We did some development work for a pharma company who claimed to have a treatment for sufferers of dust mite allergy. They projected the sales to far exceed the volume of anything we had previously manufactured and would have helped billions of sufferers around the world.  They did the clinical trials and found that rather than treat the condition it actually cured it - this meant that each patient would only ever require one 'treatment' rather than a regular prescription.  Now you'd have thought they would still have gone ahead and manufactured the cure but no, they pulled it - not enough long term profit

I honestly think this is what Cancer Research companies do.

[thedarkprince]

Scientists believe that the first human being who will live 150 years has already been born.

I believe I am that human being

I was going to quote the very same thing, not that I think I'm that human you understand.

Does get you thinking about what your quality of life would be like if you lived that long. Would you just be a 150 year old vegetable because your faculties went in your 70s and 80s? 

[Jimmy Glass is an Alien]

This is getting way too deep!

My belief is death is an internal chemical reaction that shuts down the organs when it's your time to go. If you could find what triggers this, you could then counter it and in theory live forever.

However, as raised you have 2 points. Firstly what would you quality of life be like at say 100+? Would it be worth living if you're unable to enjoy it?

Secondly, the moral issues involved. If we are gave ourselves the gift of immortality, who is here to govern it?

[Arriba]

I honestly think this is what Cancer Research companies do.

those that test on animals do this too. Keeps them in a job

[Flashheart]

This is getting way too deep!

My belief is death is an internal chemical reaction that shuts down the organs when it's your time to go. If you could find what triggers this, you could then counter it and in theory live forever.

Death, by natural causes, is caused by parts of the body eventually failing. It's nothing to do with chemical reactions.

[Samdy Gray]

Extended life expectancy due to medical advancements is all well and good, but until the natural aging process can be slowed down/stopped the quality of life in those extended years is going to be no better than a 70+ year old today.

[Bogus Dave]

Untill very recently (like, a couple of months ago), I used to think that through history humans aged at the same rate proportionally to the life expectancy of the time. So, when the life expectancy was 40 there'd be loads of wrinkly 40 year olds toddling around, like the 80 year olds of today.

When I realised the average age was low because kids died all the time I was devastated.

[thedarkprince]

Untill very recently (like, a couple of months ago), I used to think that through history humans aged at the same rate proportionally to the life expectancy of the time. So, when the life expectancy was 40 there'd be loads of wrinkly 40 year olds toddling around, like the 80 year olds of today.

When I realised the average age was low because kids died all the time I was devastated.

I really want this to be true but surely a wind-up?!

[Bogus Dave]

Nope. True.

[Jimmy Glass is an Alien]

Death, by natural causes, is caused by parts of the body eventually failing. It's nothing to do with chemical reactions.

On the face of it yes, but if you look deeper what causes the organs to fail?

Only a theory which I'm sure will be ridiculed and pulled to pieces by those who know more then me. All I'm saying is if your heart stops, what causes it stop, something from within or just because?

[sonicyouth]

On the face of it yes, but if you look deeper what causes the organs to fail?

Only a theory which I'm sure will be ridiculed and pulled to pieces by those who know more then me. All I'm saying is if your heart stops, what causes it stop, something from within or just because?

lizards.

always lizards.

[Jimmy Glass is an Alien]

lizards.

always lizards.

I knew it 

[Flashheart]

On the face of it yes, but if you look deeper what causes the organs to fail?

Only a theory which I'm sure will be ridiculed and pulled to pieces by those who know more then me. All I'm saying is if your heart stops, what causes it stop, something from within or just because?

They just stop. In much the same way a car will just stop working. Things begin to break down and develop problems and the human body is no different.

Aging occurs because the cells of the body duplicate themselves but they don't duplicate perfectly. Each time there is a tiny flaw and these flaws accumulate over a lifetime to a point where the body quite literally begins to fall apart. It's why the skin goes wrinkly and stuff when people are old.

[Coca Fola]

Are you suggesting then that if you put two 70 year olds next to each other and one was more wrinkly than the other the more wrinkly one will die first?

[Flashheart]

Are you suggesting then that if you put two 70 year olds next to each other and one was more wrinkly than the other the more wrinkly one will die first?

Not quite