Would You Want To Extend Your Lifespan 500%

There's a big generation gap with the current 3 or 4 living generations. Imagine what society would be like with 20 generations of various ages.

Family reunions would be like a religious pilgrimage...

I hope that with extended life span would come greater wisdom as well as knowledge.

Contact with an alien species would certainly be a lesson in tolerance,which is desperately needed today.

I think ET's are reluctant to socialize with us because we cannot even get along with black,white,red,yellow and tan.How would we react to green or purple or orange skin?Or no skin;not even a recognizable form?

Perhaps we would become wise enough to become better parents and reduce the problems of adolescence.

I agree that quality of life should be a priority,and if we do succeed in existing as a species long enough,we will find a way to conquer aging and disease.

The telemeres at the end of the DNA strand are the key to lifespan,and they have already developed a stem cell line that lives virtually forever.

There was a company called Genentech,(or some similar name),I don't remember the exact name,but they took cancer cells,removed the nucleus,and implanted normal cell nucleus into them.They thought the would get another cancerous cell,but instead,they got a non malignant immortal cell.

Anyway,the company was quickly bought by another larger corporation and I do not know where that line of research is now.

But the genie is out of the bottle now.

There was a head of research that gave a lecture detailing some of the key dietary supplements that would help extend the lifespan(length) of the telemeres,but I cannot find it.It was probably over 20 years ago.

I think one of the supplements was ALA,but I can't seem to recall the other one,but they needed to be combined for best effect.

(I do not have a financial interest in any of these products).

Perhaps SE can find it;He is the Guru of Google.

You could spend your whole life trying to extend your lifetime, and have no guarantee of any success at all...In my opinion it's a fool's errand...

But you have the freedom to do what you will...

How you can protect your telomeres

1. Meditate.
2. Limit exposure to air pollution.
3. Get active.
4. Maintain a healthy weight.
5. Boost your NAD+ levels.
6. Load up on healthy fats and veggies.
7. Give TA-65 supplements a try.
8. Test your telomeres at home.

I think it's mostly about limiting the stress that causes premature aging rather than actually extending the telomeres...so if you're old like me, then what's done is done...afaik there is no way to extend telomeres permanently and extend life in a mature being...there may be a way some day to create offspring with genetically altered telomere length, but whether it will happen is another story...Your best hope is to have good healthcare and skilled doctors....but even here there is ambiguity, at what point is life extension untenable, quality of life issues must be addressed....

I posted this for the younger set.

I know I am on the backside of 70, and going downhill,gaining speed everyday,but I try to find some humor in everything,and tell a lot of jokes.

I love to make people laugh.It is a selfish motivation in a way;when I make them laugh,it makes me laugh,so it is a self gratifying experience.We both benefit.

A apple joke a day keeps the doctor away.

Oh I agree completely, a sense of humor is very important...and moderation in all things...I personally think the secret to long life is good genes, common sense and luck....also I don't think it's a good idea to laugh too loud or too long, it makes the sad angry...

In order for a 500 year lifespan to be viable the "seasons" of life would have to be similarly extended to avoid overpopulation. In other words, one lifespan should still equal 3-4 generations.

Fertility rates would drop and probably the interest in parenthood as well.

Adolescence would take longer but would it be less painful?

I could live to 400-500 years old, but if everybody did, the planet would become very crowded. Even if couples refrained from having more than 2 children, in spite of having a much longer life to raise children, the number of people on earth would approach 5 times the current population.

It must be acknowledged that even though people may have the ability to live that long that doesn't mean they would....There is still disease, accidents, suicide, homicide....I mean people have the ability to live beyond a hundred years now, but how many do?

..." today only 0.0173% of Americans live to 100."...

http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/how_many_people_live_to_100_page1.html

Hmm, if some one was 500 years old now, they would have been 20 when Henry the eighth married and divorced Anne of Cleves, and, Hernando de Soto discovered Florida.

Is there even room in the brain for 500 years of memories? Hell I can't remember anything now....could you imagine trying to remember what happened several hundred years ago? You'd end up misremembering everything....you could probably tell some interesting stories though...

If, as is typical, you lost 1% of your mind in your fifties, and conservatively, lost only 1% more, per decade, then, when you get to your hundred-and-fifties, you would have lost 100% of your mind, thereby foregoing the remaining three-hundred-and-fifty-ish years ''left''...

Check your arithmetic

Besides: I think there is an assumption that whatever prevents the rest of the body ageing also prevents the brain from ageing.

My assumption was obviously that a 1%/decade rate-of-deterioration of the ''mind'', starting from its' condition at being 50-ish being taken as 100%, and decreasing linearly to zero%, upon becoming one-hundred-fifty-ish.

In point of fact, age deterioration would probably accelerate beyond linearity, over time, as the capacity of the brain to resist ''aging'' cummulatively decreased...

That's one possibility. Another possibility is with the added wisdom of age, the brain will be less taxed in the first place. Another possibility is nothing deteriorates at all. Another possibility is we actually grow smarter because we have more time to study. Another possibility is that 80 angels can now dance on the head of that pin. When one delves into fantasy, anything is possible.

(Possible) rarely coincides with (actual)...

But at 1% per decade from 50 after an extra 100 year you'd only be down to 90%.

My text did use 1%/decade, but my math clearly used 1%/year...

There are three lifespan milestones that are passed:

1) The passing of one's personal experience of life. One no longer has an interface with the world and the ceremonies associated with this passing are played-out in every human culture.

2) The passing out of memory. This is when all the people who have known the individual have themselves individually passed milestone 1 above after the individual in question has done so.

3) The passing out of reputation. This happens when all records of the individual prior to milestone 1 have been discarded or deleted, and cannot happen until milestone 2 has been passed.

Those individuals that have not passed milestones 2 and 3 can therefore be said to have had an extended lifespan.