(The video link given in the initial post is now corrected in this post. It is the last video link of this post)

Here, anyone is interested, is the large list of scientists pushing for such a thing; talking about the Ph.D's and so forth from all over the world. http://www.agingresearch.org/longevitydividend/overview.pdf

Videos concerning fighting Ageing:

Imminst Documentary: http://www.imminst.org/film.php

BBC Documentary: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5634490469902803358

A Capitol Hill Symposium and Luncheon
September 12, 2006 Hart Senate Office Bldg. #902: http://www.agingresearch.org/longevitydividend/overview.cfm

Be very careful for what you wish. Aging in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Without aging we would all remain infants. Being able to age gracefully with a minimum of infirmities is a laudable goal. Immortality IMHO would be a curse. The blessing of being able to live a full and useful life, no matter the length, is more important than mere long life. It seems to me I read somewhere that the length and stability of the telomeres has an effect on aging, putting a finite number on the number of times a cell can divide (correctly). I also recall that cancer cells (supposedly) are immortal. I am all for fighting cancer and other diseases, but do not think we should be looking for the fountain of youth so to speak.

Cheers

Sgt.Joe

Minnesota Crunchers

Hello. It is pleasing to see some replies.

I would like to challenge some of the things stated by Sgt.Joe. Of course in a friendly manner.

"Be very careful for what you wish. Aging in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing."

Well that is your opinion Sgt.Joe. No problem at all with your belief. Some people, like yourself, do not mind ageing and having a limited lifespan then going back to oblivion, nothingness.

"Without aging we would all remain infants."

That is in some ways, fallacy to make such a statment. It is not so much Chronological ageing which I am speaking of. Chronological ageing is general; Biological ageing is more specific. Free radicals, as mentioned in one of the mentioned documentaries, along with other things contribute to us ageing; getting wrinkles and such. There are seven categories of things that cause ageing; I gave the link in anoter post, will give it again www.SENS.org . On the SENS internet site there are the causes and proposed resolutions. Futhermore, our bodies are programmed (it is encoded in our DNA) to go through various stages; The development stage is one of them. Take for example; we lose our baby teeth and grow adult teeth. I believe the scientists mentioned that we go through 3 stages in life.

"Immortality IMHO would be a curse. The blessing of being able to live a full and useful life, no matter the length, is more important than mere long life."

So you are saying that if you are living "a full and useful life" as you put it and died whether it be Homicide, Suicides, Accident, diseases and so on, that would be a blessing? Why I ask such a question is because of what you said; "no matter the length". With the last bit of the sentence "is more important than mere long life."; I do not think anyone would like to be Biological Immortal and not be happy. You make it seem that just because someone can live indefinitely he or she cannot have a wonderful life. Each moment is different. Taking a shower in the mornings, going for a walk down by the beach every weekend, experiencing people and the like is always something new. Even you as a person is ever changing, molecularly etc. Time, Space along with the other dimensions, can fairly safely be said to be continuums. I do not mind being alive, being Biological Immortal, to as said above, continue to experience people, have fun and so on.

As for the cell thing it is called the "Hayflick Limit". Regular cells, specialized cells have it. Cancer cells, Embryonic stem cells do not adhere to the limit to what I remembered. Yes, cancer cells are said to be immortal. I say this though as I have read before that; certain mutations have to occur for cancer cells to be malignant otherwise it is just a benign tumor or so. Trying to remeber correctly, old news; I heard that scientist injected a harmless virus into cancer cells and in 90% of the various cancers it had success(I think the subjects were mice). Also, they are trying to combat cancer by hindering it to make blood vessels; they, scientists, are trying to block the enzymes(?- unsure) cancer cells make which are vital in making them). All this is old news, do not have any update on that stuff.

Going after Ageing as the last video shows will have tremendous impact on other diseases. Ageing is the worst of all diseases, not only that, it contributes to others as well.