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Biological Complexity is not Infinite
Posted by
maestro949
,
09 March 2008
·
845 views
The fact that human biology is finite in it's complexity means that aging can be defeated. By reverse engineering the molecular components that wear out and by studying the processes that contribute to the breakdown of function, we can develop new and more sophisticated treatment alternatives for the many diseases of aging.
With enough knowledge and diagnostic tools we should be able to even slow or halt the aging altogether by detecting faulty gene expressions and other cellular damage that currently goes undetected for years or decades. This isn't an intractable problem. It's a continuation of what we do today. We study microbiological function. We build better tools to comprehend the scales and speeds at which biological components work. The result is data which can be translated into useful information and then in turn can be used to build predictive models which allow us to then go back and build even better tools to capture even more accurate data. This cycle will continue until we know absolutely everything there is to know about the biological process of aging. We will also increasingly be able to predict what changes and fixes are necessary to navigate biological function towards more youthful levels.
Halting and even reversing aging is not impossible. Those that argue that it is would have to demonstrate that biological complexity is infinite. The ball in is in their court to do so. The ball is in our court to continue to research into how we can design therapies that slow, halt and reverse the changes that accompany aging.
With enough knowledge and diagnostic tools we should be able to even slow or halt the aging altogether by detecting faulty gene expressions and other cellular damage that currently goes undetected for years or decades. This isn't an intractable problem. It's a continuation of what we do today. We study microbiological function. We build better tools to comprehend the scales and speeds at which biological components work. The result is data which can be translated into useful information and then in turn can be used to build predictive models which allow us to then go back and build even better tools to capture even more accurate data. This cycle will continue until we know absolutely everything there is to know about the biological process of aging. We will also increasingly be able to predict what changes and fixes are necessary to navigate biological function towards more youthful levels.
Halting and even reversing aging is not impossible. Those that argue that it is would have to demonstrate that biological complexity is infinite. The ball in is in their court to do so. The ball is in our court to continue to research into how we can design therapies that slow, halt and reverse the changes that accompany aging.