22 replies to this topic

[Lyle Dennis]

Hi

I have just joined this forum.

I have been posting about lifespan extension for a while on my website Extreme Longevity.

I look forward to interacting with and learning from this community!

[brokenportal]

Great to have you here.

What do you think are one or two of the most important things that need to be done to move this cause forward?

[AgeVivo]

Great to have you here. Your website is a great source of inspiration: I find that you filter longevity news with a very large angle and a very synthetic and scientific selection. Without your website I might not have started to check the buckyball life-extension at home, in mice.

[niner]

Welcome to Longecity, Lyle!  You have a great site; we're glad to have you aboard.

[Lyle Dennis]

brokenportal, on 06 July 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

What do you think are one or two of the most important things that need to be done to move this cause forward?

Well I do think we will be able to decipher and arrest aging at some point.  IMHO it will take money above all else.  And to get that money we need broad public support and urgency.  This is tricky.

The science is very fascinating - I like de Grey's idea of removing damage, perhaps through swarms of specialized nanobots or drugs that can detect and remove it.  I also imagine we can slow down the metabolic pace.

[Lyle Dennis]

AgeVivo, on 06 July 2012 - 09:37 PM, said:

Great to have you here. Your website is a great source of inspiration: I find that you filter longevity news with a very large angle and a very synthetic and scientific selection. Without your website I might not have started to check the buckyball life-extension at home, in mice.

Thanks.  That buckyball story was a great find, and I am following it closely though skeptically until proven otherwise.  I hope Cynthia Kenyon tries to replicate it in C Elegans.

niner, on 06 July 2012 - 09:54 PM, said:

Welcome to Longecity, Lyle!  You have a great site; we're glad to have you aboard.

Thank you!

[Droplet]

Hello and welcome Lyle Dennis!

I would point you to the Action! section or sending a PM to brokenportal to get a role to move all of this forward. However, you look like you're already doing a good amount to help rid the world of the misery of old age. Well done for that.

[brokenportal]

Lyle Dennis, on 06 July 2012 - 11:43 PM, said:

brokenportal, on 06 July 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

What do you think are one or two of the most important things that need to be done to move this cause forward?

Well I do think we will be able to decipher and arrest aging at some point.  IMHO it will take money above all else.  And to get that money we need broad public support and urgency.  This is tricky.

The science is very fascinating - I like de Grey's idea of removing damage, perhaps through swarms of specialized nanobots or drugs that can detect and remove it.  I also imagine we can slow down the metabolic pace.

What do you think are the best ways to go about getting that broad public support and urgency?

[Droplet]

brokenportal, on 07 August 2012 - 02:23 AM, said:

What do you think are the best ways to go about getting that broad public support and urgency?

This is needed so damn badly! If anyone outside Lyle Dennis could also advice on this, we would be grateful.

[mpe]

I'm glad you've decided to join us.
Yours is one of the sites I make a point of reading on a regular basis.

Mike.

[Logic]

Hey Lyle.  Welcome.

Great site you've got!

[Lyle Dennis]

brokenportal, on 06 July 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

What do you think are the best ways to go about getting that broad public support and urgency?

This is a great question that i have been thinking alot about.  It seems like we need a Manhattan Project-like or Moon-landing mentality.  We need a critical mass of supporters who presents themselves as mainstream to build a grassroots lobby that can gather the funding and broad public support needed to get the research done.

Certainly easier said than done

I was hoping to use my site as a way of growing that support but I'm finding the growth to be slower than expected.

This community is definitely a strong staring point.

[niner]

I think that in the Western world, there's a lot of stigma associated with life extension.  I'm not sure why; it's probably associated with religion.  In the former Soviet Union, there has been science going on in the anti-aging arena for decades, and it seems to be accepted without a problem there.  If only we could apply American resources to the problem... but the culture stands in the way.  I think that a lot of people would come around if we broke through their "it's obviously impossible" mindset.  I think the best way to do this is with some solid demonstrations of reproducible life extension in higher animals. (At least rodents; yeast, flies and worms don't count.)   I'm excited about both C60-OO and activated charcoal in this regard.  One or both of them might be the breakthrough we need.  I know that these are both interventions that supposedly slow aging, and not damage repair strategies like SENS.  That seems to result in them being view with anything from suspicion to disdain by "real immortalists".  I'd advise that people view them as tools to build public support.  If either of them pan out in a major way, it will open the public's mind to putting some real money into  therapies aimed at repair of aging damage.

[caliban]

Welcome Lyle!

Have a look around. If you like the 'city', maybe join as a member - we could use someone with your zeal and expertise.  
You are doing a brilliant job with your site and there might be fruitful ways to collaborate if you are interested.

[Pour_la_Science]

Lyle Dennis, on 09 August 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

brokenportal, on 06 July 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

What do you think are the best ways to go about getting that broad public support and urgency?

This is a great question that i have been thinking alot about.  It seems like we need a Manhattan Project-like or Moon-landing mentality.  We need a critical mass of supporters who presents themselves as mainstream to build a grassroots lobby that can gather the funding and broad public support needed to get the research done.

Certainly easier said than done

I was hoping to use my site as a way of growing that support but I'm finding the growth to be slower than expected.

This community is definitely a strong staring point.

Hello. I admire the work done on your website http://extremelongevity.net/

Since you're an MD in neurology, maybe you could expose some elements of your thoughts?
-When you speak about a 'Manhattan-project' style initiative: In the actual situation do you think that our present pharmaceutical companies have a possibility to reach a feasible treatments for Alzheimer disease (one of the biggest killers in our old age) ?

-What are for you the major research orientations which should be backed? The Methuselah foundation has apparently directed its efforts now toward organ regeneration (with the New Organ Prize http://www.neworgan.org/ ). If we listen to the drug companies, they speak about hypertension, diabetes...

Thanks again for your work!

[Lyle Dennis]

caliban, on 09 August 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Welcome Lyle!

Have a look around. If you like the 'city', maybe join as a member - we could use someone with your zeal and expertise.  
You are doing a brilliant job with your site and there might be fruitful ways to collaborate if you are interested.

Thanks Caliban, I have been looking around.  I am glad to get more involved and collaborate.  I want to disseminatie longevity research and stoke broad public interest in it.  I would also like to develop a public platform to interact with the world's longevity researchers in real time offering them ideas for experiments.  It would also be useful to develop a widely attended national yearly meeting on the subject for enthusiasts as well as scientists that would attract a lot of media attention.

[Lyle Dennis]

Pour_la_Science, on 10 August 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

Since you're an MD in neurology, maybe you could expose some elements of your thoughts?
-When you speak about a 'Manhattan-project' style initiative: In the actual situation do you think that our present pharmaceutical companies have a possibility to reach a feasible treatments for Alzheimer disease (one of the biggest killers in our old age) ?

This is a good thought.  If we wish to fully understand aging and develop techniques to arrest it, then we should certainly be ale to figure out this one particular disease considering the wealth of resources going into developing treatment.

So far it has been frustrating but I sense a shift in the curve recently and I think we are close to an effective treatment.  It seems the amyloid mabs have failed, but I am interested to see what happens with bexarotene.

Pour_la_Science, on 10 August 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

-What are for you the major research orientations which should be backed? The Methuselah foundation has apparently directed its efforts now toward organ regeneration (with the New Organ Prize http://www.neworgan.org/ ). If we listen to the drug companies, they speak about hypertension, diabetes...

Thanks again for your work!

Right now medicine is disease-centered rather than health centered, and the reason is unfortunately the wide majority of diseases are brought on by poor lifestyle choices.  People have to become willing to take good care of themselves and be motivated to learn how.

I think there needs to be a separate arm of research solely focused on specifically blocking aging.

[niner]

Part of the problem is that "aging" isn't defined as a legitimate application for pharmaceuticals.  I don't know if that's an FDA decision, or if its encoded in statute or what, but that has to change.  As it stands, the pharmaceutical industry couldn't develop an anti-aging drug even if they wanted to, because it couldn't be approved.  The pharmaceutical industry cares about one thing, and only one thing.  That is, of course, money.  An anti aging therapy that worked would generate a ton of money, so they'd probably be fine with that.

[Pour_la_Science]

Thanks a lot for your answers Dr Dennis. I'm glad to have your impressions from someone inside the subject!

@niner:
"As it stands, the pharmaceutical industry couldn't develop an anti-aging drug even if they wanted to, because it couldn't be approved. "
But if there is a future anti-Alzheimer drug, it will be an "anti-aging drug" (since the current drugs in trials are of the "regenerative medecine" sort, not with only the objective of slowing the process like donezepil, memantine...

In my opinion, I'm very pessimistic about the probability that aging will be viewed as a disease one day. It's too global, too widespread. Not a very practical research domain. Researchers don't know by which end to begin.  

[AgeVivo]

Dear Lyle,

sorry to give so many compliments in a single thread, but reading it and your web site from time to time it is clear that you are, judge and talk like a queen/a president of the biomedical revolution of long term health towards negligeable ageing. I wish some rich donator can provide you sufficient financial comfort for you to drive such a movement on a full time basis! I am truly impressed by your very calibrated sense of both science (very good selection of articles, very impressive choice of answers) and society processes (what are the interactions, what is needed) in the field.

Lyle Dennis, on 10 August 2012 - 12:04 PM, said:

Right now medicine is disease-centered (...) I think there needs to be a separate arm of research solely focused on specifically blocking aging.

If I were president I would create 3 huge lines of facilities thoughout the country: a huge line of semi-fondamental research labs against aging, a huge line of mouse/other_animal lifespan testings next to it, a huge line of medical centers next to it where people would be followed/ advized and treated towards long-term-health. Transversal longevity-science analysts (you would be one of them, or the top of them) would constantly visit all the lines and constitute synergenistic ideas to be discussed to the right persons of those chains. People's health actions would be fully connected to a non-nominative database (clinical trial of the size of the population) analyzed by statisticians to derive new long-term-knowledge. For anyone loosing job or desiring to change horizons, it will be proposed to work there and be formed. Throughout the country, investments other than to those healthy-longevity-lines would have very strong taxes . Within 20 years, life expectancy would be 200.


The longevity party on facebook is thinking about how to force various parties to be less ridicule in their fights against aging, and to make it a top priority. It is a relatively recent move -- to see where this goes.

The European Commission has decided that promoting innovation towards Active and Healthy Ageing would be very top priority; with a key target to increase healthy life years. With Heales (Healthy Life Expectancy) and the Leiden Academy on Vitality and Ageing we are making a conference where european commissioners will meet with biology of aging/preventive and regenerative medicine researchers, medical doctors, entrepreneurs and passionated persons. This is taking place in December 12th-14th in Bruxelles; actually it is currently possible to book online at reduced price: http://www.eha2012.org/ Once we have tuned it a little more we will strong communicate about it.

Quote

It seems like we need a Manhattan Project-like or Moon-landing mentality. We need a critical mass of supporters who presents themselves as mainstream to build a grassroots lobby that can gather the funding and broad public support needed to get the research done. Certainly easier said than done

This is a little what Aubrey has been trying to do with SENS, with his way. With http://www.eha2012.org/ we are somehow also trying to do that and it is indeed not easy. For example how to find a name that both policy makers and passionate amateurs understand? What level of innovation can policy makers feel they can seriously push forward (Aubrey's provocating approach sometimes borderline; after-death-cryonics and mind-uploading enthousiasts currently cast doubts on credibility; credibility lines are moving but perhaps not to such extends). What level of short-term large-scale issues can amateurs accept (societal complexities in change; the system is not always bad and people working for the system are not always cold to fight aging)? How to make people comfortable to start their start up against aging rather than work in an office?

Lyle Dennis, on 06 July 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

That buckyball story was a great find, and I am following it closely though skeptically until proven otherwise. I hope Cynthia Kenyon tries to replicate it in C Elegans.

Yes, I hope. It would also be great that other people test it in mammals (rodents or +). I am testing it on just three mice to start. But with mind and s123 in LongeCIty we have just started to search for pet owners to make a worlwide pool-based, pet-based, double blind clinical trial (if you are interested or know people who might be, PM me; for now it is designed for pet rats and pet mice only). This is good to see of course if we can replicate or not a C60 life extension. It is also good to put mouse life extension out of the labs towards our concrete homes: to show that it is real, not just something in the newspaper that we forget about. And this newly created "grid testing" (like "grid computing") could be an additional motor of research. Once our pets will live longer because of what they eat, there will be massive demand to get the same for us.

Lyle Dennis, on 09 August 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

I was hoping to use my site as a way of growing that support but I'm finding the growth to be slower than expected.
This community is definitely a strong staring point.

Surely you don't see how much inspiration your website is is bringing (much better than similar already-great attempts). Keep up the good work! Yes LongeCIty is a strong staring point. Its excentric and supplement characteristics danse between madness and creative innovation, and despite this, LongeCity is slowly but surely gets credibility within the scientific community. It could well be the driving latin FORUM of the critical mass you are thinking about, when combined with Mahattan-like projects like above.

Edited by AgeVivo, 10 August 2012 - 08:30 PM.

[Mind]

Hi Lyle Dennis. Great job on building a great website. Like Caliban suggests, it seems like there could be some constructive collaboration in our future. I hate to see too much overlap between the many different anti-aging, rejuvenation, longevity orgs/websites out there. If each org focused on one particular aspect of the goal (eliminating aging and rejuvenation) then perhaps a lot more could get done.

That being said, I am unsure how to break it all down - divvy it up. Your site has a clean layout and stays up to date research findings/longevity news. Longecity is a community. SENS does research. LEF sells supplements. FightAging does news and advocacy. There is specialization among our groups, but I wonder if it could be better.

[Lyle Dennis]

AgeVivo, on 10 August 2012 - 08:11 PM, said:

Dear Lyle,

sorry to give so many compliments in a single thread, but reading it and your web site from time to time it is clear that you are, judge and talk like a queen/a president of the biomedical revolution of long term health towards negligeable ageing. I wish some rich donator can provide you sufficient financial comfort for you to drive such a movement on a full time basis! I am truly impressed by your very calibrated sense of both science (very good selection of articles, very impressive choice of answers) and society processes (what are the interactions, what is needed) in the field.

Thanks for the compliments though I am not sure I can fill the role of queen

Lyle Dennis, on 06 July 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

That buckyball story was a great find, and I am following it closely though skeptically until proven otherwise. I hope Cynthia Kenyon tries to replicate it in C Elegans.
Yes, I hope. It would also be great that other people test it in mammals (rodents or +). I am testing it on just three mice to start. But with mind and s123 in LongeCIty we have just started to search for pet owners to make a worlwide pool-based, pet-based, double blind clinical trial (if you are interested or know people who might be, PM me; for now it is designed for pet rats and pet mice only). This is good to see of course if we can replicate or not a C60 life extension. It is also good to put mouse life extension out of the labs towards our concrete homes: to show that it is real, not just something in the newspaper that we forget about. And this newly created "grid testing" (like "grid computing") could be an additional motor of research. Once our pets will live longer because of what they eat, there will be massive demand to get the same for us.

I am surprised to see how much C60 discussion has sprouted forth here.  I would be personally more conservative about consuming the stuff myself until there is more data though.

Lyle Dennis, on 09 August 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

I was hoping to use my site as a way of growing that support but I'm finding the growth to be slower than expected.
This community is definitely a strong staring point.
Surely you don't see how much inspiration your website is is bringing (much better than similar already-great attempts). Keep up the good work! Yes LongeCIty is a strong staring point. Its excentric and supplement characteristics danse between madness and creative innovation, and despite this, LongeCity is slowly but surely gets credibility within the scientific community. It could well be the driving latin FORUM of the critical mass you are thinking about, when combined with Mahattan-like projects like above.

I will definitely keep going - just want to make sure all our limited resources are used for the greatest good.

Mind, on 11 August 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

Hi Lyle Dennis. Great job on building a great website. Like Caliban suggests, it seems like there could be some constructive collaboration in our future. I hate to see too much overlap between the many different anti-aging, rejuvenation, longevity orgs/websites out there. If each org focused on one particular aspect of the goal (eliminating aging and rejuvenation) then perhaps a lot more could get done.

That being said, I am unsure how to break it all down - divvy it up. Your site has a clean layout and stays up to date research findings/longevity news. Longecity is a community. SENS does research. LEF sells supplements. FightAging does news and advocacy. There is specialization among our groups, but I wonder if it could be better.

Thanks for your thoughtful summation of the efforts - I agree.

Everybody contributes something from their own vantage point, but I do feel a sense of urgency and a lull of complacence woven into society that need to be shaken out.

[AgeVivo]

Dear President, I am repeating my compliments.

Lyle Dennis, on 11 August 2012 - 05:00 PM, said:

I am surprised to see how much C60 discussion has sprouted forth here.  I would be personally more conservative about consuming the stuff myself until there is more data though.

Me too: thank you for such a wise comment.

Edited by AgeVivo, 11 August 2012 - 11:10 PM.