8 replies to this topic

[firespin]

I believed it would be easier for someone to be born biologically immortal through genetic engineering, than say a already living human being. You can just add the necessary genes into a egg cell and from there nature will take care of the rest, while a already living human you have billions of cells to change.

But I recently bumped into this gizmodo article about a scientist growing human organs from cells:
http://gizmodo.com/5...nsplanting-them

By switching organs when your present organs get old will extend life, but that still is not biological immortality...then I realized if you first genetically engineer a cell into being immortal (like germ-line cells) and THEN grow that into a organ, that organ will be biologically immortal. So you could just keep switching into new immortal organs until you are literally biologically immortal. The only problem would be the brain, but hopefully there would be some type of way to just add immortal cells that will grow in the brain in 20-30 years to change your brain as well.

So if there is not a easier or more efficient way to become immortal within 20-30 years, you could literally just "build" yourself into one. I would suggest to save up or invest (only if you know how) your money for the next 30 years. (Changing organs would take multiple surgeries and this obviously will become expensive) Also take care of your health..

Edited by firespin, 21 October 2010 - 01:23 AM.

[niner]

Changing out all of your vasculature would be a pretty challenging surgery...

[firespin]

Changing out all of your vasculature would be a pretty challenging surgery...

Presently yes, but that problem also have a solution. We could also implant immortal cells to grow instead of changing all of the vasculature. I believe a combination of immortal organ transplants, implanting immortal cells in areas hard for surgery, and possibly genes for regeneration such as in the lab MRL mice should solve the problem of biological immortality if more efficient means are not discovered by then. Also we have the technology now to modify viruses to spread desired genes in cells, and this technology will certainly be improved in 30 years.

A combinations of the above technologies I believe should make biological immortality a reality.

Edited by firespin, 21 October 2010 - 03:10 AM.

[churchill]

I believed it would be easier for someone to be born biologically immortal through genetic engineering, than say a already living human being. You can just add the necessary genes into a egg cell and from there nature will take care of the rest, while a already living human you have billions of cells to change.

But I recently bumped into this gizmodo article about a scientist growing human organs from cells:
http://gizmodo.com/5...nsplanting-them

By switching organs when your present organs get old will extend life, but that still is not biological immortality...then I realized if you first genetically engineer a cell into being immortal (like germ-line cells) and THEN grow that into a organ, that organ will be biologically immortal. So you could just keep switching into new immortal organs until you are literally biologically immortal. The only problem would be the brain, but hopefully there would be some type of way to just add immortal cells that will grow in the brain in 20-30 years to change your brain as well.

So if there is not a easier or more efficient way to become immortal within 20-30 years, you could literally just "build" yourself into one. I would suggest to save up or invest (only if you know how) your money for the next 30 years. (Changing organs would take multiple surgeries and this obviously will become expensive) Also take care of your health..

There is a reason that most cells in our body are not immortal, and that is to stop cancer.

I think once we figure out how repair the brain, we have also figured out how to repair the rest of the body also, so whole body replacement becomes unnecessary.

I agree with your point that you need to save up, when these technologies hit, they will probably first only be available to the rich.

[firespin]

There is a reason that most cells in our body are not immortal, and that is to stop cancer.

Humans germ-line cells are immortal, but they do not get cancer. If germ-line cells were not immortal and healthy, the human species would have died out a long time ago due to not being able to reproduce. So germ-lines must have some type of protection against cancer. If we place in other cells whatever germ-lines cells have, then we can have immortal cells. Also as I'm sure most members know that immortal animals that already exist have all their cells as immortal without getting cancer, so there is a possibility to do the same for humans.

I think once we figure out how repair the brain, we have also figured out how to repair the rest of the body also, so whole body replacement becomes unnecessary.

Yes once we repair the brain we most likely will be able to repair other organs, though to me it seems repairing the brain will take multiple surgeries by itself alone. So it may take more surgeries to repair your already present organs, than if you were just to switch to new immortal ones.

We don't know what the exact progress of biological immortality will be in the future. The technologies that I have previously mentioned already exist in some form today so they definitely will be improved within 30 years.
So if our ideal goals of more efficient means to biological immortality doesn't exist in 30 years, we can still achieve it through immortal organ transplants, implanting immortal cells and genes, etc. I just think of it as Plan B - a backup plan.

I agree with your point that you need to save up, when these technologies hit, they will probably first only be available to the rich.

Yeah I believe they will be expensive (hopefully not though), but if you save up well for 30 years you should be able to afford them.

Edited by firespin, 21 October 2010 - 04:54 PM.

[Cameron]

Changing out all of your vasculature would be a pretty challenging surgery...

I'm not sure but I think I heard somewhere the vascular system can be repaired by mobile cells(Endothelial progenitor cells ). This needs to be verified, because if it is true, then you'd only need replacing the stem cell source and not the entire cardiovascular system.

There is a reason that most cells in our body are not immortal, and that is to stop cancer.

That is a lazy solution evolution came up with, as others have said many of the organisms that appear to have biological immortality seemingly can express telomerase and have constant growth.

In humans Hematopoietic stem cells, the ones behind red blood cells(cells with short lifespan in need of constant replacement) seem to keep on dividing decade after decade with seemingly at most minor problems. I've not heard of them as an inevitable source of problems in centenarians or supercentenarians. So barring disease it seems they can keep dividing constantly for more than a century, their constant division does not seem to inevitably lead to cancer either, afaik.

Yes once we repair the brain we most likely will be able to repair other organs, though to me it seems repairing the brain will take multiple surgeries by itself alone. So it may take more surgeries to repair your already present organs, than if you were just to switch to new immortal ones.

We'd only need surgeries if we've not found a way to design cells to autonomously carry regenerative therapies once inserted. In any case barring disease the brain can last over 120 years while preserving function.

Edited by Cameron, 21 October 2010 - 08:01 PM.

[Loot Perish]

The only way to immortality is to follow the Lord Jesus and help raise the dead so that He can defeat death. Cryonics is officially Bible approved! Are you signed up for cryonics, sinner?

Edited by Reverend_X, 30 January 2011 - 12:47 PM.

[maxwatt]

The only way to immortality is to follow the Lord Jesus and help raise the dead so that He can defeat death. Cryonics is officially Bible approved! Are you signed up for cryonics, sinner?

IF a man live but once, how shall he see the Kingdom of Heaven?

[Loot Perish]

heaven on earth, as promised in the bible. As you signed up. sinner?