The Manhattan Beach Project to 'End Aging by 2029'.

[Liberaliter]

Source - http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/forever-young/manhattan-beach-project-end-aging-2029

"Just as the Manhattan Project was conceived in 1942 to beat the Germans to the atomic bomb during World War II, the "Manhattan Beach Project" was founded as an "all-out assault on the world's biggest killer - aging," according to project organizer David A. Kekich."

"Can you stay healthy enough to make it to 2029? If you can, you may be able to live indefinitely if you choose - although the political and societal challenges you'll face will likely be more daunting than the ones that followed the dawning of the Atomic Era at Alamogordo in 1945"


So in 2029 I will be 36, the prime of my life. I'm up for the chance of reversing the effects of aging by then.

 

[b3nn3tt]

I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to make people live forever. It just wouldn't work, you'd have to make everyone infertile as well, or else the planet would become dangerously overpopulated in a very short time

 

[Liberaliter]

I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to make people live forever. It just wouldn't work, you'd have to make everyone infertile as well, or else the planet would become dangerously overpopulated in a very short time

Apparently our planet can support a further 6 billion (It's in the article) and people will still be able to die, so it's not going to make anyone invincible.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to make people live forever. It just wouldn't work, you'd have to make everyone infertile as well, or else the planet would become dangerously overpopulated in a very short time

You mean like it already is?

I am thoroughly opposed to this prospect.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

This just makes me think of Vanilla Sky.

I don't know. One would only want to live for so long, and I imagine there will be side effects, as degradation is something you just can't magically stop.

I think choosing when to die is as fucked up and tragic as they come.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

How much would it cost, exactly?

And there's no way this project is going to end well.

 

[Labyrinth]

This is a genuinely interesting scientific field, not just from the perspective of cosmetics or even medicine. The ability to end aging would open up all kinds of interstellar travel options and a whole world of philosophical questions as well.

On the note of questions, the most amusing one to me is that we're not even sure why we age. It doesn't seem at first glance to be an evolutionary benefit. Of course, many things that have occurred through evolution are apparent accidents rather than benefits, like short-sightedness or even bipedalism. From the biology I've studied, I think current research points towards 'wasting' of the genetic code near the ends of DNA strands. Many of the codons on the ends aren't actually used to produce proteins. Hell, many areas of DNA overall aren't actually protein-producing. We still don't know what they all do. It just appears that through cellular chemistry, even these apparently unnecessary ends play a key role in maintaining the overall health of any given cell.

This is also a possible cause for defective clones when the source DNA was taken from an older cell.

For the philosophical questions, my biggest one is would euthanasia also be legalised should this come to fruition. I suspect that most people wouldn't actually enjoy living forever. Boredom would drag like hell, not to mention one would be expected to have a far longer, perhaps even eternal working life in order so support their extended longevity. The idea of a retirement could well disappear in that social landscape. At least, for the people who could afford the augmentations anyway as I suspect they'd he heinously expensive. Even they would need to continue working to maintain their lifestyles over time.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

The quest for immortality never ends well. Haven't they watched any movies?

 

[b3nn3tt]

I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to make people live forever. It just wouldn't work, you'd have to make everyone infertile as well, or else the planet would become dangerously overpopulated in a very short time

Apparently our planet can support a further 6 billion (It's in the article) and people will still be able to die, so it's not going to make anyone invincible.

And how quickly do you think the population would rise by 6 billion if there was no-one dying of old age? The planet's population is steadily increasing all the time anyway, because more people are being born than are dying of old age. Death by other means wouldn't do enough to combat the problem, so very quickly the planet would be full with more new people arriving all the time

Eliminating death from old age would only work by also eliminating the birth of new people

 

[gl1koz3]

If my body will feel good, why not.

And why wouldn't it work? The problem is aging workforce... and the consequence of of losing them to retirement. If all these people would be alive and kicking all the time, we'd have all problems dealt with a long time ago. No knowledge, no bad experience would be lost. Just think about it and not spit some medieval birth rate shit.

We're at the point of need to learn to use current resources more effectively. The problem is that each dead generation (and each new generation too) starts off a bad wave of carelessness and egoism. It was a good thing to get us here, but now we need to start thinking, ffs.

 

[Liberaliter]

I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to make people live forever. It just wouldn't work, you'd have to make everyone infertile as well, or else the planet would become dangerously overpopulated in a very short time

Apparently our planet can support a further 6 billion (It's in the article) and people will still be able to die, so it's not going to make anyone invincible.

And how quickly do you think the population would rise by 6 billion if there was no-one dying of old age? The planet's population is steadily increasing all the time anyway, because more people are being born than are dying of old age. Death by other means wouldn't do enough to combat the problem, so very quickly the planet would be full with more new people arriving all the time

Eliminating death from old age would only work by also eliminating the birth of new people

I agree it will create problems, but you will have to ask the guys behind the science for answers. Actually I think this project has its own website with a FAQ you could always check where they talk about these issues.

I do know that in many Western countries, the population growth is in decline.

 

[Paztug]

Great, one of the scientists working on the project will turn out to be mad and will use the early version of the anti-aging thing on him, thus making him a super-evil mutant who will try to take on the world with super-strong soldiers.

More seriously though, what about dying ? They would have to do something about it, because not everybody wants to live for ever. Also, how would it work ? Would it be some kind of treatment that you would start taking at an age of your choice if you want to ? There would be some adjusment to do between the people not aging and those who do, like on the retirement subject.

Clones are better anyway.

 

[Liberaliter]

Great, one of the scientists working on the project will turn out to be mad and will use the early version of the anti-aging thing on him, thus making him a super-evil mutant who will try to take on the world with super-strong soldiers.

More seriously though, what about dying ? They would have to do something about it, because not everybody wants to live for ever. Also, how would it work ? Would it be some kind of treatment that you would start taking at an age of your choice if you want to ? There would be some adjusment to do between the people not aging and those who do, like on the retirement subject.

Clones are better anyway.

As far as I understand, you will still die. The affects of aging on the human body and mind will be lessened though.

 

[dragontiers]

This reminds me so much of this comic. (Apologies as I couldn't find how to post the image in time to post it)

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1968#comic

Still, great if they can actually accomplish it. I'll wait and see though.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

As far as I understand, you will still die. The affects of aging on the human body and mind will be lessened though.

Laughable. Time has a way of cluttering the mind with tons of useless information, not to mention effect of perceptual acceleration.

 

[sooperman]

You know guys, there are a lot of factors that haven't been brought up yet. I don't think that we are considering other causes of death when thinking about the population increase.

Even if all of the factors needed for the project(affordability, mass production, mass distribution, ease of application etc.) fall into place, people will still die. The MBP plans to eliminate death by old age, but not death by gunshots, death by cancer, death by AIDS, death by electrocution, the list goes on. I say bring this project home and bring it as soon as possible. It's not like it will make a huge difference.

Also, what's with 2029? Not 2030? That's oddly specific for a project so advanced and cutting-edge.

 

[zHellas]

... Why hasn't anyone posted a video to Ice Cube feat. Korn's song "Fuck Dyin'"?

Thought someone would have by now. (I can't because I'm using a school computer)

 

[sooperman]

As far as I understand, you will still die. The affects of aging on the human body and mind will be lessened though.

Laughable. Time has a way of cluttering the mind with tons of useless information, not to mention effect of perceptual acceleration.

Cracked.com has a lot to say about the topic [http://www.cracked.com/article_18708_5-reasons-immortality-would-be-worse-than-death.html], though they also say your memory can be tricked. [http://www.cracked.com/article_18704_5-mind-blowing-ways-your-memory-plays-tricks-you.html] Personally, I don't think it would be incredibly difficult to induce amnesia at regular intervals to reduce the effect of your mind aging without your body.

If so, think of how many jobs that would create. There would be an industry devoted to removing old and obsolete memories and information from people's minds. It would be sweet