X-Message-Number: 18803
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 14:11:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: cure for aging

At this point most of the scientists who sound plausible to me seem to
agree that arresting the aging process is going to be a multifactorial
process. The idea that one "quick fix" will usher in the age of
immortality is a bit--well, simplistic. Just to mention a couple of basic
factors, I would be most interested to know how the single "quick fix"
will give us immortal teeth and eye lenses.

I envisage a future in which antiaging advances occur piecemeal. Someone
figures out how to postpone cardiovascular disease. Someone else (I hope)
finds a way to encourage neuronal growth. All of this will take longer
than I would like, because of diversion of funds to idiot antiterrorist
initiatives, regulatory impediments, asinine legislation, and other
symptoms of an aging religious society. While we are waiting, we will need
a lot of spare parts and transplants. Those who can't afford them will
die.

Maybe sometime around 50 years from now, a fortunate minority of
100-plus-year-olds who have been held together with glue and scotch tape
will be lucky enough to experience a so-called singularity.

But I'm not counting on it.

--CP

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