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 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18803