X-Message-Number: 5045
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 23:06:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: Emortalism

                            EMORTALISM
               (from Longevity Report 41 October 1993)
                          By Doug Skrecky

     In the year 1900 few would have predicted many of the events which
 subsequently unfolded during the 20'th century, such as the rise and fall
 of world communism, the impact of the automobile on society, or the
 existence of devices such as walkmans, VCRs or home computers. Like its
 predecessor the 21st century is going to hold some unexpected surprises. 
 One of these will likely be the rise of a world wide movement which we
 shall provisionally term emortalism. 
     What does emortalism stand for? It means Eventually MORTAL. We are
 quite close now to understanding the basic ageing mechanisms. When this
 understanding is complete aging will become optional and individuals who
 choose to do without it will become the first of the "emortals". This is
 not the same as becoming immortal as death always hunts those who are
 alive and even youthful individuals in the peak of health are occasionally
 felled by cancer or by accident. There presently exist many examples of
 emortalism. A sequoia tree is emortal as it's living tissues do not
 undergo any aging process, but it is not immortal since rot of the dead
 heartwood eventually renders it structurally unsound so that it then
 topples and dies. Some cold blooded animals such as rockfish also appear
 not to age. *1
     Certain tissues even in humans do not deteriorate with time. For
 instance the age related phenomina of increased mitochondrial production
 of free radicals occurs only in terminally differentiated cell types. *2
 Thus it appears that all rapidly dividing stem cell types are immune to
 the ravages of aging and not just those involved in reproduction. For
 example bone marrow cells from old animals have been found to be just as
 vigorous as those from young animals. *3
     Thus the change from the mortal to the emortal state may not be such a
 large jump afterall. During the 20th century the average lifespan doubled
 due to a decrease in disease associated mortality. Virtually all those now
 over 65 years of age owe their continued existance solely to the medical
 advances which occurred during the 20'th century. The 21st century may see
 a similar increase in lifespan as the barrier posed by aging is itself
 broken so that mortality rates of the elders (us?) are lowered to levels
 similar to those characterizing young adults.
 
 *1 "New Models for New Perspectives in the Biology of Senescence" 625-634
 Vol.12 1991 Neurobiology of Aging
 *2 "An Update on the Mitochondrial-DNA Mutation Hypothesis of Cell Aging" 
 209-216 Vol.275 1992 Mutation Research
 *3 "Ultimate Erythropoietic Repopulating Abilities of Fetal, Young Adult
 and Old Adult Cells Compared Using Repeated Irradiation" 759-771 Vol.160
 1984 Journal of Experimental Medicine


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