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Which will come first, cybernetic bodies or a longevity vaccine?

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Eeezee

Diamond Member
Let's consider two options for longevity, a vaccine that makes your natural body live longer and cybernetic components that allow you to live longer by replacing key biological components (up to and including the brain)

Which will come first given the current rate of biomedical and robotic science?
 
I am just guessing, but I would say the mechanical. As there is more research in this area, involving computers and the bio field, than active research on a syrum to reducde the biological effects of time.
 
I find it hard to imagine a vaccine that will make you live longer (outside of preventing a particular disease). A vaccine won't do anything about senescence or long-term accumulation of cholesterol.
 
Originally posted by: Gibsons
I find it hard to imagine a vaccine that will make you live longer (outside of preventing a particular disease). A vaccine won't do anything about senescence or long-term accumulation of cholesterol.
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Let's say that it did. There's some sort of pill or shot or something you can do to essentially prolong your lifespan by 100 years or something. It's really not hard to imagine at all, it's just not realistic (but we are in no position to determine what will be realistic in even 20 years)
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: Gibsons
I find it hard to imagine a vaccine that will make you live longer (outside of preventing a particular disease). A vaccine won't do anything about senescence or long-term accumulation of cholesterol.
Click to expand...

Let's say that it did. There's some sort of pill or shot or something you can do to essentially prolong your lifespan by 100 years or something. It's really not hard to imagine at all, it's just not realistic (but we are in no position to determine what will be realistic in even 20 years)
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Well we can guess from current research what we should see in 20 years. There is no research on a longetivity syrum though that I know off. There is alot of research in replacement organs though.
 
I believe (no scientific backing, but it looks that way) DNA contains a lot of safeguards for the species. Meaning if your DNA meet certain ruls, it will try to kill you off to preserve the species. Cancer is essentially that mechanism working well. I guess untill we got the whole genome figured out, there is no eternal youth. Biomech is a lot more likely.
 
Isnt there a gene that turns off around age 27-28 causing cell reproduction to slow and the aging mechanism to kick in?

I would imagine if we can isolate that gene we could prolong life. But I think other things like chloresterol or other toxins would eventually catchup with us, but who knows.

 
Originally posted by: Genx87
Isnt there a gene that turns off around age 27-28 causing cell reproduction to slow and the aging mechanism to kick in?

I would imagine if we can isolate that gene we could prolong life. But I think other things like chloresterol or other toxins would eventually catchup with us, but who knows.
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You might be thinking of telomerase. Wiki

 
Cybernetics?? to heck with that , I'm going to pay to have my body cloned , and my brain transplanted.....then , hopefully by the time that is wearing out , we can transplant memory....and I'll do it all over again! I think that would be the easiest most probably thing that is going to happen.
 
my money is on cybernetics, with cloning a close second. personally im hoping on transferring my consciousness to the net and living forever out of your harddrives. right next to your pr0n.
 
Originally posted by: randay
my money is on cybernetics, with cloning a close second. personally im hoping on transferring my consciousness to the net and living forever out of your harddrives. right next to your pr0n.
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Somebody has watched Ghost in the Shell
 
Originally posted by: randay
my money is on cybernetics, with cloning a close second. personally im hoping on transferring my consciousness to the net and living forever out of your harddrives. right next to your pr0n.
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Get away from my pr0n, you!
 
The storage device needn't have an OS. It could be as simple as a formatted flash drive with whatever file system would work. Figuring out how to "wire" a human brain to read an electronic device.. that could get tricky. 😉
 
Originally posted by: networkman
The storage device needn't have an OS. It could be as simple as a formatted flash drive with whatever file system would work. Figuring out how to "wire" a human brain to read an electronic device.. that could get tricky. 😉
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Very much so 😵
 
Originally posted by: networkman
The storage device needn't have an OS. It could be as simple as a formatted flash drive with whatever file system would work. Figuring out how to "wire" a human brain to read an electronic device.. that could get tricky. 😉
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I think I saw a show once with a guy with a prosthetic arm that had a robotic hand on the end and when he tried to move a certain muscle his body would create an electrical signal which would be picked up by the prosthetics and close or open the hand. or something. So maybe wiring it straight into the human brain isn't needed.
 
Every time our cells divide, there is a possibility for error. The older we get, the more cell divisions and more errors. Cells also have some ability to correct some errors, but these abilities fade with age. While we may develop some incremental methods of improving cell division accuracy, there are too many factors involved for a single magic potion to cover them all. Our bodies are also storehouses for toxins and less than desirable by-products from ordinary organic functions. These are so numerous, that it would take many therapies to remove or neutralize them. We also suffer from inumerable injuries during a lifetime, ranging from the "too small to notice" variety, to the severe; all of which our bodies repair imperfectly. The longer we live, the more injuries we accumulate.

My guess is that electo-mechanical solutions will arrive first since a single replacement part may correct any number of organic defects.
 
Originally posted by: networkman
Cybernetics definitely.

Professor Kevin Warwick is already exploring the possibilities.

Even just being able implant an additional memory storage device, pre-programmed with say, the Encyclopdia Brittanica or something similar could be of incredible use. I'd be interested in volunteering for something like that. 🙂
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It's great to fantasize about brain implants and what it could mean for the species, but if you have corporations developing it then I feel like it would create a permanent caste system. If a company developes a memory device with 10 languages and wikipedia on it, how much do you think they could charge for it? If you sold them for $100 million a piece, then you'd easily have 100 buyers across the planet. Then you could have a scaled down version, say for $500,000, where you would have the equivalent of a college education permanently at your fingertips. So right there you have the elites, the middle group, and the very low who can't afford any of these implants at all. How likely is it then that the lower groups would ever be able to earn enough money to buy their way into the elite? The 100 original buyers will control all of the wealth on the planet, and will have insane competitive advantage over any underling who tries to earn any of that money back. This process would just propagate itself over the generations.

Somehow I doubt that having 10 languages and the wikipedia will be enough to cause the elites to reach out to their fellow man and make life better for them. Forced labor camps and medical experimentation anybody?
 
Economically, wouldn't there be such a high demand that it would eventually become affordable to all? Just like everything else in the world. Sure it'll be expensive at first but just imagine 10 years later we'll be buying robotic limbs for just a few thousands dollars?
 
Originally posted by: randay
Economically, wouldn't there be such a high demand that it would eventually become affordable to all? Just like everything else in the world. Sure it'll be expensive at first but just imagine 10 years later we'll be buying robotic limbs for just a few thousands dollars?
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I definately feel like economics will dictate that some parts will be available to all, but like in cars and houses there will always be tiers. The difference between the two is that consumer goods today don't really perpetuate your socioeconomic status. Maybe having accumulated equity is the closest thing. But so long as you can be engineered to be smarter than someone who has fewer financial means, there will be an inevitable societal toll to pay. And that toll is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Maybe my politics are clouding my doomsday prophecies..
 
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