Currently, there is an average of three months being added
to life expectancy every year and experts are saying there could be a million
people to reach 100 across the world by 2030. Doctors are starting to develop
stem cell therapy more so that pretty soon they will be able to repair any
damaged/old cells to keep our bodies young. Currently stem cell research is
being trialed in people with spinal cord injuries, but scientists say they may
one day be used to find ways to repair disease-damaged brains and hearts.
Scientists no longer see us going to the doctor for the flu
or colds in the future, instead they see us going to our doctors for regular
“maintenance” which would include gene therapies, stem cell therapies, and
immune stimulation.
Personally, I do not know much about stem cell research or
anything like this but I do have a passion for the environment and the only
thing I can think of is how is the planet going to fit all of these people if
we live forever? There are many countries that are overpopulated as it is and
we aren’t even living forever yet. I guess we should start looking for another
planet to take over… ?
My question to you is: are we really meant to live forever?
Do you think it is a good idea to continue this research?
I don think that we were meant to live forever and I don't think that this is even possible. every cell in the human body ages by time and is functionality also decrease. But this doesn't mean we should stop researching medicine and stuff that could help us survive deceases our ancestors couldn't survive. we should continue researching for the sake of man kind even if we didn't benefit from it, let us hope next generations will.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can live forever. We may be able to replace organs and other things, but I don't think we can replace our brains. I suppose in the future they could replace part of your brain, but that would require taking out a bit of it. That would be a lobotomy. There are many side effects of taking a chunk of your brain out. How would we replace the memories or even integrate the new chunk into the whole because of the millions of neurons. We may be able to replace other things, but it's only a matter of time before our brain needs maintenance
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point, I didn't even consider the brain and how it slows over time. And all you really hear scientists talk about is the body. I feel like the brain is too complex for us at this point in time to even begin to keep it functioning beyond its time.
ReplyDeleteAs scientists and researchers come across new medicines and ways to elongate the life span of humans and help get rid of life killing diseases, I think it is very possible that humans will be living for a very long time. A lot of people already live to a little past 100 or very close to it! I think that at the same time some scientists are focusing on places to move humans too, such as outer space. The world is already crowded and population has always been an issue. Instead of building sideways, some countries build up, creating more and more sky scrappers. I think that as population becomes more of an issue than it already is, what to do with an overflowing population will become more of a priority to society.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we are not meant to live forever and also believe that many problems such as overcrowding would occur as a result of this. This post interested me because I recently watched a television show on TLC called "My Forty Year Old Child". It was about two children, Nicki and Gabby, who aged 1 year for every 4 years lived. Nicki is currently 40 years old and is the size of a ten year old. Gabby is the 2nd oldest sibling in her family and is currently 6 years old, but is not much different than a newborn baby. This disease has been of great interest to doctors who study why we age, but even through DNA and chromosome research the cause of their condition remains a mystery. They believe the only way of solving it would be to completely decode their entire DNA sequences and look for peculiar similarities between Gabby and Nicki. This disease is of such great interest to these specialists because they believe information on the cause will be able to be used to prolong aging in any human.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if your questions is whether we are "meant" to live forever, the answer is a resounding "no." Not to sound unimaginative, but I just don't see it as a possibility. And even if it were, I wouldn't want it - especially if it didn't come packaged with eternal youth. We'd be like rocks at the bottom of a river while the flow of times passes us by.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, though, there would be a number of ethical problems accompanying this, mostly coming down to resources. If people could live forever, constantly populating the earth, constantly consuming food, water, and other resources, then the only way that the human race could become sustainable without letting entire communities starve to death would be to 1) end all reproduction or 2) start killing people off. Take the current political argument about the rich taking advantage of the poor and multiply that to the point where rich and powerful people can live forever and, in order for them to remain immortal, they get to pick and choose the "leeches" on society and mark them for death. Immortality on a global scale simply isn't practical... unless we can also develop near-instantaneous space travel and planet terraforming just to meet resource demand. Can't imagine that.
Living forever would be awful. There is a phenomenon that I can't remember the name of where as your age increases, your perception of time speeds up. As you age, years start to feel like months or weeks, and eventually days. Eventually time would begin to be a blur as your age increased to infinity (though that would not feasibly happen).
ReplyDeleteYou would watch your great-great-great-great grandchild's birth and he would graduate in what felt like days. Life would eventually be too quick for it to have any meaning and I feel that I, personally, would be miserable.
Also, nobody could put up with me forever. Inconceivable!
People were searching for the fountain of youth in the past. They did not find it. The technology of the
ReplyDelete21st century helps us live healthier and longer lives. However, I do not think we are meant to live
forever. It is against the nature. The life cycle for living things on planet earth, in very, very simplified
explanation, was always to be born, to live, and to die. Besides overpopulation, possibility of not being
able to fulfill our essential necessities, and eventual need of searching the solar system for planets that
will support human life, other problems arise. After substituting our natural organs with synthetic
products (including blood and brain cells, as other mentioned), would we be still considered humans?
It would be not much of a real human in us anymore. At what stage of our lives should we decide to stop
our aging process and undergo out first switch into synthetics? What if our family members decide to
become synthetic later in life than we did? How would we relate to them? This looks like a real mess.
The demand for research on how to improve human body, cure diseases, and let us live without
suffering will definitely grow. We might be able to live much longer, but to live forever – not likely!
To be completely honest, the prospect of being able to essentially "live forever" has been to me one of the most fascinating ideas to date in modern science. As a little girl beyond obsessed with the book Tuck Everlasting, I perceived the idea of immortality purely from an emotional standpoint. Today, my perception of immortality is a little more sophisticated. As delineated in this post, I believe the prospect of immortality is more harmful than beneficial for modern-day society. Acknowledging our society's concern with over-population and availability of resources, I attest that before we can condone the prospect of eternal life, we as a society must comprehend and account for the ramifications that this research can present for our future and our posterity.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important to continue this research, not for the ability to live forever but for the opportunity to learn things unexpected. Who knows what we may find as we follow this deeper. We may be able to heal psychological diseases or help those born without crucial organs. I don't think that we should focus directly on preserving life until eternity, but think of those who could benefit today and live more rich lives due to ever expanding knowledge of science.
ReplyDeleteOn the though of living forever, a scientist named Aubrey De Gray has some of the most interesting ideas. He believes that the first person to live to be one thousand is already alive. As has been discussed, his ideas raise some very interesting ethical issues. One of the most interesting questions I can think of can be derived from Steve Jobs 2005 commencement address to Stanford University. In this address he said that death was the most important motivator. If this is true then what would the loss of death do to our motivation? Would we always believe that we could wait to do things? I do not know the answer to this, but it is certainly an interesting thought to ponder.
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