Will modern technology be able to unravel Indian sages and siddhar's kaya kalpam secrets?!!!
[h=1]Will technology help us live forever?[/h]
According to the Gerontology Research Group which keeps track of these rare few, there were 82 living supercentenarians in the world as of 2015. For decades, scientists have been obsessed by the secrets to long life - what slows down the usually relentless body clock? What genetic clues can reveal the key to extending our longevity?
Living beyond 100 years will be routine in the near future. Corporations and governments need to start preparing for the inevitable shake-up of the global workforce.
In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were roughly 316,600 living people over the age of 100. By 2050, medical technologies will raise that number to over three million.
The search for immortality is not a niche academic pursuit. It’s a thriving area of technological innovation, funded heavily by an unexpected group – technology billionaires.
Founders of the world’s most well-known companies, from Google to Paypal and Oracle are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into defying death. One of most generous funders is Larry Ellison, the founding chief executive of Oracle, who gave an estimated $45m annually for over a decade to solve the problem of ageing.
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly donated $50m to curing "old age" diseases, such as Parkinson’s, after a genetic test found that he was at risk of developing the illness. Paypal’s co-founder and tech luminary Peter Thiel has donated $6m to the Sens Foundation, which is researching longevity, saying his approach to death is “to fight it.”
[h=3]Time since the world’s oldest person was born on 6 July 1899[/h][TABLE="class: tgr-countdown__labels"]
[TR]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]116[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]238[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]17[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]30[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]55[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Days[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Hrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Mins[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Secs[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Whether technological advancements can help us live longer is not in question – we’ve already proved it’s possible. In 1900, you’d be lucky to live until 50; today, the average Briton lives until 81 years old.
Although scientists do believe that there is a maximum cap on how long human bodies can function, research suggests that this significant previous jump is due to medical technologies and social innovations, rather than an evolutionary change. If we can hack the ageing process of cells, and reverse it, we could potentially live indefinitely.
But forget immortality. Living beyond 100 years old will be routine in the near future; the new generation of supercentenarians is likely alive today, and will still be around in 2100.
And as our productive years extend far beyond current retirement ages, corporations and governments need to start preparing for the inevitable shake-up of the global workforce.
So what are the most futuristic technologies that can help us live an extra 100 years? Currently, although we are living longer, we are struggling with chronic diseases that come with age, such as cancers and Alzheimer’s.
Approaches span the gamut of treating these individual diseases, to finding the genetic key to ageing.
In the latter area, researchers are testing everything from hormones and drugs that reverse cellular death, to the rather macabre vampire approach – transferring blood from the young to the old.
Several drugs have had a dramatic influence on mice longevity, and will be next tested on humans. For instance, an organ transplant drug called rapamycin managed to extend mice lifespans by 25pc and protected against cancers, and the red wine molecule reservatrol debatably impacts cell metabolism.
A study published earlier this month found that a hormone called FGF21 increased mouse lifespan by a massive 40pc and protected against the age-related decline of immunity.
An ongoing human trial at Stanford University, run by neurology professor Tony Wyss-Coray, is pumping Alzheimer’s patients with blood transfusions from young people, to see if it helps them regain their cognitive faculties. The data is currently still being analysed, so the jury is out.
Transfusions of young blood could hold the key to reversing the signs of ageing, scientists believe
In 2013, Google decided to step in. It incubated a fledgling company called Calico – California Life Company – with the sole aim of extending humans’ healthy lifespan.
Despite Silicon Valley hype about Google wanting to “disrupt death,” the goal is more reasonable: to give humans at least a few more productive, disease-free decades.
So far, Google’s parent company Alphabet has invested roughly $730m into the research and development startup, which has partnered with universities and pharmaceuticals to create commercial life-extending products.
Projects include finding longevity-related gene markers in centenarians, and developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In two weeks, the recently formed umbrella company Alphabet, which encompasses Google, Calico and several other sub-companies, will report financial results for Calico for the first time.
If everyone is living until the age of 200, current retirement ages would be obsolete
This isn’t the only big corporate effort behind longevity research: genetics pioneer Craig Venter – the first person to sequence a full human genome – has started a company with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis called the Human Longevity Institute. Its goals are focused solely on the genetics of ageing, compared to Calico’s pharmaceutical approach.
Venter wants to sequence the genomes of 1m people by 2020, including those of supercentenarians, and analyse patterns in the dataset to look for markers of longevity.
The Institute will offer commercial genome-sequencing services to individuals, similar to companies like 23andMe, and has already partnered with health insurers to offer a discount in exchange for a genome sequence.
While scientists set about solving the mystery of life, let's consider what happens next. In a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, researchers and entrepreneurs envisioned the future of work in 2100, where everyone could be living until the age of 200.
In this scenario, pushing people out of the workforce at 60 would be ridiculous, current retirement ages would be obsolete.
In order for people to support themselves for the extra decades of life, families will have to have multiple earning members, who could take turns working several full-time careers in a single lifetime.
Major corporations will have to start allowing you to bring an elderly parent to work, just as we do with children or pets. Offices will set up crèches for people with physical or cognitive infirmities.
Ultimately, we may never crack the code to life. Hormones, drugs, blood transfusions and self-growing organs could give us another 100, even 200 years but immortality will likely stay out of reach.
But along the way, these technologies will uncover cures and treatments for some of humanity’s most wretched chronic illnesses, allowing us to end our days with dignity. That will be more than enough.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/25/will-technology-help-us-live-forever/
[h=1]Will technology help us live forever?[/h]
- Madhumita Murgia
According to the Gerontology Research Group which keeps track of these rare few, there were 82 living supercentenarians in the world as of 2015. For decades, scientists have been obsessed by the secrets to long life - what slows down the usually relentless body clock? What genetic clues can reveal the key to extending our longevity?
Living beyond 100 years will be routine in the near future. Corporations and governments need to start preparing for the inevitable shake-up of the global workforce.
In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were roughly 316,600 living people over the age of 100. By 2050, medical technologies will raise that number to over three million.
The search for immortality is not a niche academic pursuit. It’s a thriving area of technological innovation, funded heavily by an unexpected group – technology billionaires.
Founders of the world’s most well-known companies, from Google to Paypal and Oracle are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into defying death. One of most generous funders is Larry Ellison, the founding chief executive of Oracle, who gave an estimated $45m annually for over a decade to solve the problem of ageing.
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly donated $50m to curing "old age" diseases, such as Parkinson’s, after a genetic test found that he was at risk of developing the illness. Paypal’s co-founder and tech luminary Peter Thiel has donated $6m to the Sens Foundation, which is researching longevity, saying his approach to death is “to fight it.”
[h=3]Time since the world’s oldest person was born on 6 July 1899[/h][TABLE="class: tgr-countdown__labels"]
[TR]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]116[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]238[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]17[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]30[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--colon"]:[/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--value"]55[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Days[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Hrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Mins[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: tgr-countdown__label tgr-countdown__label--type"]Secs[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Whether technological advancements can help us live longer is not in question – we’ve already proved it’s possible. In 1900, you’d be lucky to live until 50; today, the average Briton lives until 81 years old.
Although scientists do believe that there is a maximum cap on how long human bodies can function, research suggests that this significant previous jump is due to medical technologies and social innovations, rather than an evolutionary change. If we can hack the ageing process of cells, and reverse it, we could potentially live indefinitely.
But forget immortality. Living beyond 100 years old will be routine in the near future; the new generation of supercentenarians is likely alive today, and will still be around in 2100.
And as our productive years extend far beyond current retirement ages, corporations and governments need to start preparing for the inevitable shake-up of the global workforce.
So what are the most futuristic technologies that can help us live an extra 100 years? Currently, although we are living longer, we are struggling with chronic diseases that come with age, such as cancers and Alzheimer’s.
Approaches span the gamut of treating these individual diseases, to finding the genetic key to ageing.
In the latter area, researchers are testing everything from hormones and drugs that reverse cellular death, to the rather macabre vampire approach – transferring blood from the young to the old.
Several drugs have had a dramatic influence on mice longevity, and will be next tested on humans. For instance, an organ transplant drug called rapamycin managed to extend mice lifespans by 25pc and protected against cancers, and the red wine molecule reservatrol debatably impacts cell metabolism.
A study published earlier this month found that a hormone called FGF21 increased mouse lifespan by a massive 40pc and protected against the age-related decline of immunity.
An ongoing human trial at Stanford University, run by neurology professor Tony Wyss-Coray, is pumping Alzheimer’s patients with blood transfusions from young people, to see if it helps them regain their cognitive faculties. The data is currently still being analysed, so the jury is out.
In 2013, Google decided to step in. It incubated a fledgling company called Calico – California Life Company – with the sole aim of extending humans’ healthy lifespan.
Despite Silicon Valley hype about Google wanting to “disrupt death,” the goal is more reasonable: to give humans at least a few more productive, disease-free decades.
So far, Google’s parent company Alphabet has invested roughly $730m into the research and development startup, which has partnered with universities and pharmaceuticals to create commercial life-extending products.
Projects include finding longevity-related gene markers in centenarians, and developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In two weeks, the recently formed umbrella company Alphabet, which encompasses Google, Calico and several other sub-companies, will report financial results for Calico for the first time.
If everyone is living until the age of 200, current retirement ages would be obsolete
This isn’t the only big corporate effort behind longevity research: genetics pioneer Craig Venter – the first person to sequence a full human genome – has started a company with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis called the Human Longevity Institute. Its goals are focused solely on the genetics of ageing, compared to Calico’s pharmaceutical approach.
Venter wants to sequence the genomes of 1m people by 2020, including those of supercentenarians, and analyse patterns in the dataset to look for markers of longevity.
The Institute will offer commercial genome-sequencing services to individuals, similar to companies like 23andMe, and has already partnered with health insurers to offer a discount in exchange for a genome sequence.
While scientists set about solving the mystery of life, let's consider what happens next. In a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, researchers and entrepreneurs envisioned the future of work in 2100, where everyone could be living until the age of 200.
In this scenario, pushing people out of the workforce at 60 would be ridiculous, current retirement ages would be obsolete.
In order for people to support themselves for the extra decades of life, families will have to have multiple earning members, who could take turns working several full-time careers in a single lifetime.
Major corporations will have to start allowing you to bring an elderly parent to work, just as we do with children or pets. Offices will set up crèches for people with physical or cognitive infirmities.
Ultimately, we may never crack the code to life. Hormones, drugs, blood transfusions and self-growing organs could give us another 100, even 200 years but immortality will likely stay out of reach.
But along the way, these technologies will uncover cures and treatments for some of humanity’s most wretched chronic illnesses, allowing us to end our days with dignity. That will be more than enough.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/25/will-technology-help-us-live-forever/
