People who want immortality, why?

@faery I have good news, then. They've actually figured out what causes what we call aging as we get older. It turns out that there's a switch in your brain, to put it in layman's terms, and that switch goes off at a certain age so that your brain stops telling your body to regenerate. They've managed to successfully turn that switch back on, so to speak, in lab mice and rats.

@LordShadowfire So... are you calling me a mouse or a rat? 😅

@faery I'm saying they can reverse the aging process in mammals, and it's only a matter of time before they successfully do it in humans. We are on the verge of seeing the first immortal people.

@LordShadowfire Hmmm... I can't imagine it will be all good (because nothing ever is) to live forever, but that's just the realist in me. The effects on heart disease and cancer might be cool, though.

@faery @LordShadowfire

Might help:
https://www.lifespan.io/road-maps/the-rejuvenation-roadmap/

Also, see the work George Church is doing using CRISPR and re-engineering mild yet highly spreadable virus that can be reprogrammed to remove the component that makes you sick.
This means it can actually cross the blood/brain barrier.

@basilfawlty89 Thank you for the juicy info

@faery pleasure.
I find it fascinating too.
Besides aging (they partially reverse hallmarks of heart disease, kidney failure, diabetes and obesity in Cavalier King Charlee Spaniels, and also reprogrammed the retina of an elderly mouse using the Yamanaka Factors), this engineering of common viruses using CRISPR means that we could create a vaccine any against most deadly diseases as well as things like cancer.

@basilfawlty89 I absolutely love all this. The only downside I see, as @faery was wondering, is that we all know these treatments will be available for the rich first.

@LordShadowfire sadly, yeah.
That's a big problem. We need to start reorganizing society and the economy.

That, and delays.
You see...the close-minded people against gene editing, vaccines and stem cells are actually delaying this technology.
Stem cells don't even need to be reprogrammed from embryos anymore.
They could now take an adult's skin cells, grow it, and hit the Yamanaka Factors and it actually becomes pluripotent stem cells

@basilfawlty89 Amazing. I can't wait to get outta work to read all about it. Just to live a healthier life while alive would be wonderful. I just wonder how the pendulum comes to rest in the center, because mankind exploits everything under the sun. As @LordShadowfire says, of course the rich will benefit first. And, if I'm being realistic, the poor may never have full access. It could change how we view every aspect of humanity, though, for sure.