Is Immortality Possible?

Let me explain how aging is complex, this list is definitely not complete or all inclusive.

Non-replaceable design:
Lets see as you get older the fin hairs in your ear (stereocilia in your cochlea) start to be destroyed by vibration one by one and hearing function decreases, this stereocilia are made once: during fetal development. This is true for many other cells such as the ova in ovaries, for humans only produced once and all die off by ~50 years of age. Many types of brain cells, teeth, ect.
- You can’t use nanorobots to fix these, cells need to be replaced, organs need to be re-grown.
- biorobots could fly in like stem cells and re-grow all these cells.
- The organs for these cells could be replaced.

Finite design:
All cells in the body suffer from a limited number of replications cycles things thanks to a lack of telomerase, and other genes that induce Senescence (cell againg) this cause the skin to wrinkle, hair to turn gray, organs to decay, ect.
- biorobots or stem cells could replace aging cells.
- Telomerase levels could be brought up by gene therapy.
- Aging organs could be replaced.

Cancer:
All cells are alive and as a living systems they ply to the laws of evolution, those cells that reproduce better will multiple, there are many safe guards to prevent this such as telomers, but mutation will find away around them, some cells will multiply uncontrollably. Cancer is guaranteed to happen if you live long enough, at present for an 80yr life space it happens to 1 out of 2 of us.
- Cancer must be made less lethal and curable
- Nanorobots or Biorobots under sentient control could hunt and destroy cancer cells
- The genetics of cells could be redesigned to make cancer far less likely.

Atherosclerosis and waste build up:
As you live your arteries get clogged and stiff with pelagic, heart failure and stroke become more and more likely and is guaranteed if you live long enough. Other materials build up inside the body as you age as well, toxins, crap in the lungs, ect.
- Nanorobots or Biorobots under sentient control could clean out this stuff.
- Organs could be replaced when they get abused up.

Memory:
The Brain like all physical things cannot store a infinite amount of data. If you lived long enough memories would over write memories, you would forget your past and you might as well just die, as it would be equivalent to it.
- The brain would have to be redesign for more memory storage, cybernetics could extend memory. But all this is a short-term replacement.
- Move your consciousness and memories to a form with near-infinite expandability (say a ultra-computer of some kind)

 

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Brandon9000, Starthane Xyzth, WellCookedFetus,

What basically, can effect to all that which you mentioned above? Are these 'Genotype' (all or part of the genetic constitution of an individual or group) or 'Phenotype' (the visible properties of an organism that are produced by the interaction of the genotype and the environment) changes?

 

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I don't think you can stop the natural aging process. However, through advancements in medicine, it should be possible to reverse it at some point in the future. Provided you go back for your "fix" every so often, it should be theoretically possible to become immortal...well, as far as natural death is concerned anyway.

 

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Most important question/thought:

Do the all or most inputs, effects & causes to body (foods, supplements, medicines, diseases, environmental effects,radiations,Sunlight, mental stresses & relaxations..etc) are related & just work on changes by GIT & internal PHs of the body?

 

Ideally, both genotype and phenotype would be modified. Deleterious genes would be removed, especially any which specify a limit to age; other genes would be helped to copy faithfully in perpetuity, without building up imperfections as cells continued to renew themselves.

Phenotypically, physical damage would have to be repaired on all levels down to the molecular - everything from replacing a failing heart to inducing the growth of new neurones and removing cholesterol deposits from blood vessels.

 

And really what exactly so nice in being human? If I can keep my memories I don't mind being something completely different - if this something has some obvious advantages over humans (such as being smarter). I don't think humans are such a perfect species to regret about not being one of them.

 

There are known ways to slow down the aging process, e.g. combatting free radical damage with antioxidants, breaking cross-links, etc., but there is no known way to stop it and become immortal.

 

What causes genotype modification?

 

Sex.

 

Say just two individuals Adam & Eve OR first two. How then their next generations can differ in their genotype? Does the environment never effect or effected genotype?

 

Yes, but given the pace we're moving at today, I would say it's just a matter of time before we go way beyond this and become capable of stopping and reversing it entirely. At that point, we would become immortal as far as natural death is concerned.

 

Come to think about it, once we've passed the reproductive stages in life, we just shrivel up and die like a flower.

 

I'm not sure about this. It's very hard to stop what is essentially just entropy - the slow accumulation of various types of disorder throughout the body. I think our best hope of achieving this would be through nanotechnology. If nature can create complex molecules like hormones, which are programmed like little computers to perform certain tasks, then Man should be able to create even more complex molecules programmed to perform even more complex tasks.

 

Btw, if cloning youself continiously, will be immortality or otherwise? Can we enhance longevity by positive thoughts in self hypnosis way(may be somewhat like 'self coloning within us')?

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To say that hormones are programmed molecules is stretching it a bit I would say. I can't really even give a straight answer to the nature of hormones since this class encompasses many different kinds of molecules, peptides and steroids.

The only thing they do is bind to a receptor. It is difficult to see the programming part in that.


Hormones
Chemical substances having a specific regulatory effect on the activity of a certain organ or organs. The term was originally applied to substances secreted by various endocrine glands and transported in the bloodstream to the target organs. It is sometimes extended to include those substances that are not produced by the endocrine glands but that have similar effects.

A link to human hormones
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/H/Hormones.html

steroid hormones
http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/steroid-hormones.html

 

The environment effects both the phenotype and genotype.

Phenotype example -
The sex of crocodiles it determined by the temperature at which the eggs are developing

genotype -
The environment induces mutations.

Sex means recombination of the genetic material of both parents in a somewhat random manner. That is why children are never the same of the same parents (except for identical twins of course, which are derived from the same egg).

 

your genome will achieve immortality, but your mind won't.

In a manner bacteria for instance follow this idea of cloning themselves indefinitely quite nicely. They usually don't start interchanging genetic material until they are forced to do so. Usually because of changes in the enviroment.

 

It means that environment is only responsible for all types of genetic( phenotype and genotype) changes. I repeat that, pls assess pH role in changes due to environmental effects. I assume:

Outside environmental effects>>body's environmental/pHs changes>>effects on both genotype & phenotype so genetic changes.

Btw, how much egg is responsible for differance in children.

 

It may be good to change the(worn out) mind also alongwith.

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But why mind do not remains similar on cloning?

 

It is, it is almost identical!