"Oh we're getting quite close to cracking the secret to immortality"
So we hear anyway from scientists who are exploring the secrets of
anti-aging. Basically there are a handful of theories on what causes aging and
how we might stop it. One of the more promising ones is gene therapy. Through
gene therapy we can restore our tissues to the healthy adult level and hence
delay or completely stop the onset of old age. I have a number of books
around here that talk about various strategies, today, that can be used to slow
down aging (caloric intake being the biggest - those empty calories will wear
you down my friends).
Many on-line sellers are now selling human growth hormone (HGH) as a
mechanism to delay the onset of old age. I don't know if they work or not.
There's a site dedicated to
keeping up with news on whether we will be able to eventually stop aging or at
least slow it down to live hundreds if not thousands of years.
But according to a neurologist friend of mine, don't expect to live more than
120 years. The reasons are ones that rarely get talked about. What he said was
that the brain begins to break down pretty rapidly in most people around 80
years (with a few exceptions). What we call Alzheimer's is just one of an entire
world of forms of dementia waiting for us.
He contends that it's quite likely that we'll figure out some way at some
point to make it so that we're no longer dying of organ failures, heart disease,
or even cancer. But in the end, dementia will get us. To that I asked, "Well,
don't you think we'll cure Alzheimer's?" Which he responded, "Oh sure of course.
And then something else will pop up similar to Alzheimer's that will take
decades to cure. And then something after that, and another after that, and so
on with each one getting harder and harder to treat."
Or put another way, we may solve our heart problems but our brains are going
to be the death of us yet. So if you're thinking you may live to 150 years due
to medical technology, think again. At best, your body may last to 150 years but
your mind won't.