Comment The Official Methuselah Foundatin Facts-etc. (Score 1) 260
Hi - I represent the Methuselah Foundation, the recipient of the donation. For clarification, the donation does not go to the Mprize fund. it will be used primarily to support early stage research to repair the damage that occurs during normal metabolism in the mitochondria.
In part, the Methuselah Foundation was originally named with a tip of the hat to Heinlein :-)
Aging causes the horrific scandal of the involuntary incarceration (nursing homes) of everyone who survives early death for no other reason than they had the bad taste to grow old. Wear can be repaired with research. Let's focus on their (soon our) needs and the contributions they could make with their collective wisdom of the ages. Was it immoral or selfish to invent vaccines that extend lifespan? Some thought so at the time...I for one am glad to have had a polio vaccine.
This effort is NOT about living forever at all - it's simply the logical extension of things like reading glasses, hearing aids, hip replacements, knee replacements, laser surgery, sanitation... only at the cellular level.
In the early 1900's families of 8 - 15 were very typical and birth control was a felony punishable by imprisonment. Because of the wretched conditions and premature deaths this caused, the movement to limit the size of families for the sake of better health, welfare and education of all was undertaken. Today, no one goes to jail for practicing birth control. Instead, those couples that decide to have 8-15 children are frowned upon. Conclusion: The world is better off by providing choices rather than unhealthy inevitabilities.
A huge concern of New Yorkers in the late 1800's was how they were going to avoid drowning and suffocating from all the horse manure. Just then, the automobile hit the scene and was hailed as a Godsend because it used environmentally friendly oil...and thus the mass extinction of New York from manure strangulation was averted. Today oil in the environmental crosshairs - and this too will be solved...and then one day that solution may be the source of a terrible crisis 100 years from now - which will be solved...and so it is going with repair of aging. Huge social and fiscal problems will be solved...and new challenges will arise - and be solved in their turn. Should those who were suffering and dying from manure pollution have been denied the cleaner oil because 100 years hence it would turn out to be a problem?
When the day comes when there's an inexpensive treatment that could shave 5 or 10 years of wear and tear from your loved ones - will you tell them it's immoral and try to stop them? Wouldn't that then be an incomprehensible - even criminal act?
In part, the Methuselah Foundation was originally named with a tip of the hat to Heinlein
Aging causes the horrific scandal of the involuntary incarceration (nursing homes) of everyone who survives early death for no other reason than they had the bad taste to grow old. Wear can be repaired with research. Let's focus on their (soon our) needs and the contributions they could make with their collective wisdom of the ages. Was it immoral or selfish to invent vaccines that extend lifespan? Some thought so at the time...I for one am glad to have had a polio vaccine.
This effort is NOT about living forever at all - it's simply the logical extension of things like reading glasses, hearing aids, hip replacements, knee replacements, laser surgery, sanitation... only at the cellular level.
In the early 1900's families of 8 - 15 were very typical and birth control was a felony punishable by imprisonment. Because of the wretched conditions and premature deaths this caused, the movement to limit the size of families for the sake of better health, welfare and education of all was undertaken. Today, no one goes to jail for practicing birth control. Instead, those couples that decide to have 8-15 children are frowned upon. Conclusion: The world is better off by providing choices rather than unhealthy inevitabilities.
A huge concern of New Yorkers in the late 1800's was how they were going to avoid drowning and suffocating from all the horse manure. Just then, the automobile hit the scene and was hailed as a Godsend because it used environmentally friendly oil...and thus the mass extinction of New York from manure strangulation was averted. Today oil in the environmental crosshairs - and this too will be solved...and then one day that solution may be the source of a terrible crisis 100 years from now - which will be solved...and so it is going with repair of aging. Huge social and fiscal problems will be solved...and new challenges will arise - and be solved in their turn. Should those who were suffering and dying from manure pollution have been denied the cleaner oil because 100 years hence it would turn out to be a problem?
When the day comes when there's an inexpensive treatment that could shave 5 or 10 years of wear and tear from your loved ones - will you tell them it's immoral and try to stop them? Wouldn't that then be an incomprehensible - even criminal act?
