Comments by "Kevin Street" (@Kevin_Street) on "We're Shockingly Close To A Cure For Aging | Answers With Joe" video.

Thank you for this most excellent video! This is a subject I know a little about, so I'm impressed by how balanced and informative your video is. It's an excellent introduction to the subject. Like any scientific field there's a lot more detail under the surface, including researchers that disagree with Dr. Sinclair. Though I (an ordinary layman) find his ideas quite compelling, there's still quite a bit of debate over the causes of aging among the scientists. One of the things I find really interesting is the relationship between mTOR, bodybuilding and longevity. Basically bodybuilders want to activate mTOR to build muscle, which is the opposite of what people want to do for longevity. It seems like there's some sort of balance required between building and keeping muscle (particularly in later years when muscle wasting can become a serious problem) and inhibiting mTOR. As to your last question, I absolutely agree that a long-lived society would be a more moral one, precisely because people would be forced to confront the consequences of their actions. The aging process perverts human nature, and is a contributing factor to many of our worst tendencies.
23
I understand your Mom is just trying to reassure people that their pets aren't ill and don't need unnecessary treatments, but there is an actual scientific study looking at ways to help dogs live longer lives. YouTube doesn't like it when I post links in comments, but it can be found by Googling "dog aging project"
9
A great deal of pushback to the idea of living longer or curing aging also comes from the liberal arts and literature, and I'm not really sure why. My best guess is that literature absorbed many ideas and themes (like the idea that life has "seasons") from religion and retains them to this day, even if the modern authors aren't religious themselves.
2
@StarlitSeafoam That's very true, but I think the most important consequences we face as a species are limited to a time horizon of centuries at most. Only things like nuclear radiation will last for thousands of years. You are right, though. There's no guarantee that immortality will make people more responsible. But I think it's an evolutionary leap our species needs to make to face up with the magnitude and effects of our own technology. Right now our short lives mean we never learn enough to deal with it properly.
2
@feline.equation I don't mean to imply that genetics are of no importance. It makes sense that the dogs with greater genetic diversity would be healthier overall (once they got to live with you and not on the streets), and hence live longer.
1