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Age Reversal Breakthrough: Harvard/MIT Discovery Could Enable Whole-Body Rejuvenation
(scitechdaily.com)
skepticism intensifies
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Yeah, based on the paper, the results were good but not quite as good as what the news article said. More like a step in the right direction rather than a silver bullet, I'd say.
Since we have done nothing to curb the birth rate, if this was real, which it isn't, it would be a terrible idea.
We've done so much to curb the birth rate that most first world countries are facing population collapse. Without immigration, far less than replacement levels.
But even then it's still a terrible idea, since biological immortality would have massive consequences for all parts of society, and many of the consequences would be really bad. I mean, we already have leaders who are dying of old age in their offices as we watch, imagine if suddenly they're 20 again? Presumably they'd never give up power again and they'd just become an immortal aristocracy...
Massive consequences sure, but to say that it would necessarily be bad overall is an argument from appeal to the status quo. We can't say for sure that immortality will bring negative consequences, and we have plenty of reasons to desire it.
You could flip your question on its head. If the young knew they could not inherit political power by comfortably sitting back and waiting for the elders to die out, would they not be more inclined to seize the power for themselves, or at the very least to be more active in the democratic political discourse?
For example, in Russia right now everyone is just waiting for Putin to die of butt cancer so they can all go home. But what if they knew for sure that Putin will survive a thousand-year reign and is ready to wage forever war? Then they might actually risk their own neck and try to overthrow him.
Agreed! I'm sure this would be priced so only the 0.001% of the rich would be able to get the treatment, assuming it gets refined and tested for efficacy. The article makes way more out of the results than the paper does, which is a bit annoying.