Do we not understand enough about the human body? I have heard that we don’t fully understand the mechanism behind aging and this got me wondering. I mean our body seems to be like one of the first things we’d investigate, and yet we seem to know less than I had originally thought.
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We understand most of the mechanisms that result in aging at this point (telomere degradation, genetic losses, cell age…) And we know how to stop those things, but when you stop those systems you get cancer.
Essentially aging in animals is the direct result of cancer prevention, and while we can stop those aging mechanisms, the result is that you get cancer almost immediately because you’ve removed your defenses.
As such if we can come up with alternate cures for cancers we can then safely halt the aging process.
We understand most of the mechanisms that result in aging at this point (telomere degradation, genetic losses, cell age…) And we know how to stop those things, but when you stop those systems you get cancer.
Essentially aging in animals is the direct result of cancer prevention, and while we can stop those aging mechanisms, the result is that you get cancer almost immediately because you’ve removed your defenses.
As such if we can come up with alternate cures for cancers we can then safely halt the aging process.
The human body is immensely complicated, and while we know quite a lot about how it works, there is also a whole lot of grey areas. For reference, we do not fully understand how most drugs work. Most medicines are developed by making some educated guesses about what might work and then doing extensive testing until finding something that actually works with acceptable side effects. Figuring out exactly why it works is nice but strictly speaking isn’t necessary for approval as long as the clinical trials are done to the extent they need to be done. This doesn’t mean we don’t understand how medicine works, we do, but our understanding Isn’t complete.
The human body is immensely complicated, and while we know quite a lot about how it works, there is also a whole lot of grey areas. For reference, we do not fully understand how most drugs work. Most medicines are developed by making some educated guesses about what might work and then doing extensive testing until finding something that actually works with acceptable side effects. Figuring out exactly why it works is nice but strictly speaking isn’t necessary for approval as long as the clinical trials are done to the extent they need to be done. This doesn’t mean we don’t understand how medicine works, we do, but our understanding Isn’t complete.
You need to research David Sinclair. He and his team have reversed, yes reversed, aging in mice. It’s only a matter of time before the wealthy will be able to secure the same treatment.
But in short, aging is caused by entropy. The general breaking down of the molecules in our bodies. This is something we will undoubtedly figure out and stop.
Even though it feels like we know so much about the universe, the world, and ourselves, I believe that we’re still very profoundly primitive in our understanding of any of it. We just don’t know what we don’t know. There might be another piece about the universe that we aren’t even aware of that may have an affect on aging. Does something happen at the quantum level that we have no way of measuring? We don’t even really understand how we think and what makes us, us. It’s pretty fascinating and I think humbling to feel that there are still so many secrets out there to discover that will change our understandings of life and humanity. We may never run out of questions to ask.
You need to research David Sinclair. He and his team have reversed, yes reversed, aging in mice. It’s only a matter of time before the wealthy will be able to secure the same treatment.
But in short, aging is caused by entropy. The general breaking down of the molecules in our bodies. This is something we will undoubtedly figure out and stop.
Even though it feels like we know so much about the universe, the world, and ourselves, I believe that we’re still very profoundly primitive in our understanding of any of it. We just don’t know what we don’t know. There might be another piece about the universe that we aren’t even aware of that may have an affect on aging. Does something happen at the quantum level that we have no way of measuring? We don’t even really understand how we think and what makes us, us. It’s pretty fascinating and I think humbling to feel that there are still so many secrets out there to discover that will change our understandings of life and humanity. We may never run out of questions to ask.
The thing is, aging doesn’t have a single “cause”, aging is the accumulation of damage to the body over a lifetime. Some of that damage is genetic, some of it is wear and tear, some of it is because evolution doesn’t need us to live longer than it takes to raise the next generation of humans.
Like cancer, curing aging is immensely complicated and difficult.
The thing is, aging doesn’t have a single “cause”, aging is the accumulation of damage to the body over a lifetime. Some of that damage is genetic, some of it is wear and tear, some of it is because evolution doesn’t need us to live longer than it takes to raise the next generation of humans.
Like cancer, curing aging is immensely complicated and difficult.
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