The Fight To End Aging Gains Legitimacy, Funding

oddwick11 writes "Aubrey de Grey and other leading scientists and thinkers in stem cell research and regenerative medicine will gather in Los Angeles at UCLA for Aging 2008 to explain how their work can combat human aging, and the sociological implications of developing rejuvenation therapies. From an article today in WIRED Magazine 'Now, though, some scientists are beginning to view his approach — looking at aging as a disease and bringing in more disciplines into gerontology — as worthwhile, even if they still look askance at his claims of permanent reversible aging within a lifespan. The Methuselah Foundation now has an annual research funding budget of several million dollars, de Grey says, and it's beginning to show lab results that he thinks will turn scientists' heads.'" The conference is free, though registration is required; L.A. area readers who can attend are encouraged to post their thoughts. Update: 06/27 05:18 GMT by T : Dr. de Grey notes that you can also simply show up and register on-site. Look forward to a Slashdot interview with de Grey in the near future.

Hope

[Anonymous Coward]

So there is hope for John McCain after all!

Wow...

[pushing-robot]

500 years from now, just think how out of touch the elderly will be! I can't wait to shake a cane and tell the youth that in my day we had Atari 2600s, not AI-merged universal consciousness!

NOOOOO!

[NerveGas]

Please, please, no.

The hope that my mother-in-law will someday die is one of the few things that allows me to be around her. PLEASE, don't take that away from me.

Very rewarding

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been in attendance at the last 134 annual conferences and found it to be very rewarding.

Re:Hope

[Harmonious Botch]

As an aging human myself...may I say I support this effort whole heartedly....

Thank you. I'm going to need a spare sometime.

Re:Hope

[Ethanol-fueled]

The conference is in L.A. They'd be glad to help you live forever using a disfiguring cocktail of fad diets, plastic surgery, Botox(tm), hair transplants, bathing in feces(works wonders for your pores!); and to top it off, they'll hold up your chihuahua in a 4-star hotel.

Oh, and the whole anti-aging idea is so god-complex outlandish that it couldn't possibly be hosted in any other place 'cept L.A.

Re:Hope

[Eli Gottlieb]

Is that you Professor Farnsworth?

Ra's al Ghul

[Bwana Geek]

While de Grey and colleagues are very excited about their findings, they warn that repeated exposure to the Lazarus Pits may drive some people quite mad.

Re:Hope

[Anonymous Coward]

Now...which politician will speak out in favor of wiping out the aging?

there.. fixed that for you :)

Re:What a Great Idea, Not

[Stevenovitch]

And who's to say that there aren't other intelligent species out there?

What exactly do you mean by other?

Re:It's about frigging time!

[xstonedogx]

The arguments on Slashdot ... my head asplode.

Our six digit UIDs are looking pretty good right about now.

Re:NOOOOO!

[pushing-robot]

Great, now I can't stop imagining a Monty Python skit:

...

Reporter: You've all lost loved ones in recent years, while your research has had many near-triumphs and terrible setbacks. I'm sure it must have been difficult seeing those around you die while you were so close to a breakthough?
Scientist #1: Difficult, yes, difficult...
Scientist #3: Indeed, terrible...
Scientist #2: Horrible, horrible...
Reporter: And Dr. Zweinhart - Pardon me for bringing the subject up, but your aunt passed away only days before your team announced this miracle cure. I can hardly imagine how bittersweet this achievement must feel for you, knowing that you will save billions of strangers' lives but not one so close to you?
Scientist #3: Truly... Truly a pity...
Scientist #1: Pity, terrible pity...
Scientist #2: ...pity...

...

Re:No no

[gregbot9000]

The solution: make old people grow asparagus on mars.

Re:Hope

[tbischel]

Yes...I DO want to live for ever. There can be only one...

Re:No no

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

I have no problem filling a rainy sunday afternoon. Now can I have my immortality pill? I promise I'll learn to spell better.

Re:Hope

[Opportunist]

bathing in feces(works wonders for your pores!)

If that were true, nobody would get pimples on their ass.

Re:Hope

[symbolset]

You had a good point. You didn't have to Godwin the thread.

Re:Wow...

[eugene ts wong]

The second is going to require time, and a lot of it since doing the "experiment" on increasing aging will take close to a century and we will have to do many such experiments to make sure it works.

I agree with you. I recommend that they come up with something and then test it on fruit flies since they multiply so quickly. After that, they can try it on lawyers [a.k.a. politician larvae], since we have so many of them. After that, I recommend that they test it on politicians. After that, maybe they should move up to lab rats, or something. They should try to make sure that they nail it down 100% with the politicians, because we don't have a lot of lab rats, and I don't like it when we experiment on animals.

Anti-aging facial creme

[n3tcat]

Somehow I find this sort of research will lead to the founding of the biological weapons wing of the Umbrella Corporation.

Live forever... as a zombie!

Re:Hope

[destor]

"Good news everyone, I'm still technically alive."

Re:Hope

[somersault]

Oops - I meant 'paint', not paste.. though filling up rusty holes with some kind of paste works too. My insubordinate fingers sometimes just take the first letter I send to them and then pull a word out of their little finger-asses.