OK, perhaps many of the readers have heard rumblings about radical life extension technologies coming along in the decades ahead from many scientists. One possibility is taking some of the patient's cells, multiplying them, then using those cells to 3D bioprint out organs and tissues. The organs and tissues would then be put into the patient's body as replacements for old, worn out or diseased organs and tissues. The idea is to replace your organs and tissues every so many years with new and healthier organ and tissues, such that a person's healthspan and lifespan are greatly increased, perhaps even increased to centuries or millenia of life. If a sampling of a patient's cells are frozen when the patient is twenty or thirty years old, then thawed out and used for 3D printing thirty or fourty years later when the patient is fifty to seventy years old, then those cells would still be fairly youthful, in part because the telomeres on their DNA would be much longer and partly because of other factors. Youthful cells produce youthful tissues and organs. It would be like having a twenty year old version of your lungs put into your body as a replacement. 3D Bioprinting will develop over the next thirty years or so to the point where we will be able to print out functional organs. But if a patient does not freeze some of his or her cells in their twenties or thirties and instead waits until his sixties or seventies to freeze them, then the cells used for 3D bioprinting would be much older and prone to illness. Thus the new organs would not be as effective and the patient might not live to as long a life as radical life extension offers. DE
That sound horrific. Living as a feeble desicated ancient withered dolt with a 20 year olds heart. Death is far preferable.
origin's got a point. You can replace all the other organs you want, but you can't simply get a brain transplant. That's the one that counts.
I want to live millions of years and explore the galaxy. As for the 'withered' part, the idea is to gradually replace all of the organs and tissues wholesale except for the brain. Perhaps cell injection would work with the brain? Rather than brain transplant, which is the most pointless thing ever. There would be nothing 'withered' about a person. Nothing. Aside from the brain, every single part of your body would be 20 years old. DE
I imagine that, by the time we a] have the technology to actually reproduce and replace each part - including veins, nerves and other delicate structures (not trivial), and b] have the technology to do so without such precision that there will be little no damage from the actual procedures of cutting, gluing, etc. (also not trivial)... ...we will be well past of the stage of "meat-hacking" our bodies - which will seem bloody and barbaric in retrospect - and will be repairing them from the inside on the cellular level.
The problem is that medical technology is expensive. Long lifetimes will be available only to the very rich, often the last people you'd want to have around. Donald Trump would still be trying for President in 900 years.
Such as what though? As long as oxygen is getting to the brain, and waste products or contaminants are removed from the blood, the brain should live on. I gues degradation of the brain itself is the biggie.
A brain transplant is an interesting idea. Note that the memories & thought processes in the brain are the essence of the individual. If my brain were successfully transplanted into your much younger body, you would be a gone ghost, while I would be enjoying life using your body. I am close to 90, & it seems to me that my brain has deteriorated far less than other parts of my body. There was a time when I could run 800 meters in well under 2 minutes & won a conference wrestling championship. Now, walking 800 meters is not easy & I might not be able to beat your 25-year old sister at wrestling. Except for my short term memory, my brain seems to be just about as good as it was when I was in my twenties. I am still adept at calculus, differential geometry, computer programming, crossword puzzles, & other intellectual tasks. I might not be as proficient at mental tasks, but the brain deterioration is not close to the that for the 800 meters & grappling/Martial arts.
