[extropy-chat] Kurzweil and aging

[Robert Bradbury]

It is also true that the more fundamental test(s) are not being done.  They
aren't measuring overall rates of DNA mutation in the nuclei or mitochondria
of long-lived somatic cells (brain, heart and many other tissues and
organs).  Nor are they measuring  overall mitochondrial efficiency (which
has recently been demonstrated to decline significantly with age).

The markers Ray is discussing are at best secondary indicators of biological
age.  I haven't gotten to that part of TSIN yet -- but I suspect that Ray
may totally avoid whether or not aging has the same characteristics of the
exponential growth curves he discusses in so many other areas.  Ray may
still be in the relatively "flat" part of the aging acceleration curve while
the people he is comparing himself with (the general population) may be in
the more exponential part of the curve.

One should remember that I believe Ray is treating diabetes (or tendencies
towards diabetes) in a very aggressive fashion if he is following the
lifestyle suggested in the books he has published.  If he is keeping his
blood glucose levels relatively low then he is keeping his insulin levels
relatively constant which is going to minimize the energy resources (and as
a secondary effect the free radical production) in most of the tissues in
the body.  Many pieces of experimental evidence are now pointing at this
approach as being a form of pseudo- caloric restriction.  If that is
accurate one would expect him to be aging more slowly than the average
population.  But it doesn't extend into 350 year lifespan projections
*unless* you have the means to either (a) replace all of the damage which is
accumulating in the DNA in the cells of somatic organs; (b) replace the
organs entirely; or (c) "patch" the organs with stem cell supplements.  And
(c) is an "iffy" proposition as there is cell loss in the brain and
replacement stem cells are not going to be able to recover the stored
knowledge/thought patterns which are lost when cells die very easily.
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