[ExI] Stem cell breakthrough

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Sat Feb 8 21:41:15 UTC 2014


On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 3:19 AM, Ben <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote:

> OK, I'm listening.  If there is an upgrade path from our original bodies
> using stem-cell therapy, I haven't thought of it.  What did you have in
> mind?
>
> My main problem with stem-cell therapy is that if it works ok, all it does
> is to re-invigorate the same old Heath-Robinson design, which will then
> continue on the same old decay path.  You get to stay alive longer, but
> that's all.  If you're prone to back problems, that won't change.  If you
> have a tendency to put on excess weight, you'll still have the same
> tendency.  Etc.
> I'm after something much more radical and interesting.
>

True, you continue down the same decay path - except you can constantly be
restored to an optimal state on it.  Gain weight when you're 30?  Keep
being reset to 20 and don't wait a full decade before the next reset.

Further, link this to gene therapy.  If genes can be identified such that
removing them results in babies who are less likely to become obese, this
becomes a suitable vector for introducing said genes to adults, slowly
replacing all their cells.

That said, I was talking about organ-by-organ replacement as an upgrade
path (as an alternative to whole-body-at-once redesign), not specifically
stem cells.
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