Immortality

 

In order to live forever, humans should probably try to learn from at least three relatively well-documented species which show negligible senescence, i.e. little or no biological deterioration with age. These are:

* Hydra (Hydra vulgaris): tiny freshwater animals which show no signs of aging when protected from predators and disease. They maintain their ability to regenerate cells and avoid cellular deterioration through continuous renewal of their stem cells.

* Immortal Jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii): saltwater animals which can revert to an earlier life stage when stressed, avoiding death from aging indefinitely via cycling between adult and polyp stages.

* Planarian Flatworms (Planaria tricladida): small underground animals which can regenerate their entire bodies from small pieces and show no signs of aging due to a large population of stem cells called neoblasts.

People should also probably learn why certain closely-related species have such different lifespans. Here are some:

* Calico rockfish (S. dallii) and Halfbanded rockfish (S. semicinctus) appear to only live 15-20 years while Rougheye rockfish (Sebastes aleutianus) live 200 years or more.

* among bivalve ocean creatures, Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) live about 5-10 years and Common mussels (Mytilus edulis) about 20-25, while Hard-shell clams (Arctica islandica) live over 500 years.

Humans probably need to learn the biological secrets of these creatures, such as by studying their genomes, as well as their mechanisms of negligible and reverse senescence. Then we need to apply such knowledge to ourselves.

Two obvious techniques for this are: (1) using the new CRISPR Cas9 technology to rewrite the human genetic code; and (2) using the old method of gene therapy thru viral vectors to do the same. Both techniques can potentially enhance the longevity of individuals via direct genetic manipulation.

The world needs scientific, medical, and healthcare geniuses to work on all this. The word needs new iterations of Leonardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein to work on the theoretical and intellectual side of this issue; and new iterations of Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs to work on the practical and effective side.

People profoundly need to shun government funding or communist research and development on this subject. People need to strictly avoid having the state "throw money at the problem" and utilizing versions of the Post Office and DMV to try to enhance human longevity. This won’t just be ineffective and useless; it will slow down, stop, or reverse progress by diverting scarce money, knowledge, energy, enthusiasm, and publicity from competent researchers and developers.

To defeat mankind’s worst enemy, the Grim Reaper, there is a desperate need to work on this problem immediately. Many billions of dollars and thousands of scientists and doctors are currently working on this issue, but there needs to be far more.