• [PDF] International Workshop on Human Longevity: Unraveling the Secrets of Human Longevity
• Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
• November 26-27, 2007
• Description:
  

  Longevity is the length of a person’s life. Complex mechanisms of genetic dispositions, early life conditions, current lifestyles are important causes in determining individual’s life span. This workshop is intended to provide a broad overview of bio-demographic ideas, models, methods, and findings regarding human aging, mortality and longevity incorporating interdisciplinary approach. The aims are to bridge the gap between biological, mathematical and social sciences as well as nurturing the understanding and collaboration amongst the regional and global human longevity scientists and practitioners. Besides that, it also aims to demonstrate the vital role of understanding the mechanisms of aging and longevity and to extend healthy and productive human lifespan. The workshop will include several sessions and discussions on longevity, demography, genetic factors and others. We cordially invite academicians, researchers, scientists and interested parties to join this event in the serene campus of Bangi, Malaysia. We are also proud to inform you that 2007 is the official Visit Malaysia Year!

Frontier Channel liveblogging from the 7th Alcor Conference:

• Event Announcement
• Frontier Channel at 7th Alcor Conference
• Introduction

Day 1

• Steve Bridges
• Brian Wowk
• First Break
• Stephen Van Sickle
• Tanya Jones
• Luncheon
• Ralph Merkle
• Michael West
• Afternoon Break
• Aubrey de Grey
• Alcor Board of Directors Panel

Day 2

• Morning Panel
• Steven Harris
• Morning Break
• Calvin Mercer
• Christine Peterson
• Chris Heward
• No Graveyard

[History] | [Commentary]

Plenty of space blogs, organizations, and media outlets are marked last Thursday as the 50 year anniversary of the first artificial satellite in Earth orbit, Sputnik 1. On October 04, 1957 Russia surprised the United States by demonstrating their technological prowess with the successful launch of Sputnik 1. The “artificial moon” did little more than beep:

[Audio file] Sputnik 1 Beeping

but it became the historic launching point for a space race between nations that would culminate with man on the moon.

It is difficult to put into context what Sputnik 1 really marked. We most certainly take space travel for granted now. Prior to October 04, 1957, the best humans could do was touch the edge of space with rockets. Sputnik 1 was fundamentally different, an artifact of mankind that entered, and remained in for three months, a frontier unexplored, by any life form that had ever existed in the billions of years of Earth history. 4,500,000,000 years after the formation of the Earth, perhaps 3,300,000,000 years after the first life forms arose on the planet’s surface, millions of years of primate evolution and tens of thousands of years of modern human development and civilization, we are only 50 years into a presence in outer space.

No other life form in Earth history is known to have directed, let alone created, artifacts like Sputnik 1. Humans alone demonstrate such technological capabilities. We alone can create an artifact that beeps in a near-vacuum to let its creators know it is still there and still functioning, and then find ourselves 50 years later dependent on constellations of much more capable devices that enable activities other life forms cannot even comprehend. Humanity abstracts, humanity acts, humanity adapts and humanity spreads into the great frontiers.

A common question asked in this age of robotic exploration 50 years after the first aluminum technological artifact entered Earth orbit is “Why should we send people into space?” That is the wrong question. The only question is “When?” We will walk again on the moon, and on Mars, and on a myriad other landscapes. Some of us will indeed make our home in space and on worlds other than Earth. We will spread out through the solar system and beyond. Humans will do these things because we repeatedly move forward despite our ramblings about “Why?” Many of us don’t ask why and we just do. A million people ask us why we are doing what we are doing and we simply continue to do. We organize conferences and protests, forge new laws and social constraints, debate for hours, hire politicians to continue the debate ad infinitum, write emotional commentary, and not a single one of these activities stop us from doing the things we keep asking ourselves “Why?” about. We just do, because that is what we do.

Is space too risky, too expensive? Yes. And we will move out into space nonetheless.

Image Credit: NASA/Asif A. Siddiqi - “Sputnik 1“

Although the following news appears to have been confirmed by Craig Venter, it should be viewed as rumor until there is an official announcement. The Guardian is reporting that Venter and a team of scientists have created artificial life, in the form of an artificial chromosome that can make use of another organism’s cellular machinery for replication and metabolism, but will effectively be a new, artificial species. According to The Guardian an official announcement is “expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday.”

Source: The Guardian, “I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer“, Saturday, October 06, 2007

• 2007 Calorie Restriction Society Conference
• Sunset Station, San Antonio, TX, USA
• November 7-11, 2007

[Alcor Conference - Table of Contents]

[Recap]

Chris Heward discussed his work on the “Kronos Longitudinal Aging Study (KLAS)” as a measurement of human aging. KRONOS Science Laboratory is a research institution in Phoenix, AZ, USA.

Heward showed a graph of progress in life expectancy at birth and at 65. Life expectancy at birth has experienced obvious improvement, but not so for life expectancy at age 65. Looking at particular biomarkers of again, we follow a peak around age 20 with a downhill degeneration to death. Once measures of life expectancy can be developed, than potential interventions can be tested against these biomarkers for effectiveness.

Data is collect in a database based on a variety of tests. For most Kronos participants, this includes one or two data collection events. Longitudinal studies require repeat testing over many years.

One of the best known biochemical biomarkers Kronos has found for aging is DHEA-SO4. The lower the level, the older the patient. However, although a line has been drawn on a graph to show this, the individual results actually do not cluster very well. Kronos next compared biomarkers with each other, but found little correlation, suggesting aging is not just one underlying problem, but multiple.

Kronos’ approach to aging is to assess and prevent issues earlier than people are usually treated. They focus on the top killers, like cardiovascular disease. They look for oxidative stress, with the goal of providing high levels of protection and reducing damage.

Their latest findings suggest it is difficult to assess a person’s oxidative stress using only one biomarker. Damage is variable over different testing periods.

Kronos has conducted a study related to Alzheimer’s Disease, in an attempt to detect the disease early. Called the KRONOS-TGen AD Project, the experiment included 1000 participants with Alzheimer’s and 1000 participants as controls. They were able to find involved genes, but they believe there are more that remain to be found. This is expected to lead to a genetic test to look for Alzheimer’s susceptibility.

In another experiment, the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) was meant to follow up on findings that hormonal replacement therapy might provide no cardiovascular protection in women over time as previous studies had indicated and could instead increase the risk of other problems like breast cancer. However, Heward said the study was “botched” because the wrong demographic of women was chosen. Kronos’ new study should correct this problem and seek better information on what is going on.

Finally, Heward provided nutrition and health advice. He suggested being fit, but not too lean. He also suggested fish oil, especially for Americans, as an important supplement for decreasing cardiovascular risk. Exercise is also important, but there appears to be a wall around 80 years of age, in which exercise appears to have no further benefit.

[Alcor Conference - Table of Contents]

Christine Peterson presented “Good News, Bad News, Surprising News” about life extension. She now spends about half time studying life extension as an enthusiast.

She began by stating that terminology matters. Which terms are best: life extension, health extension, anti-aging, longevity, immortality, or permanent health?

Since we are made out of meat, we enjoy the pleasures of life, but we end up aging and dying. Life extension enthusiasts want a pill to extend life, but nothing like that exists now. Medical doctors, researchers, and the FDA are not interested in life extension, in addition to the overall challenges of the biology of aging and possible research into ways to extend healthy lifespan.

She surveyed quickly those for and against life extension, including Leon Kass, Bill Clinton, Aubrey de Grey, and others. There are soft and hard approaches to the problem, including SENS and nanotechnology, and eventually nanomedicine.

A list of things that will help to buy some time until radical life extension technologies are available:

• stress reduction
• physical risk reduction
• mood improvement
• sleep, in a very dark room,
• Sex (quantity M, quality F)
• Laughter
• Biomarker testing
• Calorie Restriction
  • 35 few calories than normal
• Reducing inflammaging
  • decreasing inflammation by reducing visceral fat
  • dieting does not work
  • Slow way - we eat for pleasure
  • Treat value = yumminess x amount
  • Pleasure = qulaity x quantity
  • Keep treat value high
  • Increase yumminess - healthy treats all the time (nuts, cheese, fruit, chocolate, cheese popcord every day. Then I can be good with other foods
  • 100 cal/day for one lb/month loss; these tweaks are easy to find.
  • The bizarre way
  • Shangri-La Diet - not a diet
  • Flavorless calories before a meal
  • Trick to feel full. Alientation from food
  • Be gradual
• Supplements
  • Supplements can do damage
  • You can create conflicts and overdo it
  • Therefore more testing is required
• Movement: require fun
  • Math and science teachers in charge of gym class, to get rid of evil coaches
  • Don’t look at calorie/minute displays on exercise machines
  • 10,000 steps per day
  • Spend money on a personal trainer
• Uploading - more radical and possible further into the future.
• Biostasis (cryonics) - conserving structure - many of us will run out of time, so this is the backup plan.

Finally, Peterson noted that it is important to get life insurance, even if you are not planning to sign up for cryonics until later. Death can be unexpected, and cryonics remains a last option if other current life extension efforts do not work out.

[Recap]

Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?”  Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people.  How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people?

How the discussion will play out, according to Mercer, will include debates between liberal and conservative viewpoints, anthropocentric versus theocentric beliefs, materialism versus the supernatural, pragmatic versus dogmatic outlooks, and revisionists versus traditionalists.  This will show up as supporters and critics in the various Christian religions.

Mercer seeks to generate discussion about radical life extension among liberal religious people and someday among conservative religious people, starting with academics.  He provided two examples of success, including sessions at a conference and a book.

Liberal religious people are most concerned about issues of justice and fairness.  They worry that these technologies will not be available for everyone.  On the right are the conservatives, and Mercer said there are degrees of conservatism, but with common characteristics like belief in the supernatural and dogmatic thinking.

Mercer believes some conservatives will in fact embrace radical life extension.  They will be torn between their beliefs and their desire to get “being a good Christian” right to avoid going to Hell.

Christian faith includes the concept of the “miracle” of resurrection.  On the one hand there is resuscitation of the dead, like Lazarus. On the other there is transformation of the dead, like Jesus.  The dialog between radical life extentionists and religious people could be started around their ideas about “indefinite” lifespans and “infinite” existence, respectively.

[Commentary]

I would not expect an Alcor Conference talk about “Cryonics and Unicorns.”  I would not expect talks about “Cryonics and Astrology,” “Cryonics and Baseball Players,” or “Cryonics and Intelligent Design.”  However, I do understand that the majority of people are religious or spiritual.  Mercer presented this talk as an academic, rather than a theologist.

[Alcor Conference - Table of Contents]

Popcorn, cookies, and pretzels. We talked to a couple who are musicians and Alcor members about how art can be used to promote life extension and transhumanism.

[Alcor Conference - Table of Contents]

[Recap]

Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?” Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people. How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people?

How the discussion will play out, according to Mercer, will include debates between liberal and conservative viewpoints, anthropocentric versus theocentric beliefs, materialism versus the supernatural, pragmatic versus dogmatic outlooks, and revisionists versus traditionalists. This will show up as supporters and critics in the various Christian religions.

Mercer seeks to generate discussion about radical life extension among liberal religious people and someday among conservative religious people, starting with academics. He provided two examples of success, including sessions at a conference and a book.

Liberal religious people are most concerned about issues of justice and fairness. They worry that these technologies will not be available for everyone. On the right are the conservatives, and Mercer said there are degrees of conservatism, but with common characteristics like belief in the supernatural and dogmatic thinking.

Mercer believes some conservatives will in fact embrace radical life extension. They will be torn between their beliefs and their desire to get “being a good Christian” right to avoid going to Hell.

Christian faith includes the concept of the “miracle” of resurrection. On the one hand there is resuscitation of the dead, like Lazarus. On the other there is transformation of the dead, like Jesus. The dialog between radical life extentionists and religious people could be started around their ideas about “indefinite” lifespans and “infinite” existence, respectively.

[Commentary]

I would not expect an Alcor Conference talk about “Cryonics and Unicorns.” I would not expect talks about “Cryonics and Astrology,” “Cryonics and Baseball Players,” or “Cryonics and Intelligent Design.” However, I do understand that the majority of people are religious or spiritual. Mercer presented this talk as an academic, rather than a theologist.