
The Men Who Want to Live Forever - pbhowmic
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/opinion/sunday/silicon-valley-immortality.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
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seawlf
It's frustrating that the author takes what is a reasonable field for humans
to research and conflates it with some kind of sexist drive for domination.
Personally I feel like this sort of hogwash (the author even stops short of
saying "as a mother") undermines the credibility of the NYT.

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gremlinsinc
I agree. I support women and equality as a left-leaning progressive, but as a
techy and someone who wants to see light-speed travel and our first encounter
with alien life-- the only way for that to happen is life extension, heck even
as an avatar in a computer would be better than nothing.

This article drew me in because I'm obsessed with anti-aging tech, but to take
something that isn't all evil, and twist it is horrible. I think the biggest
issue is income inequality personally, --when the rich DO figure out
immortality, it may only be accessible to the billionaire class at which point
-- they're essentially giving everyone else a death sentence.

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yazaddaruvala
This won’t happen.

1\. Pharmaceutical companies want people to take it.

2\. Insurance companies would want humans to take it.

3\. Once a drug is invented, if it is kept hidden or secret, the people who
administer the drug would want it for their families. There would be whistle
blowers, there would be leaks.

As soon as it is leaked labs in China or India or anywhere would reproduce it
and longevity tourism would ensue.

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mulmen
Ok but what if it's just really expensive?

You know, like healthcare, or trips to the moon.

People with a lot of money get access to things before people without a lot of
money.

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yazaddaruvala
Like micro processors, the marginal cost of manufacturing a drug is minimal.
The R&D is the expensive bit.

Even gene therapy, is primarily bounded by R&D and then delivery may or may
not be expensive, I don’t know.

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mindcrime
Man, this "article" is the worst sort of garbage. It's nothing but a thin
veneer over yet another "men are evil" diatribe. This tripe doesn't even rise
to the level of being good yellow journalism.

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matte_black
It’s New York Times what do you expect?

Fortunately reading articles isn’t necessary for a good discussion on
Hackernews.

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firasd
This piece is like a sentiment more than a real inquiry. The argument is based
on avoiding any particulars. The fact is that life extension is not just a way
for Peter Thiel to walk the earth forever; it is a set of medical
interventions. If you're not against penicillin or bypass surgeries, what
particular life extension techniques are you against?

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tremendulo
I'm not a body, I'm a mind running on a body!

Food for thought is that life extension treatments once developed will
ultimately be cheaper and safer than hospital care. So they'll be compulsory,
in effect. Or rather everyone will continually face the question: more
extension, or voluntary euthanasia? No more waiting around to die. Purpose,
metaphysics, mental health all brought into sharp focus.

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matte_black
You actually aren’t a mind. You are what is observing the mind.

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tremendulo
Not relevant to life extension, but I think what you're saying amounts to the
fact that the mind is more complex than most minds assume. (Perhaps including
than you assume. For doesn't it require a mind to observe things, even
itself?)

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dqpb
_Some billionaires, already invincible in every other way, have decided that
they also deserve not to die._

I think a simple poll would find that practically no one feels they deserve to
die.

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ternaryoperator
I know old people who are ready to die and in that sense feel that they've
earned it, insofar as they've put in a good life, have struggled through old
age, and would like to get to the end of it all. Not suicidal, but ready to
move on to whatever is next.

I agree this is not what the author intends by the term, but your comment "no
one feels they deserve to die" is too absolutist, at least in my experience.

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UseStrict
What utter garbage, twisting the desire for longer lives into some sort of
sexist oppression? Sure these billionaires can afford to fund this research,
but if longer and healthier lives was possible, would you really want to die?

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phjesusthatguy3
Zero mentions of Ray Kurzweil in this story.

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macawfish
I believe that death is a _part of life_.

edit: guess I touched a nerve, but please have some respect. I wasn't being
facetious, just so you know. I lost a newborn brother at age 5 and my father
at age 11, so I've experienced death. I've grieved deeply. Yes there's tragedy
in death. I can't and won't invalidate that. But there is so much more to
death than tragedy. And more often than not, the tragedy is rooted in
unfulfilled lives, not in death itself. I don't see how longer lifespans are
going to magically cure the bigger problem of unfulfilling life habits being
normalized, even enforced. There are too many people on this planet who
haven't made peace with death, and who externalize their fear onto others. I
believe this is the author's point. You downvote me without asking any
questions? Call the author a luddite? I imagine you are someone who hasn't
made peace with death and the forces of evolution. I urge you to face it from
a fresh angle, to have courage and take a good look, it's not a monster unless
you make it be.

And honestly, people who treated my father's death like a monster kinda
traumatized me. They encouraged me to idolize my father in a way that
distracted me from his wonderful, raw humanity, both in living and dying.

P.S. If anyone open minded wants an interesting perspective on death, check
out the book "Living Your Dying" by Stanley Keleman.

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pdx
Crying over the loss of 4 of your 8 children used to be a part of life a
century ago. We changed that, and can change what it means to age as well, if
luddites like the author of this article can be overcome.

