Theory of Longevity

Some World Views on Life’s Purpose

posted on June 23, 2008

Last week, we talked about Purpose of Life and why it is pertinent to a life extension newsletter. This issue, I’m going to extend last week’s discussion.

Do you know most people don't have any clear-cut goals, plans or purpose? Mostly, only scientists, business owners and managers and individuals who work on challenges that might take decades to solve, have a clear definition of life’s purpose and appreciate the need for extended lifespans. The Japanese are more in tune with long-term thinking than Americans and maybe the rest of the world as well. Therefore, I suspect they may have a better appreciation for the purpose of life. But I don’t know. I spent a lot of time in Japan many years ago and wish I would have thought to explore it.

Nevertheless, if you are a long-term thinker, you most likely have an opinion… no matter where you live.

After last week’s letter, I researched further and was surprised at how little I knew about various cultures’ and philosophies’ purpose of life. There were a lot more than I thought, too many for one newsletter. So I’m like to share some of what I learned with you here and extend this topic one more week. I’ll wait until then to disclose my personal opinion of what it is.
Platonic view. For Plato the meaning of life was to attain the highest form of knowledge.
Aristotelian view. Aristotle argued that a person had to study and practice in order to become “good”.
Cynic view. The Cynics were a Hellenistic school of philosophy that argued that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, and by living a life free from all possessions.
Cyrenaic view. They thought happiness is one of the ends of moral action, and maintained that pleasure was the supreme good and purpose, creating a hedonistic view.
Epicurean view. Epicurus believed the greatest good was to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquility and freedom from fear through knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life… abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on asceticism.
Stoic view. Stoicism teaches that to live according to reason and virtue is to live in harmony with the divine order of the universe, Stoicism's prime directives are virtue, reason, and natural law, and they seek the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions.
Nihilist view. Nihilism rejects claims to knowledge and truth and declares that nothing is of value. From a nihilist point of view, morals are valueless and only hold a place in society as false ideals created by various forces.
Pragmatist view. Pragmatic philosophers suggest that rather than a truth about life, we should seek a useful understanding of life. To a pragmatist, the meaning of an individual's life can be discovered only through experience and the purposes which cause you to value it.
Existentialist views. Existentialism posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. Emphasizing action, freedom, and decision as fundamental, existentialists oppose themselves to rationalism and positivism and instead look at where people find meaning.
Humanist views. Humanists believe that human purpose is determined by humans, completely without supernatural influence. It is human personality that is the purpose of a human's life. Humanism affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. Posthumanism and transhumanism insist that the meaning of life is necessarily indefinite and ambiguous, and should be left to the philosophical inclinations of the individual; however there is a moral imperative common to all intelligent agents to improve their lives.
Logical positivist view. Things in a person's life can have meaning, but a meaning of life itself, i.e., apart from those things, cannot be discerned. In this context, a person's life is said to have meaning in the form of the events throughout his life and the results of his life in terms of achievements, a legacy, family, etc.
Jewish view. Jews believe the purpose of life is to serve God and to prepare for the world to come.
That’s a dozen, with a dozen more coming your way. Did any strike a chord with you? A few did with me. But I think my favorite is the most elegant. To be continued…            _________________________________
Some more wisdom from Reason at Longevity Meme…

There's nothing wrong with becoming old, but everything wrong with aging. Old means experienced, invested, wealthier, time-tested and just all-round better for having been around the block. Aging, on the other hand, is the direct result of biochemical damage you picked up along the way - ongoing deterioration that is a side-effect of being alive. The passage of years brings a constant flow of opportunities for growth and self-improvement, until aging takes away your ability to compete, your ability to take care of yourself, and eventually your life. Someone should look into that.

"The short story is that aging is damage and change, rust and wear for our biology that is caused by the normal operation of human biochemistry. You can't run machinery without causing wear, and you can't run factories full of machinery without creating waste by-products. Machinery with a lot of rust and wear breaks down in any number of ways, and biological machinery is no exception - just a few classes of wear, rust and buildup of waste lead to a vast array of different malfunctions."

LOBSTERS AND SEA URCHINS

Both lobsters and sea urchins demonstrate that it's perfectly possible for an organism to age far, far more slowly than humans presently do - and possibly not age at all. Beyond our first efforts to repair aging in the biology we have today, taking place over the next few decades, is the prospect of building a better human biology that doesn't need repair:

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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

Mitochondrial Uncouplers as CR Mimetics (June 20 2008) http://pmid.us/18505478
If you somehow prevent your mitochondria from generating as much power as they were going to, making them less efficient, you lower the rate at which damaging reactive oxygen species are produced as a byproduct. This is important: "Calorie restriction is the most effective non-genetic intervention to enhance life span known to date. A major research interest has been the development of therapeutic strategies capable of promoting the beneficial results of this dietary regimen. In this sense, we propose that compounds that decrease the efficiency of energy conversion, such as mitochondrial uncouplers, can be caloric restriction mimetics. Treatment of mice with low doses of the protonophore 2,4-dinitrophenol promotes enhanced tissue respiratory rates, improved serological glucose, triglyceride and insulin levels, decrease of reactive oxygen species levels and tissue DNA and protein oxidation, as well as reduced body weight. Importantly, dinitrophenol-treated animals also presented enhanced longevity. Our results demonstrate that mild mitochondrial uncoupling is a highly effective in vivo antioxidant strategy." Antioxidant because it prevents the oxidants from being created in the first place. A good proof of concept.

Revisiting Double-Strand Breaks and Aging (June 19 2008) http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/dna-double-strand-breaks-and-aging/
From Ouroboros: "Do DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) have anything to do with aging? We have some reason to believe that they do. Paul Hasty has written two recent reviews, critically evaluating the role of DNA DSBs in the aging process. In the first (written with colleagues Han Li and James Mitchell), the authors argue from genetic evidence that DSB repair pathways are intimately connected with aging, but that the relationship is distinct from the well-documented connection between aging and repair of UV-type damage. In the second review, Hasty [argues] that non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), a major pathway of DSB repair, evolved primarily as a means to slow aging - rather than to prevent cancer, as is likely the case for other DNA repair pathways." You'll find a two part discussion on the subject back a way in the Fight Aging! archives. The role of DNA damage in aging is more hotly debated and uncertain than, say, the role of mitochondrial damage or stem cell decline in aging.

NOTE: A new therapeutic technology might be available in less than two years that double strand breaks AND stem cell decline.

Cancer Immunotherapy Progresses (June 19 2008)
The Telegraph brings news of progress in cancer immunotherapy. Interestingly, this was a comparatively "simple" immune therapy - no genetic or other manipulation of immune cells, but rather generating a very large number of them, far more than the body would generate on its own. This is a similar approach to the first autologous stem cell therapies: "A cancer patient has made a full recovery after being injected with billions of his own immune cells. The 52-year-old, who was suffering from advanced skin cancer, was free from tumours within eight weeks of undergoing the procedure. After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs. Doctors took cells from the man's own defense system that were found to attack the cancer cells best, cloned them and injected back into his body. The patient was one of nine with metastatic melanoma, that is skin cancer that has spread, who were being treated in a recently completed clinical trial to test bigger and bigger doses of their own white blood cells. Larger, more elaborate, trials are now under way."

Cellular Alchemy (June 18 2008)
In theory, given that every cell contains all our DNA and the necessary mechanisms for replication, it should be possible to generate any type of cell from any other type of cell using little more than the biotechnology of today. We just don't yet know how. Here, the Telegraph looks at small steps forward in manipulating cell state: "a new front has opened up in regenerative medicine: the direct conversion of one cell type, say a skin cell, into another, say a brain cell. Pioneering work [showed] it is possible, turning white blood cells into red cells, but now a new [study] 'is a timely reminder' that this method is worth more study to find out the best way to create new cells and tissues for repair. [researchers] took specialist 'pancreatic exocrine cells' that secrete digestive enzymes, which make up to 95 per cent of the pancreas, and converted them directly into another cell type, called beta cells, which make the hormone insulin to control blood sugar levels. It adds to the existing evidence that a cell's destiny is no longer fixed." If you can generate all the cells you need from any cells you have to hand, that will go a long way to speeding advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Aiming to Regenerate Cartilage (June 18 2008)
Scientific American looks a some recent initiatives aimed at regrowing lost or damaged cartilage: "Scientists envision implanting nanotubes through small incisions (in, say, a knee) that a patient's own cartilage cells would colonize. The benefit [is] that the cartilage would grow more quickly and be stronger than if it was not supported by nanotubes - similar to the way that steel rebar is used to reinforce cement or concrete." This sort of technology platform has broader application once developed: "Nanoscale materials are increasing growth in all of these tissue types. The key is getting the nanomaterials to mimic the roughness of the natural tissue, which creates more surface energy and allows for the absorption of proteins important for the tissue to function. Webster has come a long way since his original experiments with in vitro bone tissue growth. Over the past decade, he added bladder, cartilage, central nervous system, and vascular tissue growth to his repertoire. The principle is the same in each: Growing cells are more likely to adhere to and thrive on a rough nanotube surface than on smooth bone or fraying cartilage."

Invigorating Old Stem Cells (June 16 2008)
Researchers are working their way around the signaling mechanisms that damp down stem cell activity with age. From EurekAlert!: "As we age, our stem cells are prevented, through chemical signals, from doing their jobs. The stem cells in old tissue are still ready and able to perform their regenerative function if they receive the appropriate chemical signals. Studies have shown that when old tissue is placed in an environment of young blood, the stem cells behave as if they are young again. Aging and the inevitable march towards death are, in part, due to the progressive decline of Notch and the increased levels of TGF-beta, producing a one-two punch to the stem cell's capacity to effectively rebuild the body. But what would happen if researchers blocked the adult stem cells in old tissues from reacting to those TGF-beta signals? Muscles in the old mice whose stem cell 'aging pathway' had been dampened showed levels of cellular regeneration that were comparable to their much younger peers, and that were 3 to 4 times greater than those of the group of 'untreated' old mice." The decline in function exists to protect against cancer - but if researchers solve that problem too, it seems we can get much more from our stem cells.
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DISCLAIMER:  News summaries are reported by third parties, and there is no guarantee of accuracy. This newsletter is not meant to substitute for your personal due diligence and is not to be taken as medical advice. For originating report, please see www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/.

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