Rescuing the Future | Anti-aging vaccine?

Today I read the Science Recent article Anti-Aging Vaccine Successful in Mice: Are Human Trials Next?

Basically this seems to involve research into ‘epigenetics’, the bodies ability and methods of activating and repairing DNA. Calling it a vaccine is a misnomer I would say, but this is such a new field that I don’t know what else to call it.

Mice have been at the forefront of aging research for a long time. I remember listening to an interview about 20 yrs ago with a scientist who had successfully almost doubled the lifespans of laboratory mice simply by restricting their food consumption. He was convinced that this would work with humans, but even as this got more and more press coverage, few of us showed any appetite for reducing our food consumption, even for more years on this planet.

Research into aging is moving forward from all directions. A few years ago I read  an article by a long-time cancer researcher who said that once most cancers are reduced to a chronic non-fatal disease, there would be a big move, including both scientists and funding, from cancer research to aging – the reason being that cancer research has revealed much about aging. Cancer is an aging problem, cancer cells refusing to accept the normal aging process. Cancer cells are immortal.

Because of that, I’m satisfied that we are going to experience a dramatic increase in human longevity soon, probably by the middle of this century.

Unlike most people though, I’m not sure this is a good thing.

For at least 20 years now I’ve been investigating what is most often referred to as the ‘after-life’. I apologize for posting so little about it here, but that’s because I’m still just exploring, still trying to understand.

I’m convinced that something is there, but contrary to the usual view I think it is larger than just  some place we inhabit. A better description of it, I think, is that provided by ‘seers’, especially among indigenous peoples, the idea that this life is embedded in a ‘spirit world’.

Contrary again to most people who accept that something like this exists, I don’t believe that everyone goes on into this. Instead, it’s probably more like salmon making their way up a river to spawn. Maybe very few of us succeed.

But what happens if we all stop dying, or simply live much longer? If death is an important part of the cycle of existence, what will be the consequences of pursuing immortality?

Unfortunately I was unable to get a link to this article other than the one provided by WordPress, which requires that you sign up. But do a search on ‘anti-aging vaccine in mice’ and you’ll find more than one report on this research.