The Longevity Spectrum - Where do you place yourself? (Poll)


Where do you place yourself?

  • Healthspan Enthusiast
  • Morbidity Preventer
  • Multi-Morbilidity Preventer
  • Core Aging Advocate
  • Maximum Lifespan Extender
  • Immortalist

0 voters

1 Like

I like the top paragraph under each category, but not in agreement with the bottom paragraphs.

7 Likes

As often happens when you try to fit people neatly in boxes, most will spill outside. So too here. In principle, since I believe in extending human life for as long as the laws of physics (let alone biology) allow, I applaud the ambition of Level 6, Immortalist. However, since I don’t believe it is realistic within a timeframe of anyone currently alive, and indeed much longer than that, I focus on the maximum that can be done right now, so Level 3, Multimorbidity Preventer. At the same time, I have my eye out on the bleeding edge of research, and am willing to implement the more realistic even though speculative approaches, which means Level 4, Core Aging Advocate. But since interventions to measurably slow human aging are thin on the ground, even CR has only been tested in monkeys, and rapamycin tested in marmosets, I only have a toe dipped in Level 4.

Realistically, I don’t see myself fitting comfortably in any one box as described, so I place myself awkwardly somewhere between Level 3 and Level 4./shrug/

4 Likes

Hard choice between 4 and 5 here. I think aging is a thing, but the best test for addressing aging is increasing max life span.

2 Likes

It looks like most of us here are not in the immortality / LEV / Aubrey De Grey group of longevity people. It seems many are targeting 120 years, or better.

And I agree with @KarlT , If he’s left just the top description without the second bullet point which doesn’t really seem to be connected as well to the first bullet point, I think he would have been better off.

4 Likes

I want to be immortal yet I’m not excited about cryogenics, whole body transplants and creating a digital copy of myself (which brain uploading is).

4 Likes

I’m just here for a normal lifespan. Not to play crosswords for another 10-15 years.

I’m 46, with a couple ailments, not the best family genetics, am tall (6’3) with a diet/lifestyle that could be described as “eat, sleep, be merry, for tomorrow we die”. (although I work out/walk/and longevity supplement)

I’m here to get to median male age in the US which is late 70s.

Unless healthspan drastically improves to the point that old age looks a lot different than it does now, I’m not super driven to reach 90s etc.

So multi-morbilidity preventer

3 Likes

Maximum lifespan extender here.

2 Likes

In my mid 40s, basically perfect health (people often think I’m early 30s). Would still love to be back in my biological 20s again and would def prefer age reversal back to a biological fit 20s, 30s or 40s state vs a healthy, but still decline in function 60s, 90s or 100+’s.

Whether biological vitality of a 20 year old will be fun for an extra 100, 500 or a 1000 years or shorter or massively longer feels tough to say today.

The world could become amazingly good and exciting compared to anything human civilization has seen over be the next decades or centuries - or it could go in the opposite direction or even be game over for humanity.

But I definitely see many decades of fascinating and exciting things ahead that I want to see, do, contribute to and be part of. I’d image I’d feel the same in 150 years - if eg healthy, biologically young and wise and in harmony from a wealth of experiences that come with chronological time and e.g. on way to vacation on Mount Olympus on Mars with my great, great grandkids and generations in between for a favorite skip trip. And so on and so forth.

Imagine Napoleon or Cleopatra thinking about what our world in 2024 would look like - in the same way we almost certainly fail in imagining what our civilization, solar system and technology will look like in 50 and 100 years from now, let along 500 or 1000 years from now (and perhaps even just in 20 years).

So while I feel indefinite life seems like something desirable, I’m not sure that means infinite is/will be.

Declining function, disease and unwanted death definitely seem like some of the most terrible things that still plague human kind.

And think about scenarios that go well over the next decades to century or so (friendly, collaborative AGI, cracking fusion, developing advanced molecular nanotechnology) - in those cases we will likely enhance our individual cognition, our bodies and our ability to experiments and process our world in truly unfathomable ways.

1 Like

I’m a solid 4. I don’t have an age target. I just want to remain myself for a long time. I’ll aim for a decline that is so gradual that I don’t notice. But I won’t take any big gambles with my healthspan to acquire additional chunks of time. I’m working to make drugs and chemicals a small part of my lifestyle.

Food as medicine.

4 Likes