DIY Longevity research

[TomBAvoider]

Lab tools - including very sophisticated lab tools - are becoming increasingly affordable, and there is an extensive secondary market for used equipment at very reasonable cost. This reality, as well as changing scietific culture has led to the revival of a very old tradition of "amateur scietists". The broken pharma industry with outrageous prices for life-saving medications, including medications long out of patent - like insulin - has been an additional push in this direction.

Now there is an extensive ecosystem of DIY amateur scientists and medical producers who use conventional lab equipment as well as self-made tools to make affordable medical devices and drugs for the needy public.

This all leads one to wonder - where else can all this go? Perhaps there is room for amateur science too - the kind that pushes horizons beyond commercial limitations of needing to make a profit? What if longevity research into therapies and promising interventions could be done in the same DIY spirit? What if instead of waiting for Google/Alphabet, SENS or whatnot - DIY communities could get in on the act and bypass the traditional constraints that slow down or prevent this research altogether?

These thoughts were inspired by an article about the DIY culture in the medical space - an article well-worth reading:

The Rogue Experimenters

Now, the article doesn't mention forward looking research into longevity at all - these are just my thoughts. Because we've been so disappointed by the patchy non-progress of the longevity field, this seems like perhaps another possibility or at least something worth exploring. Who knows, maybe the first legitimate longevity intervention might come from somebody's basement in the best DIY tradition? We can always hope. After all, given the lacklaster progress to date, we don't have much to lose. YMMV.

[Clinton]

Tom,

I am ... I think a fairly grounded kinda guy.

I really believe that scientific research and progress has (obviously) been accelerating for years; now add AI to that ... or don't ...regardless, it's only a potential accelerator.

There are several players on the field right now that might be able to offer significant lifespan extension for humans; SENS should have project 21 completed in ... 2021.  Harold Katcher and Akshay are trying to promomte young blood plasma and the ELIXER that does many things; clears out senescent cells, lowers inflammation, improve all external (macro) bio-markers of aging like strength and finding where the f- they were in a maze.  We are talking about 2 completely different approaches to completely reversing aging availble for us within a couple years.

Some folks around here throw out words like 'infinity' .... lol when we speak of timing of treatments to solve the problem of aging but it seems to me that solutions will be available within a few years - let alone a decade.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Clinton

[Gordo]

I see myself as the "rogue experimenter" type.  I want to setup my own lab.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Gordo

[Ron Put]

On 5/22/2020 at 6:59 AM, Gordo said:

I see myself as the "rogue experimenter" type.  I want to setup my own lab.

I am my own lab :)