Thursday, September 01, 2011

what we should know about time (and aging)

From Cosmic Variance: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/09/01/ten-things-everyone-should-know-about-time/

In particular, this one:

9. Aging can be reversed. We all grow old, part of the general trend toward growing disorder. But it’s only the universe as a whole that must increase in entropy, not every individual piece of it. (Otherwise it would be impossible to build a refrigerator.) Reversing the arrow of time for living organisms is a technological challenge, not a physical impossibility. And we’re making progress on a few fronts: stem cellsyeast, and even (with caveats) mice and human muscle tissue. As one biologist told me: “You and I won’t live forever. But as for our grandkids, I’m not placing any bets.”

Kurzweil has been singing this song for a while, and it makes sense.   When extreme healthy-life extension becomes possible, how society responds and adapts to the possibility will be fascinating.     How'd you like to see the same set of supreme court justices for 200 years?   ;-)

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