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Frame from David Sinclair | Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To | Talks at Google Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

David Sinclair | Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To | Talks at Google

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2 HN users recommended this talk2 months2020–2021 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Shared as the author's own hour-long overview of his aging research, though some commenters doubt that the book's claims hold up.

Harvard geneticist David Sinclair discusses his book Lifespan at Google. He covers the biology of aging, lifestyle interventions and possible future ways to slow or reverse it.

“Google talk: Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To (55:13) - By the author of the book” (HN, 2020)

2 recommendations · 1 citations · Talks · partly dated

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@LinuxBender Nov 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Scientist David Sinclair on why we age and why he thinks we don’t have to (2019)
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This is not a great article. It leaves out Dr. Sinclairs work, further developing discoveries by Dr. Yamanaka specifically around the four transcription factors (Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-myc), turning any cells back into pluripotent stem cells. More important, leaving c-myc disabled, the cell reverts to a younger age. This is what Dr. Sinclair has been working on recently, to completely reverse macular degeneration. He has been able to regrow damaged optic nerves all the way from the eye back to the brain. Here is a talk he did at Google [1] He briefly talks about the ethics of this here [2]. [1] - [this video] [2] - [link]
Sinclair's Google talk on reversing aging and cell reprogramming.
@DrRobinson Dec 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?
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Seems like many people are new to this concept and feel skeptical so here are some useful resources: * Kurzgesagt: How to Cure Aging – During Your Lifetime? (7:20) [link] * Kurzgesagt: Why Age? Should We End Aging Forever? (6:48) [link] * Why we should cure ageing (11:30) - Heads up, it's a book intro [link] * Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old (Book, not yet released in the US) [link] * Lifespan: Why we age and why we don't have to (book) [link] * Google talk: Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To (55:13) - By the author of the book [this video] Edit: * If you wish to contribute to this kind of research make sure to check out SENS: [link]
Hour-long talk by the author of Lifespan.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@fossuser Aug 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Monday was my 46th birthday and likely my last (2013)
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"At another point in the discussion, a man spoke of some benefit X of death, I don't recall exactly what. And I said: "You know, given human nature, if people got hit on the head by a baseball bat every week, pretty soon they would invent reasons why getting hit on the head with a baseball bat was a good thing. But if you took someone who wasn't being hit on the head with a baseball bat, and you asked them if they wanted it, they would say no. I think that if you took someone who was immortal, and asked them if they wanted to die for benefit X, they would say no."" [0] [0]: [link] There's no (physics based) reason we have to die, just like there was no reason for all the deaths in child birth in early human history. It's a failure of our current capabilities. I don't know if any of the claims in Lifespan [1] hold up, but if they do stopping aging may be easier than people previously thought. Either way - I'm hoping we figure it out sooner rather than later. [1]: [this video]

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