Well, if we are to first assume that to prevent aging means to encourage
constant cell growth, then we run into a bit of an engineering problem.
At our current size and growth rates, the average human, if it kept
growing would eventually reach heights and girths that would push the
structural limitations of the human skeleton, as well as push the
hydrodynamic tolerances of the cardiovascular and lymphic systems, i.e.
we'd develop bone disorders (as many giants do) as well as increased
risk of heart failure. To counter this, we can either a) move out of a 1
g gravity field, to the moon or Mars, etc. or b) genetically engineer
ourselves to grow slower from the get go, and/or improve the structural
and hydrodynamic capabilities of the human body.
I think that the real question to ask is why simple organisms can keep
on dividing and reproducing without any serious genetic drift or loss of
chromosomal integrity, as we experience with our shortening telomeres,
and what can we do to maintain youthful or at least positive sum cell
division rates for as long as possible. Budding, anybody? Perhaps for
real immortality, we will need to genetically engineer ourselves to bud
off clones of ourselves as a natural process, with some sort of organ
that uses indictive or capacitive signals to pass data through the skin
for a sort of mind meld capability.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?