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Loss of cell identity drives human aging: Two new papers

369 points · 184 comments · bookofjoe

dyauspitr · 1790966547 · focus · HN ↗
So chronic stress is one of the main contributors to aging. I hope I make it to my 40s.
Do we currently have the ability to do targeted methylation or de methylation at sites in cells?
1. SlightlyLeftPad · 1790967259 · focus · HN ↗
  Good news! Research shows that hope reduces stress! [0]
  [0]: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/09/15/how-being-hopeful-reduces-stress/" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/09/15/how-bein...
  1. amelius · 1790968161 · focus · HN ↗
    Sadly, AI just made many of us lose all hope.
    missedthecue · 1790983058 · focus · HN ↗
    AI is an amazing Rorschach test in this regard. In the way that two people will look at it -- not just AI in general but in a specific implementation of it (coding, vidgen, etc). And one will feel deep dread and knots in their stomach while the other is filled to the brim with hope and optimism.
    I think the former group almost certainly outweighs the latter group at least in the Western hemisphere, but I know the Western hemisphere has been steeped in a deep malaise of anti-optimism for several decades preceding AI to begin with. That it's almost a game to identify all the ways anything new might be bad, rather than celebrating the obvious ways they are good. And this penchant invariably biases their developing opinions of all new technology, be it AI or anything else.
    DennisP · 1790986301 · focus · HN ↗
    What if I'm super optimistic about most technology but also scared of AI?
    Space, nuclear fusion, advanced fission, the internet since about 1993, blockchain, anti-aging, I've been a big fan of all of it. But I've read the AI safety arguments and seen what a lot of researchers say about it, and I'm seriously worried.
    E-Reverance · 1791005305 · focus · HN ↗
    What AI if is the only means for having those in your lifetime
    DennisP · 1791030644 · focus · HN ↗
    Some of them already exist. I'm optimistic enough to think plain ol' humans can do the others. I'm also fine with narrow AI that doesn't present the same risk as ASI; Google has built such AIs for protein folding and nuclear fusion, and nobody worries that they'll be any sort of problem.
    If ASI is the only way then I'm fine with dying of old age without seeing this stuff, rather than risking human extinction. And even if ASI doesn't kill us, I'd rather see humans do it, instead of watching ASI do it while it keeps humans as pets.
    We've come a long way all on our own. I don't think we've run out of tricks. It would be a shame if the human era came to an end.

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