8 min reading time

I do, and I asked my wife the same thing as we watched “The Immortalists,” a documentary about Doctors Bill Andrews and Aubrey de Grey, who want to “live forever or die trying.”

It was a mind-expanding film. See http://medgroup.biz/the-immortalists

Personally, I watched my father writhe in pain, unable to turn on his side without assistance. I don’t want that for myself or my wife.

But The Immortalists wouldn’t have us deteriorate like that.

De Grey: “We’re interested not in slowing aging down but in actually reversing it, turning back the biological clock.”

Challenged on overpopulation, food and water supply, our carbon footprint, and mental degeneration, de Grey believes future scientific developments will accommodate an anti-aging revolution.

Andrews: “In 2011, the research lab in Harvard reversed aging in mice and these mice actually became younger using telomere-lengthening technology.”

He explains our chromosomes are like long shoelaces. The caps at the end of our chromosomes are telomeres. When cells divide, telomeres shorten, so human cells know how old they are.

Telomerase is the enzyme that lengthens the telomere and Bill, CEO of http://sierrasci.com, is trying to figure out a way to turn on human telomerase. If he does, he theorizes, the human cell would then become immortal.

Bill and Liz Parrish, CEO of BioViva Sciences and leading voice for genetic cures, will discuss “A Cure for Aging?” at our annual meeting, the 10x Medical Device Conference (May 2016, San Diego): http://medgroup.biz/About-10x

So what do you think?

Do you want to live forever?

Is aging a disease we need to cure?

See http://medgroup.biz/the-immortalists and let’s continue the conversation.

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WOW.

We have 754 registered for next week’s webinar, http://medgroup.biz/New-CE-Marking-Rules

and

1,059 registered for today’s event (starts at 1 p.m. New York time), http://medgroup.biz/ISO-13485-webinar – seats still available

These are great, free resources made available by notified body TUV SUD, and quality management system experts greenlight.guru.

Thanks to both of you!

And group members, if you have content we should share with the worldwide group as a webinar, please propose it to me over email at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

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An invitation to a free, virtual IBM event courtesy of my friend, IBM’s Ryan Begley: “The Business of Things Jam” beginning October 14th through the 16th.

Register at http://medgroup.biz/IoT-Jam (online only event)

It’s a brainstorming event where C-suite executives in the electronics industry will discuss challenges and best practices – all toward identifying actions the industry can take to be successful in the era of connected devices, or the Internet of Things (IoT).

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See you on the 13485 webinar shortly,

Joe Hage
Medical Devices Group Leader

P.S. You can meet Bill Andrews, Liz Parrish, IBM’s Ryan Begley, and Jon Speer (today’s ISO 13485 presenter) at the 10x Conference in May. Request a 10x brochure at http://medgroup.biz/About-10x

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Pedro Hurtado
Sr. Technician – Catheter R&D at Boston Scientific
Me trace una meta de vivir 850 años y mas. Mis neurons estan trabajando para remotivar mis celulas perezosas indicandoles que deben “regenerar” todas mis celulas especializadas y crear otras nuevas que me permitan tomar control de todo mi sistema, ademas esto me permitira optimizar recursos alimenticios y minimizar adversidades como el impacto del tiempo, la gravedad, las longitudes de onda, los fotones, etc… No se rian piensen un poquito sobre ello… luego pensaremos en crear nuevos medical devices.

Julie Omohundro
Principal Consultant at Class Three, LLC
He lost me at “We’re already smarter than we used to be because of the technology we carry around in our belts.”

Other than that, it struck me as a marketing video, intended to generate demand.

David P. Depman ✓
Sales and Team Leader at Xanda Body Marbling (Part of the MSB Group), Cofounder of MSB Group.
Ray Kurzweil is always a great watch… But in response to your original question, depends on the situation. If I lived forever, I would want my friends to be around too. It would suck to have to make all new friends with people that are 20 when I’m 900… I can barely relate now!

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
A video featuring futurist Ray Kurzweil on living forever http://ow.ly/UcAau

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
Exactly, it is all about money and not the patient, when it comes to genetic diagnosis. It is a whole new industry, and everyone wants in. The procedures and policies are interesting at best. It takes three visits, one to a physician and two to a genetic counselor (though one may be by phone) before one can even get a test. Before getting a test, they are educated on the condition. 🙂 That is after forking out the cash to pay for the two visits and for the doctor to refer them to the counselor. Amazing, huh? Better, yet…their rules are children cannot be tested until after age eighteen, and there are some who are refused tests until they turn twenty five years old. They have to pay for a second opinion to get a diagnostic test. Though, today, they are being sold online. 🙂 The problem is the quality of the test and whether the lab has the capabilities and datum to provide a quality test. There are so many today…which have come into business and out of business. 🙂

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
Makes you wonder why socialist Europe has much tougher privacy laws than capitalist (and freer!) US. Oh, wait! Someone is making money off this, no wonder! In the Netherlands somebody would be in jail for (mis)handling of these (extremely) personal data.

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
Just a note…the information is sent with a name and it is changed to a number upon the database, however, the information forwarded is identified, within the state’s public of health database.

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
It is not for the infants tested for PKU since 1984. What is happening is, in one situation, the information regarding hereditary cancers is being sent, from nationwide clinics, hospitals, research centers, etc., including the family histories of family members, to a state public health database, without their knowledge. It easily identifies individuals…take for example me. I have Native American background, which is Winnebago and Cherokee. I am a 63 year old woman with two children and three grandchildren. I have two natural siblings. They document the race, the tribe, the sex, the age, the number of children, the numbers siblings and grandchildren. The only people with our hereditary condition who meet that criteria is our family….and it is done without permission. So, ID is easy. HIPPA allows it, which needs to be changed. In fact, when trying to withdraw from engaging in studies, there is not even a process and not one which is relayed to the patient. We are working on legislation to resolve that in some states.

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
I expected things to be bad, but not that bad. Are the data ‘sanitized’, i.e. de-ID’d?

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
That is selling the mandatory genetic PKU test results of newborns without the permission of their parents.

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
Yes, they are, Gary. They are not following standards of care diagnostic guidelines for individuals with hereditary cancers (except for hereditary breast cancer) and for many with rare diseases. Instead of diagnosing based upon family history, they are requiring an individual first get a cancer, play Russian Roulette with their lives…and, then, will be able to receive a genetic test to prevent future cancers and cancers for their family members. As such, they serve as sacrificial lambs so other members of their family can live. There is no blurring with this. It is purely eugenic, especially with the disparity with breast cancer. In fact, in California, NO genetic tests are paid for by government insurances, including those for children, with the exception of newborn testing. And, as far as that is concerned, the state is selling genetic test results of individuals, without their permission.

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
No, I want to produce more food and more jobs which will feed our children instead of pursuing a very expensive (and ultimately futile) dream of immortality.

Julie Omohundro
Principal Consultant at Class Three, LLC
Gary, what is it you plan to produce without consuming resources? Bright ideas? No, not even that, unless you have figured out some way to sustain yourself (food, water, clothing, shelter, transportation, entertainment) without consuming resources?

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
@Linda. I didn’t know our gvmt practices eugenics, at least not overtly :). In a straightforward capitalistic, cruel society there would be a clear demarcation between the care available/received by the haves vs that available to have-nots. In a socialized society, these differences still exist, but they are blurred. I wouldn’t have a problem with an 85 yo self-insured wealthy guy playing around and paying for his health maintenance, but I would definitely have a problem with his being on Medicare and receiving a liver transplant, after a $100K heart surgery, double knee replacement, while being treated for several chronic conditions, etc.: all financed by younger generations.

Linda Bruzzone
Author of “My Father’s Daughter: A Story of Survival, Life, and the Hereditary Cancers of Lynch Syndrome
In a nation of choice, I guess the matter is subjective and up to each person. Those who look at their lives with uncertainty as a result of a health condition, for which there is no cure, such as some hereditary cancers, simply determine to live as long as they can, as well as they wish, within the level of quality of life they wish. If it could be longer and better, why not, if health is good and one has the means? Do we have the right to control someone else’s body or someone else’s lifespan…as we are currently doing through the practice of eugenics by our government…do we have the right to legislate life? It is easy to discuss as a “what if,” but difficult to consider when the time comes. Where I live, there are eight-five year old men who jet ski everyday and race dune buggies in the desert. Bless their hearts…they are living as long as they can, as well as they can. The question is, can government subsidized retirements afford us to do such, and the bigger question is will there be government subsidized retirements in the future? 🙂

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
@Jack. To be a devil’s advocate, if a person is otherwise healthy, physically and mentally, why shouldn’t he contribute to the national wealth (by working, of course and producing, rather than consuming resources)? After all, tremendous resources have been spent to educate and train this person which makes him (sometimes very) valuable.

Jack Burns
Product Safety Manager at Intel Corporation
Having two children capable of reproduction, I think I have done all that is necessary for me (or more specifically, my genes) to live forever. How egotistic it would be for me to assume that I also have a right to consume additional resources only to serve my ego. I suggest no one who has produced children has a right to continue living past their usefulness as grandparents.

Edward Korycka
Product Management at N2 Publishing
I think death, while in the moment can be sudden, is an appointed time. There is an average (I think 78) for men. That timeline gets instilled in a reasonable person somewhere in their young adult years. It drives the establishment of careers and marriages. The timeline sets an urgency for births. The timeline of your life drives an economic pattern of saving and spending (and hopefully, saving again). A lot more will be altered than life span should humans endeavor to live longer. the drive to thrive and succeed, to love and to breed will all be derailed by this singularly selfish act.

Gary Abramov
General Manager – Product Development Manager at Pacific Blue Innovations, LLC
@Allan: I agree with you on the last point. If Western world insists on significantly lengthening the average life of its citizens (because it can), this, it in all probability will lead to very ugly world-wide first-, second- and third- level effects, starting with starvation in less developed countries (because Westerners will buy out all the food, and bribe the local ruling elites to allow it), all the way to major wars. Let’s not forget that the two countries with almost 1/2 of world’s population both have relatively low standard of living, high population growth rates, and are also nuclear powers with advanced weapon delivery systems. Just shows that tweaking biology can have huge repercussions in other spheres of human life. For example, Chinese tried it (crudely) with ‘one child per family’ policy which they had to abandon for economic reasons. Going back to: “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should”.