First the good news:
Actress/Writer Suzanne
Somers has grown a new breast.
This may not seem
important to anyone but Suzanne Somers, but the implications are
astounding.
Back in 2001, Suzanne
Somers had a lumpectomy and radiation therapy that left one of her
breasts as flat as if had been a mastectomy. To rebuild the breast,
she chose Cell Assisted Lipotransfer – which involves transferring
fat from another part of her body and mixing in stem cells to enhance
the survival rate of the fat grafts.
“If I can brag a little, it is beautiful – high and
firm and real and soft and unscarred. Talk about reverse aging. My
breasts look like they're from a young woman. I cannot tell you what
this has done for me psychologically.”
…That's going to sell...
How about some more good
news:
Mayo Clinic researchers
have shown that “senescent cells” contribute to aging related
diseases. They have shown, in genetically altered mice (that allow
senescent cells to be killed by drugs), that many age related
diseases can be avoided. In the picture here, both mice are 9 months
old. The mouse on the right received drugs to eliminate its senescent
cells.
“In
both mice and people, senescent cells are few in number but have
major effects on the body’s tissues. Killing the cells should
therefore have large benefits with little downside. The gene-altering
approach used on the mice cannot be tried in people, but now that
senescent cells appear to be harmful, researchers can devise ways of
targeting them.
Drugs already exist to
combat some of the inflammatory hormones secreted by senescent cells.
The body’s immune system, which probably clears away senescent
cells all the time but does so less efficiently with age, could
perhaps be trained to attack senescent cells more aggressively. Or
researchers could one day develop specific drugs to kill the cells,
when the differences between ordinary and senescent cells are better
understood.”
… That's going to sell
too...
Science has been marching on. The technology to help us live a healthier old age and likely
live far longer is being worked on. At this point, we have no clear
idea where this is taking us. But we have to consider the
possibilities. We have to consider the possibility that those of us
who can afford it may live far longer than we might expect.
In other words, those
among us who have the most power to influence history really need to
start thinking longer term – because they might still be alive in
the distant future.
The irony of the
super-rich money making tactics could be that they may be creating
their own hell. They need to consider what is the pleasure of living
for hundreds of years on a polluted and dying planet?
Environmentalists worry
about animals and plants and ecosystems. “Captains of Industry”
worry about profits. But the reality is that damaging the only home
humanity has is damaging our future. And not just our distant future.
And not just the future for the poor. Everyone will suffer. The air
is polluted for everyone. Our food is contaminated for everyone.
Everyone is already suffering the
initial consequences of Climate Change. And the Earth is already
suffering the biggest mass extinction since the loss of the
dinosaurs.
The #occupy protestors are
right. We need radical and fundamental changes to our systems if we
intend to create something more like a Heaven on Earth instead of a
Hell.
This shouldn't be just
about taxing the rich. This should be about rewarding good business
behavior – and changing bad behavior to sensible behavior.
What our systems need a
lot more of is common sense.
The 'invisible hand” of
commerce would work far better if long-term greed were rewarded
better than short-term greed.
This will require a
fundamental change in how our economy works – which will require
the pressure of those most rewarded by our present systems.
Think about it; what would
you do different if you knew you might live to 150?
