How much would you be willing to spend on life-extension applications?

Ageing can’t be helped. It is no disgrace to grow old. The important thing is to keep healthy.

Nothing can stop aging. Why would I spend money on the impossible?

I buy a £5.00 pot of face cream every few months, which I apply in the morning and that’s about it. Good diet and exercise I wouldn’t account for specifically for anti-ageing…I just think that makes all round common sense to live as long as possible.

The best anti-aging ‘product’ is a happy and positive outlook, plenty of rest and relaxation, low stress, zero repressed anger or negative emotion, and…plenty of good wine, an occasional herbal brownie and a hot tub for those aging bones and muscles!

I have joked forever about watching certain friends spend the big bucks on cosmetic surgeries, botox, lotions & potions, all the while leading physically & emotionally crazy lifestyles, clinging to bad relationships, and, in general, living in sheer terror of the aging process.

Me?

I plan on drinking wine in my hot tub in a state of bliss, let the parts fall where they may! lol

So far we’ve extended the lives of nematodes up to lives of rats. By at least 100%. It’s not a question whether we can slow aging or not, but when. It’s not about stopping aging, it’s about delaying it majorly. With a sliiight possibility for stopping it altogether, but this could take time. Delaying aging is reality.

Latest article, but you can also scan academic databases: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans

Now with those in mind, can we address the original question? How much would you spend on a product/application of anti-aging once it does come to market?

I’d be willing to spend approximately… $0.
Aging is a natural occurrence and I don’t want to look like someone I’m not.

It depends on how effective it is. I’d be willing to spend quite a lot more on a product that actually kept me from aging (ala sci-fi) than something that may prevent mild wrinkle a bit.

I would only spend a lot only if it really is a MIRACLE product that actually does vanish the wrinkles(or damaged skin from the sun) but honestly just a few dollars or none at all since most anti wrinkle products are just phony and just want to waste your money on it.I recomment just using a clay mask and some of the old regime like eating healthy and sleeping reguraly when you need it.Or like everybody else and the celebrities do,BOTOX.

I would spend a lot. Hopefully, most of it would be covered by my health insurance. However, there are some things I’m not sure I could do on my own. One of those is eating vegan. But I would be happy to do just about everything else.

Of course, I have a doctor friend who did all this stuff and still was cut down due to brain cancer before he hit 60. No guarantees, Methuselah!

They have discovered an anti aging chemical from a plant. I can’t locate the article but it amounts to cell division and what takes place. Over time as the cells divide there are some telomeres that each division begins to shorten which also takes the cell longer to divide. This chemical they have found stops the telomeres from degrading and an exact cell duplication occurs. I have a friend whose wife is a nurse and she is using it now.

I have done just the opposite….I am saving more money thanks to my anti-aging efforts. I quit smoking 15 years ago, I stopped drinking the booze, I eat cheap oatmeal for breakfast and my meal portions are ½ the size they used to be. I figure I am saving a couple hundred bucks a month !!

@Summum it’s an enzyme produced by the organism itself called telomerase.
@Cruiser that’s good for starters – diet management is one of the proven ways to extend life. Ironically, eating less but maintaining nutrition scores works best. That would be high nutrition, low calorie.

@papayalily yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I guess people are thinking this way due to the enormous marketing campaigns of those anti-wrinkle cremes :P But they do say “reduce signs of aging” – not “slow/reverse aging”.

Aging and eventual death is just the natural progression towards and end to the cycle of life. As my grandmother said, why would you want to stay stuck in the first grade? If you believe in such things, moving on from this Earth-based existence to whatever lies beyond is simply moving on to the second grade. As Albus Dumbledore said, “To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure,” and aging is just the way to get there. I would spend $0.

When I was younger than 40 then I said I would age gracefully, not feel threatened by the first gray hairs and wrinkles, blah blah. 40 came and I had a different attitude! I buy more caustic face creams than before now and might even consider a few nips or tucks in the next ten years, if I could afford it then I might be willing to spend a few thousand on physical vanity.

You mean real life extension, as opposed to cosmetic products that just hide the symptoms? If it’s a realistic possibility, then quite a lot. Perhaps even as much as I can spare without getting into financial trouble.
I want to see as much of the future as I can. Preferably with joints that still bend and a brain that still understands what’s going on. What I will look like is a tertiary concern.

To those who don’t like the idea because it’s unnatural: so is wiping your bum. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea.
Being content with dying only makes sense to me if you’re looking forward to some afterlife you believe in. And given that nobody knows whether you’ll even continue existing after death, let alone whether the afterlife you’re going to will be awesome or meh or downright horrible, that seems on par with playing Russian Roulette. With three regular bullets, one empty bullet chamber, one euphoria-inducing narcotics dart, and one capsule of acid that will slowly and painfully dissolve your head over the course of an hour. At best.

Zero. I don’t use make up or cosmetics of any kind.

Zero. In my opinion, we already live long enough. I see no reason to extend what time I already have. I will take care of myself so that I can enjoy the time I have, but I wouldn’t spend money on a product just for the purpose of living longer.

No. I can’t wait to get to the next plane of heaven and be reunited with everyone that was close to me. I’ve faced death so many times especially from my line of work that spending money on any type of life extension might not be so fruitful anyway. I do want to make the most out of the time I have here however.

Well, since you changed the question, I have to change my answer. I would spend approximately the amount of money I currently spend on food, since a healthy diet along with reasonable exercise is a life extension application.

@Fyrius I love you man, great answer. I was just about to say something along those lines but you beat me to it. :)

Since you changed the question then I’d spend as much as I could finance or whatever if I could extend my life to 200yrs, that would be interesting.

@Neizvestnaya didn’t really change the question, it’s just that the anti-aging term is hijacked by the cosmetics industry apparently :P

I still wouldn’t pay anything. Life is long enough.

@phoebusg: I’d love to see stem cell tech that could regrow and nano tech that would repair people’s damaged “bushings & springs”, that alone could give most people a nice extension on an active life as long as they keep their skin bags somewhat supple. I’d be content to stop physical aging about 60 and live on to 200 with an option of 10 year renewals.

@camertron

Wise indeed! ;-)

Nothing. I exercise and it’s for free. I manage stress and it’s for free. I eat good food and it doesn’t cost more than just food. I learn and keep my brain busy and that’s free too.

@phoebusg At your service. :)

@Neizvestnaya yeah, but there are many more levels. Even if you replace all the organs, if the connective tissue itself, bone structure, skin start to deteriorate you’ll run into other problems. The skin is something much harder to grow and fully replace, but not impossible (See Michael Jackson).

I’d like to see advancement in both approaches. Ways to get themselves to clear out free radicals and also regenerate, as well as more progress in growing organs. (Which is getting to a pretty good level, just not yet applied.)