Blog and Wiki Posts
Book review of Jean Hebert’s “Replacing Aging,” part 1: Why gerontology is not the solution
The title of Jean M. Hébert’s recently published book, Replacing Aging, fits the book nicely. Another title that would fit even better (but wouldn't sound so appealing) would be "Replacing Anti-aging Research." In the first part, Professor Hébert of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine essentially dismantles all major...
Diamandis and OneSkin OS-01: Reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells
Peter Diamandis has pitched the new product of OneSkin Technologies, a company that claims to be able to reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells. In this post, I summarize the science behind this new approach to skin anti-aging.
David Sinclair’s level 3: Reversing aging with the Yamanaka factors
In my last post, I outlined David Sinclair’s anti-aging levels 1 and 2. Whereas levels 1 and 2 can, at best, slow the aging process, level 3 has the potential to provide a real cure for aging. At level 3, at least in theory, we can completely reverse the...
Why we don’t have to age: A short discussion of David Sinclair’s anti-aging level 1 and 2
In my last post, I outlined David Sinclair's information theory of aging which claims to explain why we age. Today, I will summarize why Sinclair thinks that we don't have to accept this unfortunate fate. Essentially, Sinclair claims that we can intervene in the aging process at three different...
A summary of David Sinclair’s Information Theory of Aging
David Sinclair is one of the most renowned scientists working on biological aging. He has published a new book with the title Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To. This post is a summary of Sinclair's Information Theory of Aging.
Mind uploading and consciousness – Why an uploaded mind will be unconscious
In the video at the end of the text, Ray Kurzweil discusses the idea of connecting our brains to the cloud. He avoids the term consciousness, although I think he really believes this "neocortex in the cloud" will then somehow extend the consciousness of the biological brain. The headline...
Will transhumanism go mainstream in 2018?
The German computer magazine c't has a series of articles about biohacking and transhumanism in their January 2018 issue. I wonder if 2018 will be the year when transhumanism goes mainstream. Unfortunately, after reading the articles, many computer fans who've never heard about transhumanism before may likely identify the...
Book review – The Telomere Effect – More damage to the damage theory of aging
I think I bought this book the day it came out and read it immediately, putting aside another book, which I rarely do. But if a Nobel Laureate writes a book about telomeres and aging, it is of course a must-read for every transhumanist. Nonetheless, I am a bit...
Site Activity
Michael Pietroforte commented on David Sinclair’s level 3: Reversing aging with the Yamanaka factors 2 weeks, 3 days ago
I agree that this idea that the epigenome stores information in an analog form doesn’t really make sense. It appears to me that Sinclair confuses the distinction between analog/digital and continuous/discrete. It is a common misunderstanding, but a Harvard professor should know better even if this is not his field of expertise. Besides, methyl groups are either attached to the DNA molecule or not. Thus, we have a clear case of “discrete” here.
Perhaps the winding of DNA strands around histone proteins can be seen as “continuous.” However, down there at the molecular level quantum effects already come into play and we realize that “continuous” is an illusion anyway.
Originally, I planned to write an article about this topic, but I guess nothing interesting about aging could be learned here. As far as I know, nobody in the geroscience community picked up this view that the epigenome is analog.
Nabil commented on Diamandis and OneSkin OS-01: Reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells 2 weeks, 3 days ago
Hello Gary. It will be very usefull if you can show us the difference between your skin before and after some weeks of application of this product. All the cosmetic try to sell us promise that they can’t honorate
Postdoc Doc commented on David Sinclair’s level 3: Reversing aging with the Yamanaka factors 2 weeks, 3 days ago
It’s a great article and your questions are good questions. What it demonstrates is that Sinclair doesn’t understand epigenetics. What does “the cellular equivalent of TCP/IP” even mean? Most legitimate scientists are highly skeptical of Sinclair’s work, as they should be, and I think, frankly, that he’s causing considerable harm by endorsing junk science and misleading the public.
Michael Pietroforte commented on Diamandis and OneSkin OS-01: Reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells 1 month, 1 week ago
Gary, thanks! To make sure that it is not wishful thinking I recommend to make pictures (close-ups) once a week under the same light conditions. After a few months, you can show them to friends and ask them which skin looks younger.
Gary Bonkowski commented on Diamandis and OneSkin OS-01: Reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells 1 month, 1 week ago
Michael, thanks for this review, I am a middle aged man with sun damage as a retired Army officer – lots of time in the desert… I started using OS-01 a couple of weeks ago and have used as directed, application twice daily; morning and night. I have seen some mild changes in skin texture along with mild lightening of sun spots. It could be perceived/placebo/psychosomatic, but I also noticed a slightly more youthful appearance so this topical may be different. There seems to be something else going on besides the standard peel and replenishment of the upper epidermal layer as you see with retinol products. Like I said, it may be wishful thinking, but I don’t think so. As a side note, I do take resveratrol and NMN daily as well, which I just started a month ago, so I have a couple of experiments at play. I enjoy reading your articles, very insightful, nice to see a counterpoint being made once in while.
Eugene commented on David Sinclair’s level 3: Reversing aging with the Yamanaka factors 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Terrific article
Michael Pietroforte wrote a new post, Book review of Jean Hebert's "Replacing Aging," part 1: Why gerontology is not the solution 4 months, 1 week ago
The title of Jean M. Hébert’s recently published book, Replacing Aging, fits the book nicely. Another title that would fit even better (but wouldn’t sound so appealing) would be “Replacing Anti-aging Research.” In the first part, Professor Hébert of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine essentially dismantles all major approaches to finding a cure for aging. According to Hébert, all drug-centric attempts (as he likes to call biochemical-based efforts) are prone to fail and need be replaced with a new approach, which he outlines in the second part of the book. In this first blog post, I will discuss his arguments against the gerontological approach, and in my next article, I will outline Hébert’s alternative.
Michael Pietroforte wrote a new post, Diamandis and OneSkin OS-01: Reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells 6 months ago
Peter Diamandis has pitched the new product of OneSkin Technologies, a company that claims to be able to reverse the biological age of your skin by clearing senescent cells. In this post, I summarize the science behind this new approach to skin anti-aging.
Elsa became a registered member 6 months, 1 week ago
Michael Pietroforte wrote a new post, David Sinclair’s level 3: Reversing aging with the Yamanaka factors 8 months, 1 week ago
In my last post, I outlined David Sinclair’s anti-aging levels 1 and 2. Whereas levels 1 and 2 can, at best, slow the aging process, level 3 has the potential to provide a real cure for aging. At level 3, at least in theory, we can completely reverse the age of an entire organism by introducing the Yamanaka factors.
Nice! I know Aubrey but I have never read about his theory in detail, only very superficially. I agree that the Yamanaka factors seem to be the most promising ones. They are also the most exciting ones, the idea of reversing aging is just amazing! I’m not old, I’m 27, but even at my age I think the only possibility of having a very long lifespan is if there is some sort of rejuvenation therapy like this one. Otherwise, I believe it’s too late haha I’m looking forward to your post on the Yamanaka factors.
