The key to Immortality - Story of Brooke Greenberg

[keith maynard]

Just watch this, maybe do some research on Brooke aswell as there are some amazing medical articles out there.

To keep it short and to summarize the video for anyone who didnt watch it to the end:

Brooke is a 17 year old girl who doesnt age. This means, she doesnt get older, neither physically nor does she learn at the pace of others.
It's pretty much a snail life she's living. Because some genes must have mutated based on a DNA defect, Brooke is said to be immortal in a way that her cells dont die at the regular speed as of a normal person.

I'm just amazed by this case but honestly, do we want to know the key of immortality?

Things could get nasty on earth as soon as scientists shall be able to implant mutated genes into healthy people so they can't die or live longer.
One expert prognoses a estimated life span of 1000 years as statistics reveal that about every 1000 years we shall have a fatal accident. Statistically speaking.
But what would be the use of not being able to naturally die?
I was thinking about astronauts that could now reach places in space they couldnt reach in a normal life time.
Sadly I couldnt think of any other person I'd agree to give the gift of immunity to a natural death.

Also, it has not yet proven that Brooke really is an immortal person. So far, she just seems to be more immune to natural cell dying than others. Time will show what we can learn from this girl.

[Arbor plena simia]

I shall live forever or die trying

That asides, immortality would be a curse. Knowing that the only way to go is unatural or take your own life.
And as you said things would get very nasty. Certainly there would be benefits such as more knowledge aquired by a single person, but there would be people who would want to be immortal and would go to great lengths to procure the means. Granted 1,000 years isn't immortal but even so, that's a bloody long time.
It would be amazing though to live that long and experience the rise and fall of civilizations and the change (even destruction?) of society.

[keith maynard]

Just cause you mentioned it. If the process of natural aging could be stopped, 1000 years would just be a statistically number estimating unnatural occuransces of death like fatal accidents or murder. Physiologically speaking, getting to know the gen code of immortality could basically make humans immortal.

[Arbor plena simia]

Just cause you mentioned it. If the process of natural aging could be stopped, 1000 years would just be a statistically number estimating unnatural occuransces of death like fatal accidents or murder. Physiologically speaking, getting to know the gen code of immortality could basically make humans immortal.

Righto, sorry I misread. Even so, who would want to live even 1,000 years. Granted it would be nice to know that you can do everything you want, but it seems too long. Albeit, I suppose you can't truly know untill you face death.

But what I'm curious about is how one defines immortality - i.e. is she poperly immortal/invincible or far more likely can she die for reasons other than natural. If she doesn't eat does she die? They say she survived numerous problems miraculously and that her cells don't die normally. I know it sounds terribly macabre, but what actually would cause such a case to actually die; if your cells do not die normally, then neither would you, since your brain, heart and other organs will remain working as long as the cells are (I think, I'm no biologist ).
Further, if she doesn't actually grow and remains effectively 6 months old forever (as opposed to grow very slowly), what is going to happen to her care?
I'm simply baffled.

[keith maynard]

I've read some articles about her case as I'm quite into neurology, psychology and that stuff.
They've said that something prevents her cells to die in a natural way. Although this would mean her body would be defenseless against mutations and therefore cancer, somehow her body does manage to regulate this problem by up keeping a certain level of health.
One must know that it's urgent that your cells die after a while, otherwise they'd multiply and grow in rapid speed and function as a self destructive mechanism like a very fast growing tumor. Doctors still dont know what exactly takes control in her genes over what cell dies and which doesnt because somehow her regulation rate is better than any other human being can do so. She's surviving because somehow the body can distinguish between unwanted and needed cells.

I assume it has to do with a control center that uniquely exists in her body due to mutations that optimize apoptosis and prevent PCD.
The growth rate might be due to the fact, that the illness (It's called "Symptom X") does not completely make all of her cells immune to natural death.
She has growing phases but does develop about 10x slower than a normal human person would do. So maybe in 50-100 years she could be in the state of a normal adolescent or teenager. Her brain develops at a different rate, not following any known patterns. Nobody can predict whether or when she'll learn how to speak and establish a Consciousness that allows her to realize what's going on and to take clear thoughts.

Nobody can predict what really does happen in the future. It could be some kind of growing defect and any time she could suffer a cancer mutation and die because nobody knows to what extend her body has made her immortal.

[Wizav]

Pretty amazing i wouldnt mind living for a few centuries but id hate to be immortal.

[keith maynard]

Pretty amazing i wouldnt mind living for a few centuries but id hate to be immortal.

The thing is, your only naturally bound to immortality. Would it be okay to be "immune" if you know that you could just end your life when you wanted to?

[ziom236]

Well, it's going to be sad for her, if she lives that long, she has to watch all her relatives, friends and children (if she will have any) die.

[Wizav]

The thing is, your only naturally bound to immortality. Would it be okay to be "immune" if you know that you could just end your life when you wanted to?

Ahh right yeah i didnt think of it like that , id be fine with that. I just cant imagine the afterlife type of immortaliy or why some people think its great and look forward to it.

Well, it's going to be sad for her, if she lives that long, she has to watch all her relatives, friends and children (if she will have any) die.

Thats true but on the flipside if she has kids she'll be alive to possibly see 3-4 generations of her family grow up. Be cool watching your kids , kids , kids , kids grow up. She'll always have lots of friends and family to keep her company if thats the case.

[Deez.Nuts]

If this girl played EvE.... she could get every single skill....

All jokes aside, it is quite fascinating. The only problem I see for the girl is, she's going to be subject to a form of torture being poked and prodded her entire life to figure it out and like ziom said, she may have to outlive her own children, friends and family.

[cerb]

wonder if the mutation in her genes will cause her to die prematurely, or die after 150 years. i guess none of us will ever know if its the latter.

[Wizav]

i guess none of us will ever know if its the latter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... ntist.html

It sounds a bit far fetched but who knows, alot can happen in 20 years. And most of us got at least 40-50 years left

[keith maynard]

i guess none of us will ever know if its the latter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... ntist.html

It sounds a bit far fetched but who knows, alot can happen in 20 years. And most of us got at least 40-50 years left

Well...

Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen.

That would suck, honestly. No more need for sport nor for any kind of competition. We all could be super humans.
I've read many books and seen lots of movies about the superhuman. I just dont want it. I'm opposing perfection because it would destroy individualism.

[Wizav]

No more need for sport nor for any kind of competition.

There will always be sport/competition that is based on team work and tactics. Upgrading humans will just increase the pace and action, A super human rugby match would be awesome.

I dont think there is much competition in individual sports. There's always going to be someone thats faster, stronger or smarter by default no matter how much you practice or train and they always win when there on form, its kinda pointless.

[CraKinShOt]

There have been other cases of such things; specifically I believe triple helix DNA does the same as it can repair the DNA so that it never degrades. Something like that anyway.

There is also a gene, which has been turned off for some reason, that would allow mammals to regrow limbs. One has to wonder why natural selection would not favour these genetic traits and why they seem to be dormant in us. :/

[Wizav]

We would have to come up with some kind of plan to sort out population if everyone aged slower or lived alot longer. We would most likely need a new planet to colonize

[Gh0st.IRE]

We would have to come up with some kind of plan to sort out population if everyone aged slower or lived alot longer. We would most likely need a new planet to colonize

Either way the world will end once the sun explodes. So if humanity survives that long, A new planet will definetly be needed.

[Demiguise]

Only got another 5-6 billion years left till that happens -.-

[cerb]

and i imagine humanity wont survive another million years, forget 5-6 billion.

[Bobbobthebob]

Mental retardation and halted growth != immortality

Aside from all the normal environmental causes for death (disease, lifestyle, accidents etc) we have a couple of intrinsic issues that can't easily be solved.

Firstly, humans don't replicate the full length of the telomere (the end sequence of dna on a chromosome) during cell division. Each time a cell divides, that telomere gets a little bit shorter. This sets a natural limit on how long your cells can keep dividing before they start losing bits of functional DNA and eventually either die or become cancerous. This is not so fundamental to life that it can't be changed. Full telomere replication has been shown in at least two species of bird in rather different orders, suggesting that the mechanism in each is unlikely to be the same and that with further investigation we may find a way to change this. That's a huge IF.

Another issue is our pesky requirement to respire oxygen. Part of the process of respiration involves the brief release of oxygen radicals, this is occuring in every single cell in your body and has done so from conception. Sometimes it's possible for a free radical to react with your cell and damage it, sometimes it'll be the DNA in that cell and sometimes, if you're unlucky, that alteration to your cell's DNA may start a tumour. The longer you live, the more statistically likely it is that you will suffer a tumour(s) due to this mechanism. This is the idea behind all those health claims about certain foods being full of antioxidants.