Want to Live Longer?

[Customers don't think this post adds to the discussion. Show post anyway. Show all unhelpful posts.]

This book the Orlando File sounds interesting, so much so that I have just purchased it. I'll let you know what I think after I've read it.

HI,
I really hope you will enjoy it. I would particularly like your thoughts on both the "dilemma" the character finds himself facing, but also your thoughts on the whole direction that Genetics and Stem-Cell research is taking us? Enjoy the book, then lets start discussing the questions...
Ian

I saw a heading like this once on the USA kindle forums...

When you opened up the thread, it read: 'Then stop self-promoting here!'

Only kidding, but self-published authors who've spent time there will know that, while said in jest, it captures the mood there perfectly :)

Hi,
I read this book in 2 nights last week. One was quite a long night. But I LOVED IT. I didn't notice this forum then....is it new? Anyway, I never liked Biology at school, but I loved the way I learned something about genetics as the story unfolded...there seems to have been a lot of research that went into this book. If it's true, it certainly make you think. Regardless of whether it's all 100% factual or not...it does make you think about the advances that are taking place in science around us...You hear stuff every day. I get the point the author is making....it might be good for individuals, but is it good for society in general?
Probably rather selfishly I did find the important fact in the novel that could help me live longer, as mentioned above, and I am considering applying it very seriously. I won't spoil it for others...
And as to the choice that the main character has to make at the end....I made the same choice...

Mr Irvine,
Did you see the article in the Daily Express newspaper yesterday morning?(Oct 19th) "Elixir of Life pill will let us live until 150"? It quotes Professor Peter Smith of New South Wales University in Australia who says that "the aim is not to just to live longer, but the we want to live longer well......withe drugs helping the regeneration of processes in the body, ..we expect people wil live well, much longer..." However, Prof Smith recognised that longevity would raise serious issues for society!"... I know your book "The Orlando File" is only fiction, but it certainly addresses all these points and seems to be well based in fact...you should reach out to him. Your book seems to be ahead of its time! I am recommending it to all my friends....expect sales to soar!
(I think I may becoming your best fan...I can't stop thinking about the story and the characters...almost miss them!)

Dagmar,
Sorry, I didn't see your entry till now. Thanks!
Did you see the article in the Daily Mail on Oct22, page 3? It also lists "The Seven Steps to help you live to a hundred". Interestingly , this list doesn't contain the simple fact that you, amongst others, have found discussed in "The Orlando File".
Also, the article does raise the topic of "is this is good for society?"
Do any others have any thoughts? If you have also recently read "The Orlando File", please join the conversation!

[Customers don't think this post adds to the discussion. Show post anyway. Show all unhelpful posts.]

LOVED the book! As a gerontologist who regularly lectures about current developments in stem cell technology and the implications for society as a whole I found your explanation of mitichondria fascinating! How much of that is fact and how much is science fiction?

We are already beginning to deal with the effects of several decade's worth of the government throwing research money at the diseases that used to kill us. The result is that we aren't dying from heart disease ( for instance) as early as we used to even 10 years ago. Two years ago the World Health Organization published a study that said -basically - that in the developed countries if you make it to age 65 you have a 50/50 chance of making it to 100. Few people have noticed the study and even fewer have started discussing it.

I don't think a society with more older people is such a bad thing. I think in general we haven't experienced it and because of that are fearful of it. I also think that while it may take a decade or two to adjust to it that we'll sort out the roles and expectations involved and come up with workable solutions.

Elna Tymes

One way of being aound longer is to write a book. No genetic engineering required.

According to one scientist the first person to live to 1000 is probably alive now so the idea of immortality is getting a little closer to the truth. Remarkable advances have been made since the human DNA code has been worked out. According to what I found out we can eventually expect to live to about 1,729 - at least that's what insurance tables calculate as being the average age at which an accident or natural disaster will kill us at. As to the implications of living to that age check http://avestedinterest.info/immortality.htm

How do I get involved in the discussion of genetic and stem cell research? Is there a website?

Hi Sharon, and Hi to everyone else who has started to join the discussion! Welcome!

There are many different places on the web where you can learn about Stem Cell research and genetics. I started this discussion, and was motivated to write the novel, by the questions this research was creating. This small discussion group is my little attempt to start highlight amongst the Amazon community the questions that this research raises, to point out the hope that the technology will and does already bring, and to question whether or not this will be good, in general, for humanity. Personally, I honestly have not yet decided.
At an individual level, I would certainly want to benefit from such advances, but at a group level, for humanity, will it create problems for us all? I can think of some, but I would be interested to hear from others what you all perceive are the benefits and the threats?

Sharon, I will also keep you in mind as I do some research over the coming weeks for another topic. If I see any good discussion threads I will post them. But in the meantime, I would invite us all to start discussing some of this here?

Thank you for replying to my question. First of all, I found your book to be an exceptional read. I could not put it down and never knew where the next twist or turn would take me. Keep them coming because I find that most of the best sellers have lost their edge and I become bored too early. The discussion does not seem to be headed in the direction that conforms to your request, that we talk about genetics and stem cell research. I have been watching and reading much in this area. I believe the research may prove valuable in many situations but I am concerned about the principles of researchers and more so corporations. I don't know how this can be controlled and I know that so much fraud is also involved in treatments outside the US. I personally have seen people go for treatment because they cannot get it here (stem cell) and have not had any results but the cost was enormous. I look forward to reading more of your books!

The promise of stem cell research in particular is amazing. I don't yet know anyone who has had it done. I first got interested in it in relation to Parkinson's disease. I have now heard of it being used in a million different ways. Clinical trials will take a while, but then I can see a future where many parts of our body will be cured with it.

I personally am fascinated by the role of mitochondria. When I did the research for the book, I was amazed that I have read so little of it elsewhere. I am NOT a doctor, just a writer...but I am also interested in the idea that one of the ways we get old is because the amount of mitochondria in our bodies that is still functioning and generating the engery that fires our lives, decreases as time passes. If only we could regenerate the mitochondria within our muscles....seems an impossible task...BUt, then I remembered that there is a natural process to do this...in some way...it's called pregnancy! A mother's body creates a new being with new mitochondria with the ability to grow and replicate so........SO....is it, or would it be possible for us to find a way to take that process of recreation and help it happen globally, not just locally in the baby?

I also think, maybe wrongly...hopefully correctly, that we can blame mitochondria for a lot of cancers (as explained by the Dr Sonderheim in the book), and if we could fix the little "mito's" or get rid of the bad ones...or get lots of new, properly functioning ones...then maybe cancer rates would go down!

So many other topics/ ideas/ thoughts to talk about...but what do others think / suggest...

I'm conscious that one day a qualified expert will come along and point out that what I have written is inaccurate...but the point is that I wanted to write a story around something hugely topical. So I did my best....But please go easy on me....I actually wrote the book in 2001, before most people even knew what a stem-cell was...so the research then was just in it's elementary stages....

Over to others...

Ian

Sharon,
You may also want to refer to or read "Crown of Thorns : A Genetic Conspiracy Thriller". In that novel I tried to explain the basics of genetics, ...in a simple way so everyone can understand....(I used to be a teacher!)... and I try to further raise awareness of the potential that the application or misuse of genetic technology could have on society...Together both books (the one you read and that one) perhaps help give an outline of some of the capability we have today, without blinding you with too much technology.

Again,...it's just a story. Believe what you chose.