Submitted by questionasker577 t3_104effq in singularity
Dan60093 t1_j34pmy4 wrote
Reply to comment by questionasker577 in When will be able to edit our own genes? by questionasker577
I think it's kind of like "could probably be achieved now with some chutzpah, could DEFINITELY be achieved after AGI". The tools do exist, it's just a matter of whether or not someone could get that startup all the way off the ground before an AGI rolls around.
freeman_joe t1_j35301x wrote
There is also different type of solution. Map your full genome in for example when you hit 20 years of your life. If some genes after you map your full genome changes and you are sick, with crispr you just change genes to the state of your genes when you were healthy 20 years old. And in this scenario you don’t need to understand what each gene does.
Dan60093 t1_j356e20 wrote
I think the consideration here is stem cells. The aging process involves the deterioration of DNA because the body does not produce more stem cells - as it runs out, it loses the ability to maintain the integrity of its DNA. It's tempting to think that by regularly refreshing the integrity of the DNA by uploading a configuration from when you were 20 you would stave off that deterioration, but an aging body isn't capable of following the instructions that that young DNA would give it because it lacks the regenerative cells to do so. On top of that, our genes expressing differently over the course of our lives (before senescence) is not a bad thing and you might very well cause unintended damage by trying to force, say, a 35-year-old's body to abide by the gene expressions of his 20-year-old body. What if you tell his bones to shrink (which I don't think bones are capable of doing), or what if his immune system decides that all the hormonal stuff caused by "second puberty" was a bad move? What if the sudden and regular changes in gene expression reads to his body as "we are in an environment that is so stressful that it altered our gene expressions holy FUCK PANIC!!!" and now he's allergic to everything and permanently drowning in cortisol?
I could see your idea working with the addition of new stem cells and probably a lot of case studies, but you can't treat genes like they're a coding language and the body like it's a computer. It's a silly goopy mess of hormones and microbiomes and it's a miracle the darn things work in the first place so we can't expect bodies to behave themselves however would be most convenient for CRISPR.
Final thought: if gene expressions were the end all be all of what shapes a body, you could slap some horse DNA into CRISPR and horse-ify yourself. What would actually come out of that process would be... Well, not a horse.
banuk_sickness_eater t1_j37t2g1 wrote
One of the things you just mentioned, bone loss being impossible, is called osteopetrosis which, although it's origins are complex, is specifically caused by gene expression changes and deterioration in your genome as you age.
You actually can treat DNA like a bodily coding langauge, as it is in fact the instruction manual that every process in your body works off of.
The only reason old cells are "old" is because they are being produced from a damaged, deteriorated, and incomplete genome.
Take puberty for example. The only reason puberty happens is because of the deterioration in a metabolic feedback loop that once broken kicks off the process of puberty through the newly unchecked increase in the production of GnRH in the hypothalamus.
Giving the body's cells fresh, undamaged DNA to work off of is like giving an unripped blueprint to a contractor. All of the parts that were once missing, like for instance stem cell production, are now back in the hands of the systems that build them and the processes that build those systems.
So even if the process may be more complex than currently understood, it's still well worth your while to get your genome sequenced as "insurance" for when full rejuvenation therapies do become viable.
banuk_sickness_eater t1_j378cn5 wrote
I've actually done this using Nebula's Whole Genome Sequencing services. I recommend everyone do the same and opt for the Ultra Deep test kit. It's much pricier, but far more comprehensive than the other offerings, if for no other reason than they offer a full mapping of your genetic proteome- information which could prove vital for future rejuvenation therapies.
And my recommendation, if you're young or in good health, is to do this sooner rather than later- each day that passes you're a day older and just that much more succepitble to irreversible gene expression changes.
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