Fighting to Save Lives - The Struggle for Indefinite Life Extension
Eric Schulke
2014-07-19 00:00:00
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Major Dick Winters


When the bullets were flying, he walked forward for us. When he wanted to be at home with his family, he sat in a crowded, rotting, filth ridden fox hole waiting for mortar rounds and tanks. When bombs were ripping people apart he pressed on to help put down the source of our woes. We fight with that same spirit in the war against diseases like aging. 



When we are poor we still organize profitless speaking events. When its raining we still hold up our “down with aging” signs. The middle class citizens among us get 13 million dollar inheritances and give it to world life saving research. Millions have been donated and raised for this cause from multiple sources in the past couple decades. So many of us have given up jobs that have more short term satisfaction, to pour out time into the initial risky start ups. There are angel investors like Peter Thiel, Dmitry Itskov, Saul Kent and others. People like Dave Gobel, Dave Kekich, Michael Rose, Michael West and others have led the way on a variety of important cause furthering research projects and initiatives, also setting forth general leadership which has inspired many others. Networks of activist volunteers toil in the trenches in a daily struggle to help lay the platforms and foundations of understanding of this cause in peoples brains. 





SENS 6 supporters rallying in the rain


Something seems less important and imminent about “activist volunteer” when you think of it alongside the concept of soldier or General. It seems that’s a large part of why you see that kind of comparison so often. There doesn’t seem to be a word that signifies the kind of grit that they often have, the kind of diligence and sacrifice that a lot of these indefinite life extension expedition volunteer leaders go through in helping to raise awareness, incentivize research, disseminate information, generate more of the kinds of information we need, keep networks together, hold rallies and conferences, opinion lead for the cause, recruit new people, get the percent of students interested in the cause up, start or support various projects - all geared toward things like bringing in more awareness, resources, media, research funds, research students, and all the people power that is needed to have the best chance of bringing down aging, diseases and as much general death as possible, in our lifetimes. It’s a battle of wills, and for the ones with the most truth in them, which thereby have the most passion and thrust available to be stirred, they will pull to the front.

 



That’s where this cause needs to be right now. For any of us to have the best shot at indefinite life extension in our lifetimes as possible, this cause needs to be on the tips of peoples tongues at work places, in labs, in freshmen hallways, at barbecue chatter, on book store shelves, in the headlines, on the mind, in the spirit. That’s where these activists and advocates help take us. “Volunteer” just doesn’t seem to command that same kind of respect as fighters of freedom or economic disparity, as somebody like Major Winters. 



Of SENS and Methuselah Foundation helping driving awareness, Reason of Fight Aging writes,




The aging research community of fifteen years past was one in which researchers could not openly talk about extending healthy human life span, or at least not if they wanted to retain their funding. The research community today is quite the opposite, and that goes a long way towards making it possible for competitors and allies for radical life extension programs to arise at all.




I agree. That can be said of the wider communities and sub communities too, like: Humanity+, Extropy Institute, BetterHumans, Fight Aging, Alcor, Longecity, Maximum Life Foundation, Reddit people, Facebook groups and pages, Lifeboat Foundation, IEET, Cryonics Institute, Eucrio, Immortal Life, Zero State, Center for Transhumanity, ELPIs Foundation, Foresight Institute, Accelerating Future, Future Pundit; people talking about this at the water-coolers, kitchen tables, the bar, family picnics; the mainstream media outlets that have done interviews and covered the indefinite life extension cause in various ways, and others. Those people and things create and cause a lot more news, events, conferences, rallies, petitions, book sales, awareness, thought about the topics, and general consideration among larger and larger numbers of people as to what they might be able to do to help advance this cause so that we can all have a shot at staying alive long into the grand future.







There are a lot of major volunteers out there doing a lot of important, critical work. They sacrifice careers and the fuller building of material and social lives so they can continue helping to move forward to the lair of the beast of death. They stand at the front lines with the heavy road laying, mountain trail blazing, vine and brush slashing construction equipment, helping lay the way for the multitudes of people, many of whom will cross those paths that we help build, to seize more of the opportunities to help fight aging and all diseases. The opportunities are all around ripe for the picking. We cant afford to lose any battle because the soldiers had their guns leaning against trees and were picking berries and weaving grass baskets when the panzers swept in. Indefinite life extension is not a choice, its an imperative. We stand up, pay attention and fight.

Indefinite life extension could be behind any known or unknown set of experiments. With the clock ticking, we need to help make sure as many of those experiments as possible get done as soon as possible. Every project that could feasibly take us to indefinite life extension needs to be pursued as thoroughly and expediently as it can be, and every research angle that is yet to be thought of and taken on yet needs to be cultured and facilitated for. To help make sure that happens, we need to make sure that every person that would go into research for this if they only knew about it, has that chance to, and we need to make sure that there are enough classes, laboratories, researchers and resources to supply it all. To get those things, all of the industrialized world needs to become at least generally informed about this cause. All the people that know a little to nothing about this cause need to have these concepts flowing through their heads. After the world thinks about this enough, the percent of total world support can go way up, compared to where it is. 







That is your position on this battlefield to stop this carnage. Don’t fight less hard because you don’t have people to kill to do it. The death toll by diseases is so atrocious that it would be foolish to put less effort into this cause than people like Dick there put in for that cause. He stood up when it was blood and guts tough and there was a lot at stake. Don’t lay down because this cause is fought in office space style battle fields when there is even more at stake.