So, he’s specifically talking about the failures of previous longevity research. It seems to me that modern longevity research has portions that are considerably better (among other things, the reductionistic view appears to be the dominant view among the top researchers). Consider this section in particular:
I could wish Stambler made more of an effort to evaluate researchers on scientific grounds and give a better idea of where ideas have been vindicated or refuted by subsequent work.
That Stambler spent too little time on whether or not they actually got the science right / pushed in the right or wrong direction, and spent too much time focusing on their political persuasion, strikes me as highly relevant and interesting when it comes to scientific history (and the modern versions—namely, choosing who to fund or not, and what experiments to pursue or not).
I don’t think SENS is one of the simple approaches Gwern was referring to in context. The simple approaches are things like turning off a genetically coded “mortality switch,” lengthening telomeres, calorie-restriction mimetics, or just getting tons of antioxidants in your diet. Here’s a recent Aubrey de Grey interview.
So, he’s specifically talking about the failures of previous longevity research. It seems to me that modern longevity research has portions that are considerably better (among other things, the reductionistic view appears to be the dominant view among the top researchers). Consider this section in particular:
That Stambler spent too little time on whether or not they actually got the science right / pushed in the right or wrong direction, and spent too much time focusing on their political persuasion, strikes me as highly relevant and interesting when it comes to scientific history (and the modern versions—namely, choosing who to fund or not, and what experiments to pursue or not).
Gwern also makes a more general claim that aging is too complex for any simple solution to be plausible.
I don’t think SENS is one of the simple approaches Gwern was referring to in context. The simple approaches are things like turning off a genetically coded “mortality switch,” lengthening telomeres, calorie-restriction mimetics, or just getting tons of antioxidants in your diet. Here’s a recent Aubrey de Grey interview.