Aubrey de Grey will have a busy August as he is arranging the 4th SENS conference for early September. He has written a short article for BIOnews giving a precis of his latest understanding on research. A fundraiser, first and foremost, Aubrey has adopted the reductionist metaphor of the machine as applicable to the human body.
His article is peppered with references to the 'warranty period' and 'repair'. He breaks down the potential strategies into three interventions: slow down the damage, repair the damage at its late onset or repair the damage before it accummulates and becomes fatal.SENS naturally falls within the third category of regenerative medicine. The machine comparison will often attract critics as underplaying the complexity of the body:
The human body is, ultimately, a machine - an astronomically complex machine, of whose workings we remain pitifully ignorant - but still a machine.
Whilst derived from his engineering background, the metaphor has two reinforcing advantages: it is useful from an educational stance in explaining the purpose of Aubrey's goals (though he may wish to choose better examples than a car); and, as a research programme, it focuses upon the physical and biological processes underlying aging.
This perhaps fits with Aubrey's background and determination. SENS is a powerful tool for engineering health outcomes and (hopefully) raising money to achieve that end. The programme is also adaptable to changes and paradigm shifts in the theory of aging, since SENS engages but does not compete with the theorists, merely pointing out their practical shortcomings.
In conclusion, regenerative medicine - if appropriately broadly defined - seems to have a fighting chance of combating aging within the next decade in laboratory mammals and within perhaps 25-30 years in humans. Since its health benefits would so immensely exceed those of the best possible 'gerontology' and 'geriatrics' approaches, there is a clear case for rapidly prioritising efforts to develop such interventions.