Skeptics in the Pub (February)

Guildford Skeptics in the Pub (http://guildford.skepticsinthepub.org/) host speakers on subjects such as science, superstition, alternative medicine, philosophy and religion in the relaxed atmosphere of the backroom of the Star Inn, Guildford.

Speakers come from a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints but, ultimately, are skeptical. Skepticism, put basically, is an insistence on robust evidence for claims; claims of the efficacy of alternative medicine, the existence of mystical beings, crytozoological oddities and deities; the claims of psychics, astrological predictions... and more!

No ticket required, but they do ask for £2.50 to cover speakers' expenses, who give their time for free.

This month's talk by biomedical gerontologist Dr. Aubrey de Grey is entitled Regenerative medicine for ageing: can it be comprehensive enough?

In this talk Aubrey will explain why therapies that can add 30 healthy years to the remaining lifespan of typical 60-year-olds may well arrive within the next few decades, and, secondly, why those who benefit from those therapies will very probably continue to benefit from progressively improved therapies indefinitely and will thus avoid debilitation or death from age-related causes at any age.

It may seem premature to be discussing the elimination of human aging as a cause of death, when so little progress has yet been made in even postponing it. However, two facts undermine this assessment. The first is that aging happens throughout our lives but only causes ill-health after middle age: this shows that we can postpone that ill-health without knowing how to prevent aging completely, but instead by molecular and cellular repair. The second is that the typical rate of subsequent, incremental refinement of big technological breakthroughs is usually fast enough (so long as public enthusiasm for them is strong) to change those technologies almost beyond recognition within a natural human lifespan.

Join me in The Star (http://www.starinnguildford.co.uk/) from 7:15- the talk begins at 7:30 but it does get quite busy!! Note, Skeptics is held in the back room of the pub, upstairs and right along the corridor. Ask at the bar for Skeptics, not the meetup event, if you can't find it