The race to conquer ageing has become a multibillion-dollar industry, big news in Silicon Valley.
The Economist recently reported that investment in longevity biotech exceeded $5 billion globally, driven by over 100 companies chasing the fabled "longevity escape velocity," the point at which life gets extended by science faster than the process of aging.
The desire to slow down the ageing process is not new, methods do so go back to ancient India and Greece, and right up to contemporary times - immortality has been a persistent theme in Sci Fi too - from The Time Machine to Altered Carbon.
And this is big news in the tech giant world... the likes of Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Sergey Brin have all poured fortunes into longevity startups. Their shared belief: death is a problem that can be solved through data, biology, and computing power. These companies are betting that ageing, once thought inevitable, is a disease that can be treated, and perhaps “cured.”
Among the more headline-grabbing figures is Bryan Johnson, a 47-year-old tech millionaire who has spent millions each year attempting to biologically regress his body to that of an 18-year-old. His experiments include a strict vegan diet, sleep optimization, and even “plasma exchange” therapy, in which he received blood from his teenage son — dubbed the “blood boy” treatment.
This idea reflects a wider “biohacker” movement which focuses on cellular rejuvenation. Other techniques include CRISPR gene editing, stem-cell regeneration and senolytics — drugs that target ageing cells. In separate initiatives, Calico and Altos Labs are exploring how to “reprogram” cells to behave as if they were young again.
Beyond biology, transhumanists envision uploading consciousness onto machines-a digital continuation of the self. The futurist Ray Kurzweil has asserted that "mind uploading" could be possible by 2045 and might join human memory with machine processing in a sort of eternal afterlife.
Hopefully robotic limbs will be more advanced by then!
I'm sceptical about the ability of these movements to conquer ageing... this is just part of the natural life cycle, and I'm not convinced pouring billions into it is going to have any social benefit...
Ageing is complex and there are many many variables that intertwine together to make it happen, I'm not sure it's something we can isolate out and overcome through conscious practice.
That said I am a big believer that there are certain things we can do which can slow down the ageing process. Although a lot of them can hardly be described as fun?!?
