The government wants to know. The longevity industry wants to cash in. People are lining up for treatments. What might it mean to live to 150, 1000, or forever?
Is aging even a thing to be cured?
The World Health Organization says no. But some longevity acolytes believe it is and want to live as long as possible--like, to 1000 years (Aubrey de Grey, famous biomedical gerontologist, believes that person has already been born). Others are focused on curing aging-related diseases.
Where do you land on the spectrum? To give you some food for thought, let me take you on a little tour of the landscape I've been discovering as I explore the longevity beat.
The science + ethical and practical concerns
In September 2022, The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held a hearing called "The Fountain of Youth? The Quest for Aging Therapies." (BTW, check one of my recent posts for a list of fountains of youth near you.)
The hearing wasn't about supplements that claim to extend your life but actual research into slowing the aging process, such as:
drugs that clear out senescent or "zombie" cells, which have extended the life of rodents by 30%.
metformin trials, a drug used to treat diabetes that may ward off "age-related maladies."
genes that can "can allow mature cells to return to an immature state, as stem cells," research into which has shown that "cellular reprogramming can be used to boost muscle regeneration and rebuild tissue in older mice."
thymus (a critical immune system organ) regeneration, "which could in turn “potentially prevent or reverse key parts of the aging process more generally."
and more...
Longevity raises ethical and societal questions
The committee noted the implications for society would be “substantial” on demographic projections, health care costs, our workforce, funds for retirement, and health insurance.
It would also introduce “philosophical, ethical, and policy questions, such as:
What is the obligation of insurance companies to make ‘gerotherapies’ widely accessible?
What is the obligation of government to ensure the equitable availability of gerotherapies?
Would a longer ‘healthspan’ enabled by prescription drugs justify a later retirement age?
When would it be appropriate for a physician to stop a patient’s access to prescription gerotherapies?”
Investors are all in on the longevity industry
Can you get to Gstaad, Switzerland this September? Do you have a lot of money? If so, you might want to attend The Longevity Investors Conference. Reporter Harry Büsser, writing for the German-language publication (Google can translate it) Handelszeitung, says attendees have to come ready to invest at least a million francs in a longevity-related business, such as nutritional supplements.
"I don't think our brains are evolved enough to handle 900 years of memories."
Jessica Hamzelou covered the 2022 conference for the For MIT Technology Review (BTW, she covers the hell out of the longevity beat. Find her coverage here). In Can we find ways to live beyond 100? Millionaires are betting on it, Hamzelou is a great guide to the terrain of longevity investing. She writes about why it's difficult to believe some of the claims:
"...we don’t have a good way to tell if a treatment really has slowed or reversed aging in a person. Much of the solid evidence we have so far comes from mice—we have well-established ways to extend the lifespan of rodents and protect them from a slew of age-related diseases.
"But to test the same treatments in people, we’d need to run clinical trials for decades, which would be very difficult and extremely expensive. So the hunt is on for chemical clues in the blood or cells that might reveal how quickly a person is aging. Quite a few “aging clocks,” which purport to give a person’s biological age rather than their chronological age, have been developed. But none are reliable enough to test anti-aging drugs—yet."
What might it mean to live to 150? To 500? To 1000?
My husband's first reaction was:
"I don't think our brains are evolved enough to handle 900 years of memories."
If your first of reaction is "Yes! Sign me up!" here are some organizations that are in your corner (and possibly trying to sell you something. It’s a bit of the Wild West out there. Important note: I am not endorsing any products, but merely giving you a sense of the community that has sprouted up around these ideas, many of them for a long time.)
Link round up!
Lifespan.io wants to "solve the biggest problem in human history: aging."
The Methuselah Foundation exists to "incubate and sponsor mission-relevant ventures, fund research, and support projects and prizes to accelerate breakthroughs in longevity.
The Live Forever Club provides news about all things longevity-related, from biohacking to mind uploads to a Live Forever Manual, as well as a membership that gets you access to articles and... surprise...discounts on supplements.
The Coalition for Radical Life Extension is "dedicated to uniting a critical mass of like-minded people who support radical life extension and physical immortality in order to inspire revolutionary change and how radical life extension is viewed in our world." (It also includes a "marketplace" where you can buy longevity-promising products.)