Who Wants To Live Forever?
Billionaires
If you're a white, male, middle-aged billionaire like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Peter Thiel, you'd want to live forever like the old pharaohs of yore. Although, ironically, these ancient Egyptians died by the age of 40.
But that's not stopping the rich from attaining eternal youth. It's the stuff of magic, mystic, and mythology!
The Greenland shark has been documented to live up to 500 years; the giant barrel sponge at 2,000 years; and the tiny jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, is capable of regenerating forever. Needless to say, science is desperately trying to figure out if that elixir of immortality can be transplanted from sea creatures to humans.
LIFE OF BRYAN
Almost-billionaire, almost-50-year-old Bryan Johnson has spent almost $5 million developing a life-extension programme called Project Blueprint. It includes 100 supplement pills a day, nose vibrations (to stimulate tears), vegan-smoothie meals, hair-removal laser treatments, daily dips and planks, and wearing an electronic condom over his penis while sleeping to monitor if he still has wet dreams like an 18-year-old (or Rod Stewart).
Bryan believes his life-prolonging method works, and his youthful looks and ripped body certainly bear testament to his claim. But scientists strongly disagree, with one — a Dr Pinchas Cohen — claiming that "death is not optional, it's written into our genes."
To be fair, Bryan isn't a quack ascetic living on a mountain top. He's an entrepreneur who made his millions after selling Braintree and Venmo. As a father of three, Bryan is currently running a few businesses, including Project "Don't Die" Blueprint. In this enlightening video, he presents his rational thoughts on health optimisation.
BIOHACKING BILLIONAIRES
If you want immortality, you should go to a church, or be a billionaire.
Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Peter Thiel have all invested significantly into anti-aging start-ups. Jeff invested in Altos Labs, a biotechnology company that focuses on restoring cell health. Larry, through Google's Calico Labs, is exploring biology that controls aging and lifespan. And Peter Thiel has plans to be frozen after death, so that he can be resurrected in 2200 — and find himself forced into servitude as an Ocean Cleanup Operator by a theocratic government that he funded.
It's not hard to understand why the top 1% would want eternal life. Their wealth would last a thousand years. The upside to this grandiosity is that all those money pouring into private research may yield medical breakthroughs benefitting plebeians.
VAMPIRE'S SUSTENANCE
Traditional lore and Hollywood have convinced us that vampires sustain their immortality by sucking the blood of young, virile influencers. This mirrors a research process called "parabiosis", which involves transplanting the circulatory system from a young mouse to an old mouse. The results so far have been eye-opening, as parabiosis has not only counteracted but reversed brain ageing at the molecular, structural, functional, and cognitive levels.
In turn, these parabiosis experiments have inspired Elevian, a biotech startup, to identify a protein known as GDF11 that could extend human lifespan.
GDF11 stimulates the growth of new blood vessels in the brain and elsewhere, helping the body function like a younger version of itself. It also improves blood flow and oxygen delivery to tissues, reduces inflammation, and spurs repair. Overall, the protein elevates the formation of new neurons in the brain for quicker regeneration, much like the Turritopsis dohrnii.
Today, Elevian is focused on treating stroke with GDF11 rather than pursuing broad aging and longevity applications.
As much as many would find the quest for immortality ludicrous, it's a perennial paradox that has plagued us since the dawn of humankind. Ask any old or dying person if they would take a pill that would save or prolong their life, the answer would very likely be yes.
That, my old friend, is life extension.