Radical Life Extension

The search for immortality is as old as humans themselves. Warding off death used to be a daily task of each and every human on the planet. Up until the early twentieth century, before the advent of antibiotics, the average lifespan was only into the late thirties. In the following decades, the average lifespan has been effectively doubled well into 70’s for some places. Humans are now on the verge of extending our lives in ways that are revolutionary and profound. Information and biotechnologies are merging in an effort to understand the fundamental processes of aging and how to reverse it.

Silicon Valley and its deep pockets are the financial epicenter of this movement. They are funding groups of people that do not know how to think small. People like Aubrey De Grey and Liz Parrish who have been on the forefront of raising both awareness and funding for the research to support the science behind it. They are amongst a growing group of scientists trying to figuring out how we can get to the next great breakthrough in our human quest to live longer healthier lives.

Liz Parrish has an incredible story of not only founding her own biotech firm, BioViva inc. but of being its first gene therapy patient. She is a rare and passionate person who is willing to be patient 0 so all of humanity can benefit from the data they can collect. She is truly putting her life on the line for her scientific beliefs and the entire world may be indebted to her for it. She speaks and fundraises all over the world but the gene therapies and delivery techniques BioViva are developing are not yet legal in the United States, so the unstoppable Liz Parrish has located her lab in Fiji.

Aubrey De Grey is one of the most recognized figures in anti-aging, his iconic beard and bold assertions on aging are well known throughout the community. He leads the Sens Research Foundation in Mountain View California, the heart of Silicone Valley. This English born Phd treats aging like a disease. He and his foundation are taking aim at solving this problem by all means necessary. They are well funded and I believe capable of a huge contribution to radically extending not only our lives but our health spans.

The merging of biological, nano, material and information technologies as a catalyst to radical human health extension is the end goal. Taking these steps will scare a lot of people and there will be heavy resistance by some. This has moral and spiritual implications that will be debated for a long time, What do you think about living longer and healthier than any human generation before you? If we alter our genes are we transhuman? Is it too good to be true or an inevitability?

Let me know what you think in the comments below

Photo credit: viviowallpaper
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Maria Konovelenko