Even 10 years ago , the approximation of reversing aging and conquering human mortality was still fringe scientific discipline , seen as snake - oil inquiry by most scientists , large pharmaceutical companies , and the public . What a remainder a 10 makes . Anti - aging science is poised to become a major industry in the biotech world .
To prove its promise , the first million - one dollar bill wager on who can know the longest ( for company stock — a signed deal probably made public by and by this week ) was of late struck . It was made last calendar month by two leading longevity counsellor at thebiggestannual healthcare investment event of the year , the JPMorgan Health Care Conference .
Dmitry Kaminskiy , older partner of Hong Kong - based technology speculation stock , Deep Knowledge Ventures , andDr . Alex Zhavoronkov , Ph.D. , CEO of bioinformatics companyInsilico Medicine Inc.which specializes in drug discovery and drug repurposing for aging and old age - related diseases , bless a wager to designate incisively how sure they are that science is turning the tide against the eternal job of human aging .
The terms go like this :
– If one of the parties passes out before the other , $ 1 million dollar in Insilico Medicine stemma will be hap to the surviving party
– The concord will vest once both parties reach 100 years
– Parties fit not to accelerate each other ’s demise ( i.e. endeavor to kill each other )
“ length of service competitions may be a dandy way to combat both psychological and biologic ripening , ” Dr. Zhavoronkov emailed me . “ I go for that we will start a course . ” He take care length of service stake catching on around the macrocosm , and thinks if multitude will embrace competition to live longer , they may depart behind a world-wide culture that largely accepts aging and human last as a given .
Kaminskiy agrees . “ I would really like to make similar bets with Bill Gates , Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg so they could live longer lives and produce groovy products , but I do n’t think they will be worthy competitors on longevity , ” he wrote me in an e-mail . “ But I would like to challenge Sergey Brin and Larry Page to a similar challenger due to their ostensibly in high spirits interest in the sphere of influence and Calico project . ”
There ’s been a embarrassment of bodily process recently in the longevity field of operations , also known as life file name extension skill , the drill of essay to see ways to halt aging and disease . Its assistant are often predict spirit extensionists , transhumanists , and immortalists , and they calculate to use medical discoveries in regenerative music , root mobile phone , tissue paper rejuvenation , molecular repair , pharmaceuticals , andorgan replacementas means to live longer .
Reutersreported that Dr. Aubrey de Grey , a leading biomedical geriatrician and master scientist at SENS Research Foundation , think scientists may be able to control aging in the good future , “ I ’d say we have a 50/50 probability of bring senesce under what I ’d call a critical level of aesculapian ascendance within the next 25 years or so . ”
The last two years have seen the macrocosm of major anti - aging companies , such as Google ’s Calico and J. Craig Venture ’s new San Diego - based genome sequencingstart - upHuman Longevity Inc. , ( co - founded with Peter Diamandis of the X - Prize Foundation and stem mobile phone pioneer Robert Hariri ) which already has 70 million dollars in funding . Billionaireslike Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel are also funding enquiry into longevity skill .
There ’s a growing stream of anti - ageing studies , discoveries , and projects appearing in scientific discipline journals and majormedia — the US political Transhumanist Party has made consecrate national resources to biography extension scientific discipline its toppriorityfor Americans .
“ Seems like a new investment gold rush is coming , resemble the Dot Com roar , ” Kaminskiy assure me .
So is this kind of seniority wager just a gimmick , or can it really help anti - senescent science out ? Andrew Garazha , an analyst at England - based biotechnology and regenerative music companyAging Analytics , who witnessed the bet and first tell me about the story , explained the significance in an e-mail :
The bet signifies :
1 . We are very confident that lifespan will be carry dramatically
2 . vie for longevity offer supernumerary incentives to take concern of our health today and render various approaches to extend lifetime
3 . Competing for length of service provides extra motivation to live
Garazha has a point about competition . Historically speaking , other rivalry andbetshave been made to further skill and man ’s ambitions . Napolean Bonaparte offered 12,000 Franks for anyone who could learn to preserve food for thought , something that would greatly facilitate his far - off military campaigns . The winner was Nicolas François Appert , whose method acting of boiling and sealing food in bottles in 1809 chair to canned food .
Of course other wager , competitions , and races are more well - make love : The X Prize rival , the Soviet and American race to the moon during the Cold War , and even IBM ’s Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov in chess game . This catch - up was in the first place spur by a competition , in which the IBM squad won the $ 100,000 prize .
Longevity competitions themselves may seem young and futuristic , but they have some historic precedence . A middling pop investing annuity plan in Europe in the eighteenth and 19th centuries calledtontinesencouraged competition to live longer by giving investment funds of at peace participant to live participants .
A more well - known seniority bet was made by 90 - year - oldJeanne Calmentand attorney Andre - Francois Raffray . The agreement was that Raffray would pay her a monthly amount of $ 500 while she was living — but he would inherit her apartment after she die . return her old historic period , it seemed like a prudent business move . But Calment went on to become a supercentenarian , dying at 122.5 geezerhood , which is now the longest substantiate lifetime of any homo being on record . Ironically , Raffray die before Calment , but not before pay doubly what the flat was worth .
If the wager between Kaminsky and Zharvorokov seems a like a way to generate publicity hype for longevity scientific discipline , that ’s because it is . But like many other longevity leaders , they are not in this to for money or fame . They are doing this for a singular and extremely human reason : They do n’t want to die . And they want others to know that — in the 21st Century , an years shed over with new basal science , medicine , and applied science — they might not have to either .
“ Technology is develop so fast , ” Kaminskiy say , “ that I have no doubt that we will be capable to dwell century or else of X . ”
Zoltan Istvan is the generator ofThe Transhumanist Wagerand laminitis of theTranshumanist Party .
Image : Shutterstock
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