Let's sink into the rabbit hole, ladies and gents - first step to digital immortality, perhaps - fedichevGPT absorbed my (yet to be published book) and all interviews over the last two years.
Talk to me, AMA, follow, like and repost - it feels lonely over
What should we remember about the future as we head into the New Year? Especially given that in recent years, we've narrowly avoided a global, possibly even man-made, epidemic? The world teeters on the brink, engaged in a war with nuclear-armed participants, all under the shadow
Okay, let me run a provocation. In our information bubble related to the research and development of anti-aging drugs, it is customary to discuss the concept of longevity escape velocity (LEV). The discussion is often framed as if LEV is almost achieved. What could possibly go
Aging is so obviously bad, yet most (but not all) living creatures age. To make significant progress against aging, it’s crucial to understand why aging might be evolutionarily advantageous.The first glimpse of the answer I've got a while ago from Professor Robert Schmukler Rice,
Most doctors are taught and believe that the brain dies after about five or 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation. That is actually not true. The evidence comes from an expansive multi-year study led by Sam Parnia, an intensive care doctor and an associate professor in the department
It's been a while since I've posted here (there will be a new quite provocative preprint online in a few days). In the meanwhile, let's dive into something light. As you know, I have a fondness for history, especially where it intersects with science and the study of longevity.
It may sound strange, but beyond our "longevity" bubble people often ask: what are the reasons, scientifically, culturally, etc. for the reasons why people want to stop aging? My guess is that consciousness, once emerged, faced the vastness of universe and shortness of life.
Friends, let me show what is probably the most horrific visuals in the world. While there are questions regarding the origin of the data and the curves, the key takeaway remains consistent across different datasets. It becomes painfully obvious that many traits we associate with
The extinction of the dinosaurs, believed by many to have been caused by the Chicxulub asteroid impact around 66 million years ago, has long perplexed me. How could such a singular and yet what seems to be a pretty local event lead to the demise of so many species? This question
Okay, as promised, let me finish the provocation and review of anti-aging tech. The bad news is that despite all the hype and the remarkable advances in biology and medicine in understanding aging and treating age-related diseases, most of the anti-aging interventions under
Lately, we have been delving into how factors related to social status and mental health might influence longevity. The deeper we dive, the more curious the waters become. There are genetic variants, that appear to be linked to how often folks attend church. And in other,
The complexity of fields such as biology, ecology, and economics often prompts skepticism towards the use of analytical tools. However, the study of complex systems in physics provides compelling examples where understanding the large-scale behavior requires surprisingly few
You might have noticed that I often ask for likes and reposts on my tweets, referring to the struggle between kind and wicked memes in our longevity community. In the field of anti-aging medicine, there are at least three particularly detrimental narratives:
* Aging is solved:
Ladies and gentlemen, I have exciting updates for you! Two years ago, we theorized that aging results from a mix of "wear and tear" - an entropic, seemingly irreversible process, and a dynamic instability of the organism state. We suggested human aging is mostly entropic,
Last time, I cited a study analyzing the exponential increase in the size of the "useful" (or, God forbid, non-redundant) genome from the inception of life to the present day. The graph suggests that life's origin might have preceded the formation of our planet's solid crust.
I totally admire Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series, which unfolds around a cadre of scholars led by the mathematician Hari Seldon, who forge a new academic field dubbed psychohistory. The narrative is a crowning achievement that secured Asimov's induction into the pantheon of
As I noted before, no significant scientific problem in the 21st century can be discussed without relation to the Fermi Paradox, paraphrasing Dobzhansky's statement about Darwinian evolution and biology. While it may be difficult to find civilizations of our size, there should
We are moving forward! Thank you for being with us
@ymelnichek
@vita_dao
,
@alxdobrin
, and
@DToddWhite
Physics-Powered GenAI Biotech Gero Raises $6M to Find Root Causes of Aging and Age-Related Diseases Funding by Melnichek Investments fuels Gero’s strategy to apply AI in
I had the privilege of attending and speaking at the first-ever biomarkers of aging event
#BoAS2023
the Buck Institute. It was an excellent experience, yet I want to share my concerns about the concept of biomarkers of aging.
Biomarkers are essentially numerical indicators used
I've become involved in several fascinating discussions here on X and in other places regarding whether a comprehensive theory of aging is necessary to fundamentally solve aging. What has caught my attention is the distinct perspective on what constitutes a "theory" across
What do these have in common: the ongoing struggle to address global warming, the conflict in Ukraine, and the development of anti-aging drugs? Isn't it disheartening to see time squandered, not because the right solutions are unknown, but because the right decisions are not made
''Everyone has a limited number of heartbeats in their life, and I'm not going to waste mine on exercise'' is often attributed to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. He probably never said that, but the saying has taken on a life of its own. Surprisingly, this seemingly
🎉Celebrating 2,500 Followers! 🚀 Thank you! It might be a good time to discuss why I post detailed long-reads covering the science and biology of aging.
🛑Let me state first who I Am Not: I am not a creator or influencer in the traditional sense. I’m not here to monetize or
Meet our "Aging clocks, entropy, and the limits of age-reversal" manuscript (version simplified and improved). Hayflick was right - aging in humans is entropic (that is hardly reversible but stoppable)
Most of tricks we use to extend lifespan in mice are probably already included in our genome that is to say for free. We need to be far more aggressive if we want meaningful effects in humans.
HOW TO DOUBLE HUMAN LIFESPAN?
Peter
@fedichev
opened his speech with a question to the audience, 'Raise your hand if you genuinely believe that drugs capable of doubling our lifespan are currently undergoing clinical trials?' Not a single hand was raised. The resounding absence
I will be exploring these questions and more with
@aubreydegrey
on May 27th in San Francisco. Join our discussion online or in person at the Foresight Institute
You might have noticed that I often ask for likes and reposts on my tweets, referring to the struggle between kind and wicked memes in our longevity community. In the field of anti-aging medicine, there are at least three particularly detrimental narratives:
* Aging is solved:
From the inside, the situation is way “more interesting”
Aging is solved?: If you're a mouse, we might delay your death, but not for long, even with combinations of all we know. Companies targeting single aging hallmarks pivot to drug discovery against specific diseases. As you
What many probably don't appreciate is how ancient the idea of indefinite life-extension is. Truly said, if you desire immortality, go to the church. What it's more intriguing, is that some influential precursors to modern transhumanism emerged from the church. I'm referring to
I've got the "blue badge" and may post long texts. Here we go: We don't hear often that life extension isn't a matter of moral choice but part of the already ongoing demographic transition. The decrease in birth rate and simultaneous increase in life expectancy occur in all
Let me briefly explain why drug design is extremely challenging and may not be the wisest approach when done conventionally. To support this argument, I'll reference Philip Anderson's 1972 paper "More is Different," a groundbreaking work that posits the need for new languages and
Thank God they managed to invent the steam engine when they didn't know that matter consists of molecules. If they had been given the means to measure, with the same quality as they measure single cell methylation, the coordinates and positions of all molecules and even numbered
Friends, colleagues! Today, after extensive considerations, I announce that I am giving up and will no longer work on slowing down aging. Why, you might ask? Consider this—there are plenty of compelling arguments for not trying to slow down the aging process:
* Evolution
Let me revisit this unsettling chart I shared a year ago. It's certainly alarming to see how our cognitive abilities decline with age, especially as we're living longer. Combine this with a falling birth rate, and what do you get? Just look at the chart and see what this trend
Friends, let me show what is probably the most horrific visuals in the world. While there are questions regarding the origin of the data and the curves, the key takeaway remains consistent across different datasets. It becomes painfully obvious that many traits we associate with
Attended one of the most important debates in the Longevity space between Peter
@fedichev
, and Aubrey
@aubreydegrey
.
The debate had two major questions - 1) what should we do to extend human lifespan asap? 2) Is it possible to rejuvenate the human body?
You can watch the full
@davidasinclair
thank you for noting,
@davidasinclair
! the results are not exactly those we wanted to find; that's the reason why we are the last people on Earth writing a paper on epigenetic age :) I would be happy to discuss Shannon's observer
The saying goes, "There's nothing more permanent than the temporary." Interestingly, it possible to estimate chances whether what we observe at any given point will persist in the future. This can be done by simply assuming that you're witnessing events at an arbitrary moment in
End of year is a good time to reflect on keep yourself focus on truly big problems. There are science issues that do not want to die no matter how hard you try. Aging is one of them. Life on Mars and astrobiology/Fermi paradox is another one. Let me share the story that lingers
We've just survived another OpenAI update. As the dust settles, my "copium" observations are:
*The folks are pivoting to new features, like speech synthesis, etc. It's super-cool, but...
* This probably happens for a reason: if they had a mind-blowing AGI like GPT-5, they would
When I started writing long-reads on X, my idea was to a bunch of interesting people discussing interesting science together. Last week I ran a provocation explaining my position on strong rejuvenation in humans and got comments from
@DrMorganLevine
,
@drmichaellevin
,
@DerekU02
,
It will take more than eliminate major age-related diseases (+2–3 years of life each with quickly diminishing returns) to increase human lifespan by a large margin. also, tackling diseases without reducing the rate of aging = miserable life. Do not let your thinking about life
When I was a student at a physics school, many students who considered applying their minds to biology were told with disdain: "It has happened that physicists became biologists, but for biologists or medics to become physicists — never. So, young man, take a physics textbook and
Last time, I told you that if we deem the current moment in our civilization's life as no special (applying the Copernican principle in time), then ahead of our species lies anywhere from thousands to millions of years. However, there's no particular reason to believe this is
(📕review inside ) Recent research, this time by Swedish scientists, has revealed an interesting discrepancy: while income does correlate with cognitive test results to some degree, the highest earners are not necessarily those who score best on mental ability tests (see the
GERO is delighted to be the sponsor of the 2023 Conference on Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting in Copenhagen 🇩🇰
As the 10th event in a series, ARDD 2023 has evolved into an existing international symposium for the longevity biotech sector, as well as for our partners in
Last time we discussed the promising implications of our technological and demographic transitions, particularly their tie-ins with longevity and what's often referred to as 'singularity'. The overall conclusion was as if nothing bad is happening. Here's a catch (this is an
Polishing up a manuscript involving entropy and aging. Reflecting on the fact, that "Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to
(4/4) Let’s compare the stories and summarize:
We anticipate the development of multiple microscopic theories, each valid to explain the aging dynamics and related factors in various animals (such as mice, humans, and NMRs). Currently, we're making more progress with mice, but
Much to our surprise, our latest highly technical and still unpublished preprint () made it into "Popular Mechanics" (), "Independent," "USA Today," and other media outlets.
Here's the latest update on our quest to understand aging from large datasets of biomes data and to develop genuinely strong anti-aging drugs (the link is in the followup tweet,
#longevitysummitdublin
)
Let’s run an experiment: if you suggest a reference to an interesting paper concerning aging in the comment to this post, i will try to write up how aging phenomenology explains its results.
I've become involved in several fascinating discussions here on X and in other places regarding whether a comprehensive theory of aging is necessary to fundamentally solve aging. What has caught my attention is the distinct perspective on what constitutes a "theory" across
📣 VDP-118 [Assessment]: GERO (
@hacking_aging
) - Machine Learning Platform for Age-Related Disease Targeting & Drug Discovery has successfully passed!✅
Creating therapeutics to slow down human aging and eliminate root causes of age-related diseases
Read the proposal 👇
The mystery of biogenesis, closely linked to the development of biological chirality, remains an unresolved issue. Stuart Kauffman's autocatalytic cycle model offers a plausible explanation for biogenesis, yet the enigma of chirality remains unsolved. We have lived to see the
Thank you,
@LifespanIO
,
@aubreydegrey
and the organizers + jury. Progress will likely come from where we disagree and I wish more such discussions in the future!
ladies and gents, what the funny story we have today in Scientific American! "Science fiction (SF) influences everything in this day and age, from the design of everyday artifacts to how we—including the current crop of 50-something Silicon Valley billionaires—work. And that’s a
A bad theory is better than no theory since a bad theory may still provide you with interesting edge cases—possible experiments leading to its own invalidation and hence to a better theory with even more challenging edge cases.
People often say aging needs its Manhattan or
Recently, while preparing for a panel on Al-Jazeera (), I was posed with several intriguing questions, including, "Have there been any unforeseen outcomes in experiments aimed at halting aging?" Time constraints during the show prevented me from diving into
As
@LidskyPeter
taught me during our debates, nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Perhaps, a hundred years from now, the same will be said about solving the Fermi paradox. This issue, if thoroughly investigated, should inform us about the "Great
🧵 Do you agree that life is good and death is bad? Do you want to contribute to aging research? If yes, help us spread this message.
Today, we are starting a new non-profit initiative called GeroSense Studies, which you can join to help accelerate aging science.
Details ⬇️
🚀No action is required, since:🚀
Problem is solved: “Enough companies have been created, the problem is essentially solved—no need for further action, neither research or investments, as you can't achieve much more or make substantial money: antioxidants, telomere activators,
"Two Leading Scientists Debate Human Lifespan: A debate titled “How to Defeat Aging” featured two distinguished scientists, Peter Fedichev and Aubrey de Grey, both proponents of radical life extension with biotechnology, with opposing views. Fedichev believes aging is
Amen! Here's the argument I usually use in response —imagine you're managing a server. You install and uninstall packages, manage users, having fun. Despite your efforts, things become increasingly cluttered, and eventually, you ask all users to back up their data (and back off
@fedichev
when the first mammal was cloned from a reprogrammed old cell, and this mammal lived its life as healthy as anyone else. We have had 100% certain proof that in our old cells there is everything necessary to rejuvenate. you can't stop time but you can restore youth!!
@aubreydegrey
&
@fedichev
debated whether rejuvenation (reversal of biological age) is possible or not on 2024/5/27.
Below is my summary, personal take, & 3 suggested topics for further discussion, plus a few more detailed notes.
Full 3hr video:
(1/4) In physics, experiments usually challenge the existing paradigm, often providing a set of empirical facts or fundamental observations about new phenomena. For instance, the discovery of superconductivity led to observations of zero electrical resistance below a certain
“To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in.”
Richard Feynman
Thank
I enjoyed this debate, and Karl’s summary here is great too.
@fedichev
did a great job laying out his stand (which like Karl and with apologies to Peter I’d not fully grasped due to not having time to go through the maths in the papers, but I feel like I get much more now)
Last week, while discussing with
@statto
and
@AlexanderMWolf7
, we brought up the issue of correlations between hallmarks of aging. I argued that age-dependent features in aging organisms are dynamically locked—strongly correlated beyond mere dependence on chronological age. This
A few years ago, while listening to Dan Carlin's podcast, I learnt that our children might be the last generation on Earth to taste large fish. The raise of humans has been an ecological disaster for the rest of the planet since the natural selection forces can't keep pace with
I have a confession to make: I do not like the concept of biological age and believe it is a wrong target for longevity interventions. Watch my hands - we are all fascinated by aging clocks. Take any good paper on biological clocks and see that the risk ration at the std level of
(2/4) Let's get into cosmology. After Einstein's general theory of relativity (now seen as an effective theory without a solid microscopic foundation) was established, it became a tool for cosmology—the study of the universe. In the following decades, astronomical experiments
Our NFX documentary on longevity goes live today.
Excited to share our vision on this major transition from sick care to healthcare, as well as the work of so many great founders, scientists and investors in the space.
Why we made this now:
Every Christmas Eve, I find myself reflecting on the same date in 1968. On that day, Apollo 8's crew, the first humans to orbit the Moon, read from Genesis during a live TV broadcast. In their ninth lunar orbit, Anders, Lovell, and Borman shared the creation narrative, verses
(3/4) Let's explore how these "rules of engagement" might benefit the science of aging. The initial step is to identify a minimum set of crucial observations—let's term these the fundamental aging truths (FATs).
To me, these encompass the exponential acceleration of mortality
This is a good one - thank you,
@DerekU02
, for commenting. I noted many times that replacing piece by piece is the boldest attempt to beat back the thermodynamic irreversibility.
I would argue it relies on technology that we do not have and may not have very soon:
(1) in
@fedichev
The ship of theseus argument could improve the case against your example. If you replace things piece by piece, it will be hard to argue the resulting human is a different individual than the one who started the therapies. Of course this happens naturally at the molecular level.
We're excited to announce our recent financing round's closure! This will drive Gero's drug development, strengthen our scientific team, and expand our US presence.
Thank you
@vita_dao
&
@ymelnichek
for your support." Link for the full press release:
Hi, folks. I am in Singapore for 2 weeks. Let me know if there's anybody I must talk to (aging researchers, AI/ML experts interested in helping to solve aging, publishers, journalists (we are about to start a PR action), investors, you name it)
The Consortium is thrilled to host our inaugural 2023 Biomarkers of Aging Symposium, a full-day event focused on sharing the latest research on biomarkers of aging, discussing key issues we face moving forward, and defining Consortium priorities for 2024 & beyond, in less than a
Intermittent fasting and health outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials
Intermittent fasting "may decreased WC, fat mass, LDL-C, TG, TC, fasting insulin, and SBP, while increasing HDL-C & FFM"
@surmenok
Focus on interventions that can stop the entropic component. This is “allowed” with less effort than any attempt of age reversal. We’re working on experimental demo
Notions of chaos and unpredictability, traditionally seen as synonymous, are well-established areas of study. Early on, in good schools, they teach as about the Lyapunov time scale, beyond which prediction becomes practically impossible. This principle explains why investing ten