Aubrey de Grey wants to wish you a happy 200th birthday...

People who are interested in life extension these days can do an internet search on the subject – and the results will pop up all sorts of therapies and drugs which make claims to have life extending properties. Many of these lack any scientific validity. The seven components of aging which are identified in SENS currently appear to be beyond the ability of any treatment – other than, of course, avoiding substances which are known to cause cancer.

Well, there are some drugs – pharmacological interventions – that are sort of on the cusp of becoming so ubiquitous that they are almost standard common sense things that people would do. Aspirin, for example, a lot of people now take every day – which has a blood thinning capability that seems to help. Although I would be a bit tentative – for some people, it may not be the right thing to do. Statins are the other drug. People keep saying that there are more and more things that they’re good for – and of course, this is no surprise because when you’re elderly, the things that are going wrong are going wrong synergistically. So if the primary effect of a drug is to slow down one aspect of aging, then it’s probably going to have a knock-on effect on other aspects. Again, I suspect that there will be people for which statins will be bad for.

Do you take any drugs or supplements of any kind? Ray Kurzweil, (a futurist who has written on the subject of transhumanism) takes huge amounts of supplements a day.

Well, there’s not actually that much of a contract between Ray and I as it may look. Ray came down with type 2 diabetes in his thirties – which is not unknown, but it happens. And he tried traditional approaches to combating it and they made it worse. So he basically did his own research and came up with his own theory with what ought to work – and for him, it works like a dream. He has had not the slightest hint of type 2 diabetes ever since. So he’s done very well. And he of course, extended that general principle to trying to slow down some of the other aspects of aging – and the reality of this is that he’s taking something like 250 pills a day. Now, he admits that even though he believes that most of them are good for him, and the chances are that a dozen or so are probably bad for him – and perhaps a few dozen or so are possibly neutral.

So Kurzweil has taken a sort of ‘shot gun’ approach – hoping to hit a small target with a large blast?

Yes, that’s right. Now I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum. I’ve been lucky enough to get very comprehensive screening of my physiology – to show how fast I’m aging. And for me, it seems that I couldn’t be better. So there is very much a sense of the human body – if you look at it as a machine – that, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And this is why I’ve personally been very cautious, even with very tiny stuff such as taking multi-vitamins. But I’m certainly paying attention to what’s available – as there will come a time when I start going downhill and perhaps there may be drugs available to deal with the exact way in which I’m going downhill and I’ll work from there.

It would appear that much of the SENS approach is to research biological or pharmacological interventions to the aging process – what about mechanical intervention?

This is an important point. It’s something that comes up as my goals are associated with other futurist goals. One of the main thing that futurists tend to think about is the possibility of using technology to supplant the shortcomings that we have – in terms of being made out of ‘wet stuff’. I have some sympathy with this as there is, to my mind, very much a continuum that culminates in that sort of concept. That where we are today, we’re much more, if you like, primitive but nevertheless still non-biological machines – things like cochlear implants, or artificial hearts, which people have already.

Or perhaps, to a lesser extent, glasses and contact lenses?

Well, yes, that’s right. Absolutely it would be right to start the sequence back there, yes. So my sense is that it will continue to be a continuous process in which non-biological solutions to solving particular biomedical problems – especially problems associated with aging – will continue to emerge. And I think that I can say that these will continue to emerge at an accelerating rate by virtue of the expanding range of enabling technologies for these things. Certainly when we get to the point of recursive synthesis of molecular machines – you know, the sort of things that people like Eric Drexler talked about.

Drexler is well known for his seminal book on nanotechnology ‘Engines of Creation’. Do you see nanotechnology being implemented in a way which will have an impact on the aging process?

The word ‘nanotechnology’ of course, has been used to mean many things over the years. But nanotechnology as Drexler talked about it had a very specific meaning – nano-manufacturing is now what we have to call it in order to distinguish it from nano-materials. But the whole point is to be able to build an ‘assembler’ which is something which can build copies of itself on a molecular scale.

Yes, I see your point. Certainly small self duplicating machines may be possible in the future which could either have the same function as the individual cells as those ‘naturally’ present in humans – or be able to work towards repairing the damage caused through metabolism.

What about exercise? I recently had a chat with a friend about how especially at this time of the year (January) many people make commitments to going to the gym. He (my friend) was violently opposed to the idea and suggested that physical exercise put an unnecessary strain on the body.

Well, that’s bollocks... Exercise is definitely good for you. We should do enough exercise to keep a constant weight and constant body composition.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. And we're certain we'll be hearing more from both you and the Methuselah Foundation in the future.

Is a 'cure' for aging an impossible dream? Should we know better than to waste precious time and money researching de Grey's SENS plan?

As late as 1895 a scientist as skilled as Lord Kelvin felt absolutely confident to make the claim that 'Heavier than air flying machines are impossible'. Lord Kelvin waited only 8 years for the Wright brothers to prove him incorrect. Less than 50 years later, a few million people a year travelled by air. Today, air travel is reliable, common and within the financial reach of many.

At the very least, it's likely that even if de Grey's SENS research does not result in the end of aging, it will produce discoveries and treatments which will reduce the amount of time at the end of our lives in which our bodies and minds begin to fail.

If, however, SENS is wildly successful almost certainly, entertainment networks will trample themselves in a rush to offer a show hosted by 'the oldest person on earth'.

If de Grey receives the donations required to do the research we'll eventually find the answer to whether or not aging is inevitable. And, of course, if he's correct, you might choose to send him a ‘thank you’ card on your 200th birthday.

For more information

Rejuvenation Research - Bimonthly journal edited by de Grey
www.liebertpub.com/

The Methuselah Foundation
www.methuselahfoundation.org