Fight Aging!

Some years after first coming to the conclusion that treating aging as a medical condition is possible, a great idea, something that should be supported by vastly more research and development funding than is actually the case, one starts to lose touch with how most people think about aging, medical research, and medicine. Which is to say that it is in the background, not thought about that much at all, and aging is taken for granted. Not a big problem, just the state of things. It is akin to all of those people who don't think much about cancer medicine until they develop a cancer, and even then treat the state of medical capabilities as set in stone, a fixed state of the world to be guided through by a physician rather than a potentially adjustable, changeable field to learn, engage with, and try to improve on.

Most individuals with the capability to direct large sums of funding into research think this way. Wealth doesn't grant any particular capacity for vision or interest in aging and longevity. There is also, I think, a tendency in various non-profit and advocacy circles to conceive of billionaires as having a great deal more agency than is in fact the case when it comes to the ability to direct funds to causes. A billionaire is the figurehead of, figuratively, a small country with its various power blocks and interest groups. The billionaire is shaped by that as much as he or she shapes it in return. There is an intrinsic conservatism to very large aggregations of wealth and power; they are usually the last to the table when it comes to supporting novel directions. The exceptions are noteworthy and receive more than their share of media attention, but they are exceptions.

Peter Diamandis: "Stay Healthy, Anti-Aging Tech is Coming"

Billionaires sit on vast resources, but they don't seem to be ready to massively invest in longevity yet. But it shouldn't be just about the money. This is literally about life and death.

You're absolutely right, but that's just not the way they're viewing it. You could say that all of us put our money in three different buckets. There's a bucket for money that will be used to make more money. Another one is for money that will be used for family, enjoyment, vacations, and so on. And the last one is for helping people. Unfortunately, for most people, that last bucket is the smallest by orders of magnitude.

I think it's not just about philanthropy. It should also be driven by egoistic considerations. Maybe there's a place for a fourth bucket, where you help humanity, but you also help yourself. After all, today, death is pretty inescapable whether you're a billionaire or a construction worker. Even more so than, say, climate change.

It seems obvious to me. Why aren't people acting in their own self-interest? This thing should hit every bucket. I'm going to invest in longevity because it's going to help me, my family, and humanity, and it will also allow me to feel better, to have a happier life. And it's also a huge business opportunity, right? The only reason that's not hitting is that people don't believe it yet. We have been so indoctrinated about the inevitability of death!

I try to change it, by writing books about this. My mission is to help the public create a longevity mindset, which is based on the realization that the technology to enable us to extend the healthy human lifespan is coming online now, in the decade ahead. And if you believe that in the next ten years, we're going to significantly extend the human healthspan, and you can have access to it if you're in good health, then, logically, you'd want to do everything you can to remain in the best health possible. I want people to change the way they think about healthspan and longevity and what's possible for them. Because your mindset is the most powerful tool that you have. If you believe it, you're going to change your behavior.