Interview
a16z Podcast | Defeating Aging with Aubrey de Grey
- Aubrey de Grey expects longevity benefits to emerge as a secondary outcome of primary health goals while predicting that repairing most, though not all, biological damages is sufficient to address aging.
- Plans include resuming AI research after a one-to-two-year funding hiatus and funding projects to eliminate amyloids in tissues beyond those linked to Alzheimer's disease.
- Predictions indicate that advances in informatics, hardware, sequencing, and genome modification will accelerate the ability to maintain and restore health, with specific optimism regarding the viability of stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease.
- De Grey anticipates that nuclear fusion will be achieved soon and that the expansion of renewable energy and artificial meat production will significantly increase planetary carrying capacity, outpacing population growth.
- The outlook considers non-biological solutions like consciousness uploading as acceptable alternatives, while noting that technologies such as fast sequencing facilitate progress without inherently providing fundamental cures.
- Risks and challenges are framed by the expectation that future opposition to these ideas may stem from ignorance and that the impact of defeating aging on world population trajectories will be more modest than commonly feared.
- The speaker acknowledges a respectable chance of success by applying a goal-directed, technologist mindset to biology, contrasting his approach with traditional basic science methods.
- While the International Futures system has explored rejuvenation biotechnologies, the speaker considers Ray Kurzweil to be more optimistic than himself regarding the immediate postponement of aging using existing technologies.