Tag: aging

Interview Notes: Dr. David Sinclair, on Age Reversal

Dr. David Sinclair is one of the world’s leading researchers on aging. A biologist at Harvard, he is pioneering research that’s showing dramatic reversals in the symptoms of aging among mice and more recently, humans. I approached him to participate in Future You as we prepared to pivot from brain-machine interfaces and neurotech into the “superhuman” possibilities for longevity and life extension. 

Loose notes from our call:

We’re at a turning point like the Wright Bros in 1907, when flying was considered something only for the rich and crazy. Age reversal and living to 150 is considered still something for the rich and crazy but we are at the moment, the moment is now, where extending mouse lives by 30 percent is easy.

There’s a race among scientists now in the field: Is it possible to make a medicine to treat aging as a disease?

If aging is treated as a disease, you are treating the myriad diseases that kill us, that flow downstream from aging.

Sinclair is in trial with his NAD-boosting molecule, his patients are “boosting” right now to extend their lives. He personally tried his own molecule and within four months reduced his biological age from 58 down to 31.

Two scenarios he thinks through (which are in his upcoming book): What if we are successful in extending human lifespans by 50 years, and what if we’re not?

We already spend 17 percent of our GDP on healthcare/treating diseases at the end of people’s lives. We’ve reached a ‘dead end” in treating diseased one at a time — like if you cure your cancer, your risk for everything else, stroke, heart disease, etc go up. The only way to make real progress is to slow down the likelihood of ALL of those diseases, which is to slow down aging.

There are relatively simple means to delay aging now, by boosting your body’s defenses to disease. THE FUTURE is in trying to nudge humanity toward this. You could eventually have a $5 trillion savings in healthcare to then go to the social safety net, saving species, boosting education spending, etc.

DRAWBACKS: You’d have less turnover of politicians, you’d have them into their eighties not relinquishing their roles, the retirement age couldnt be 65 anymore, but I have proposals like skillbaticals, where you have two or THREE careers over the course of your super long life.

HOW COULD I TRY THIS, for FUTURE YOU?

I can’t try the molecule since it’s in controlled research trials. But a diabetes drug that requires a prescription has a similar effect. That, combined with a protocol he will give me, can help delay my aging.

  1. Measure my biological age with a blood test (blood sugar is a predictor of longevity), take an age meter test at Harvard that measures hearing, memory and breathing to take a physical/mental measurement of my body’s age that way, and finally test my DNA against a DNA clock. Three metrics to start to see how “old” I am and whether we can reverse it/make me younger.
  2. Protocol. Includes a pill, intermittent fasting, exercise, and cryotherapy, which involves going from a sauna and then into a cold bath. All of these non-pill tasks involve the idea of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” so you are supposed to give your body some adversity like hunger, running, making it colder.

HIS THEORY

Aging is a loss of information between cells. As we age, our cells lose their identity and don’t read one another as well when they replicate. The DNA info in there is still in tact. So if we can polish the cells, like CDs that get scratched and then are polished to work better, then we are reversing aging.

“I didn’t expect this would be doable in my life time.” There’s a $50 mil trial now to replicate my findings in older people. If you want an idea of how close are we, we are JUST around the corner. We are not UNDERSTANDING aging after testing testing testing, and now we’re testing in humans.

Prepping for Our Exoskeleton Tryout

Finally, we have lined up the ideal exoskeleton experience to try out and get on video. The researchers at the University of Houston, led by Jose Contreras-Vidal, have one-upped the traditional exoskeleton that assists with aging limbs and joints and created an exo that you control with your brain.

From a business standpoint, exoskeletons are huge for the future of industry, as the workforce ages and more people want to work for longer without pain. From a medical and science standpoint, exoskeletons are helping those born with genetic disorders or who have lost limbs.

Contreras-Vidal has an exoskeleton that’s designed for children… and candidates to be fitted for it are available for us to see them move through the entire process. From Smithsonian Mag:

“A number of researchers over the years have helped paralyzed people move using electrodes implanted in their brains. Contreras-Vidal’s patent-pending system is different because it is noninvasive—users take the electrode cap on and off at will. This is particularly useful in the case of patients who will only need the exoskeleton temporarily, such as stroke victims who might use the exoskeleton to regain walking ability, then learn to walk unaided.”

NOTES from brainstorm call w/Team Video (Mito, Nick) plus editor Uri:

Questions: If our bodies fail and our brains are still working, do we still exist? At what point are we brains in a jar?

Is this a question we could address in 30 years?

What is the far end of this, implication wise?

What are the future iterations of exoskeletons?

What are the implications of BMI’s, generally?

At what point does a “human” end and “machine” begin, i.e. cyborgs?

Exoskeletons protect your body, older people or joints — then build on that from there. Tell it in steps. So people can imagine how this evolves.

1) this is a thing and protect a worker or a 90 year old person. but this is just the beginning.

2) what is possible? the brain will break down, too. maintain mobility while body is deteriorating.

3) Is there a suit or other materials to help. How does the design evolve into something more efficient?

There’s exoskeletons. Then there’s BMI. Which could have many applications for the body. Then there’s the future of the human body, which involves gene therapy, etc. What are other applications of BMI that can cover the field?

The cyborg question: Ground level. An exoskelton supplements movement. Needles in the brain. How many different replacement categories can we think of? Movement, speech, cognition. Rachet it up and somewhere is a line people are uncomfortable crossing.

Where do you see the technology being developed now? Is there more lifelike or muscle type exo work being done?

There’s three tiers: Exoskeletons, BMI, Human Body

Addressing the so what? question, i.e. These are some applications and developments so you can see how this ties together. We are doing a baby step to introduce BMI in the exoskeleton feature, since it is the most obvious place to see signals are getting sent and programed by scientists into artificial limbs. It introduces how this level of exoskeletons really work. Maybe we can touch on Lowe’s exos work…

But then we escalate into far more ethical/philosophical questions by introducing different BMIs over time.

Three Questions About The Human Body in 2050

To explore our first chapter of the 2050 project, I’m going to drill down on three questions or areas that seem to have the most movement right now:

  1. How will the human brain function by 2050? How much of it is the biological brain as we know it, and how much will be aided by an AI layer? What impact will that have on neurological disease i.e. Parkinson’s? Will brains be able to communicate with other brains using thought alone?
  2. What will it mean to age, or be old in years, in 2050? A tremendous amount of work right now is focused on the greying population and how to make someone who’s grown old not feel old. This is a crucial question as the developed world faces drastically aging populations without working-age populations to replace them. The United Nations projects that by 2050, 32 countries will have a greater share of senior citizens than Japan — well known for its population decline and preponderance of seniors — does now. (Note to self: Try out Cyberdyne exoskeleton at CES)
  3. What ‘superhuman’ powers will humans be capable of? Will humans function without sleep? How will our attention spans be able to be lengthened?