The concept of aging has been with humanity since the dawn of civilization. The epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of man in search of eternal youth. The story of Methuselah tells a story of a sage in defiance of death, with an unusually long life. Religions are built upon the foundation of hope of life beyond our incarnate body in our temporal realm. Life is a place and time where we get to express ourselves, but learn to become better beings when we depart. Why are we here? Is it important to have time to make a point? and if so, is its purpose to leave a mark to guide others, or to suspend time altogether in order to avoid the inevitable passing through the gate of death to the next realm?
Anti-aging treatments promise the individual a longer lifespan, more time for self-expression and greater vitality, but why?
The methods and therapies to delay aging have been around probably as long as medicine itself. The make-up and vanity industry is founded upon the desire to at least look having vitality as long as possible. On the other hand the field of medicine has itself been founded upon healing injuries, curing disease and mitigating against various health conditions in order to prolong life, as well as to ease the pain caused by deteriorating physique at the end of life. The ongoing biotechnology revolution has brought humanity new tools to reach these aims, ranging from bespoke molecules, peptides and combined therapies to gene technology, mRNA, CRISPR/Cas9, CAR-T, prime editing, Yamanaka factors and cell therapies. These new tools may help humanity to better adapt to the changing conditions on our planet, in space travel, and to heal many previously incurable conditions, and to lead longer, more productive lives that help individuals contribute to our shared legacy.. or.. if motivated by the fear of death, it may prolong the lives of tyrants at the expense of everyone else.
As with all new technologies, the choice is ours, collectively, to use them to benefit mankind and to nurture our planet, or to short-sightedly rub the brittle egos of the chosen few. The dilemma to forge tools or weapons and whether the tools are meant to be universally beneficial, or to enforce temporal hierarchies. We still stand at the dawn of this new era, therefore all doors are open for us.
The technology ought to be developed with adequate standards and following best practices
The unavoidable truth is that someone will weaponize the technology and that someone will use it extractively. This doesn’t mean that everyone should mirror this paradigm. Countermeasures against biological weapons are important and there should be an open mind in sourcing biological material, but this ought to be performed within ethical and procedural guardrails with adequate vetting and reporting where applicable.
Biotechnology offers a great wealth of potential applications, and the means to protect and to cultivate our ecosystems. In the right hands the technology will be of great benefit to mankind. In the wrong hands, not so much. I expect the academic and regulating institutions to be proactive in fostering development taking the positive direction, and to guard against the negative. However. Expectations sometimes aren’t enough, so I encourage an open debate, and perhaps regulatory sandboxes where new therapies may be pioneered thus satisfying the curiosity that comes with new discoveries.
Auditable, accountable, transparent sandboxes.