The Bunker – News without the nonsense Immortal billionaires – Will the super rich live forever?
Oct 22, 2025
Aleks Krotoski, an acclaimed academic and author of 'The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life', dives into Silicon Valley's intriguing quest for immortality. She discusses groundbreaking discoveries in longevity research, including gene tweaks and radical life extension strategies. Krotoski expresses skepticism about mind-uploading and highlights the historical elitism in the pursuit of eternal life. She also critiques the tech-driven perception of humans as machines and explores the political implications of these ambitions.
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Worm Gene Sparked The Longevity Boom
- Cynthia Kenyon's 1992 gene tweak in nematode worms doubled their lifespan and ignited modern longevity research.
- Researchers found homologous genes in humans, which fueled hopes of a biological mechanism for aging.
The Longevity Escape Velocity Idea
- Some advocates aim for 'longevity escape velocity' by stabilizing biological age while medical advances cure age-related causes of death.
- The strategy relies on continually updating the body faster than diseases can accumulate.
Uploading Consciousness Is Technologically Driven Belief
- A faction believes we'll merge with AI or upload consciousness to servers within decades, driven by exponential computing gains.
- Aleks Krotoski remains skeptical that messy human subjectivity can be fully digitized into code.
