LEVITY

We are always excited about the next technological solution. But what if it does not come? Or what if it comes only for the few, or with terrible side-effects? And while we are waiting for the easy tech fix, are we neglecting what we can do now to better our lives?Many of our previous guests have been excited about the prospect of radically extending our lives, and some have been optimistic about the prospect of achieving this in our life time, perhaps even within a few decades. We are Levity, the real longevity podcast after all.Todays guest thinks that we should be less excited about radical longevity, and radical enhancements in general. And he does not think radical life extension is on the horizon.Nicholas Agar is a New Zealand philosopher specializing in ethics. He holds a BA from the University of Auckland, an MA from Victoria University of Wellington, and a PhD from the Australian National University. As of 2022, he is a Professor of Ethics at the University of Waikato. He is a prolific writer and the author of How to think about Progress, and Truly Human Progress, to mention two recent books.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction03:38 The hype and the reality06:02 Too much enthusiasm for radical life extension -- or too little?17:15 Distribution worries -- more life only for the rich?23:06 Pessimism about distribution and feasability29:00 Structural reasons for bad science and big promises33:30 Is it wise to spend money on radical life extension?37:13 Should we die if we have had good life?48:48 Deat as tool for solving housing crisis58:27 Liberal eugenics01:06:45 How to attract funding -- hype + conservative grant proposals01:09:40 What is enhancement?01:25:30 A mechanical Roger Federer with robot arms01:38:12 Is it bad to cease to exist? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One idea I’ve had lately is to put together a list of people to trust in geroscience and the longevity field more broadly. (And I might do it - keep an eye on reachlevity.com- and subscribe while you’re at it!)Matt Kaeberlein would not only make that list - he’d likely be right at the top. He’s rigorous, precise in his wording, and always puts integrity ahead of hype. But, and this is important, I wouldn’t characterize him as a skeptic. He’s a realist who insists on evidence, yet at the same time he’s visionary and deeply optimistic about what aging science can deliver.Matt is probably best known for his pioneering work on rapamycin and for co-founding the Dog Aging Project. In this episode, though, we also talk about Optispan - his proactive healthcare company - and Ora Biomedical, where the WormBot platform is screening thousands of interventions for effects on lifespan. We get into therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), how artificial intelligence might accelerate discovery, and even his favorite science fiction books.And true to form, Matt doesn’t hold back. He calls out irresponsible use of biological age tests - going so far as to label it “medical malpractice” - and criticizes hype-driven actors, sloppy science communication, and the inertia of institutions like the NIH. At the same time, he shows how rigorous, honest work could move the entire field forward.-----🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membershipShow notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com-----CHAPTERS00:00 Teaser01:38 Introduction to Dr. Matt Kaeberlein11:50 mTOR and rapamycin21:37 The Dog Aging Project51:08 Personal experiences with rapamycin01:05:33 The inertia of the NIH01:08:54 The right to try law and access to experimental therapies01:13:21 Ora Biomedical and The WormBot Platform01:21:41 The role of AI in longevity research01:28:29 Optispan: A new approach to proactive healthcare01:33:56 Biological age tests01:39:39 Therapeutic plasma exchange: A personal experience01:46:39 Book recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you give a child a pet, you also expose them to death—since most pets pass away long before their owners. But what if we could cryopreserve Buddy or Tiger, and bring them back from suspended animation once we have a cure for what ended their lives?Kai Micah Mills is a pioneering figure in radical life extension and biostasis. As the founder of Cryopets, he is leading efforts to make cryopreservation accessible for pets, with aspirations to extend these technologies to humans. He left high school early to pursue entrepreneurship, becoming a tech entrepreneur in his teens. A Thiel Fellow and co-founder of CryoDAO and HydraDAO, Kai is deeply involved in decentralized science initiatives aimed at advancing longevity research.00:00 Introduction04:44 Timeship in Texas05:36 Vitalism11:54 Bryan Johnson, Mormonism and Vitalism18:25 Dropping out of highschool to play video games24:25 Becoming a Thiel Fellow40:37 Why Cryonics?49:53 We want Immortality53:19 Cosmism01:01:36 AI01:05:47 Building Cryopets01:27:42 Cryonics science01:37:24 Cryo rat01:46:01 CryoDAO HydraDAO and replacement01:59:30 Talent shortage in cryogenics02:05:08 Book recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you may have heard, AI-designed medicines have crossed a historic line. In this episode, Alex Zhavoronkov - CEO of Insilico Medicine and founder of ARDD walks us through how Insilico’s rentosertib became the first AI-generated small molecule with peer-reviewed clinical efficacy, while arguing against AI hype and reminding us that biology still moves at “the speed of traffic.” That duality runs through the whole conversation. On one side: a pragmatic operator obsessed with credible science, biomarkers, and clinical benchmarks; on the other: an AI visionary investing in cryonics, sketching “pharmaceutical superintelligence,” and thinking in decades, not quarters.We start in Basel, home to Roche and Novartis, where ARDD was born, then trace how the conference morphed into a ”high-signal filter for longevity” - packed with startups (who also fund it), hard data, and mainstream pharma.Alex looks back at his 2014 Nvidia talk (”Can Nvidia solve aging?”) and explains why Insilico trains its AI to learn age first - so it actually grasps biology. Years of problem-solving with pharma turned into their Pharma.AI toolkit (Biology42, Chemistry42, Medicine42, Science42).Insilico now runs 40+ programs and in an early Phase 2 study for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), their drug rentosertib showed a dose-dependent boost in lung capacity.Compared with the old path - often $150–200M and ~5 years just to pick a lead molecule - Insilico says it can often reach that point for under $3M or even less. Still, Alex is cautious: no matter how smart the AI gets, real-world testing and regulation won’t speed up overnight.Also in this episode:What made Alex cry.Why he wouldn’t give his own drug to patients - yet.How a mirror on a conference poster led to a proposal.How ARDD became the “WEF of longevity”.Why internal “kill teams” try to stop their own drug candidates.Why labeling aging a disease helps - but won’t shortcut approvals.Why he writes to “feed AI”.How Nvidia threads through the story - from free GPUs to Jensen’s video.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membershipShow notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.comLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.CHAPTERS00:00 – Teaser03:08 – Introduction to Alex Zhavoronkov06:11 – Alex talks ARDD15:15 – Big-pharma starting to embrace ARDD17:31 – The proposal story24:52 – Why Alex decided to fight aging27:44 – Neuralink, humanoids and the brain-aging bottleneck30:52 – Keeping ARDD pharma-credible32:02 – The path to Insilico48:03 – The Zhavoronkov crystal ball57:29 – The Insilico platform1:07:16 – The rentosertib story1:16:42 – What made Alex cry1:17:44 – Aging-as-disease: rhetoric vs. regulation (GLP-1 analogy)1:26:53 – Culture check: Middle East momentum, China’s stance1:34:28 – Costs & timelines: what AI compresses - and what it can’t1:41:30 – Insilico’s fully automated lab1:47:21 – “I respect Demis, but…”1:51:10 – Why even superintelligence won’t skip clinical validation1:52:15 – Cryonics as plan B: organ preservation, TimeShift, use-cases2:00:56 – Writing Forever AI & the roadmap to “pharma superintelligence”2:06:42 – Book recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anyone who is interesed in emerging science and futurism will come across the name Natasha Vita-More; a suggestive name for a charismatic and important philosopher and artist envisioning human possibilities. She wrote the Transhuman Manifesto in 1983. But did you know that she has also made a scientific discovery with big implications for cryopreservation?Natasha Vita-More is a trailblazing futurist, acclaimed author, and pioneering designer whose work stands at the thrilling intersection of science, technology, and art. Renowned for her visionary contributions to transhumanism and human enhancement, she has spent decades exploring how we can transcend biological limitations and reimagine what it means to be human. From her iconic “Primo Posthuman” prototype to her influential writings on life extension and ethical AI, Vita-More has inspired global audiences to think boldly about the future.🔍 In this conversation✅ Experiment show that memory can survive cryopreservation✅ The origin of transhumanism✅ What is stoic extropianism?✅ Pragmatic optimism and the concept of progress✅ How to feel and look great past 70✅ AI and the way to superlongevity✅ The bottlenecks for nanotechnology as a tool for health and longevity✅ Books that we need to readCHAPTERS00.00 Introduction04:27 Scottsdale Arizona05:21 Making a scientific discovery: memory survives cryonics16:13 The making of Natasha Vita-More33:00 Humanity+ and its critics41:04 Writing the Transhumanist Manifesto & origin of futurist movements50:58 Transhumanism today57:13 The soul of transhumanism - troubles with the concept of progressive01:04:05 Stoicism and extropy01:06:12 Knowing what you can change01:17:04 Solving aging with AI?01:24:29 Pragmatic optimism01:27:38 Hope and science01:34:50 Staying healthy and alive01:45:15 Bottlenecks for nanotechnology01:50:50 3 books we have to read Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even though it’s undeniably...aesthetic-challenged, the naked mole-rat is the envy of the longevity world. Its risk of death barely changes with time; it shrugs off cancer, stays fertile for decades and seems to skip every hallmark of aging that hobbles the rest of us.But why? What evolutionary forces gave a mouse-sized, subterranean rodent near-immunity to aging - and what can its biology teach us about extending healthy human life?Comparative biologist Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein (University of Illinois Chicago) - who has maintained the world’s largest captive colonies and authored 200+ papers - joins LEVITY to dissect the evidence.In this episode✅ Rochelle’s journey: from Zimbabwe farm kid to the pre-eminent naked mole-rat researcher.✅ Eusocial society: queens, worker castes and lethal succession battles.✅ No Gompertz slope: hard numbers that show mortality risk stays essentially flat for 40 years.✅ Cancer resistance → high-molecular-weight hyaluronan, unusual immune cell profiles.✅ Telomere maintenance and DNA-methylation reversal.✅ Proteostasis on easy-mode: slow translation, durable proteins, super-charged autophagy.✅ What actually kills a mole-rat?✅ Translational angles: small-molecule screens, CRISPR edits, and why funding is still an uphill battle.✅ Other long-lived species worth studying - and how young scientists can break into comparative gerontology.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membershipShow notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.comLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.00:00 Teaser02:37 Meet Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein07:04 Naked mole-rats crash course10:23 Eusocial life: Queens, workers, death matches11:46 Extreme underground lifestyle (Low O₂, High CO₂)18:12 Problems with inbreeding?26:07 Don’t call them cold-blooded!29:15 Keeping the world’s largest colony of naked mole-rats31:45 Eating naked mole-rats36:01 Lifespan of the naked mole-rat38:20 Two remarkable papers50:53 How long can they live?52:45 Resistance to cancer57:03 The Hallmarks of aging are no match for this rodent59:48 Surprising immune defense01:04:18 What’s the evolutionary rationale?01:10:08 Translating the research01:18:51 Other longevity champions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎁 Our giveaway is live!10 winners will receive FMD kits from Prolon. It’s free to enter – just follow the link below 👇https://gleam.io/NaVa0/prolon-fasting-mimicking-diet-giveaway🔬 Can food rejuvenate you from within?In this special episode of LEVITY, Peter talks with Andrea Ghirardi, CEO of L-Nutra Europe — the company behind Prolon, the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) developed from Dr. Valter Longo’s research.🧠 We cover:– How Prolon mimics fasting without starvation.– Real-world results: 2.5 years bio-age reversal.– Why FMD may beat GLP-1 drugs for long-term health.– What’s inside the new NextGen kit.– Prolon’s potential as a medical treatment.📘 Dive deeper with our companion article:https://reachlevity.com/p/the-fasting-mimicking-diet-explained-5ce17b65d00c14c1💌 Our newsletter: Weekly biotech + aging breakthroughs:https://reachlevity.com/subscribeLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.Note: Nothing in this post or episode is medical advice. We're not doctors. Before trying this, you should consult your physician. Prolon is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any diseases.CHAPTERS00:00 Teaser00:41 A message from Peter02:35 Introduction to L-Nutra and Andrea Ghirardi, CEO05:02 What is the fasting-mimicking diet?07:23 The clinically validated formulation08:32 The formation of L-Nutra13:22 How does FMD compare to other fasting methods?18:07 Are weight-loss drugs a tough competitor to Prolon?20:05 What's inside the 5-day Prolon kit?22:54 The next-gen formula25:41 Peter's and Andrea's experience of trying the FMD28:23 FMD studies35:15 The future of FMD and L-Nutra Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When is someone really dead? What does it mean to survive? Is mind-uploading really a possible future way of surviving? These are some of the questions we are discussing with Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston.Dr Ariel Zeleznikow‑Johnston is a neuroscientist and Research Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, whose work delves into the neural basis of consciousness - from understanding how genetics and environment shape cognition to exploring the subtle qualities of perceptual experience such as color qualia. A 2019 PhD graduate from The University of Melbourne, he has published extensively on how cognitive function changes across the lifespan. He is the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death, which advocates for brain preservation technology as a means to suspend death and revive individuals in the future.Check out Peter's review of the book here: https://reachlevity.com/p/a-clear-case-for-cryonics-a-review-of-the-future-loves-youHis multidisciplinary approach combines rigorous neuroscience with philosophy and ethics, positioning him at the forefront of contemporary debates about identity, mortality, and the future of human life.🔍 In this conversation:✅ When do we consider someone to be dead?✅ What is vitrifixation?✅ Cryonics.✅ Palliative philosophy.✅ Personal identity and the connectome.✅ Are neurons the same over time?✅ Teleportation as a test of the information view of personhood.✅ How do we make the future love us?✅ Survival and medical priorities.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membership🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com🚀 LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.CHAPTER00:00 Intro03:45 Jonathan is 190-years-old07:00 Learned helplessness10:00 Incoherent medical strategies11:30 Aging is unhealthy14:22 Palliative philosophy20:44 The book in brief - how to cheat death23:30 Different ways of biostasis - vitrifixation35:01 Digital snap-shot emulation of our essense37:59 What is a person? Connectome preservation43:30 Do neurons stay the same over a life?47:00 Is mind-uploading preserving personal identity?01:03:52 We are not our brain - is the connectome model a dualist view?01:07:50 Teleportation and survival I01:14:19 Duplicate myself to increase utility01:15:31 Teleportation and survival II01:24:30 "Dead people" may not be dead01:33:30 Saving lives by biostasis brainpreservation01:36:04 Priority of medicine01:38:05 Saving everyone that can be saved01:40:07 Justice and survival - an unusual angle01:43:36 What kind of world will we wake up to?01:44:48 How to make the future love us01:44:59 What are the odds of today's cryonics working?01:49:10 What year is resurrection?01:56:33 Ariel's book recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just about the hottest thing in longevity science right now is partial reprogramming - using Yamanaka factors to rewind the biological clock in our cells. Billion-dollar giants like Altos, Retro and New Limit are betting on it.But in this episode a far smaller player, Shift Bioscience, argues that the field may be looking in the wrong place. CEO Daniel Ives explains how his team used AI-powered virtual cells to uncover a single gene that seems to match OSK-level rejuvenation without the tumor risk that haunts classical reprogramming - and why their just-released data could change the game for aging research.🔍 In this conversation✅ Daniel’s journey from mitochondrial PhD work to founding Shift Bioscience.✅ Why Yamanaka-factor–based partial reprogramming excites the field and why it’s inherently risky.✅ Epigenetic clocks 101 — Horvath, single-cell versions, and what they really measure.✅ Building AI “virtual cells” (transformers / GNNs) to run millions of in-silico experiments.✅ Discovery of new rejuvenation factor sets - including SB000, a lone gene that rejuvenates without inducing pluripotency.✅ Early wet-lab validation across fibroblasts & keratinocytes; next-step mouse studies already under way.✅ How inhibition targets (not just over-expression) could slash timelines from 15 years to ~5 years.✅ Mapping a “risk landscape” of age-linked diseases and why fibrosis may be the fastest clinical entry point.✅ Funding Shift: from personal redundancy money to a $16 M seed and the next raise.✅ Timelines, escape-velocity hopes, and where cryonics still fits.✅ What Daniel would ask Jeff Bezos, and why the pharma ecosystem needs to “plug in” now.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membership🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com🚀 LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction to Daniel Ives05:34 The Evolution of Shift's Focus13:25 Understanding Aging Clocks19:28 Commercial Clocks is ”Mostly Entertainment”21:03 A Pivotal Meeting with Steve Horvath24:35 A Brief Crash Course in Yamanaka Factors28:16 Finding Something Better Than Yamanaka Factors33:20 The Origin Story For This Approach36:50 What Does Shift’s New Results Show?37:33 Defining the Virtual Cell in This Context44:22 The Gene is Called SB00046:45 “This Could be Hugely Important”01:01:44 Speeding up Drug Development with AI01:11:12 What do Investors Say?01:17:15 What Daniel Hope Will Happen Next01:19:34 What Would Daniel Ask of Jeff Bezos?01:27:00 Why is the company called Shift?01:32:55 The Pride Day for Closeted Aging Biologists01:42:28 How Should We Think About Cryonics? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We think that death is bad, but why exactly is it bad? We cannot suffer when we do not exist, so why would it be bad?In this episode we have a long, deep conversation with Professor Travis Timmerman, whose philosophical work delves deeply into the nature and ethics of death. An Associate Professor at Seton Hall University, Professor Timmerman has become a prominent voice in contemporary discussions about whether death is bad for us, how we should understand the harm of dying, and what moral obligations we might have surrounding death and dying. His work engages both timeless questions and urgent contemporary debates—offering fresh insight into topics like the timing of death’s harms, the ethics of procreation, and our attitudes toward mortality.What you'll learn in this episode:✅ Why death is bad✅ How it can bad to not have been born earlier✅ What the ancient Mirror Argument gets wrong✅ How it can be bad for a 95-year-old to die✅ Whether we should wait to have children✅ How an analytical philosopher thinks about death🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membership🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com--CHAPTERS--00:00 introduction00:50 Why is death bad? The Deprivation account15:30 Lucretius18:10 A reason to live is a reason to see death as bad20:20 James Stacey Taylor vs Travis Timmerman26:20 Deprivation account and mercy killing29:20 Counter intuitive implications of the Deprivation Account - overdetermination of death37:20 What would have happened if I had not died? Possible worlds and the badness of death40:40 The badness of a 95-year-old to die47:00 Thomas Nagel - death and normalcy51:49 Reasons and the good and the bad53:40 The Timmerman style of analytic philosophy01:00:49 Philosophers and prolongevity in history01:08:28 Philosophy as therapy01:09:40 Time and intrinsic good - what matters most?01:14:36 Is health overrated?01:16:27 The eternal philosophical dialogue01:17:56 If longevity were impossible, how would that change philosophy of death?01:21:35 The Mirror Argument01:26:55 Could I have been born earlier?01:39:22 When should we have children?01:42:47 Better never to have been?01:48:09 A world without consciousness01:52:27 Can we wish for the impossible?02:02:07 Meta-philosophy and ironing out the wrinkles of the Deprivation account02:03:00 What Travis is working on02:08:02 What what we should read Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.