Some fallacies and obstacles relating to radical life extension

1. The 3rd Cyprus Symposium
Pathways to Indefinite Lifespans
Larnaka 23 May 2015
Marios Kyriazis

2. A Radical View of Ageing
• Logical
• In full agreement with all scientific principles
• In full contrast with most commonly held beliefs
• Requires a fresh, ‘out-of-the-box’ approach

3. The Seven Fallacies of Ageing

4. 1. The Fallacy of words • Even in a world without aging,
death can happen at any age and
for any reason. If we manage to
eliminate ageing as a cause of
death, the only certain thing
would be that we will not
necessarily die when we reach the
currently maximum lifespan limit
of around 110-120 years. We
would NOT live forever, because
something else will kill us sooner
or later.
Eliminating aging
will make us
‘immortal’ and we
will live forever

5. 2. The Fallacy of
numbers This is based on naïve thinking.
Ageing happens because we need
to reproduce. Or, we need to
reproduce because we age. If
ageing is eliminated, the need to
reproduce will also be broadly
eliminated.
Eliminating
ageing will result
in overpopulation

6. 3. The Fallacy of
loneliness
If you live longer because ageing
has been eliminated, then your
family and friends will too. This
counteracts fallacy number 2: if
everybody else dies, how come we
would have overpopulation? And
fallacy number 2 counteracts this
one: if we do have overpopulation,
then it is likely that your friends and
relatives will be alive.
“I don’t want to live
dramatically longer
because I will have
to witness the
deaths of all my
family and friends”

7. 4. The Fallacy of the
pill • It will be eliminated through a
change in the direction of human
evolution, when billions of humans
continue to engage with technology.
As the general direction of evolution
is towards a more complex state
which makes us better adapted to
our environment, there would come
a point when our hyper-
technological environment would
select individual longevity instead of
ageing and degeneration, as a more
thermodynamically efficient
situation.
Ageing will be
eliminated by
taking a pill (or a
combination of
pills, injections,
something
physical)

8. 5. The Fallacy of money
The main problem is the widespread
adoption of the wrong approach. The idea
that ageing can be eliminated through
pharmacological intervention dates back
to the Alchemists. It has no place in a
modern, highly technological and
intellectually sophisticated society.
Ageing may be eliminated when the cause
for its presence is removed. Ageing
happens because within a tendency to
progress from simple to complex,
evolution has selected reproduction (and
thus ageing) as a mechanism for
maximising the use of resources
Research into the
elimination of
ageing is not
progressing fast
due to lack of
funding

9. 6. The Fallacy of the
rich elite
People who adapt and fit within an upwards
moving technological environment will be
more likely to survive. Money is irrelevant.
What is relevant is intellectual effort and
aggressive engagement with our environment
(hyperconnectivity is an example).
If a large number of humans actively engage
with their technological environment, then
there would be no reason to age/reproduce at
the current rates, as survival can be assured
through the individual rather than the species.
There would be no secrets about the process,
due to the very fact that a significant section
of humanity must necessarily participate.
Only a few rich
people will have
access to the
treatment

10. 7. The fallacy of frailty
The two concepts are mutually
exclusive. A life without ageing
necessarily means a life without
age-related degeneration. You
cannot have one without the other.
Living
dramatically
longer will mean
a long life with
debilitating
illnesses

11. More
The fallacy of laziness: “If we live forever, we won’t feel
motivated to do things and will tend to procrastinate”.
No, because you can only live longer if you are active and
useful in your niche. If you are inactive (not useful) you will not
live longer. (The Law of Requisite Usefulness).
The fallacy of boredom: “If we live for hundreds of years we
will feel bored”.
BUT in order to live hundreds of years you MUST be be
engaged and active. If not, then you won’t be useful to the
whole and you will be eliminated.

12. Problems and obstacles with biomedical technologies
Tissue Engineering Harvesting of autologous material,
transplantation surgery,
immunosuppression,
infrastructure of delivery
Stem Cell Therapies Clinical harvesting of cells, delivery
(such as problems with bone
marrow transplants), inadequate
integration of transplanted cells
and earlier-than-planned re-
treatments
Immune therapies Side effects, non-compliance,
reluctance to accept as a
treatment
Genetic Therapies Immunity to vector, inadequate
integration and assimilation of
genes, unknown variables relating
to genetic cross-talk and over-
expression, practical delivery
methodologies

13. Nanomedicine Unknown and unpredictable
side effects (including
immune system disruption),
unknown end-results,
toxicity, inflammation
Pharmacological Therapies Ineffective or complex
treatments, tolerance, clinical
polypharmacy, side effects,
interactions and non-
compliance
Other disruptive
interventions (apoptotic
modulation, crosslink
breakers, chemotherapy,
chromosomal interventions)
Unpredictability of the
combined effect, adverse
effects, cost, compliance,
ethical and psychological
problems, inadequate clinical
capability to deliver the
treatments

14. Conclusion
We need to abandon methodologies
which are unlikely to succeed
We need to explore a wider worldview of ageing