You may have noticed references to transhumanism and transhumanists in posts here at Fight Aging! What is transhumanism, and how is it relevant to longevity science and the work of extending the healthy human life span? Read on for a short overview: transhumanism in a nutshell.

Transhumanism is a cultural movement and philosophy of action that builds upon humanism, so we should look at humanism first of all. Humanism is an influential, time-honored philosophy that argues for rationality and certain fundamental human rights, freedoms, and responsibilities. Humanist thinkers have for centuries discussed and advocated the existence of humane societies, human cultures built on reason and free inquiry. In terms of addressing everyday life, humanist philosophy attempts to answer questions like "How should we behave toward one another?" or "What is the best way to live within the constraints imposed on us by the human condition?" In essence, humanist thinkers across the ages tell us this:

We're all in the same boat here: by all means work towards your dreams, but be nice to your neighbor and don't tread on anyone's toes.

Like humanism, transhumanism is a philosophy of life and human action: an evolving, much-debated collection of ideas about society, goals, and the best way to live. Transhumanism extends the foundation of humanism by embracing technological progress for the purpose of overcoming the limitations and suffering inherent in the present human condition. Transhumanism is, fundamentally, the idea that humanity can, and should, strive to overcome naturally existing limits in order to attain greater individual choice and capabilities - physically, mentally, and socially. Transhumanist thinkers tell us this:

Humanism is a good start. But while being nice and not treading on toes, the dreams we work towards can include a fleet of better boats for all of us.

As you might imagine, transhumanism as a cultural movement is closely tied to an enthusiasm for ethical, responsible, and rapid technological progress. Progress in science and technology brings greater choice to individuals and adds new options for improving the human condition. This is really nothing new: we humans have been pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps for millennia: fire, farming, steam, bicycles, antibiotics, vaccines, modern dentistry, cell phones, and so forth. Each new invention, and the science that enabled it, allows us to overcome a limitation or a cause of suffering. We can fly where we couldn't before, we can survive diseases that once killed or crippled us, and we can engage in ten thousand new types of entertaining or challenging activities that once upon a time didn't even exist.

Transhumanists take this common sense view of technological progress and look ahead to a future in which far greater and more beneficial advances are possible: modern science and technology can lead to radical improvements in the human condition, and so should be used to this end. If today we enjoy our newfound ability to communicate cheaply across vast distances, for example, then tomorrow we might enjoy the benefits of longevity science, organ regeneration, and aging reversal. These and many other transformative changes that might be produced by new biotechnologies are very plausible, foreseen by scientists around the world, and we should welcome their advent.

Given the emphasis that transhumanist thought places on progress and overcoming the limitations that make life difficult or cause suffering, it is only natural that transhumanists should support longevity science, rejuvenation medicine, and other forms of advanced biotechnology. Aging and age-related disease takes a terrible toll on us all, yet may plausibly be slowed or reversed in the decades ahead. Transhumanism and advocacy for longer, healthier lives have gone hand-in-hand for many writers since the 1980s - and even earlier, before transhumanism acquired its present name. At that time, few people took life extension research seriously and it was very much in the fringe, both in academia and the medical research community.

Most influential transhumanist thinkers have at one time or another written on the subject of extending life through biotechnology, and many have done so extensively. When you read about applied aging research, progress in understanding the genetics of human longevity, and progress towards medicine that can extend the healthy human life span, remember that transhumanists have been advocating greater awareness of - and funding for - this promising field of research for a good many years.

Last updated: December 7th 2010.

Death is not a topic that people like to think about, and that is just as true of healthy life extension advocates as anyone else. We have to recognise, however, that the future of healthy life extension (regenerative medicine, stem cell therapies, understanding the biochemical processes of aging, and nanomedicine, to name a few fields) will not arrive soon enough to benefit everyone. Many people are too old, or suffer from other conditions that will kill them before cures can be developed. This is an unpleasant reality that we must face.

Do we just write these people off and forge ahead regardless? Of course not. Instead, we turn to the science and business of cryonics, a serious effort to solve this problem that has been underway since the early 1970s.

What is Cryonics?

Cryonics is the only option for life extension open to many older and seriously ill people: those who cannot wait for the promised therapies of the next few decades. It is the science of placing humans and animals into a low-temperature, biologically unchanging state immediately after clinical death, with the expectation that advances in medical technology may eventually enable full restoration to life and health. A small industry of cryonics providers exists to freeze or vitrify your body on death, in the hopes that future scientists (most likely using nanotechnology and nanomedicine) will be able to revive and repair you.

The practice of cryonics is an ongoing medical experiment with an unknown chance of success. Responsible cryonicists understand that cryonic suspension is an educated gamble. The chances are certainly better than zero, however, and as one wag noted, "the control group in this experiment isn't doing so well." By this, he was referring to the vast number of people who are cremated, buried or otherwise interred. The chances of any plausible future science restoring them is zero. Cryonic suspension is, after all, only the second worst thing that can happen to you.

The cryonics community is tightly knit, friendly and supportive. The community, and the industry it supports, have been ever-so-slowly growing since the early 1970s. To find out more about cryonics, you might want to peruse the following locations:

• Alcor explains cryonics
• Common myths and misunderstandings about cryonics
• Cryonics at Wikipedia
• Cryonics as an extension of metabolic arrest medicine
• The Cryonet community, archives and resources

In addition, an excellent article on the philosophy and practice of cryonics can be found here at Fight Aging!:

• Why Cryosuspension Makes Sense

Cryonics has appeared in the news on a regular basis since 2003, largely thanks to the cryopreservation of baseball star Ted Williams and the ensuing high profile family fight over his will. This publicity led to local government efforts to regulate the cryonics industry, first in Michigan and then in Arizona, where the two largest cryonics providers are based. A new cryonics research group made headlines in Florida at the end of 2003, when the cryonics community rallied to try to prevent an unfavorable zoning ruling against the business. In the years since, the cryonics industry has enjoyed a higher profile in the media than before, and a greater public understanding of the core mission and science has resulted.

In addition to the publicity, long-time backers of cryonics like Saul Kent of the Life Extension Foundation are putting more money and time into pushing the cryonics industry forward into the 21st century. This makes sense for them, based on the arguments I put foward at the top of this page. They have thought long and hard about the likelihood of living long enough to benefit from the medical technologies of the future, and decided to put more effort into cryonics. One result of this renewed funding is Suspended Animation, a cryonics company that focuses more on research than providing services, another the work of Twenty-First Century Medicine towards a demonstration of reversible cryonic suspension.

How to Sign Up For Cryosuspension

You can sign up for cryosuspension fairly easily - both inside and outside the US - through one of the established cryonics providers or cryosuspension groups. You can learn more at the websites for the companies. Alcor is the largest of the providers, has the most comprehensive online information. If you have questions, pick up the phone or e-mail and ask. Company staff will be happy to help.

• Alcor Life Extension Foundation
• Cryonics Institute
• TransTime

Cryosuspension is expensive, on a par with major surgery, but can be paid for in a cost effective manner through life insurance. You purchase a policy that pays out to the provider on your death and they take it from there. This is far and away the most common payment method for those of us who are not fortunate enough to be wealthy baseball stars, and the majority of people suspended or signed up are of very modest means.

Last updated: December 7th 2010.

Calorie restriction (usually abbreviated to CR) is a strategy proven to extend healthy and maximum life span in rodents and primates. Some animal studies conducted over the past 20 years have shown up to a 40% increase in maximum life span - though there is good reason to believe that any gain in human life span through life-long CR would be much more modest.

Calorie restriction also provides numerous secondary benefits, such as a greatly lowered risk for most degenerative conditions of aging, and improved measures of general health. In recent years, human studies have demonstrated that these same secondary health benefits are available to you and I, not just to laboratory animals. Many researchers believe that the evidence to date shows the practice of CR will extend the healthy human life span, but a consensus has not yet been reached on this topic.

Calorie Restriction in a Nutshell

A calorie restriction diet aims to reduce your intake of calories to a level 20-40% lower than is typical, while still obtaining all the necessary nutrients and vitamins. CR is also known as CRON, for "calorie restriction with optimal nutrition," and its practitioners have accumulated many years of experience and experimentation. As a result, good books and a supportive community exist to help newcomers adopt the best practices for CR in humans. Mild CR may be as easy as adopting a much healthier diet, taking a few supplements and not eating snacks.

The degree to which CR can extend the healthy human life span is open to debate - and is the subject of vigorous discussion within the scientific community - but the evidence for at least some healthy life extension is compelling. A sampler of articles from the past few years illustrates this point:

Impressive Calorie Restriction Statistics The Evidence For Calorie Restriction CR Reduces DNA Damage CR Beneficial Late in Life Calorie Restriction Cleans Cells CR Enhances DNA Repair

Study Backs Human Calorie Restriction CR Protects Against Heart Aging CR Slows Immune System Aging CR Slows Alzheimer's Progression CR Reduces Stem Cell Decline CR Reduces Inflammation and Muscle Loss

Before going further, it is a good idea to read the Fight Aging! disclaimer and take a few moments to think about responsibility and health. It is a wise idea to consult with your physician before embarking on any change in diet aimed at improving your health or longevity, especially if you have a medical condition. There is no substitute for taking personal responsibility in health and research!

That said, on with the discussion of calorie restriction. You may have seen CR mentioned more often and in more detail in the mainstream media of late; the phrase "low-calorie diet" has also seen a lot of usage. To be precise about these terms, calorie restriction is simply the most widespread and well-researched form of low-calorie diet.

Modern CR Science

The beneficial effects of CR in laboratory animals have been known for a long time, but only in the past decade - and in particular over the past few years - has more funding and effort been devoted to this field. In the present day, human studies such as CALERIE are underway and many research groups are digging into the biochemistry that could explain how and why CR is so good for health and longevity.

The genes and processes that control metabolism are notoriously complex, and scientists do not yet have a complete understanding of the way in which CR fits into the overall picture. But they are working on it.

Many reputable health websites maintain an informative section on CR. Unfortunately, some of these resources exaggerate minor difficulties experienced by people who practice CR - this is something you will see in the media as well. An article from MSNBC in early 2003 went so far as to use the word "torturous" to describe the experience of trying CR! This is all far from true: starting on CR is no harder than any other diet change.

Weight loss should be mentioned in the context of CR, even though it is not the primary goal of a CR diet - if you eat fewer calories, you will slim down. Research indicates that being overweight, or carrying excess body fat, is harmful to your long term health in many different ways. Excess weight increases risk factors for conditions ranging from diabetes to cancer to Alzheimer's, most likely due to the relationship between fat cells and chronic inflammation. It is no exaggeration to say that if you are overweight, you will have a shorter, less healthy life - many recent studies suggest that even comparatively little excess weight is bad for you over the long term, significantly raising your chances of suffering a range of age-related conditions. Some portion of the health benefits of CR are likely to stem from the accompanying loss of weight and body fat - although biochemical research indicates that there is clearly more than just that going on under the hood. CR is also doing something positive with the controlling mechanisms of metabolism.

For example, it appears that CR provides a boost to the process of autophagy. Autophagy is the way in which your cells remove damaged components in order to recycle the materials into new replacement parts. Several lines of research indicate specific types of damaged cellular components left to cause problems over time contribute to age-related decline and damage inflicted upon the rest of your body's machinery. More autophagy may help reduce this contribution to the aging process.

How to get started on CR? You'll find a wealth of information and many, many starting points out there, some of which can be quite intimidating to the newcomer. You might find the following path useful:

Obtain a Copy of "The Longevity Diet: Discover Calorie Restriction"

This book is a very good, easy introduction to the principles and simple ideas behind calorie restriction. Beyond that, it is a practical guide that will help you over a lot of the early pitfalls. It handily answers the "what exactly is it I eat?" question and offers some great tips for new practitioners.

• The Longevity Diet Website

Practice Eating a Better Diet First

While you're waiting for your book to arrive, you can start to shift your diet in preparation. Have a look at this resource for a class of diets known as "Paleodiets":

• Investigating Paleodiets

The selling point of Paleodiets is that they replicate the hunter/gatherer diet of our ancestors, and are therefore better for us. This is not an argument advocated here at all, but Paleodiets make a great introduction into calorie restriction.

One thing you'll find out quite early on in your journey into calorie restriction is that you'll have to stop eating a lot of highly processed, rich, modern foods. They are heavy in calories and light in nutritional value. In the US, you can walk into any corner store and eat 1500 Kcal of junk food (chips, chocolate, and so forth) at a cost of $10. You'll be hungry again a few hours later. That same $10 could feed you for two days if you buy vegetables, rice and tofu. You could eat 1500 Kcal a day and hardly be hungry at all.

These two examples are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but most people eat far more rich food and many more "empty calories" (calories that do not provide vitamins and essential micronutrients) than they should. Adopting a Paleodiet for a while is an easy way to start thinking seriously about what you eat, how you cook, and how you can better organize your eating habits. It's a smaller and more manageable jump than leaping straight into calorie restriction.

If you were eating an unhealthy diet before trying this, you'll probably notice the benefits of healthy eating within a few weeks. Your palate will become more sensitive to subtle tastes, you'll need less sleep, feel more alert, and mood swings will be diminished. Much of this stems from cutting processed sugars.

Pay Attention to Calories

Counting calories is a good thing, and it's something that you have to pay attention to. Your body will let you eat far more than is good for you, so your brain is going to have to take over managing the process.

Almost everything you buy from the grocery or supermarket has the calorie content listed on the packet. Note that most manufacturers list calorie content by portion, and that even a lowly bar of chocolate usually has two portions. Marketing departments don't like the number of calories to be too high, as people won't buy it...so they'll just divide the product into more portions with a lower calorie count per portion. Sneaky!

Most foods have more calories than you might think. You can recognize the new practitioners of calorie restriction at the supermarket: they'll be the ones looking at many different product packages and muttering "wow, I had no idea!"

For foods like apples, rice, loose vegetables and so forth, you will need a book of calorie values. Recent editions tend to contain (fairly horrifying) values for fast foods as well as the more usual suspects. You might try the well regarded "Food Values of Portions Commonly Used":

• Food Values of Portions Commonly Used at Amazon.com

If you'd prefer an online reference, NutritionData provides a wealth of searchable information on various foods:

• NutritionData website

Remember the Supplements

You should always take a good multivitamin supplement (at the very least) when on a calorie restriction diet. In theory, it's perfectly possible to obtain all the vitamins and micronutrients you need from your food. In practice, for most people living busy, working lives, this just isn't going to happen. Remember to take your supplements.

The Water Trick

Doctors tell us that few people in Western societies drink as much water as they should for optimal health, and many people mistake low-level thirst for low-level hunger. A very helpful tactic for those practicing calorie restriction is to drink a glass of water when first feeling hungry. If you are still hungry twenty minutes later, then maybe it's time to think about eating. Half the time, you were just thirsty, however.

If You Have Questions, Ask!

There is a large and very helpful calorie restriction community out there.

• Where to Find Out More About Calorie Restriction
• Visit the CR Society website

Visit the CR blogs, take a look around, join the CR Society mailing lists and feel free to speak out. These folks have plenty of advice and helpful hints for newcomers. Everyone was new to calorie restriction at some point in the past, and there are no stupid questions.

It's Just a Diet, So Relax

Too many people approach diets in an all-or-nothing way. If they slip up or eat poorly one day, they become stressed or abandon the diet entirely in frustration. The key to health through diet is a relaxed attitude. If you slip up, let it go. Keep at it, do better next time, and stay working on the average.

Remember that a diet is simply a tool to make you healthier, and thus enable you to keep up with what you enjoy in life. Good luck in trying CR!

Addendum: The Future of Your Longevity

If you've read this far, you are probably interested in living a longer, healthier life. Calorie restriction is still the only widely available tool in the longevity toolkit today, which, when you stop to think about it, is a rather sorry state of affairs. This will not always be the case, however, as medical science and biotechnology are advancing ever onwards. It is worth remembering that, as time progresses, your remaining healthy life span is determined ever more by the rate of progress in longevity research - work aimed at repairing the accumulation of cellular damage, the roots of all age-related disease and infirmity.

You should look into calorie restriction today, but also consider the long-term view: supporting medical research into extending healthy longevity is just as important ... and it will become ever more important as time goes on that you made that effort to help the development of better longevity medicine.

Last updated: December 7th, 2010.

Anti-aging can be a difficult topic to address. A war is currently being fought over the meaning of "anti-aging" (as research, medicine, brand, or simply adjective) and thus even mentioning the term is likely to prejudice many readers. We will try to put this all into context while being as neutral as possible.

Defining Anti-Aging

Like it or not, "anti-aging" now has a number of quite different common meanings and connotations. Each is championed by a particular group or loose coalition of interests, but advocates for these groups have a way of diving into the fray without defining their terms. This makes reading about anti-aging techniques, technologies, medicine, products, and debates very confusing for the newcomer.

• For the scientific community, anti-aging research refers exclusively to slowing, preventing, or reversing the aging process. There is, as of 2010, no proven medical technology that allows this goal to be accomplished in humans - although the jury is still out on the practice of calorie restriction and regular exercise. Nor is there any currently available method (short of waiting for people to die) to accurately measure the effects of an alleged anti-aging therapy.
• In the medical and more reputable business community, anti-aging medicine means early detection, prevention, and reversal of age-related diseases. This is quite different from tackling the aging process itself, and a wide array of strategies and therapies are currently available. Calorie restriction, for example, is a demonstrated way to lower risk for a wide range of age-related degenerative conditions.
• The wider business community - including a great many fraudulent and frivolous ventures - views "anti-aging" as a valuable brand and a demonstrated way to increase sales. At the worse end of the scale, this leads to snake oil salesmen, "anti-aging" cremes that may or may not make your skin look younger, and infomercials that tout the "anti-aging" benefits of various foods. Broadly, and very charitably, we can look at these varied definitions of anti-aging as meaning "to look and feel younger in some way" - which has no bearing on how long you live or how healthy you actually are.

The confusion of most interest is between the first two definitions. Many interventions lengthen life span for individuals by preventing or curing specific age-related diseases that would otherwise prove fatal. For example, ask yourself whether preventing heart disease or diabetes is anti-aging medicine. This would have no effect on the aging process, but it would help many people to live longer, healthier lives. Is this anti-aging research? Scientists say no, some medical and business groups say yes.

Scientists are appalled at what is going on in the anti-aging marketplace. The more reputable businesses in that marketplace are appalled by the hucksters and pervasive, subtle fraud. Anti-aging is both a valuable brand and important science that all these groups are attempting to control or profit from - in many cases their aims are at odds with one another.

Why Can't They All Just Get Along?

The war over the meaning of "anti-aging" is being fought over money and the perception of legitimacy. It is this perception of legitimacy that determines funding for scientific research and revenues for businesses. Scientists feel, quite rightly, that the noise and nonsense coming from the anti-aging marketplace is damaging the prospects for serious, scientific anti-aging research. If everyone knows that anti-aging means high-priced cream from Revlon marketed to the gullible and brand-aware, no scientist is going to get funding for a serious proposal in aging research that uses the word "anti-aging." Worse than that, people start to assume that real efforts to reverse aging must be impossible - and large scale science requires public support and understanding.

Businesses in the "anti-aging" marketplace make money from the aura of legitimacy whether or not their products perform as advertised, and so a lot of effort is expended to create and maintain this perception of legitimacy. Those businesspeople with working, accurately marketed products carry out their own fight against opportunists, frauds, and "marketeers" - businesses that are damaging the market and diluting the brand. Ironically, this is much the same argument used against the more legitimate businesses by scientists.

A common objection to the way in which some anti-aging businesses establish legitimacy is that they cherry pick supportive studies in areas in which the facts are still unsure and scientists are still working towards a conclusion. A few positive studies are not enough to settle any question or recommend any course of action in the complex world of medicine.

The vast amount of money spent on products that claim to turn back the clock demonstrates that people want real anti-aging medicines. The trouble is that these real anti-aging therapies simply don't exist. Or do they? It all depends on how you define "anti-aging."

The concept of "optimizing natural longevity" is useful when trying to draw a distinct line between what you can do now to lead a longer, healthier life, and what will be possible in the future. We can presume that there exists, for each person, some maximum life span - an "optimized natural longevity" - that can reach using modern medicine and appropriate lifestyle and diet choices. You can adopt calorie restriction, exercise, keep up a good relationship with a physician, and spend an appropriate amount on supplements and healthcare. Each of these items will help you to optimize your natural longevity - enable you to live a few years longer and in better health than you would otherwise have done. Does this make them anti-aging, preventative medicine, good maintenance, or merely not damaging yourself quite so much?

If an improved supplement comes onto the market that adds a few years of life for some people through a poorly understood biochemical mechanism, is that "anti-aging?" How about improvements in general healthcare for the elderly that have the same effect? Or a way to cure heart disease? All of these things are clearly going to extend healthy life span by some modest amount for at least some people - but they are not affecting the aging process. We could spend a lot of time arguing one way or another (and proposing further, more ambiguous examples).

We Are Not There Yet

Here is a final thought to mull over: if we possessed medical technologies that could extend the healthy human life span to 150 years (or more) - such as those proposed by biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey in his Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence - it's a fair bet that no-one would be arguing about the semantics of anti-aging research and medicine. In large part, these battles over meaning and legitimacy stem from the absence of anti-aging medicine that can greatly extend healthy life span. A year here and a year there are better than nothing, but far more effective medical technologies are possible.

This is why a focus on medical research and funding is vital to healthy life extension. We are simply not there yet. If a tenth of the effort spent on redefining anti-aging, selling junk, or trying to optimize natural longevity was spent on the medicine of the future - like regenerative medicine, repairing mitochondria, gene therapies or nanomedicine - just imagine where we could be by now! The medicine (and lifestyle choices like calorie restriction) that we have access to in the here and now are largely ineffective in the grand scheme of what is possible. Science can do far, far better in the long run, but getting there is going to take work, activism and support. What are you waiting for?

Last updated: December 7th 2010.

Activism is very important. Persistent and vocal advocacy for a cause directly influences the amount of money flowing into that cause: think of the fight to cure AIDS, cancer research, Alzheimer's research and now healthy life extension. Productively framing, placing and keeping a problem front and center in the mainstream of our culture is hard work, but that education and persuasion unlocks purses far and wide. Government money is usually the least of these resources. Far more funding comes from venture, charitable and corporate concerns. Corporations and venture capitalists see mainstream culture explicitly in terms of needs and markets for future products. If a need is shouted loudly enough, money will be directed to answer that need. Charitable causes answer the same needs - and more certainly goes to those needs shouted loudly from the rooftops - but through voluntary donations and giving.

Why Is Publicity Important?

Research and research funding ebbs and flows on public awareness and public opinion. Government funding is usually a small amount of the whole if a field is popular or well known. If the market sees money to be made by selling people what they want to buy, then companies will bloom and research funds will pour forth.

The science of healthy life extension, aging and longevity research, is currently very underfunded in comparison to, say, cancer, heart disease or AIDS research. When you stop to think about it, this is a very strange state of affairs. After all, everyone ages. Almost everyone is prepared to pay money to slow or halt the progress of aging. Witness the success of vendors claiming to supply "anti-aging" products!

So why is aging and longevity science languishing in comparison to other fields? One answer is that the wider public really doesn't understand the near future potential of this research. The blame for this state of affairs may or may not be laid at the feet of the scientific community, but it isn't an insurmountable barrier. We can look at what happened in the 80s and 90s for AIDS research, for example. Activist groups were well aware of the possibilities that future research could bring. They worked long and hard, and raised a great noise to the heavens. Lo and behold, the flow of resources to AIDS research increased dramatically. Today, AIDS in Western countries is almost a manageable, chronic condition rather than a death sentence - and this happened in only 20 years. When political and economic barriers are overcome, AIDS patients elsewhere in the world will enjoy the same benefits.

Something like this could - and indeed should - happen for the degenerations of aging. We need to organize, speak up and make ourselves heard.

AIDS funding in the 80s and 90s is one crowning example of a victory for activism and advocacy. In a comparatively short few years, AIDS moved from obscure disease to the center of media attention. There was a close relationship between activists and researchers by that time. The floodgates of research funding opened and AIDS progressed from death sentence to manageable condition for those with access to treatment.

There is a point to this examination of past history: we should be trying to repeat the sucesses of the fight against AIDS for aging and longevity research. This branch of science is woefully underfunded and still largely funded by governments - a recipe for slow progress. Major corporate concerns and venture capitalists do not yet see a potential market worthy of investment. The same goes for major philanthropic organizations. Why is this? One reason is that we don't see the loud clamor and noise of people demanding a real cure for aging. There is no ACT UP (one of the loudest early AIDS activism groups) to cultivate, shape, channel and present the nascent demand for longevity research and medical technologies to repair and reverse the damage of aging.

Active advocacy groups are the point of the spear, and can only come into being with the support of a large community. Effective advocacy cannot exist in a vacuum. Fight Aging!, the SENS Foundation, the Methuselah Foundation, the Alliance for Aging Research, the American Aging Association, the Immortality Institute, the CR Society, and other diverse pro-life-extension organizations didn't spring into existence from nothing. They interact with and are encouraged and supported by many overlapping communities interested in healthy life extension.

There has been a real growth in size and sophistication of healthy life extension communities across the past decade, largely thanks to the power of the Internet and the actions of a core of motivated leaders. As a united group, they have come to the point of being able to say: "Real, meaningful healthy life extension is what we want. Let us make it happen!"

How Do We Make It Happen?

What can you do to help the development and awareness of future healthy life extension therapies? I suggest the following easy ways to get started and get involved:

• Subscribe to the Newsletter

  We'll keep you up to date on current events, news and healthy life extension activism projects. You decide when and where to join in when we do something new and interesting.

• Join the wider healthy life extension commmunity

  Join the community and get talking! Make a donation to the SENS Foundation to support their longevity research; subscribe to the CR Society mailing lists; join the Immortality Institute forums; keep up with the news posted here at Fight Aging!

• Tell your friends about Fight Aging!

  Fight Aging! is well worth sharing. The more people who know about healthy life extension and are willing to help out, the better off we all are. Bring all your friends along and swell the ranks of people interested in longer, healthier lives.

• Take action today!

  Visit the Take Action! section and see what's going on. Chances are, there's an activist project that you could quickly and easily help with. You'll be helping to ensue your future health and longevity; every little bit counts!

For a final thought, let's come back to growing the community. If you stop to think about it, every extra person contributing to the healthy life extension community directly increases all our chances of living a much longer, healthier life. Everyone can help, and it doesn't take much effort.

Every wall is built one brick at a time. Have you mentioned healthy life extension to your friends today? Show Fight Aging! to a neighbor. Introduce someone to the Immortality Institute or mention the Methuselah Foundation at the office. Post Fight Aging! articles or newsletters to bulletin boards or online groups you belong to. After all, this is no different from sharing the normal run-of-the-mill health advice. Go ahead! You'll be helping people.

In short, healthy life extension is not a niche community anymore, and hasn't been for a while. So let's stop behaving like one.

The Opposition

Scientific progress is a wonderful thing. Progress means that we live in houses rather than caves; that we live in comfort rather than hardship. We shouldn't forget that the vast majority of people slaved just to stay alive for a few short decades in past centuries, living in filth and disease.

Many people do forget. They discount and belittle the tremendous benefits that science has brought to humanity. They would shackle the engine of progress and halt the advance of science. They have their reasons; fear of change often heads the list. Luddites of one form or another have existed throughout history, but have always been defeated. A good thing too! But defeat simply seems to mean that the next generation will live better, longer lives while fighting hard to prevent their children from enjoying the same benefits.

Today, humanity stands on the brink of real, meaningful longevity medicine. Readily available therapies to repair and prevent the damage we suffer simply from living could be mere decades away. Yet, people in positions of influence or power (such as Leon Kass, former chair of the President's Council for Bioethics, and Francis Fukuyama, to name but a few) devote their time to blocking research and speaking out openly against extended health and life.

This isn't isolated, and this isn't just a matter of distaste for advances in medicine for healthy life extension. It's part of a bigger war against scientific progress in all forms. We see it in the globalization debate, in local, national and international politics, in arguments over genetically modified foods. Influential and well-funded factions want to stop or even turn back the clock of progress for everyone. While they can live as they like in their own lives, they have no right to force their views on the world. Alas, they continue to try.

Unfortunately, we cannot dismiss the efforts of people like Leon Kass. While he is helping (in his own backwards way) to raise awareness of the possibilities of healthy life extension, he and his bioethicist cronies have a real ability to damage and hold back medical research. Their voices are used to justify legislation to restrict, shut down or criminalize vast swathes of important, relevant medical research in the US. France and Germany have already done this: it's not as though we can pretend that it can't happen elsewhere.

We cannot afford to lose these battles! The longevity-enhancing, age-repairing medicine of the future is by no means a done deal. Human science is capable of achieving so much that has simply not been accomplished, or even attempted in the years to date. We could have had permanent bases on the Moon, irrigated the Sahara and catalogued all life on the deepest ocean floor over the last 50 years. We have not. Likewise, there is no guarantee that advances in medicine will bring radical life extension rapidly enough to help those of us reading this now.

We must stand up and support what we believe in: more medical research, freedom for researchers, better medicine and healthier, far longer lives!

Last updated: December 7th, 2010.