A French Language Interview With Aubrey de Grey
English is the language of computing, and hence increasingly the language of science these days. This is one of the reasons why there is much less coverage of cutting edge work on aging and related advocacy for longevity science in other languages, but here is a (translated) French language interview with Aubrey de Grey of the SENS Research Foundation:
Paris Match: Do you really think that human beings can live five hundred or a thousand years?Aubrey de Grey: Yes. Anything that does not work in a body that ages and eventually makes us sick can potentially be cured by medicine. Without the accumulation of damage over the years, we could live hundreds of years. It is only a matter of time. My dream is that every adult, regardless of age, can remain all his or her life as healthy as when young.
Paris Match: What are the chances that aging becomes a distant memory?
Aubrey de Grey: Medicines designed to regenerate humans are all in development, although some are still in their infancy. I think we have a 50% chance to develop essential knowledge to understand the diseases of old age and therefore apply a range of therapies to eradicate these diseases. In twenty to twenty-five coming years, it will be possible.
Paris Match: Has tangible progress been made already?
Aubrey de Grey: Of course. Researchers have made significant progress in this area. For example, we know how to protect cells against high levels of damaged, toxic cholesterol. To achieve this, we inject an enzyme into these cells - a protein found in a bacterium - that makes them very resistant. This enzyme can alter chemical reactions within the cell without altering its balance.
Paris Match: Do you think that even the elderly have an opportunity to become young?
Aubrey de Grey: Yes, absolutely. The strategy of my SENS Research Foundation is based on the theory that it is much easier to periodically treat the causes of diseases associated with old age than stop the aging process itself. But everyone will benefit, because it is the interest of all states: diseases associated with old age have an astronomical cost. The ability to age in good health would be to public interest because it would make considerable savings.