#LifespanChallenge Starts on October 1st

Staff at the longevity research crowdfunding site Lifespan.io are launching their #LifespanChallenge event this Thursday October 1st. This is also the day on which this year's Fight Aging! matching fundraiser in support of SENS rejuvenation research kicks off, as well as being the date for numerous other events related to research into human longevity organized by the advocacy community:

Over the past few years there has been a tradition emerging of longevity researchers and activists around the world organizing events on or around October 1 - the UN International Day of Older Persons, or Longevity Day. This is an excellent idea, and to take it further Lifespan.io will be running a social challenge campaign, not unlike the Ice Bucket Challenge, to raise both funds and awareness for life extension research - the #LifespanChallenge. It will begin on October 1 and run through the month of October.

1) Donate any amount via Lifespan.io to a running campaign or to the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation (LEAF). If you have already done so already, feel free to skip to the next step.

2) Post a short video (or image with description) on social media where you are holding up the #LifespanChallenge sign (which you can print or show on a tablet, etc.). Share a personal reason why you sincerely care about life extension, or express yourself in any way that is linked to this theme.

3) Challenge 3 friends to do the above as well. Add a post description similar to this: "Hey everyone; here is my response to the #LifespanChallenge to help extend healthy lifespan! My reason for helping this cause is _____. If you want to help please donate any amount to https://www.lifespan.io/donate/ or projects at https://www.lifespan.io, make a video like this, and challenge 3 of your friends to do the same. For example @FriendName1, @FriendName2, @FriendName3 I challenge you!"

Facebook has made it easy to upload video directly, so all you should need is a cell phone camera. The text that accompanies your post should be informative, tagging your friends (preface their name with an @ in Facebook, for example) and including the hashtag #LifespanChallenge. This will make the post visible to your friends and easy to find later. One of the goals of this challenge is to introduce more people to the idea of life extension, so make it a point to talk to at least one friend who is not already part of the life extension community about the #LifespanChallenge, and open up a dialogue around this topic.
Don't wait to be challenged; be a part of the first wave and help really get the ball rolling.

That's it! Let's keep up the momentum to #CrowdfundTheCure, and I hope you all have an excellent Longevity Day.

Link: http://www.lifespan.io/the-lifespanchallenge-starting-on-october-1-international-longevity-day/

Comments

Would be incredible if it caught on like the icebucket challenge. That being said, the crowdfunding for mitoSENS is just about done... a ~1200 left!

Posted by: Ham at September 28th, 2015 11:00 AM

Yeah I don't think this will work. My mate tried to get a 'no junk month' challenge going in Dubai, but it fizzled out pretty quickly. The main problem was that it didn't have the visual gag of someone having ice water poured over them. Obviously replicating this is hard as otherwise loads of other causes would have made use of challenges by now.

I suggested something different. Get some of those rubber or woven festival wrist bands made and send one to each of the three people nominated. Each time they cheat (other than for their cheat meal on Saturday) they have to put a small rubber burger on it, every week out of the four that they go without cheating they get to put a rubber goal star on the band. This obviously relies on the fact that everyone is meeting up 3 times per week at classes though.

I don't know if you could adapt this to aging research though, what would be the measurements, and what would be the symbols? Rubber mitochondria and stem cells for the good tokens and senescent cells for the bad tokens, sounds unrecognisable when I write it out.

Posted by: jim at September 28th, 2015 2:45 PM

Less than 900 left now :)

Will they go for additional MitoSENS goals in the remaining days?

Posted by: Antonio at September 28th, 2015 4:38 PM

@jim, totally agree, the prevailing of such activities need to be attractive to the public to follow, by which they can gain fun or other stuff, or it won't develop in the way you'd planned. Aging problem is always a hot topic among the public. More interesting activities will contribute to a more successful program.

Posted by: Oxytocin at September 28th, 2015 9:33 PM

It's finished! Congratulations!

Posted by: Antonio at September 29th, 2015 11:31 PM
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