Billionaires are funding the creation of life-extending pills that will eventually hit the market for people to buy, according to a CEO — and he says it’ll turn the rich in to “posh, privileged zombies.”
The chilling warning comes amid fears that AI and biotechnology are evolving at such a rapid pace that anti-aging tablets might only be a matter of years away.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and ChatGPT’s Sam Altman are among the latest in a long line of American tycoons to throw their wealth behind regenerative medicine.
Bezos is reported to have invested $3 billion — the biggest biotechnology company launch of all time — in Altos Labs, which he cofounded with Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner in 2021. The startup hired top scientists to research how to reverse the aging process and pursue something called biological reprogramming technology, which would allow scientists to rejuvenate cells in a lab.
According to MIT Technology Review, Altos Labs immediately drew comparisons to Calico Labs, a similar company that Google co-founder Larry Page started in 2013 to focus on longevity and reprogramming.
They’re not the only billionaires on an anti-aging quest: PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invested in the Methuselah Foundation, which describes itself as “a non-profit medical charity focused on extending the healthy human lifespan by making 90 the new 50.”
Among Methuselah’s goals are to invent technologies that can create new organs, blood vessels, and bones; to remove “destructive biological structures” from the body; to further studies of epigenetics; and to restore things like cognition and physical ability in older people.
Most recently, in April last year, ChatGPT founder Sam Altman was revealed to have funded biotech startup Retro BioScience to the tune of $180 million.
According to its website, Retro BioScience focuses on “cellular reprogramming” and is less than four years away from developing a clinical proof-of-concept. It vows to extend human life by 10 years.
In July, researchers at MRC Laboratory of Medical Science at Imperial College London and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore announced the discovery of a new drug that increased the lifespans of laboratory mice by nearly 25%.
Their aim is to increase life expectancy with drugs and other technologies that make the body’s cells stay younger and disease-free for longer.
“At the rate technology is evolving, it will only be a matter of time before life-extending drugs become freely available to those who can afford them,” said Phil Cleary, the founder of the SmartWater Group.
But Cleary said Silicon Valley moguls should “quit playing God” in their race to conquer death, calling the quest for the holy grail of medicine “ego-driven” and charging that it risks creating a planet of “posh, privileged zombies.”
Instead, he said, they should use their huge fortunes to help the world’s poorest children survive at least into adulthood. Rather than prolonging the lives of the rich elite, their money would be better spent on the world’s 5 million children who die of hunger and from other preventable, treatable causes every year.
“Silicon Valley’s dogged pursuit of the fountain of youth is a fear-led, ego-driven folly that comes at a terrible humanitarian cost to the planet and to its most vulnerable inhabitants,” said Cleary, the author of “Elixir,” a novel that explores the damaging consequences of life-extending drugs on society.
“A pill that keeps people alive, even by a few decades, would create an unjust, inequitable world packed with posh, privileged zombies — predominately white, middle-class folk who could afford to buy the drugs in the first place.
“The billionaires behind this dangerous research should therefore quit playing God and reevaluate what ‘life’ really means.
“Keeping children alive until at least their 18th birthday is unquestionably more important to humanity than extending the run of those privileged few who have already had the chance to see the world, to have children of their own, and to realize their own special ambitions.”
Around 100,000 people die from age-related diseases every day, according to the World Health Organization, yet scientists have long been divided about what causes aging and what, if anything, can be done about it.
While aging itself does not directly kill people, older people are at risk of many deadly diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer.
Some believe that mitochondria — the cell batteries — could be responsible. Over time, these are thought to produce unstable compounds which damage, or age, important molecules and proteins.
Others believe aging may be caused by “senescent,” or older cells that are not cleared out by the body’s waste system as they become dormant.
But anti-aging research is progressing rapidly as scientists seek to uncover and control the molecular processes of aging.
Dozens of high-profile businessmen have thrown their weight and money behind biotechnology startups that are specifically focused on extending the human lifespan.
Cleary, whose SmartWater technology is used by more than 2 million people in over 20 countries worldwide, accepted that life-extending medication would benefit many people whose lives would otherwise be cut short due to terminal illness.
But he warned that drugs with such power would only be sold at a premium, meaning that most of the world’s population could never afford them.
“Before extending the lives of the privileged few, surely mankind must first focus on extending the lives, if only for a few years, of the millions of children who die of starvation,” he said.
Theologian Dr. Niamh Middleton of the University of Dublin agreed and said humanity “could be lost forever” if Silicon Valley succeeded in its goal.
“Aside from the many religious arguments, God’s divine plan among them, I would think it safe to say that humanity could be lost forever as we know if life-extending drugs are brought to the market by private companies for commercial gain,” she said.
“In our pursuit of extending life, let us first turn our attention to the most vulnerable among us. Rather than focusing on costly measures for personal longevity, let us channel our resources and efforts toward eradicating the scourge of childhood starvation, reflecting the true Christian call to compassion and justice.”
