Dateline: May 4 2045
Twenty years ago, in 2025, Derya Unutmaz stunned his audience when he predicted that we would solve the problem of human ageing by 2045. Many people scoffed at this idea while secretly hoping his prediction would come true.
What the doubters failed to fully consider was the exponential acceleration of scientific progress powered by AI, and in particular biotech and life sciences. Retro Biosciences, founded with the fairly modest goal of extending our lifespans by 10 years, deployed GPT-4b to supercharge its research efforts. Almost immediately the bio-AI was able to accelerate optimisation of the Yamanaka factors to turn adult cells back into stem cells, to rejuvenate tissues and organs.
But it was the release of the Longevity Intelligence for Everyone (Life) model by DeepSeek that really got the industry buzzing. Dozens of start-ups, lured by the promise of a trillion-dollar industry, poured their hearts and minds into solving the problem of biological complexity. With the help of AI it’s possible to compress a lifetime of research into years or months, and quickly discard the less promising pathways.
Using huge amounts of genomic data, Life AI is able to identify vulnerabilities in individual DNA profiles and suggest optimal genetic treatment regimes, not only to cure or prevent disease but to delay or even reverse ageing at the cellular level.
As Futureworld futurist Doug Vining was fond of saying back in the day: “The ultimate cure for ageing is data.” And the ability to turn that data into solutions, through simulation and experimentation, which only AI could do at exponential scale.
Now we are reaching “longevity escape velocity” and can keep ageing at bay indefinitely. The AI won’t let you die. Unless you choose to.
• First published on Mindbullets May 1 2025.
The ultimate cure for ageing
Dateline: June 26 2024
In the past six years a bunch of longevity entrepreneurs, or should I say ageing researchers, have been seeking the holy grail: a way to slow down or even reverse the ageing process. In other words, keep you living longer and having a healthier life while you do so. For money, of course, but it’s a noble purpose, so
no-one is complaining.
Now prominent geneticist and longevity evangelist Craig Vesper has announced that he has the answer, and it’s not a miracle drug, or even modifying your genes, though they do help in specific circumstances.
Before we reveal the solution to the age-old ageing problem, let’s look at the remarkable strides that have been made in recent years. Improving socioeconomic conditions, and access to general healthcare as well as smarter medical protocols, have seen life expectancy rise in rich nations, as well as the poorest.
You are likely to hear a futurist or trends analyst tell you “the first person to live to 200 years has already been born”. Which is probably true. Global connectivity has helped spread medical knowledge and life-preserving skills to all parts of the world. The remarkably short-lived Ebola outbreak of 2018 is a case in point, where the epidemic was quickly defeated by new technology.
But extending lifespans to 180 years or more is a trickier prospect, and Vesper has hit upon an unlikely, but obvious, solution. Using AI, DNA sequencing and clinical drug trials, in combination rather than isolation, has revealed the magic bullet — data.
“With full-genome data on literally millions of patients, and the ability to accurately link these to specific gene interventions and drug and supplement regimes, we can guarantee results for specific individuals,” he said.
Have you submitted your data yet? It could buy you many more years.
• First published on Mindbullets July 26 2018.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. The Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures, and challenge and stimulate strategic thinking.
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