Transhumanism is a patchwork of beliefs about how technology will enhance the human condition, maybe radically so. There are Extropians and brain uploaders, artists keen to paint in virtual worlds, and do-it-yourself biohackers ready to have electronic chips implanted in their bodies. One common thread, though, is the hope for super-longevity.
Who wouldn’t want to reach 110, if not 500? Unlike mere armchair futurists, the life extensionists are prepared to experiment on themselves, and others, using vitamins and prescription cancer drugs, as well as compounds available only by finagling them from chemical suppliers.
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[Head of transhumanist research organization BetterHumans, James] Clement is expanding his medicine cabinet of pills. So far he has financed and supervised four small studies, in volunteers, of treatments found to extend the healthy lives of rodents—the immune drug rapamycin, the supplement NAD+, a combination of compounds that kill off aged cells, and injections of plasma concentrated from umbilical cords. His aim is “to do as many small trials as possible” to generate and publish basic information on safety and possible benefits. With that, he says, people interested in life extension “can decide to take the risk.”
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The payoff? Hanging in there until scientists ultimately cure death.
Read full, original post: The transhumanists who want to live forever
