Ep. 81: Aubrey de Grey: How & Why We Must Defeat Aging

Today, we are joined by Aubrey de Grey, biomedical gerontologist and Chief Science Officer of the SENS research foundation, and co-author of the book Ending Aging. You might know Aubrey from his appearances on 60 minutes, the BBC, The New York Times, Fortune, the Colbert Report, or his popular TED Talk. If you’ve heard him speak before, you’ll know that he is one of the chief drivers behind the view that medical technology may one day enable people alive today to live… well, forever. Through his research on regenerative medicine, and what he calls “Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, or SENS,” de Grey has proposed a number of ways to not only slow, but even stop and reverse the effects of age on the human body. During the episode, we talk about these methods, the effects of aging, and also raise some of the ethical and practical issues surrounding the idea of a-mortality. We talk about learning, and I was just blown away by how much knowledge and expertise my guest has accumulated - and how he has accumulated it. We also have an absolutely fascinating and engaging conversation about the potential of the future, and what humanity may look like in 20 or 30 years. We truly dive into the idea of what it might be to be “superhuman,” and the resulting conversation will definitely blow your mind. For those of you who really love the heavy, sciencey episodes where we geek out on technical terms, you’re really going to love this episode, and for those of you who don’t, well, you’re going to learn a whole hell of a lot about your body and how it ages, and I’m quite sure you’ll get a kick out of my guest’s combination of jaw dropping wit and dry British humor.