Living Long Enough to Live Forever

by Nils Osmar. August 17, 2023
This post is not intended as, and should not be taken as, medical advice.
See full Medical Disclaimer

Some people in our community have a saying that goes: “Live long enough to live forever”

The saying originated (I believe) in title of Ray Kurzweil’s 2009 book of the same name.
The idea behind this sentiment is that our main job, if we’re interested in extreme longevity is to stay alive and in good health so that we’re still alive and kicking when things like genetic reprogramming and other bone-deep interventions become available. (The hope being that these interventions could — if they work — completely fix and do away with the aging process.)
This is hard for many of us to picture, because we still have a gut level feeling that “We’re just delaying the inevitable… we’ll all have to eventually grow old and die someday.”
The promise of anti-aging and life extension is that this “gut level feeling” may turn out to be false, and Kurzwell’s sentiment may turn out to be achievable.
From the vantage point, I find it interesting to remember that there was a time when human beings found the whole notion of humans flying through the air, or flying to other planets, to be the stuff of absurdist fantasy; now the technology behind both is commonplace.
I remember radio shows back in the 1960s in which popular physicists argued that landing on the moon was theoretically and practically impossible. The physicists who believed that are forgotten now.
P.S. It could turn out, decades or centuries from now, to be true that humans need to die and we won’t ever reach physical immortality. (I don’t believe death is inevitable, but it’s might turn out to be.) Or we could do something silly like blow up the world or cook it or something before the big change happens. Or maybe a big meteor will wipe us out of something.
If any of those things happen, cest la vie — we’re still no worse off for having tried.
The point (to me) is to have fun trying. The alternative is aging and dying without even trying to avoid aging and death.
This doesn’t necessarily mean waiting around biting our fingernails, waiting anxiously for the arrival of further interventions. Even if we just use the tools we already have available (nutrition, exercise, anti-aging supplements such as AKG, GlyNAC and NMN, and the thoughtful and selective use of current medical options, I personally think we have a pretty good chance we can still still be in the world when “the big change” occurs and the human race becomes a race of either immortals or Methuselahns.

Not medical advice

This article is not intended as, and should not be taken as, medical advice. I’m not advising that people eat any particular diet or take any particular supplement(s), just reporting on what I’m doing. Supplements, like medications and other interventions, can have side effects; I would encourage people to research both possible benefits and side effects before starting on any supplementation regimen, and consult with a medical professional about any issues which might have a medical component. See full Medical Disclaimer

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