WEBVTT - Should We Reverse Aging? 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.680 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.080 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.039 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:25.680 production of iHeartRadio, Welcome back to the show. My name 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.840 is Matt, my name is Noel. They called me Ben. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:33.400 We're joined as always with our superproducer Paul Mission controlled decond. 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.080 Most importantly, you are you. You are here, and that 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.599 makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.880 Now in the interest of full transparency, your fellow conspiracy 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.040 realist on this show are returning to you from a 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.400 little bit of time on the road, and I think 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:54.880 it's safe to say we are all maybe a bit punchy. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.760 What do you all have going on after this episode? 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:02.160 Is it nap time? Is it chores cleaning? Catch up? Now, 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:09.120 it's podcasting time. Baby never sleeps. Let's go, let's go, well, hey, 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.800 we can do shoutouts, we can do shout outs. Let's 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.080 do some shout outs, man, I love that idea. Let's 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 do some shout outs. Let's definitely say hey to people 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.160 like Nick Thun and Brian Baumgardner that we got to 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:25.440 hang out with for a little bit Hopefullysenberg was a delight. 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:27.600 I got to I got to tell her how much 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.120 I missed asking me another and and tell her how 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.039 much I love the anagram for her name, which is 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.800 her ripe Bagunis, which anagrams are so fun. I'm not 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:37.680 smart enough to make them, but I remember that one. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.559 Yeah you are, Oh that's really kind of ben. So 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.600 we went on some travels. We have more travels in line, 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:49.760 and I think for some of us not naming names, uh, 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.680 for some of us, uh, you're we experienced this point 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.080 that you might have experienced yourself. Folks, At some point 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:00.720 it hits everyone. You get a you'rd ache in a 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.480 body part, right, you wake up in the morning, you 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.840 slept too long in the wrong position, and you're thinking, wow, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.200 did this elbow quit? You might have been drinking alcohol, 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.799 you have a hangover that lasts longer than it did 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.120 in your college days. Or maybe maybe you don't drink, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.600 maybe you don't sleep, maybe you're just not as fast 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.320 on the court anymore, or you have trouble pulling all nighters, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.400 and it leads to this frightening realization. The moment hits you, 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.080 am I getting old and one day to paraphrase the 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:37.360 Flaming Lips. You realize that everyone you know, including you, 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:42.359 will die. This is our episode that's a follow up 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:47.680 to modern vampires who follow up to immortality. The question 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:56.359 is should humans reverse aging? Here are the facts? Wait wait, wait, man, Ben, 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:01.480 are you saying I will I'm going to die? Yeah? Yeah, Sorry, 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.280 I wanted to tell you on air. This is a 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:11.359 big bummerential crisis in real time right now. One last thing, 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.560 we have personal experience of that feeling that Ben just described, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.399 or you're like, oh man, something is not right anymore. 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:19.920 As part of this work thing, we hung out with 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.680 the Johnny Drinks folks, John Johnny and Steve and we 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.480 had to for work. We didn't have to, but as 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.200 a part of our work we drank Manhattan's and just 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.800 getting a little bit of alcohol in the system. Nowadays, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:35.760 as we're getting older, I don't know about you guys, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.920 not so great for me anymore in the morning. Definitely 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.119 causes you to flag a little bit the next day. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.800 But I think we all kept our composure and exercise 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:51.360 some restraint. But exercise restraints as you may. The inevitability 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:57.920 of death is sure the study, is it, yeah? Yeah? 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.120 Or should we fight fight the tide like a salmon 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.800 swimming upstream. The study of death is called thanatology. There's 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.120 a book that we're gonna We're gonna save you some 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.080 time with. It's called The Denial of Death. Mentioned it 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.680 in past episodes. You do not have to read it. 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:21.760 And thesis is that every single piece of all human technology, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.680 and all religion, and all of what we call society, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.400 all all the things that the humans are doing is 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.000 to distract themselves from the fact that one day they 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.960 will no longer be around. Didn't want to start off 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:39.080 that nihilistic, So a little bit of solve here really quickly. 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.520 The thanatology like Thanos and he like the death God 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.320 kind of in the Marvel Universe in the comics. His 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.560 number one crush is the Marvel Universe embodiment of Death. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.719 That's what I thought. I remember they didn't really play 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.640 with that in the movie. They do, remember, Yeah, but 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.360 like it was like really like a personification of like death. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.760 You know. That's interesting. Well, let's add one important positive 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:10.719 philosophical note before we before we dive into the dark 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:16.480 waters of lethe or whatever. These days, most human beings 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.840 do not simply cease to exist at the point of 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.880 biological death. Back in the day, for most of your 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:28.719 human society, the vast majority of people died unremembered. But now, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.080 as long as there is some idea or record of 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:36.080 you that exist, so long as you are remembered, you 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:41.320 will continue to affect the world. So, fellow conspiracy realist, 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.960 let's all do our collective best to leave a good impression. 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.800 You know what I mean? In some way, what we're 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.120 saying is humans do continue after their expiration date. But 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:57.440 biologically speaking, it's Valor Morgalus. You know what I mean? 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.679 Twenty four to seven, all humans will at some point 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.640 encounter a collapse in mission critical biological systems and die. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.920 Did I get that right? Valor Mogulas? Is that correct? Morlas? Yea, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:13.760 I think it's Goulas, but it's been a Mena since 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:18.680 I've watched that show. Yeah, So okay, So let's talk 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.360 about the average human being. You are listening, and you 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:28.800 are human. That's our first assumption. Uh, what's your average lifespan? 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:34.440 One hundred years? No, no, no, nope, right now it's 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:38.040 just under seventy four years, really close to the average 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:42.320 age of a sperm whale. Interestingly, enough, guys, not bad. 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.360 It's pretty good. Un till you get to seventy six 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.479 and you're thinking, is this all bonus credit? Uh for? 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.039 For comparison? What do we know about other animals? It's 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.400 like when they raise the level cap in video games 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.880 you now as part of like an update or a DLC. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.440 You're just kind of like, yeah, you're on as you're 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.800 playing the extra content. Well, we're doing awesome compared to 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.360 like an octopus that's like four years five years back 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.640 pretty much, yeah, unless you unless you give them the lobotomy. 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:17.440 Why was that research stopped anyway? Different different question. So 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.880 other other mammals can live quite a long time. Other 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.320 life forms can live quite a long time, and they'd 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.960 be life forms that are called higher order. But shout 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.240 out to a frames excellent point from a week or 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:35.560 so back about the nature of intelligence and fungus. For comparison, 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.240 the average corvid lives fifteen to twenty two years if 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.360 things go well spoiler they don't. The world is brutal 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:50.240 and Matt, you were talking earlier as sperm whales, right, well, yeah, 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.920 I looked it up just for this episode. One of 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:58.520 the bigger, more intelligent creatures on the planet that swims 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:00.440 around in this case is a sperm whale, and they 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.440 have a life expectancy of about seventy years, and that 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.720 that was really puzzling to me, just because of our 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.320 stature the humans, you know, humans average height and weight 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.640 and everything, and then thinking that we live, you know, 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.400 seventy four to one hundred years, that kind of thing, 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.960 and then this huge creature also lives about that long. 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.480 For some reason, in my mind, I thought an octopus 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.840 would live a lot longer than a sperm whale, just 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:32.280 because of the massive size and how many cells are 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.679 in there and all that stuff. But it has nothing 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.200 to do with anything that I was thinking about. Well again, 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:44.120 somebody start doing more unethical research on the octopus. Please, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.240 I'm very interested to see their opinions. If they make 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.360 it to even ten years, you know, it'll be cool. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.239 You could probably only do it with biologically female octopus. 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.360 I know the research is being conducted. I gotta let 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.000 this go. Okay, humans, that's what we're talking about. Humans. 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.959 So the life expectancy, like I said, something like seventy 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:10.440 three point one six years. That statistic varies so widely 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:17.319 across the world, across demographics, across biological sex at birth. Like, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.520 you know, it's a fact that the female of the 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.560 human species tends to live longer than the male. And 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.520 there are literally thousands of factors at play here, many 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.560 of which are human created factors. People are dying earlier 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.720 because of other humans, not because of their bodies. The 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.040 one thing about this it's so interesting is there's one 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.800 big commonality. It remains constant and it's frankly sinister since 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.120 the early days that people started getting up to the 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.880 business of people and the folks at the Yeah, the 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:59.400 folks at the top of whatever, of literally any culture, 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.120 the folks at the top would at some point get 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.840 desperate to stay alive for as long as possible, and 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.760 they had all gas, no breaks. They were super crappy 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.640 about it to anyone that they thought was getting in 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.319 their way. I guess so, I mean, but then we've 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.560 also seen you know, cautionary tales or like things like 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.160 Interview with the Vampire for example, where eventually you just 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.320 get to a point where you've had it all and 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.720 you just can't really, you know, just it's just not 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.199 fun anymore. You know, there's a certain malaise that sets 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.319 in and probably causes people to go a little bit 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:38.239 insane or vampire's brother. Today's episode is what if everybody 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:43.680 had that feeling right exactly? And it's not a it's 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.960 a scary proposition and we see it in history in 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.920 the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, where old Gilgamesh. 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.840 I always think of Gargamel, you know, from the Smurfs 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.760 whenever I hear Gilgamesh, but he spends a lot of 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.559 time trying to attain more immortality, much like we see 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.839 this story repeating. You know, there's a fountain of youth 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.040 and all of that stuff, and folks seeking some sort 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.640 of boon, you know, from a god or demigod or 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.080 whatever that would allow them to live forever because it's, 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.760 you know, a human thing. Once you realize that clock 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.960 is ticking, it's kind of natural to want to figure 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:21.160 out a way to stop it. M Yeah, and the 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.800 Epic of Gilgamesh is is pretty dope. Maybe we can, 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.760 maybe we could actually end today's episode with a clip 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.600 from our boy Guilgee or Gil. I guess you just 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.640 call them gill if your friends. But the story is 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:41.760 pretty good and it's an instructive lesson that in Samarian 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.559 culture at least, I pause. It was meant to help 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.520 people feel okay with time, as morbid as that sounds. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.080 But then there are other folks like the ancient Chinese 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:58.079 emperor sin she Halden, who you know, we're not native speakers, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.360 forgive us there it looks like and she hung Y're right? 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:10.200 So Hinchi Huang literally drank mercury. It was buried with 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.240 a bunch of it, with the idea that it would 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.000 make him immortal. And not only did it not make 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:21.480 him immortal, not only did he die, but it probably 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.800 ruined the natural world for people who lived around the 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.200 area for a while. I mean, we hear about, you know, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.800 being mad as a hatter or whatever from the mercury 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:34.559 they used to treat the felt. I mean that stuff 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.920 literally does make you kind of go insane. Do you 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.040 think it was as simple as like, oh, what's the 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.880 shiny stuff? This must be magical juice from the gods. 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:49.440 Humans love it when someone authoritatively tells them something right, 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.480 like mercury this is neat Huh. You know what else 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.360 you can do? Maybe make you live forever. I'm just 0:12:55.440 --> 0:13:01.880 asking questions. But also the story of that emperor less 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.000 less we be unfair to him. The story about that 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.080 emperor has a lot more to it. These are we're 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.520 just giving you a couple things that might sound like 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:15.240 weird historical footnotes, But humanity has been obsessed with this, 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:20.000 and rightly so, and they have an increasingly sophisticated understanding 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.760 of age in the modern day. Like in the modern 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:27.360 day right now, most people don't believe in biological immortality. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:33.120 The big debate is can we replicate someone's brain to 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.199 a level of fidelity such that we could upload a 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:41.000 version of them that exists beyond the body, right That's 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.319 what most people think of when they think of plausible 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.560 immortality now. But despite the fact that most people don't 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:54.079 believe in bioimmortality, humans are still desperately doing whatever they 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.000 can to look younger than they are. I was looking 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.960 up plastic surgery statistics. You guys saw that a lot 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.640 of people are get plastic surgery. It's like it's a 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:09.000 big deal. Yeah, it's a massive industry. Well, and there 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.200 are a lot of different procedures. I mean, they're they're 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.000 always having a lot of different plastic surgery procedures. Some 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.960 are way more invasive than others. Some would still be 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:22.320 considered plastic surgery, but are more of like a thing 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.840 you'd go and do at the dermatologist on a Tuesday, 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.120 like some of the fillers and other things they get 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.560 injected to people that I would still consider that, you know, 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.320 way plastic surgery. I don't think it is the same thing, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.440 though it's adjacent. I mean any kind of implant or 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.400 things that go I mean, yeah, yeah, A lot of 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.120 plastic surgery too is implant based. So whether you're getting 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.520 something injected or inserted, I think it's definitely, you know, 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.360 in the same vein. In January of twenty twenty three, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:56.160 the International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgeons or SAPPS is 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.920 APS release the results of an annual global their annual 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.280 Global Survey on esthetic cosmetic procedures today, and it showed 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.800 an overall nineteen point three percent increase and these kinds 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.360 of procedures in twenty twenty one with more than you're 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.680 close to thirteen million surgical and then seventeen point five 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.000 million non surgical, like you were talking about MATT procedures 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.720 performed worldwide. That's nuts. Well, it makes sense when you 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.320 think about what Ben You're saying earlier that there is 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.880 kind of a weird way to live forever now, and 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:32.040 that's just to exist digitally, not as an actual avatar 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.440 of yourself right and a version of yourself that's in 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.040 the machine, but just the representations of us that are 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.200 going to be around forever until they turn the servers off. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.600 So I think that what we're seeing here is just 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.400 an attempt to appear as young as you possibly can 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.520 for as long as you can within that space, within 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.520 that medium. Look upon my Instagram you mighty oh no 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:03.800 and despair yeah, and as servers closed. Yeah, I mean, 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.880 it's a it's a wild, inherently conspiratorial thing, especially to 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.040 the point about appearance. Yeah, it's like, I mean, Alexa 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:17.280 play forever young. Shout out to anybody who's it's happening. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.160 But while people are tucking their tummies and lifting their 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:26.280 faces and rubbing strange expensive creams across their wrinkles, scientists 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.720 around the world, funded by tycoons, funded by people you 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:36.160 might not like, are locked in labs conducting strange experiments. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.400 We may not be able to stop the clock, they 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.960 seem to conclude, but what if we can turn it back. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:55.120 We're gonna pause for word from our sponsors. Here's where 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.320 it gets crazy. Wait before we do that, I do 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:02.240 think we should say, um, there's nothing wrong with getting 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:06.000 plastic surgery. We're not body shaming anyone. You know, your 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:07.959 life is your own. But also I mean, like you know, 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.160 whether you're even people who aren't like vain at all 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.640 are like conceded there there's a real psychological effect on 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.120 changing the way you look and feeling good about yourself, 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.719 even if it's not because you know, want to just 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:21.919 feel like I'm so hot, you know. But it's it's 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.960 simple things. It's the same reason people go to gems 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.720 and all of that stuff, and there are some things 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.159 they go into the gym just won't fix. And we 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.119 are in a sis. We live in a society, as 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.080 it turns out, that does judge these kinds of things 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.760 and can make people feel very uncomfortable or lesson. So 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.960 I think there's an absolute benefit to maybe what I 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:45.359 would consider you know, moderate procedures like this. It's sure, 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.840 we do know that people can get like addicted to it, though, 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.400 and it becomes a real problem that's in of itself 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.200 a phenomenon that's very modern and very unusual. Like I 0:17:54.640 --> 0:18:00.479 donate to charities that help kids would cleft palates, you know, 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.560 and that would that be plastic surgery. Anyway, The point 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:08.040 is not plastic surgery necessarily. The point is that people 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.879 want to slow or reverse aging, and for millennia this 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:18.199 has been the dream. But this part, the twist of 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.440 this episode, or the first twist, is that yes, according 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:27.760 to recent, ongoing, groundbreaking research, it is in fact possible 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:34.880 to reverse the effects of biological age. Somewhat caveat asteris 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:41.720 fine print. First, we have to understand what aging actually is. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.439 Is it just sleeping wrong? Is it just that you 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.359 get to the point in your life where you feel like, 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.520 subconsciously you have to make sound effects when you get up, 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.119 you know, Oh, it's not an act. My friend, I 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.520 just saw a meme featuring our pal George Costanza from 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.320 Seinfeld where he's sort of pensively leaning again. It's like 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.280 a bridge, you know, an overpasser by a lake, and 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:07.080 it says, remembering the time before I had to grunt 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.080 anytime I sat down or stood up, and there is 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.679 some truth to that. It's weird. I'm feeling it, you know. 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:15.840 I mean, I'm a little heavier than to you guys, 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.359 but it's something that you see in everybody that gets 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.240 to our age. Lucky enough, but there are things you 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.920 gotta make adjustments, you know, or get adjustments. So what 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:29.320 is aging? How should we think about it? Ah? It 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:34.600 is your cells getting older, running the same processes over 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.879 and over and over and over, and then those cells 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.600 dying and being replaced by new cells and it continues happening. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.760 So really, well, it's so much more complicated than that. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.920 That's the way I think about it. Your body as 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:52.720 a system has been functioning for a long time, and 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.320 as it continues to function, your body then becomes more vulnerable. 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.760 All those cells, all those systems become more vulnerable to 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.760 breaking down a little bit, something going wrong, either from 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.679 a genetic standpoint, you know, within a couple of cells, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:11.040 a cluster of cells, as they encounter some environmental factor, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.280 a lot of times you can have some real problems. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:19.480 So you're looking at things like dementia, stroke, cancer, so 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.000 freaking common, especially now that we know that we've been 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.320 wiping our butts with forever chemicals. All A true story. 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:32.320 Yeah yeah, unless you only use a day uh yeah yeah, 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.840 true story. And that's that's something you should clock, folks. 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.000 I can't remember when this is going to come out. 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.879 But Matt, you would you would hipped us to that 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.520 on a group chat and I had never heard of that, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:49.280 But nice teaser. Uh. The the process of aging is 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:54.520 a series of processes. Honestly, aging is an umbrella's term, 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.600 and there are certain things that can accelerate unevenly. I 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:04.520 would add maculate or degeneration to the list of age 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:09.520 related ailments that people encounter. And so for a while, 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:14.359 doctors and scientists in what we can call the longevity field, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.520 we're trying to figure out which of these processes is 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:25.080 the either the easiest to fix or the biggest bad 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.760 guy in the room. And then from there they said, well, 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:33.240 how do we target these processes? Is there a substance 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:38.520 that we can use to hit at these things to 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:43.800 halt them or reverse that trend of aging cells the 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:48.920 way that you can use other drugs to target specific diseases. 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.159 This is where we have to introduce folks like near Barzilia, 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:58.840 who is I think he's used to hearing this looks 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:02.000 great for his age. Also, I hate when people say 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.640 you look great for your age. That's such a strange 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.119 thing to say to someone. But but he had a 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.679 quote that really stands out about it, like treating age 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:19.359 like like a more understandable condition, the way that someone 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.840 would treat diabetes, for instance. Yeah. And to that end, 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.920 folks like doctor near bar ZELI, I believe him saying 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.320 that correctly phonetically at the very least, um, he argues, quote, 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.320 we can target aging, we can delay it, and in 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.480 several instances we can stop and reverse it. At one 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:41.400 point we had hope, then we moved to promise. Now 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:45.439 we need to move to realize that promise. Um. And 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:48.000 that's where we are. And this sounds a bit like 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.160 a sales pitch to me, doesn't It is this person 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:55.520 bit Yeah, okay, just make it sure right. But he 0:22:55.680 --> 0:23:00.560 is a medical doctor, yes, and there is there is 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:04.400 fascinating research going to this and coming out of multiple universities, 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:09.120 multiple hospitals, multiple you know, parts of the world. It's 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.520 just as we're moving through this stuff. I do share 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.119 your feeling, Noll, that's it feels too good to be 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.040 true right now, because it it does feel too good 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.360 to be true. Yeah, it depends on what people are 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:24.639 maintaining is the truth. And we'll keep in mind, folks, 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:29.080 we're not talking about some sort of consensual Benjamin Button situation. 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.000 No one has a switch they can flip, no human 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:35.840 at least where they can instantly return to a juvenile 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:41.720 or infant stage. That superpower does belong to one living organism. 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.440 It's a type of jellyfish that we discuss in depth 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:49.680 in a previous episode in depth Ocean jokes. Anyway, so 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:52.160 far as we know, people have also not been able 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:57.119 to successfully replace themselves with clones. And that's good because 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:01.359 that wouldn't really be you anyway. Genetic makeup is a 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:06.399 surprisingly small part of what makes the you the actual you. 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:11.000 So if you made a clone of yourself, you grew 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.639 it up in a vat or whatever. Even if you 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:19.040 try to replicate all your formative life experiences, it would 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.240 be a very different person from the person that you are. 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:25.600 So that's kind of like a high right sort of 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:29.439 fools gold bargain. Anyway, So what are what are we 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:32.280 talking about when we say reverse aging? Well, Matt, you 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:36.480 brought up all the excellent work by many doctors, scientists, 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:41.840 many nonprofit institutions, but a lot of folks leading the 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:47.000 charge are private entities. They are biotech startups, and several 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:53.879 of them are entirely focused on reversing biological age. Dozens 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:57.280 of these groups, more than dozens probably actually, by the 0:24:57.320 --> 0:24:59.520 time this podcast comes out. They want to be the 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.960 first the post to realize that promise that old doctor 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:08.120 B is talking about through drugs that would be loosely 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:13.080 called senolytics, as in, you know, fighting against sin essence. 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:19.919 These pharmaceuticals can clear out those old dysfunctional cells and 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:24.680 not damage the young functioning ones. They can clean the 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:31.000 house of time. You know, so weird, that's so weird. 0:25:31.040 --> 0:25:33.399 And they're again there are a bunch of groups working 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:35.960 on things that like this. A couple of small shoutouts 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:38.160 before we get to the big one, because there's there's 0:25:38.200 --> 0:25:42.520 a there's a big dog in the game here. We 0:25:42.680 --> 0:25:46.159 just learned about the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:49.280 Yeshiva University. There's a group of people they're working on 0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:52.400 this stuff. There were several others. I think it's an 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:56.280 author been that I heard about, David Sinclair who is 0:25:56.359 --> 0:25:59.159 also a He writes a lot about this and is 0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:02.440