Defeating Aging
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Having Sex. Forever. Aubrey de Grey wants to rid the world of aging, so that people can live forever. That may sound like the plot of a science-fiction movie, but de Grey doesn’t like sciencefiction movies. “They are a pain in the ass and make my life much harder.” We find out why. JORIS BELLWINKEL (TEXT), CAROLINE MARTI (PHOTOS)
Almost every week, Aubrey de Grey gives a speech to an audience somewhere in the world. He walks to the stage, makes a few small jokes, and then tells his listeners about his quest to extent human life by ridding the world of age-related diseases. Over the years, he has become a seasoned speaker. He’s mildly provocative and sometimes ironic, but always sharp and convincing. He is now the most familiar face on the conference circuit on the topic of regenerative medicine. This is partly due to his speaking qualities, and partly due to his characteristic, waist-length beard.
Aubrey de Grey is founder of the SENS Research Foundation, founded in 2009. The foundation is aimed at treating all age-related disease. He elaborates in detail on the topic of regenerative medicine in his book «Ending Aging» (2007).
The best way to understand de Grey’s vision is to understand his definition of aging: “The life-long accumulation of damage to the tissues, cells, and molecules of the body that occurs as an intrinsic side-effect of the body’s normal operation.” A human body can tolerate some damage, but too much causes diseases. While you cannot eliminate aging from the body entirely, de Grey is convinced that there are ways for medicine to intervene. He proposes regenerative medicine, a process of replacing or regenerating human cells and eliminating all deadly cellular processes along the way. If aging is eventually defeated and people no longer get sick, lives will get much, much longer. “Which one of you wants to live forever?” BBC HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur asks the audience during his investigative interview with de Grey at the St. Gallen Symposium. Only a few hands go up. Then de Grey turns to the audience and asks: