🧵 Elon: “Longevity is an extremely solvable problem”
At Vitalist Bay (May 14 - May 17), we’re solving it!
1K+ pioneers, 100+ speakers, 50+ workshops, 40+ activities, 5 critical health tests
Join us to spark dozens of SpaceXs for longevity!
@WillManidis More like - predictable.
Worship suggests lack of independent thought.
Then when confronted with behaviors that are not socially acceptable but have no relationship to mainstream success, the gravity to surprise and disgust is only natural.
In 1932 Einstein said “there is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”
Basic science isn't some magical immutable thing; more happens when we give it more attention and effort.
This rings true, and yet:
Private capital alone may never have funded the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Program or the Protein Data Bank (which made alphafold possible), to give just a few notable examples.
Overall, a large share of innovation and (often) pursuant private market success relies on technical innovation that traces back to people whose education, scientific training, and early research were heavily supported by taxpayers through public universities, government grants, and publicly funded research institutes.
And for-profit corporations are not very well suited to drive good long term decisions about such public funding.
One reason is that when they lobby, they naturally gravitate to shorter term priorities.
That said, most (?) non-profits do suffer from the major drawbacks noted.
What to do?
Since for certain purposes, non profits punch way above their weight compared to for profits, it makes sense to seek the effective non-profits out and support them heavily, because in certain ways they may be the only game in town.
Fear is perhaps the worst place to encounter the future from. The world is changing and will continue to change whether you engage with it or not.
Be relentless, learn about things that excite you. Focus on YOUR growth.
A new paper from Dowell Bio!
Recovery after complete spinal cord transection in 100 kg pigs, whose spinal cord anatomy is close to that of humans.
Our first paper in a Q1 journal: PLOS One.
In the photo: a pig posing next to the banner.
Next time, there will be a red carpet.
Tyler and Jonathan were undergrads at Vanderbilt who dusted off some old research that they thought could be commercializable.
They wrote into the 1517 contact form about their work. Nick, on our team, drove a couple hours to meet with them.
We wrote the first $50K check into Zeno to give them a shot on goal to get started.
Now they're powering the frontier.
Be the first check, not the last!
Sitting down with two incredible contributors to the longevity field tomorrow, @adamgries and @realNathanCheng on The Beyond Tomorrow Podcast.
Out Friday at 9am ET / 6am PT.
@EvanMorgun@biogerontology 100%
It’s key to do this with relatively little prejudice as to the specific strategy a particular Vitalist chooses to double down on.
I have spoken to neither about it and don’t know how they self identify.
That said, I’m unaware of evidence they changed their minds much on this topic, suggesting the perspective they had about aging and death may have already been there before they were wealthy.
If I rephrase your question as: “Is it easier to convince somebody to take actions such as Brian Armstrong vs to become as wealthy as Brian?”
I estimate it’s easier to become as wealthy as Brian.
That’s a pretty uncommon perspective based on my many conversations.