David Kekich

Will Brain/Computer Interfaces Rescue Civilization?

2008-07-21T13:47:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

We’ve come a long way in our lifetimes. In fact, we have accomplished as much then as we did in all of recorded history. At least technologically. As a race, we really didn’t seem to have learned many lessons. Oh sure, maybe our justice systems are a little more fair (and maybe not), we may have developed a little more tolerance and compassion, and maybe we’re not quite as barbaric. All in all though, we react to intrusions about the same as prehistoric man.

We still settle disputes and differences about the same way. We either initiate or answer with violence for the most part. But instead of clubbing each other senseless and confining our rage, jealousies, pettiness and intolerances to an area roughly equivalent to our immediate reach and to one enemy or victim at a time, we now have these wonders of science at our disposal, capable of inflicting widespread death and destruction.

Then, we had clubs and primitive minds. Now we have nukes, biological and chemical weapons, potentially devastating nanotechnology capabilities… and primitive minds.

While we have evolved in some ways at light speed, our ability to solve social problems and disputes and our tendency to hate hasn’t changed since caveman days. Look, we’re on the cusp of breaking through to indefinite lifespans and solutions for health problems, poverty and pollution. But what good does it do us when emotionally unstable individuals have abilities to wipe out millions with no more effort or forethought than swinging a club?

Fortunately, the human race is extremely resilient and resourceful. We often respond to challenges in creative and unexpected ways. A relatively new foundation recognizes this challenge and is taking it on as part of its agenda. See more information at www.InnerSpaceFoundation.org.

They recognize that biological evolution is a somewhat haphazard and non-optimizing process that has produced many undesirable artifacts. Among a large number and wide variety of such artifacts, two stand out as the underlying causes of the most pervasive and extreme human suffering: mental and lifespan limitations. Mental inabilities, including the failure to resolve conflicts non-violently, are universal. They must ultimately serve to explain our ongoing failures to end human warfare, crime, poverty, and famine, and to completely cure diseases, disabilities, aging and death. Therefore, these inabilities are fundamentally even more harmful to humanity than the categories of biomedical dysfunction we currently labor to cure.

This belief forms the core of the Bioprogressive philosophy. The overall goal of the InnerSpace Foundation (IF) is to accelerate developing biomedical technologies for transcending these limitations. IF is taking specific steps toward enhancing memory, learning and cognition. These near-term goals should ultimately help us to eliminate or transcend other unwanted artifacts of Darwinian evolution.

IF, among others, have longer-term goals aimed at preserving memories. So hang on. We have some interesting times ahead.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

The Problem... Population Size. The Solution... SuperLongevity

2008-07-13T14:07:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

Can super longevity solve, rather than create a population problem?

Consider these points edited from a paper presented several weeks ago by Herb Meyer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Meyer is widely credited with being the first senior U.S. Government official to forecast the Soviet Union's collapse, for which he later was awarded the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the intelligence community's highest honor. Formerly an associate editor of FORTUNE, he is also the author of several books.

Some of His Conclusions

Maintaining a steady population requires a birth rate of 2.1. In Western Europe, the birth rate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below replacement. In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birth rate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower at 1.2. At that rate, the working age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy. When you don't have young workers to replace the older ones, you have to import them.

In Japan, the birthrate is 1.3. As a result, Japan will lose up to 60 million people over the next 30 years. Because Japan has a very different society than Europe, they refuse to import workers. Instead, they are just shutting down. Japan has already closed 2,000 schools, and is closing them down at the rate of 300 per year. Japan is also aging very rapidly. By 2020, one out of every five Japanese will be at least 70 years old.

The birth rate in Russia is so low that by 2050 their population will be smaller than that of Yemen.

Nobody has any idea about how to run an economy with those demographics. Europe and Japan, which comprise two of the world's major economic engines, aren't merely in recession, they're shutting down. This will have a huge impact on the world economy, and it is already beginning to happen.

When the birth rate drops below replacement, the population ages. With fewer working people to support more retired people, it puts a crushing tax burden on the smaller group of working age people. As a result, young people delay marriage and having a family. Once this trend starts, the downward spiral only gets worse.

These countries have abandoned all the traditions they formerly held in regard to having families and raising children. The U.S. birth rate is 2.0, just below replacement. We have an increase in population because of immigration. When broken down by ethnicity, the Anglo birth rate is 1.6 (same as France) while the Hispanic birth rate is 2.7.

In the U.S., the baby boomers are starting to retire in massive numbers. This will push the elder dependency ratio from 19 to 38 over the next 10 to 15 years. This is not as bad as Europe, but still represents the same kind of trend.

The world's most effective birth control device is money. As society creates a middle class and women move into the workforce, birth rates drop. Having large families is incompatible with middle class living. The quickest way to drop the birth rate is through rapid economic development.

Pretty sobering, isn’t it? So what’s the solution? Longevity… and lots of it. Keep the elderly alive, healthy and productive. Keep them out of retirement, hospitals and nursing homes where they drain resources, and have them contribute to the economy when they are at the peak of their productive capacity.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-960-6333/Fax 714-464-4135

kekich@maxlife.org

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

The Problem... Population Size. The Solution... SuperLongevity Solves

2008-07-13T14:03:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

Can super longevity solve, rather than create a population problem?

Some of His Conclusions

The birth rate in Russia is so low that by 2050 their population will be smaller than that of Yemen.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-960-6333/Fax 714-464-4135

kekich@maxlife.org

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

Good Week for Longevity

2008-07-07T16:20:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

The last week was a real boost for aging research.

Friday, June 27^th I attended Aging 2008 - Aging: the Disease, the Cure, the Implications at UCLA. It was sponsored by Dr. Aubrey de Grey and the Methuselah Foundation. About 700 people attended a stimulating three hour session featuring an All-Star lineup of aging researchers, advocates and personalities.

Most of the attendees spent the next couple of hours networking at an outdoor dinner. In my opinion, some of the more important and interesting people in the world were there, including some movers and shakers who are launching exciting companies and research projects – projects that could have a big impact on your health and longevity.

Here is a list of the speakers:

Dr. Bruce Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley
G. Steven Burrill, Chairman of Pharmasset and Chairman of Campaign for Medical Research
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and CSO of Methuselah Foundation and author of Ending Aging
Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of Haseltine Global Health
Daniel Perry, Executive Director of Alliance for Aging Research
Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of Genetics Policy Institute
Dr. Gregory Stock, Director of Program on Medicine, Technology & Society at UCLA School of Medicine
Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley

I also got a Methuselah Foundation T-shirt, one of the coolest T-shirts I ever saw.

Aging 2008 was the opening session for the technically focused Understanding Aging conference which took place Saturday and Sunday. Thirty four scientists presented over the weekend. I believe this was the most extensive scientific longevity conference ever held in the US. Hopefully, the Methuselah Foundation will offer videos.

Open-forum events like this enable scientists to bounce ideas of one another, to cross pollinate ideas and to open up various research programs to debate and scrutiny. As a result, it fast tracks longevity research. Congratulations to Aubrey de Grey and all the Methuselah Foundation volunteers who made it happen.

Then last week, I attended a presentation to an investment banker to fund two very progressive adult stem cell companies. He made a verbal commitment, and funding might take place as early as this month. Once these companies are launched, human therapies could be accelerated. That could translate to the first round of therapies becoming available by next year. Anti-aging science is ratcheted up one more notch.

All-in-all that was a very productive week for life extension. Let’s look forward to many more.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-960-6333/Fax 714-464-4135

kekich@maxlife.org

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

Life's Purpose Wrap Up

2008-06-30T21:52:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

We’re going to wind up our “Purpose of Life” discussion. Last week’s issue triggered some reader responses. Here are two of them:

Josh Kyle discussed the topic with his rabbi, who expanded on the Jewish slant on life’s purpose. He said “__another answer that is part of normative Jewish belief is that we are obligated to improve/repair the world while we are part of it.”

Simple and elegant. Can you argue with that? I can’t. I don’t know anyone who would. Do you?

The Mark Joyner added “In relation to worldviews, I’ve developed one that I think gives us the most freedom and power: Utilitarian Model Flexibility.”

“To sum up: Given that we don’t have any way of knowing any true objective reality (at least there is no universally agreed upon way of determining one), we can then look at different worldviews, theories, etc. as ‘models’ of the world that serve a greater or lesser level of practical value in our lives. Newtonian Physics has great utility if you’re firing an artillery shell. It has little if you’re trying to split an atom. Based on what we want in any given moment, we are flexible with our model and adopt one that serves whatever our utility is in that moment.”

Utilititarian—serving some purpose or aim.

Model—your model of the world.

Flexibility – changeable at will.

“If we make that our starting point it prevents a lot of conflict (both mental and external) that results from our erroneous notion that dogma is possible.”

Thanks Mark. This is more complex and stimulating. I’d like to debate the fact that “we don’t have any way of knowing any true objective reality” the next time you visit the U.S. We may end up agreeing in principal once we agree on definitions. One way to bring everyone closer to universal agreement on any given issue is to have precise definitions.

Now to wrap up the other dozen major philosophies.

Christian view. Christians draw many of their beliefs from the Holy Bible, and believe that loving God is the meaning of life.

Islamic view. In Islam the ultimate objective of man is to seek the pleasure of Allah by living in accordance with the Divine guidelines as stated in the Qur'an and the Tradition of the Prophet. The Qur'an states that the whole purpose behind the creation of man was for glorifying and worshipping Allah.

Bahá'í view. The purpose of human life, say Bahá'ís, is spiritual growth. This is conceived almost as an organic process, like the development of a fetus, and continues after death.

Hindu views. The notion of lila (literally, "play") refers to the idea of the universe as a cosmic game, and meaning as a "play of significance". This "play" is what gives us the key to the meaning of life, and the meaning of life is to achieve Moksha through love towards God and on God's grace.

Jain view. Its ethical system promotes self-discipline above all else. Happiness is the result of self-conquest and freedom from external objects. The meaning of life may then be said to be to use the physical body to achieve self-realization and bliss.

Buddhist views. One of the central views in Buddhism is a nondual worldview, in which subject and object are the same, and the sense of doer-ship is illusionary. On this account, the meaning of life is to become enlightened as to the nature and oneness of the universe.

Sikh view. "Sikh" means student, which denotes that followers will lead their lives forever learning. They interpret God as the Universe itself. Sikhism thus sees life as an opportunity to understand this God as well as to discover the divinity which lies in each individual. They seek union with God and liberation from rebirth in the material world.

Taoist views. The Taoists cosmogony emphasizes the need for all sentient beings and all man to return to the primordial or to rejoin with the Oneness of the Universe by way of self-correction and self realization.

Shinto views. Shinto wants life to live, not to die. Shinto sees death as pollution and regards life as the realm where the divine spirit seeks to purify itself by rightful self-development. Shinto wants individual human life to be prolonged forever on earth as a victory of the divine spirit in preserving its objective personality in its highest forms.

Confucian views. Confucianism recognizes human nature in accordance with the need for discipline and education. Confucianists see a goal in achieving the good nature through strong relationships and reasoning as well as minimizing the negative energy. They can realize the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence.

Zoroastrian view. For those who chose good actions, a blissful afterlife is promised, as well as a return to earth to continue life in a physical form.

Scientific approaches. The primary aim of the scientific approach to the meaning of life is to describe the empirical facts about human existence. Claims that empirical science can shed light on issues such as the meaning of life are highly disputed within the scientific and philosophy-of-science communities, and have been from the very beginning of science. Biologists have suggested that insofar as there may be a primary function to life, it may be the survival of genes.

WOW! Amazing diversity, like life itself. No wonder war doesn’t work. You can force people to submit but not to believe.

32 years ago, I heard a definition of the Purpose of Life that made the most sense to me. It was from Dr. Andrew Galambos who defined the Purpose of Life as reversing entropy.

According to the 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics, systems, including our universe fall apart with the passage of time. It’s called entropy and is what many say will be the cause of the end of life… the gradual death of the universe. Without intervention, the universe will most likely go from order to disorder, cool off, wind down and finally collapse. Reversing entropy, or creating order out of disorder, is conscious life’s grandest challenge according to Galambos. So my Purpose of Life is…

…to preserve life.

Pure and simple. A universal truth? You can adhere to almost any philosophy and not argue with that. Can’t you? If you disagree, let me know.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

Some World Views on Life's Purpose

2008-06-23T14:04:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

Last week, we talked about Purpose of Life and why it is pertinent to a life extension newsletter. This issue, I’m going to extend last week’s discussion.

Do you know most people don't have any clear-cut goals, plans or purpose? Mostly, only scientists, business owners and managers and individuals who work on challenges that might take decades to solve, have a clear definition of life’s purpose and appreciate the need for extended lifespans. The Japanese are more in tune with long-term thinking than Americans and maybe the rest of the world as well. Therefore, I suspect they may have a better appreciation for the purpose of life. But I don’t know. I spent a lot of time in Japan many years ago and wish I would have thought to explore it.

Nevertheless, if you are a long-term thinker, you most likely have an opinion… no matter where you live.

After last week’s letter, I researched further and was surprised at how little I knew about various cultures’ and philosophies’ purpose of life. There were a lot more than I thought, too many for one newsletter. So I’m like to share some of what I learned with you here and extend this topic one more week. I’ll wait until then to disclose my personal opinion of what it is.

Platonic view. For Plato the meaning of life was to attain the highest form of knowledge.

Aristotelian view. Aristotle argued that a person had to study and practice in order to become “good”.

Cynic view. The Cynics were a Hellenistic school of philosophy that argued that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, and by living a life free from all possessions.

Cyrenaic view. They thought happiness is one of the ends of moral action, and maintained that pleasure was the supreme good and purpose, creating a hedonistic view.

Epicurean view. Epicurus believed the greatest good was to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquility and freedom from fear through knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life… abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on asceticism.

Stoic view. Stoicism teaches that to live according to reason and virtue is to live in harmony with the divine order of the universe, Stoicism's prime directives are virtue, reason, and natural law, and they seek the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions.

Nihilist view. Nihilism rejects claims to knowledge and truth and declares that nothing is of value. From a nihilist point of view, morals are valueless and only hold a place in society as false ideals created by various forces.

Pragmatist view. Pragmatic philosophers suggest that rather than a truth about life, we should seek a useful understanding of life. To a pragmatist, the meaning of an individual's life can be discovered only through experience and the purposes which cause you to value it.

Existentialist views. Existentialism posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. Emphasizing action, freedom, and decision as fundamental, existentialists oppose themselves to rationalism and positivism and instead look at where people find meaning.

Humanist views. Humanists believe that human purpose is determined by humans, completely without supernatural influence. It is human personality that is the purpose of a human's life. Humanism affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. Posthumanism and transhumanism insist that the meaning of life is necessarily indefinite and ambiguous, and should be left to the philosophical inclinations of the individual; however there is a moral imperative common to all intelligent agents to improve their lives.

Logical positivist view. Things in a person's life can have meaning, but a meaning of life itself, i.e., apart from those things, cannot be discerned. In this context, a person's life is said to have meaning in the form of the events throughout his life and the results of his life in terms of achievements, a legacy, family, etc.

Jewish view. Jews believe the purpose of life is to serve God and to prepare for the world to come.

That’s a dozen, with a dozen more coming your way. Did any strike a chord with you? A few did with me. But I think my favorite is the most elegant. To be continued…

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

What is Your Purpose of Life?

2008-06-16T07:22:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

What is the Purpose of Life?

One of the great philosophical questions of all time. You may or may not have given it much thought. If you’re going to live as long as I plan for you to live though, you’ll probably contemplate this question some time or another. You’ll certainly have enough time on your hands. I have spent a lot of time on this issue over the past 30 years or so and have an answer, at least for me. There may be no one-size-fits-all, but I will give you my answer next week.

Why do I bring this up in a longevity newsletter? The answer is simple. Without purpose, life loses meaning for most. If life is meaningless, at some point, especially as we evolve, virtually everyone will hit a dead end and may want his or her life to terminate. They will be bored, unfulfilled or so confused that they may lose all will to live. Life will be hopeless, and without hope, you have nothing.

When I was injured, my doctors did their level best to “cure” me of any hope for recovery… ever. Their rationale was I needed to cope, and false expectations would stand in my way of rehabilitation. But hope is what kept me from committing suicide. Hope is what helps me fight through my chronic pain. And hope is what put me on the longevity path that could ultimately same millions of lives.

Volumes have been written on the purpose of life. There are as many opinions as there are philosophies. There may be a time when most agree, but probably not… at least not in the intermediate future. So far, here are some general views:

The purpose of life is…

· to realize one's potential and ideals

· to achieve biological perfection

· to seek wisdom and knowledge

· to do good, to do the right thing

· to attain spiritual enlightenment

· to love, to feel, to enjoy the act of living

· to have power, to be better

Then some people think:

· One should not search for the meaning of life

· Life has no meaning

Next week, I’ll tell you my opinion.

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

Free Life Extension Forum

2008-06-09T15:34:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

You and your friends are invited to attend a unique FREE forum on Friday, June 27th, in Los Angeles. Leading scientists and thinkers in Life Extension, Stem-Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine will gather at UCLA for Aging 2008 to explain how human aging might be modified to your benefit.

Industry legends will participate. They include: Bruce Ames, Steve Burrill, Aubrey de Grey, Bill Haseltine, Bernie Siegel, Gregory Stock, Michael West and Dan Perry. They will share their insights and predictions with you.

Aging 2008 will serve as the opening session for the Understanding Aging Conference to be held at UCLA on June 28 and 29th. The meeting is organized by the Methuselah Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by Dr. Aubrey de Grey and David Gobel. It is dedicated to extending the healthy human lifespan. If you have a scientific bent, you might want to register for the conference as well. The Saturday and Sunday conference does have a registration fee.

The Friday eve forum kicks off with a reception at 4:00 PM, with presentations at 5:00 PM, followed by a dinner at 8:00 PM. Aging 2008 is free with advance registration required. To register, click here.

This is a RARE OPPORTUNITY for you. I hope to see you there.

“One of the reasons humanity is not advancing more rapidly, is because we are losing our greatest resource through death, the human mind.”

-Robert Bradbury

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-960-6333/Fax 714-464-4135

kekich@maxlife.org

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

Things We Don't Need to Know to Cure Aging

2008-06-03T03:47:00Z

Reason, from Longevity Meme points out some things we don’t need to know to cure aging.

Functional bridges preceded the tools and understanding of modern architecture, just as beneficial medical techniques preceded the biotechnology revolution. More knowledge and science brings better bridges and more effective medicine - but you can still do good and save lives at earlier stages in the progression of knowledge.

"Is a full understanding of our metabolic biochemistry important and useful? Yes, of course, very much so. Is this knowledge necessary for us to proceed to reverse and repair aging? No. We already know what the damage of aging is, at the cellular and molecular level. Knowing more about the way in which that damage twists our metabolism and controlling biochemistry will help, in the same way that modern techniques of architecture improve bridge building, but the absence of that knowledge does not hold back significant advances in the engineering of healthy longevity.

"The only present barriers hindering rapid and aggressive progress towards rejuvenation of the aged are those of will and funding. That is why we can all help to make a difference to the future of aging science - you don't have to be a scientist to help make will and funding a reality."

THE VALUE OF A LONGEVITY THERAPY

What are people willing to pay for a medical therapy that is expected to add healthy years to life? Following that trail will give you a good idea as to how the development and commercialization of longevity therapies will proceed over the next few decades. As it happens, good research on the value placed on life already exists:

"Studies of real-world situations produce relatively consistent results, suggesting that average Americans value a year of life at $100,000 to $300,000. So let's take the hypothetical of a longevity therapy that the consensus believes will add ten healthy years to the average life. Replacing age-damaged mitochondrial DNA might do that in humans, for example. This suggests that to bring a first widespread commercial version to the high-end medical practices of the world, the price tag on the therapy has to be brought down below $1-3 million, or the value of a decade of healthy life."

That's the story for first few years of availability, of course, in which investors are recouping their initial investments, and before competition and refinement of the technology has started in earnest. The price will fall rapidly and quality increase as many more groups enter the market. Competition is what drives the path to faster, better, cheaper.

"The stable state for a medical treatment is that in which many specialist staff are available, and a competitive marketplace exists to train those staff and supply needed raw materials. At that point, the cost is much the same for medical procedures across the tiers of specialist labor and complexity - it's largely down to the wages of those folk performing the work.

"Replacing mitochondrial DNA should be a hands-off outpatient procedure, once the technology is mature. Have a sample taken, send it off to the lab to work up a repaired genome and the viral vector, get injected with the vector that will replace your mitochondrial DNA with repaired versions, and then come back for regular testing for a couple of months. That is nowhere near as labor intensive as, say heart surgery today. So you could look at comparable procedures that require supporting individual lab work on the back end, such as limited genetic testing, and take a stab at the price tag in the $10-30,000 range."

"That's a hundred times smaller than $1-3 million, which seems fair for the progression from early version to mature technology, especially in this age of rapidly advancing biotechnology. It's also a hundred-for-one bargain on the consensus expectation of value of life gained, which is a pretty good deal - good enough to tempt a very broad customer base, and enough profit for a large and competitive industry to form."

By way of a reminder, safe whole-body replacement of mitochondrial DNA was first demonstrated in laboratory animals three years ago.

___________________________________________________

LOOKING FAR, FAR AHEAD

"First things first" is a good philosophy to live by, but it doesn't hurt to spend a little time thinking about what comes after the first step. Here, the first step is the comprehensive repair of aging through medical science, and rejuvenation of the old - a very big first step, but we know more than enough to get underway. If you're new to that concept, you might want to look at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence:

http://www.mfoundation.org/sens/

When step one is done, what, then, is your step two? You'll have a great deal of time to work on it. Personally, I'm up for pushing the boundaries of an enjoyable life out even further:

"I'm not going to try to convince you that the future will be a golden, wondrous place: either you accept the implications of the present rate of progress towards what the laws of physics make possible, in which case you've probably thought this all through at some point, or you don't. Life, space travel, AI, the building blocks of matter: we'll have made large inroads into bending it all to our will within another half century. Many of us will live to see it even without the benefits of medical technology to come: growing up in a 1970s urban area will be the new version of 1900s farmboy youth come 2040; a strange and primitive near-past erased by progress, for all that so many people still alive actually lived it, time travelers in their own lifetimes.

"If you project out the accident rates for life today, you'll see that an ageless human, sustained by foreseeable biotechnologies of cellular and biochemical repair, has a life expectancy in the 1000 to 5000 year range. Sooner or later that piano is going to fall on you hard enough that even advanced medical technology can't fix you up.

"Once you start looking at living for 100,000 years in much the same shape as you are today, it becomes apparent that almost any activity bears a level of risk that'll jump up and kill you. Eating, swimming, reading .breathing. Stretch out the time for long enough and the improbable and fatal will happen to you.

"The answer is to change the shape you are. Getting past step one, the repair of aging, gives you a few hundred years of comparative statistical safety. I can't imagine that much of the technology needed for step two will remain beyond the human civilization of the 2200s."

As I said, it's good to have spent a little time on speculative, realistic plans for the long term. But we can't forget that step one, the work needed to develop and commercialize the medicines of repair for aging, is by no means certain. It'll happen sooner or later, but "later" isn't so good for those of us reading this now:

We have a lot of work to do to ensure that the best scientific paths to rejuvenation are funded, and that capable research communities grow to take advantage of that funding. An amazing future is ascending to great heights ahead of us, and it would be a crime to miss out on it because we didn't lay the groundwork now.

Long Life,

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

kekich@maxlife.org

www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech

Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

How to Bust Your Unavoidable Stress

2008-05-26T15:45:00Z

Dear Future Centenarian,

Here’s your final chapter in my three part stress management series:

Last week, I mentioned two simple techniques to reduce the deadly chronic stress that you can’t avoid in the first place. #1 is…

Deep Breathing

It’s fun and easy. It’s also a proven technique that has worked for thousands of years in virtually every culture in history.

Simply sit or lie in a comfortable position. Close your eyes, briefly clear your mind, and then take a slow deep belly breath through your nose. Then exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat while focusing only on your breath. If other thoughts enter your mind, simply let them pass through, and keep focusing on your breath.

When I first tried this, I had a hard time focusing on… or visualizing… my breath. After some trial and error, I came up with a way that works – at least for me.

I visualize the healing air I breathe in as gold and silver, relaxing recharging star dust. I see the exhaled air as smoky pollution… cleansing my body of toxins and stress.

I do this several times a day. To demonstrate how effective this simple technique can be, I did it last evening when I felt stress over an unpleasant task. When I started, my blood pressure was 117/75. Seven minutes later, I dropped it to 97/63. That’s simply amazing! Had I not taken my stress break, I would have eroded my health, functioning sub-par and frenzied. Instead, I jumped back into my task with renewed energy and motivation.

This is not a one-time event. I get these results regularly. Taking several stress-busting breaks every day could help you avoid 80% of all medical conditions. That’s the medical profession’s conservative estimate of the toll stress takes on you.

How often do you think what you are doing is so urgent and important that you can’t afford to take one minute off, let alone seven? Well I’ve got news for you. The best time to take a stress break is when you think you don’t have the time. That’s exactly when proactive relaxation breaks are the most productive way to spend your time. Not only will they improve your performance, but you could avoid a nasty hospital stay, or even a premature death as a side effect.

Technique #2

How about when you are hurting from muscle tension? Dr. Neil Fiore offers a 5 minute and 39 second solution. Here’s an outline, but even better, I have attached an MP3 file that walks you through it. Feeling tense now? Then listen and loosen up. You can find out more about Dr. Fiore at www.neilfiore.com/.

Dr. Fiore’s tension busting steps:

Sit up straight with your feet on the floor.
Notice your body, head to toe, starting at your scalp, to your jaw, neck, shoulders and so forth, down to your feet.
Notice any areas of tension.
Inhale fully, and hold your breath.
Tighten all your muscles, clench your fists, lift your feet from the floor and press them together, and suck in your belly.
Exhale and release completely letting all your muscles relax.
Repeat several times.

There it is. It’s much easier to relax tense muscles by tightening them fully first than by just trying to relax them. The secret? Tension to relaxation by exhaling. Now listen to Dr. Fiore’s audio.

Long Life,

David A. Kekich

Maximum Life Foundation

714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135

www.MaxLife.org

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Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"