{"id":8529,"date":"2021-08-11T10:31:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T14:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=8529"},"modified":"2021-08-11T19:23:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T23:23:32","slug":"crypto-folk-are-obsessed-with-life-extension-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2021\/08\/11\/crypto-folk-are-obsessed-with-life-extension-heres-why","title":{"rendered":"Crypto leaders are obsessed with life extension. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is on a mission to make humans immortal. Buterin, 27, proposes<\/a> the idea that \u201caging is an engineering problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

He is not alone in his combined interest in Bitcoin and biohacking. Famous biomedical aging researcher Aubrey de Grey, Xanadu architect and Agoric chief scientist Mark Miller, Bitcoin Cash billionaire Roger Ver and former chief technology officer of Coinbase and a16z general partner Balaji Srinivasan, are all fascinated by the pursuit of longevity.<\/p>\n

De Grey recently helped advise a decentralized collective funding longevity research. He says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“I have been gratified since the beginning of blockchain to see the enormous fanbase that I and the longevity movement have in there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miller, alongside his engineering hall-of-fame accomplishments, is a senior research fellow at the Foresight Institute<\/a>, a not-for-profit founded in 1986 with the aim of \u201cadvancing technology for the long-term benefit of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very much involved in this new world of crypto commerce, often referred to as the blockchain sector,\u201d he says<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m very hopeful about that as creating an ecosystem in which secure software will dominate because insecure software results in massive losses quickly, with no recourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Srinivasan\u2019s Twitter bio describes his vision as: \u201cImmutable money, infinite frontier, eternal life. #Bitcoin.\u201d Srinivasan states<\/a> that \u201cthe ultimate purpose of technology is to eliminate mortality\u201d and \u201clife extension is the most important thing we can invent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blockchain communities are clearly excited about longevity. But what does cryptocurrency have to do with life extension, and where might this future be headed?<\/p>\n

It turns out that the link between crypto and cryogenics stretches back to core contributors, and the Cypherpunks mailing list and its links to transhumanist groups, including the first person to transact Bitcoin with Satoshi, Hal Finney.<\/p>\n

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If we're being more open minded about accepting new weird ideas, can I suggest anti-aging research? Aging is a humanitarian disaster that kills as many people as WW2 every two years and even before killing debilitates people and burdens social systems and families. Let's end it.<\/p>\n

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) March 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n