Aubrey de Grey
Chief Science Officer, Methuselah Foundation
Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist and the Chief Science Officer of the Methuselah Foundation. The editor of Rejuvenation Research, the world's only peer-reviewed journal focused on intervention in aging, he is an advocate of research seeking answers to how molecular and cellular metabolic damage brings about aging and ways humans can intervene to repair and/or obviate that damage.
The central goal of Aubrey de Grey's work is the expedition of developing a true cure for human aging. In his view, the main obstacle to developing such technology is the position of biogerontology at the boundary between basic science and medicine. He believes that the fundamental knowledge necessary to develop truly effective anti-aging medicine mostly exists, but the goal-directed frame of mind that is best suited to turning research findings into tools is very different from the curiosity-driven ethos that generated those findings in the first place.
As a scientist with a training in an engineering discipline, specifically that of computer science, Dr. De Grey believes himself to be well placed to bridge this gap. He attempt to do so in three main ways: by doing basic biogerontology research, identifying and promoting specific technological approaches to the reversal (not merely the prevention) of various aspects of aging, and by arguing in a wide range of forums, extending beyond biologists, for the adoption of a more proactive approach to extending the healthy human lifespan sooner rather than later.
At the 2006 Alcor conference in Scottsdale, Arizona he gave a talk called "SENS: A Precursor to Cryonic Revival," on how implementing Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence might be viewed as a precursor to the prospect of reviving patients from cryonic suspension. He appeared at Transvision 2007 and gave a keynote speech called "The Mythical Merits of Mealy-Mouthed Messaging" in which he argued for the utility of his self-described "in-your-face" approach to championing the scientific conquest of age-related illness. In his most recent address to the attendees of the Alcor conference in Scottsdale, he raised the question "Is It Safe for a Biologist to Support Cryonics Publicly?" He concluded that ultimately, taking the risk of supporting cryonics publicly was the right decision, and that over time more and more scientists will find themselves in the position where it becomes expedient to support cryonics publicly, relative to condemning it for reasons that are not scientifically justifiable.
video
Channel 4. "Do You Want To Live Forever?"
video
2005 TED Talk, "
Defeating Aging"
Immortality Institute, "
Anti-Aging"
2007 Edmonton Aging Symposium, "
Engineering Approach to Repairing the Damage of Aging"
Google Tech Talk, "
Prospects for extending healthy life - a lot"
Google Tech Talk, "
WILT: Taking cancer seriously enough to really cure it"
SENS Third Conference, "
Might the biogerontological impact of non-specific nDNA damage be slight?"
Video|jug,
Life Extension Video FAQ
transcripts
10.19.07
Informal Gathering, sponsored by Methuselah Foundation
7th Alcor Conference, "
Is It Safe for a Biologist to Support Cryonics Publicly?"
SIAI Interview Series, "
Longevity Escape Velocity and the Singularity"
Transvision 2007, "
The Mythical Merits of Mealy-Mouthed Messaging"
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Securing the Longevity Dividend, "
Arguing the Feasibility of Anti-Aging"
6th Alcor Conferece, "
SENS: A Precursor to Cryonic Revival"
Bay Area Future Salon,
De Grey/ Hurlbut Debate
audio
Transvision 2003, "
Foreseeable, radical life extension"
Second SENS Conference (32:45)
Free Talk Live interview (32:49)
Arguing the Feasibility of Anti-Aging 47:28
SIAI Interview series (18:39)
7th Alcor Conference (31:41)
11.21.07
Yahoo headquarters talk (1:27:45)