The Horrors of Ageing
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Published August 21, 2023
Ageing, like death is something to be fought.
It's silly beans, and I do not like silly beans.
The avoidance of death and the fantasy of being able to actually escape it is as old as humanity itself... probably not, but it's a catchy line. ...
It's definetly an old old thing though, and for a few generations now there has been the hope, not entirely delusional, that it could actually be done. If we can create the Sun on Earth with nuclear weaponry and hit golf balls on the moon, then why the fuck not? There is no law of nature that forbids it, and even if one is found, we could break it.
Maybe within decades the obstacles will finally be overcome and we will see the destruction of ageing and death, or maybe not, maybe the only hope is a long sleep in a cryogenic chamber, throwing all the chips on an awakening.
It does seem close though. And more than ever something more and more researchers and scientists and rich fucks are taking seriously.
A big problem is that most of the disparate grouping that seem to be fighting ageing, these fucks, are unbearable. Bryan Johnson, Peter Attia, Andrew Huberman, David Sinclair and the list goes on - twitching, potato bags, fizzing and popping... asparagus with ears.
Ultimately, the acceleration and explosion of AI into true complex superintelligence that can be controlled and tethered is the likely magic it will take to create a full suite of robust and lasting age prevention and reversal technologies and solve human death. The control and tethering being an important part of that magic, an important part that is extremely difficult.
In youth, we laugh at the inevitable and even though we know it will come, we still can't feel it. It's the same with death, we know at this point in time we will likely die and yet death is just some thing that happens to other people. Not me. But death is always next to us and the great ocean of ageing exists out beyond the shoreline waiting to take us under the waves.
A new wrinkle, a new mole, cancer? A pain the back, palpitations.
I'm in my thirties now, thirty one and soon thirty two.
We stand now upon the shores of The Horror. The lands of youth behind us.
Recently I've been seeing this horror on the faces of strangers, on my family, on everyone.
O o o ohhh... The real fight is here.
The fight has begun for me over the last several years, it started with ending my addiction to nicotine and caffeine at the same time and banning alcohol and any recreational drug use forever. Now, years later I haven't fallen, not once I have returned to any of that crap.
This year I've ramped things up in other departments - my diet no longer 80% ultra-processed foods and 20% whole, those numbers now flipped. My daily drink of choice no longer Pepsi Max No Caffeine but the natural mineral water of Evian. My desk is full of various bottles of vitamins and skincare. I know they aren't magic, they won't roll back the clock, but they could help slow down the process, calm those wild ocean waves.
For the unselfish, ageing and especially death need not be The Horror. Nature has designed a pretty rewarding system - procreate, pass on your genes and then raise the result to replace you and you can die happy. But I am an extremely selfish individual, and I'm not interested in this consolation prize. Ultimately, I care much more about preserving and continueing the expansion of my intelligence and consioussness than what ever happens to be in my DNA.
If you could bypass the defense mechanisms of most people who appear to have accepted this system, you would find that even the most unselfish would scream and rage against this natural deal themselves.
I talk about nature, but I am nature. Nature telling nature, I don't like this system and that it needs to change. I am nature looking at itself, its own dumbass process and saying fuck this. I am you, and I will master you, I will master myself.
So whether you're an eight year old or 18 year old oblivious to the obvious, a fellow 30-something choosing their weapons and preparing their ship or an old man, old woman already far out at sea; scarred by the monsters, circling the whirlpool. Cheers to you. Let's fight!