A book about aging and longevity research by David Sinclair.

Summary

Information Theory of Aging: aging is fundamentally caused by information loss from the accumulation of noise over time. Two types of information lost: genetic and epigenetic information.

This information loss is the root cause of aging, and all the other hallmarks of aging (e.g. telomere attrition) are simply manifestations this root cause.

In almost all living organisms, there is a set of ancient genes that evolved many years ago, to help survive through periods where the environments are harsher (e.g. nutrient-poor). These longevity genes exist in all of us, just de-activated by our epigenome (since we live in a relatively nice environment).

By manipulating our epigenome to re-activate these longevity genes, we can slow aging significantly. This can be done via multiple methods, such as eating healthier, eating less, intermittently fast, exercise more, spend more time being cold, and taking drugs that explicitly activate certain parts of the epigenome for longevity.

By reversing the information loss of genetic and epigenetic information, we can reverse aging, and potentially become immortal (as young, healthy individuals). This information re-construction is possible, because all the information is technically still there (i.e. nothing is really lost), as shown with the discovery of iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cells).

By tackling aging, people will live longer, and this can have massive socio-economic effects. Problems such as increased inequality, overpopulation on earth, medical care for the elderly, shifts in family structure.

Commentary

Assuming that the Information Theory of aging is correct (a very big if), and that we can eventually halt and reverse the information loss, then we have a clear roadmap to immortality. This is the reason for the author’s optimism in longevity research: he sees this “roadmap”, thinks that it’s more or less complete (at least as a theory), and the items on it will be fully realized in the near future (some are already partially possible today).

It seems that the consensus of the medical field is NOT as optimistic as the author. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and the claims that the author makes are definitely quite extraordinary. The evidence, though very interesting, is not quite up to the level to justify the claims in my opinion. A lot of the research referenced in the book (many done by the author) was done on yeast and mice. Most, if not all of the mechanisms and efficacy of the drugs mentioned are not very well understood/researched, with many of them also have severe side effects or high levels of toxicity, which is not really talked about in the book and I found out through my own research (Wikipedia) on the side.

The fact that the author has “skin in the game” is a positive sign, albeit minor, as he could just be crazy. He’s taking some of the chemicals from his research himself (e.g. NMN), and he’s getting some of his family members to take them as well (even his dogs).

The last third or so of the book focuses on the potential socio-economic impact of people living longer (e.g. problems of inequality, and overpopulation), and seems a bit out of place in this type of book.