Angela Mollard: My kids can keep their blood plasma, living forever is not for me

Billionaires like Jeff Bezos are going to extremes to cheat death, but more emphasis needs to be put on living a happy life, not a long one, writes Angela Mollard.

Remember when diet culture ruled the world? When Oprah Winfrey was the head girl of weight loss and Jennifer Aniston ate the same salad every day she worked on Friends? Or how Gwyneth Paltrow said she just had bone broth for lunch? Or how Victoria Beckham eats only grilled fish and steamed vegetables, leading her husband David to remark that the one night she tried a bite from his plate “it was the most amazing thing”.

Looking back, we all know that was messed up. But we were steeped in it until a new generation came along and declared all bodies are beautiful and we could stick our celery juices up our skinny arses.

The publishing industry valiantly removed “diet” from the titles of weight loss books and while “wellness” briefly supplanted deprivation as a new and acceptable ideology, Ozempic has upset the (organic) apple cart by stripping excess weight with a simple injection.

But now a new and increasingly insidious player has stepped into the health arena. It comes in the form of high tech, buffed bodies and taut laser-polished skin but it’s no less problematic than the diet culture that preceded it.

This time it’s longevity that’s the new lunacy and, in a turn of the tables, it’s being driven by men.

Actress Lauren Sanchez and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who is investing in age reversal research. Picture: AFP

Wanting to live a long and healthy life is a commendable pursuit and how to do so is accessible and intuitive. Eat nourishing foods, move your body, restrict alcohol, don’t smoke, reduce stress, get plenty of sleep and have health check-ups.

But moderation doesn’t make headlines. Nor does it make money or underpin fame. Consequently, the longevity baton has been picked up by a band of rich, competitive, tech titans — some masquerading as pseudo scientists — who, with their “captains of industry” mindset, genuinely believe they can cheat death.

By all means live a healthy and happy life, but don’t make duration the measure of success.

There’s tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who has spent $2m on trying to slow his ageing by taking 100 pills a day, eating all his meals before 11am, injecting himself with his son’s blood plasma, and insisting on going to bed alone at 8.30pm.

He’s had shockwave therapy on his penis to stimulate blood flow — perhaps not necessary when you declare to potential partners that sex will be scheduled and “ur not my #1 priority” — and lives by the mantra of “Don’t die”.

Others include Silicon Valley tycoon Dave Asprey, who is 50 but claims that he’ll live to 180 thanks to “actively managing” his age with stem cell injections, supplements and injecting himself with a younger immune system.

Then there’s Dr Mark Hyman, author of Young Forever and friend of Gwyneth Paltrow, who spruiks a “pegan” or vegan-paleo diet; PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who is investing millions in longevity and reportedly wants to be cryogenically frozen when he dies, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who is investing in age reversal research in conjunction with his post-divorce glow up.

Bryan Johnson swallows 100 tablets a day as part of his extensive anti-ageing regimen.

It’s one thing for these biohacking bros to mess around with their own bodies and millions, but as committed self-publicists their messages are leaking into the mainstream. The problem then becomes three-fold.

First, the quest for self-betterment becomes both a media fascination and a commercial enterprise and so we see ludicrous promises masquerading as possibilities, most notably in the Nine Network’s forthcoming series Do You Want to Live Forever?

We live in the age of clickbait, but all credibility is surely razed by the show’s title. It sounds like something concocted by AI and psychedelics.

Secondly, the hype around increasing the human lifespan — disseminated to millions via Dr Peter Attia’s book Outlive and Dr Andrew Huberman’s hugely popular podcast — is leading to ideas being commercialised before the science is ready, according to experts.

Nobel prize-winning scientist Venki Ramakrishnan says the tech titans are attracting top scientists to their projects, but the impatience at the heart of business is at odds with the pace of science. “The hype and anxiety about ageing is pushing the commercial aspects in a direction that is running well ahead of science,” he said.

Likewise, cardiologist Rohin Francis, writing in the British Medical Journal, said the issue with “Silicon Valley medicine” was that they “move fast and break things”.

A glitch in an Apple iPhone is one thing; endorsing therapies before clinical trials have proven them successful could do more harm than good.

Resveratrol, for instance, is touted as a supplement aiding longevity but conventional doctors say the research is not there to support the claim.

Finally, the quest for longevity is troublingly self-centred and competitive. It is financed by men who like absolutes and extremes. It focuses on the “me” not the “we” and while its “protocols” may lead to a long life, there is little discussion about that life being a happy one. What use is exemplary physical health if you don’t have social connections, purpose and empathy?

The question is not whether you want to live forever, but whether you want a life that is healthy and meaningful.

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Originally published as Angela Mollard: My kids can keep their blood plasma, living forever is not for me