The Quest for Immortality
and the New Science of Aging

»The knowledge of aging and death has driven human culture, including our religions, ever since we became aware of our mortality. For much of our existence there was not much we could do about it, but over the past few decades, biology has made major advances in our understanding of the causes of aging, thus for the first time opening up the possibility of intervening in the process. At the same time, the combination of longer lives and reduced fertility rates means that many societies are faced with an aging population. This has led to a large amount of investment in aging research from governments as well as private industry funded largely by tech billionaires, and led to both real advances and a large amount of hype. In this talk, I will discuss some of the key findings about why and how we age and die and prospects for the future. I will also talk a bit about the possible consequences of societies with extremely longlived populations.«

— Venki Ramakrishnan