At 125 years old, you spontaneously sigh: no, never mind!… Things would be different if you still looked as young and active at that age as you did at 40. That sounds more futuristic than it is. We have come a long way with nanobots, etc. It’s closer than you think.
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil (62) does not want to be an ‘ordinary person’ with a ‘limited intelligence’ – both very relative in his case anyway – and a body that is doomed to decline. That’s why he looks forward to the ‘ singularity’. A period in the future where people and machines will completely merge. Once that happens, programs like “10 Years Younger” will have to be eliminated due to a shortage of candidates, as everyone at that point will have an eternally young body and a superior smart brain. Not in a hundred years, do you think? Ray Kurzweil sees things much brighter and predicts that this will happen in 2045.
Rapidly moving towards singularity
Ray Kurzweil bases his theory on an analysis of the history of technology. It turns out not to be linear in the sense that 2, 4 comes, then 6 and then 8. But exponential, which means that 4, 8 follows and immediately after that 16. In concrete terms, this means that we will not have 100 during this century . years of progress will only take 20,000 years. “There are already people with electronic applications in their brains to which certain software can be downloaded,” says Ray Kurzweil. “Just imagine what will be possible in 25 years with technologies that are 100,000 times smaller and a trillion times more powerful.”
My body, my machine
Kurzweil himself started treating his body like a machine since 1988. He reduced his fat intake by 10%, followed the Pritikin diet, lost 20 kilos and cured himself of high cholesterol and glucose intolerance. Since meeting Terry Grosmann in 1999, Ray also takes 150 pills a day – he employs someone to put them in plastic bags for him – and keeps a close eye on the latest medical and nutritional technologies. With a bit of luck, he hopes to keep it up until bio- and nanotechnology can give him a VIP spot in the garden of immortality. If anything goes wrong, his body is frozen in liquid nitrogen and he hopes to wake up kissed by Meredith Gray from Grey’s Anatomy.
Even though it may not be your ambition to ever blow out 125 candles, the new book by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Gr osman, Nine steps to living well forever, is highly recommended for anyone who wants to age healthily. Here are some basic ideas:
Take a pill (or 100) every now and then
For the time being: from the age of 30 it is best to take a multivitamin-mineral complex, extra omega 3 and vitamin D, other age-busters are resveratol (red wine extract) and ubiquinol.
In the future: in the morning you eat a tablespoon of nanobots – which are robots the size of a grain of rice – with your cornflakes that continuously check the amount of hormones, nutrients and glucose in your blood and automatically replenish deficiencies.
Eat less, live longer
For the time being: eating fewer calories in a sensible way will keep you young for longer. If you eat less, fewer free radicals are released during digestion, which means your body will deteriorate less quickly. The target is a sensible calorie reduction of 10 to 20%.
In the future: we all still carry the FIR gene (fast Insulin Receptor Gene), a ‘caveman gene’ that tells our body: quickly save every unused calorie, because we might catch it no mammoth next hunting season. We can now switch off that gene.
Move until you don’t have to anymore
For now: we all know that exercise is good and yet we don’t do it because we don’t like it and yet our body needs action. An English study found that the telomeres – DNA sequences at the end of their chromosomes – of active people were as long as those of people 10 years younger.
In the future: exercise is no longer necessary, because there are ‘exercise mimetic drugs’. A ‘coach potato’ who takes these fitness pills is just as fit as people who jog 3 times a week and lift weights 2 times a week.
Do ‘it’ more often
Preliminary: Studies prove that women who have sex regularly show lower blood pressure in stressful situations. Sex once or twice a week is great for the immune system. Ejaculating regularly is good for your health.
In the future: virtual sex is just as fun as the real thing. You choose who and where you do it with. Nanorobots in our brains then block the signals coming from your senses and replace them with the stimuli that your brain would receive if you were actually in the dreamed situation.
Sleep tight
For the time being: sleeping is just as important as eating and exercising, and yet 1 in 3 does not do enough. Resulting in weight gain, a weakened immune system and concentration disorders. A good night’s sleep is crucial if you don’t want to age quickly.
In the future: There are pills and devices that give you the benefits of a good night’s sleep without having to lie down.
Train that brain.
For now: brains are like muscles, so ‘use it or lose it’ also applies to your brain. You train your logical thinking skills by playing chess, solving sudokus, or arranging your finances. You can exercise your emotional brain by learning a language or having conversations with interesting people. Brains consist of 60% fat. With omega 3 fats you ensure that everything continues to run smoothly.
In the future: millions of nanorobots travel through the blood vessels in our brains and interact with our biological neurons (nerve cells). The search robots listen to our thoughts. If we have a problem, they help restart the creative process.
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