The Methuselah Dividend: Introduction

In beginning an exploration into the concept of radical life extension, it would probably be appropriate to start with some scientific or industry fundamentals. Indeed, some of my more prominent pro-longevity blogging forebearers have been doing an exceptionally good job of this. For example, if you want an excellent introduction into longevity science, please see this incredibly thorough post from José Luis Ricón Fernández de la Puente1. Or, if you find yourself overwhelmed by molecular biology, perhaps you would rather start with Nathan Chang’s impressively comprehensive coverage of the burgeoning longevity industry. Maybe you want a little of everything, and should subscribe to Reason’s seasoned weekly blog, Fight Aging!2, which has been spreading the good word for well over a decade. There are others still, but these are some of my favorites3.

So yes, it would make sense to follow in the footsteps of these talented folks and start with the basics. However, that is not what I am going to do, at least not at this juncture4. Instead, I will start at the end and concentrate on the effect ending aging will have on the broad contours of human civilization. Speaking generally, this has been done extensively by many science fiction authors and futurists of various stripes. However, my purpose here is to describe specifically what I believe will be the overwhelmingly positive repercussions of such a momentous achievement. Therefore, in a series of upcoming posts, I will attempt to thoroughly enumerate and categorize various aspects of such a change. To define the constellation of concepts I am going to describe, we need a new term: enter, the “Methuselah dividend”5.

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