Would you want to live forever? Is there a way to increase one’s lifespan? Does death serve a necessary biological purpose? As science advances, we have much to gain. But might we also have much to lose?
Venki Ramakrishan’s latest book “Why We Die” tries to explore the ‘over-explored’ domain of ageing and healthy living. Examining recent scientific breakthroughs, he shows how cutting-edge efforts to extend lifespan by altering our natural biology raise profound questions.
So what made him write about the hype around increasing one’s lifespan?
“This is a book about the molecular biology of aging. It is not primarily about the hype, although it is an effort to let the reader know the underlying basis for advances in aging research so they can distinguish between hype and fact,” Ramakrishnan told The Statesman in an e-mail interview.
In the last 10 years, more than 3,00,000 scientific articles have been published and 700 start-up companies have invested tens of billions of dollars into anti-ageing research. Many of the celebrity tech billionaires such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg have all expressed an interest in this area.
Commenting on this trend of anti-ageing research, Ramakrishnan, who won the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2009, said, “There is a lot of good science but also a tremendous amount of hype, and lots of companies trying to monetize people’s anxiety about old age and death with some dubious remedies.”
He says in his book, ‘I hope to probe, as well, the crucial ethical question that runs beneath anti-ageing research: Even if we can, should we?’. So what about the ethical aspect of this quest for immortality.
“I think a society in which everyone lived for a very long time and there was very slow generational turnover would be a very different one from societies today even in developed countries. So we need to think about what this will mean. Many consequences will be unanticipated. Moreover, the benefits of longevity research may be quite unequally distributed. Already, even in rich countries, the poor have shorter and less healthy lives than the rich,” he added.
The author also mentioned how obesity is the biggest killer of humans. Although the world at large is trying to deal with this epidemic of obesity, he talked about what was particularly taking Indians to their deathbeds quite early.
“Indian cities have exploded without much attention to infrastructure, parks, etc. When I was growing up, I would bicycle or walk everywhere on my own, which is almost impossible today in the same city of Vadodara. The result is the modern urban Indian breathes unhealthy air, gets limited exercise, and many also have an unhealthy diet. These things are made much worse for the poor,” he says.
People across the globe are sceptical about modern medicines and vaccines today. Case in point are the widespread theories which questioned the authenticity of COVID-19 vaccines. On one hand, we talk about the privileged class doling out huge money for anti-ageing formulae, but does he think we have an equal proportion of people whose trust in medicines is getting eroded?
“The spread of disinformation is a general problem in the world. In India, it does not help if those in positions of responsibility themselves promote dubious remedies, eg. for Covid-19, or offer pseudoscience as an alternative. It is good to remember that the rational application of science to public health and medicine has more than doubled life expectancy in the last 100-150 years, and hugely increased the wealth of all societies,” Ramakrishnan underlined.
What, according to him, is key to an increased lifespan?
“I am not sure that we can currently increase maximum lifespan, which in humans is about 120 years. Some portion of longevity is determined by genetics. Although scientists are making real advances in understanding the causes of aging, currently the trio of a healthy diet, regular exercise, and sleep, work better than any anti-aging remedy on the market to ensure good health for as long as possible. Other social things such as being connected with friends and family, having a sense of purpose, are also helpful,” he added.
Ramakrishnan received the Nobel prize in Chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. He runs the Ramakrishnan Lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. Among his many other awards and honours are the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine and the Padma Vibhushan (the second highest civilian honour bestowed in India).
“Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality” has been published by Hachette India/Hodder & Stoughton.