I completely agree that it is absurd that the kind of content in the OP is not more widely publicized. This was my precise motivation for writing this post.
Unfortunately, there is no good ‘where to start’ guide for anti-aging. This is insane, given this is the field looking for solutions to the biggest killer on Earth today.
The closest approximations to a ‘where to start’ guide for anti-aging would be:
That said, none of the above communicated all of the ideas that I wished to communicate in the OP in a succinct way. Again, this is precisely why I wrote it.
It seems to be one of the better introductions out there, as those in touch with field on the longevity subreddit seem to have appreciated my introductory guide, as it’s one of the top-rated posts in the past week and has been given 5 awards. As an aside, I’m planning on turning this into a sequence, so if you have ideas for future topics please let me know.
I totally agree regarding funding for 80k equivalent sites. If someone wants to provide financing for an anti-aging outreach and careers platform, count me in. I suppose the closest site would be Lifespan.io, which is a non-for-profit that provides high-quality content about the field, and crowdfunds research.
I also recommend emailing 80k and asking them to provide information on anti-aging career paths. I think it would be valuable for EA in general. If they are open to it, I would be more than happy to write something.
About me:
I’m not a geroscience researcher, but I am conducting neuroscience research at Oxford University after finishing my studies here and have a reasonable grasp of the geroscience field. I am vice president of the Oxford Society of Ageing and Longevity and in this role have had the privilege of interviewing influential figures in the field such as Aubrey de Grey, and researchers in the field such as Joao Pedro de Magalhaes. I’ve also had meetings with many other key figures in the field including David Sinclair. I also attended most of the major conferences in the field (ARDD2020, EARD2020, CSL Mechanisms of Aging 2020 etc.) last year. I’ve read probably in the order of 2000 academic papers in this field, and have been invited to give lectures on this topic at Oxford University and Monash University, Australia. I’ve also been a content writer at Mindset Health for 2 years so I have some background in science communication. The above reasons are why I felt qualified to write the OP.
If you have a 50-hour time budget to learn about anti-aging I would recommend the following:
Watch 5 hours-worth of interviews with David Sinclair on YouTube.
Read Lifespan by David Sinclair and Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey
Spend the rest of the time watching as many talks from the 2020 ARDD conference, available free, here. Start with talks by Brian Kennedy, Nir Barzilai, Judith Campisi, Eric Verdin, David Sinclair, and Joao Pedro de Magalhaes as they are the biggest names in the field.
If you can get through all that, I can email you a huge list of over 50 papers to read that covers all aspects of the hallmarks of aging and the current state of the field.
In terms of contributing to the field, you might want to join the Longevity Subreddit and Lifespan discord server for advice about how best to leverage your specific skillsets, as there are many aging researchers in these communities. They can help advise you on career paths.
I like your idea about meta-sites and networking platforms. My advice would be—if you think it should be done, why not give it try and do it yourself? At the end of the day, someone has to do it, and it might as well be you! The worst that might happen is you might learn something. Or, pursue the idea a bit and realise that others have already attempted it and failed or abandoned the project for reasons X, Y or Z.
I think mentioning your qualifications at the start (or at least the end) of the post would help. i wondered about it myself as i was reading it, and i would have been glad to read them if they were mentioned (instead of, say, feeling like it’s bragging).
Unfortunately, there is no good ‘where to start’ guide for anti-aging. This is insane, given this is the field looking for solutions to the biggest killer on Earth today.
Low hanging fruit intervention: Create a public guide to that effect on a web site.
Completely agree—we have this planned on our Oxford Society of Ageing and Longevity website (ageingandlongevity.com). I also plan to write a sequence on LessWrong of perhaps 10-15 posts similar to this one.
Feel free to comment if you think there are specific angles you’d like me to focus on (e.g. explaining the science in more detail, discussing common philosophical objections, describing the financing of longevity biotech, etc.).
Thank you for writing this, it was very helpful to me. I will read up on a number of links you provided in the post itself and other comments.
I’m starting to dabble in Biology since last Semester (Computer Science Bachelors, currently doing Master’s degree) as a minor, some of my current interests are:
Epigenetics Especially related with newly available computational methods and experiments doable with CRISPR-modifications. What are the active areas of research?
Simulation Particularly of biological pathways or other relevant parts. What is commonly simulated? To what degree?
Measuring How easy it is to measure the ‘Hallmarks of Aging’, and how accurate are their relative predictions? What other measurements would be great to have (soon)?
For me, it is not ultimately clear that they are relevant for the field at all, so bear with my selfishness here. I would especially be interested in a (slightly more technical) introduction to the current state of the Art, active areas of research, how it is related to anti-aging research, and how to learn more about each of them.
Furthering anti-aging-research/awareness is actually a secondary career goal of mine, the first/current one is figuring out how to consistently raise the sanity waterline in organizations. It might even be possible to fulfill both at one organization, we’ll see.
I completely agree that it is absurd that the kind of content in the OP is not more widely publicized. This was my precise motivation for writing this post.
Unfortunately, there is no good ‘where to start’ guide for anti-aging. This is insane, given this is the field looking for solutions to the biggest killer on Earth today.
The closest approximations to a ‘where to start’ guide for anti-aging would be:
Is Human Life Extension Possible? - LongevityAdvice.com
Longevity FAQ—Laura Deming (who is a longevity biotech VC)
Lifespan by David Sinclair
Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey
That said, none of the above communicated all of the ideas that I wished to communicate in the OP in a succinct way. Again, this is precisely why I wrote it.
It seems to be one of the better introductions out there, as those in touch with field on the longevity subreddit seem to have appreciated my introductory guide, as it’s one of the top-rated posts in the past week and has been given 5 awards. As an aside, I’m planning on turning this into a sequence, so if you have ideas for future topics please let me know.
I totally agree regarding funding for 80k equivalent sites. If someone wants to provide financing for an anti-aging outreach and careers platform, count me in. I suppose the closest site would be Lifespan.io, which is a non-for-profit that provides high-quality content about the field, and crowdfunds research.
I also recommend emailing 80k and asking them to provide information on anti-aging career paths. I think it would be valuable for EA in general. If they are open to it, I would be more than happy to write something.
About me:
I’m not a geroscience researcher, but I am conducting neuroscience research at Oxford University after finishing my studies here and have a reasonable grasp of the geroscience field. I am vice president of the Oxford Society of Ageing and Longevity and in this role have had the privilege of interviewing influential figures in the field such as Aubrey de Grey, and researchers in the field such as Joao Pedro de Magalhaes. I’ve also had meetings with many other key figures in the field including David Sinclair. I also attended most of the major conferences in the field (ARDD2020, EARD2020, CSL Mechanisms of Aging 2020 etc.) last year. I’ve read probably in the order of 2000 academic papers in this field, and have been invited to give lectures on this topic at Oxford University and Monash University, Australia. I’ve also been a content writer at Mindset Health for 2 years so I have some background in science communication. The above reasons are why I felt qualified to write the OP.
If you have a 50-hour time budget to learn about anti-aging I would recommend the following:
Watch 5 hours-worth of interviews with David Sinclair on YouTube.
Read Lifespan by David Sinclair and Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey
Read the Hallmarks of aging paper and this great 2019 review of the field, and this 2014 paper introducing Geroscience
Become familiar with the major philosophical objections to anti-aging, and their responses, here.
Spend the rest of the time watching as many talks from the 2020 ARDD conference, available free, here. Start with talks by Brian Kennedy, Nir Barzilai, Judith Campisi, Eric Verdin, David Sinclair, and Joao Pedro de Magalhaes as they are the biggest names in the field.
If you can get through all that, I can email you a huge list of over 50 papers to read that covers all aspects of the hallmarks of aging and the current state of the field.
In terms of contributing to the field, you might want to join the Longevity Subreddit and Lifespan discord server for advice about how best to leverage your specific skillsets, as there are many aging researchers in these communities. They can help advise you on career paths.
I like your idea about meta-sites and networking platforms. My advice would be—if you think it should be done, why not give it try and do it yourself? At the end of the day, someone has to do it, and it might as well be you! The worst that might happen is you might learn something. Or, pursue the idea a bit and realise that others have already attempted it and failed or abandoned the project for reasons X, Y or Z.
I think mentioning your qualifications at the start (or at least the end) of the post would help. i wondered about it myself as i was reading it, and i would have been glad to read them if they were mentioned (instead of, say, feeling like it’s bragging).
Sure—I’ve just added that at the bottom. Thanks for the tip.
Low hanging fruit intervention: Create a public guide to that effect on a web site.
Completely agree—we have this planned on our Oxford Society of Ageing and Longevity website (ageingandlongevity.com). I also plan to write a sequence on LessWrong of perhaps 10-15 posts similar to this one.
Feel free to comment if you think there are specific angles you’d like me to focus on (e.g. explaining the science in more detail, discussing common philosophical objections, describing the financing of longevity biotech, etc.).
Thank you for writing this, it was very helpful to me. I will read up on a number of links you provided in the post itself and other comments.
I’m starting to dabble in Biology since last Semester (Computer Science Bachelors, currently doing Master’s degree) as a minor, some of my current interests are:
Epigenetics
Especially related with newly available computational methods and experiments doable with CRISPR-modifications. What are the active areas of research?
Simulation
Particularly of biological pathways or other relevant parts. What is commonly simulated? To what degree?
Measuring
How easy it is to measure the ‘Hallmarks of Aging’, and how accurate are their relative predictions? What other measurements would be great to have (soon)?
For me, it is not ultimately clear that they are relevant for the field at all, so bear with my selfishness here. I would especially be interested in a (slightly more technical) introduction to the current state of the Art, active areas of research, how it is related to anti-aging research, and how to learn more about each of them.
Furthering anti-aging-research/awareness is actually a secondary career goal of mine, the first/current one is figuring out how to consistently raise the sanity waterline in organizations. It might even be possible to fulfill both at one organization, we’ll see.