Longevity Escape Velocity: Scientific Foundations, Technologies, and Expectations

Few concepts divide the scientific community as much as “longevity escape velocity”—the hypothesis, made famous by Aubrey de Grey, that medicine might one day extend remaining life expectancy faster than time can erode it. This book sets out to examine the idea from the ground up, and its subtitle outlines its structure: first the science, then the technologies, and finally the expectations. The section on the biological foundations explores the mechanisms of aging, from cumulative cellular damage to the so-called “hallmarks of aging.” It thus provides the reader with the tools to understand why aging is increasingly studied today as a process that can be influenced, rather than as an unchangeable fate. This is followed by a review of the most widely discussed technologies: senolytics, epigenetic reprogramming, gene therapies, and regenerative medicine. The main merit of a work of this kind lies in its ability to distinguish established findings from preliminary experiments and overly optimistic predictions. This is also the criterion by which it should be judged. After all, the subject lends itself easily to promises that current research cannot yet fulfill, but which appear to have a fairly solid foundation.