2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal

TIME magazine featured “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal” back in 2011.

This controversial article discusse Ray Kurzweil’s theory about artificial intelligence and technological singularity.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with what technological singularity actually means, then the definition according to Wikipedia states: 

The technological singularity—or simply the singularity[1]—is a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable changes to human civilization.[2][3] 

According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, called intelligence explosion, an upgradable intelligent agent will eventually enter a "runaway reaction" of self-improvement cycles, each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an "explosion" in intelligence and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that qualitatively far surpasses all human intelligence.

To cut a long story short, Kurzweil and other leading scientists believe that computers and humans will largely merge by 2045 creating a symbiosis between man and machine, which will eventually lead to immorality (for the millionaires and billionaires of course)

But before we all become cyborgs, I thought that I could go through one of the new exciting health and science technologies, which allows us to better understand the ageing process. 

And how can they help us all improve our health, whilst also reducing the 'sands of time' before we reach this utopia in the not so distant future.

Epigenetics

Unlike the outdated and conventional method of measuring age with time, epigenetic ageing also known as biological age can be accelerated and reversed. 

Epigenetic ageing and DNA methylation has been argued to be related to all mortality in later life, however, it is thought not to be a cause of ageing but a marker that can be used to judge accelerated ageing. 

By utilising this important marker, it may be possible to predict many disease and lifestyle conditions before they come to pass. With the fundamental aim of decelerating the ageing process and preventing these ailments from occurring in the first place.

Chronological age Vs Biological age. 

The vast majority of us will be completely unaware that we actually have two ages: 

Chronological age refers the exact number of years you have been alive and as predictable as night follows day, your date of birth and age cannot be altered. While biological age is a true reflection of how your cells are ageing and how they have been affected by exogenous and endogenous stressors such as your diet, exercise, lifestyle and environment, which will affect your epigenetics.

Biological age is a very well-defined scientific term. It is not a loosely defined marketing term. To date there are 2992 scientific publications on biological age and epigenetics, so it is very well characterised.  

Biological ageing includes inability to fight cancer/disease, lack of functioning proteins, lack of energy production in the body, lack of nutrient function, loss of circadian rhythm, increased inflammation, loss of new cell regeneration, and many more factors.  

When proteins lose function, the body cannot carry out the necessary functions – for instance, memory, eye sight, hearing, ability to properly digest nutrients, ability to metabolise sugars and fats, ability to fight disease, development of autoimmune diseases, etc. 

Muhdo understands that we all come with a set of unique genetic predispositions, but our lifestyle and environments will affect those same genetic traits. These either dilute or accentuated them through a process called methylation and epigenetics.

DNA methylation (DNAm) is a process where tiny chemical markers called methyl groups will attach to one of the four nucleotide bases on your DNA. As we naturally age these methyl groups will either hypo (low) or hyper (high) methylate regions across your genome, which will then affect how specific genes and biological processes function.

Muhdo is pioneering genome and epigenome health, and currently the only company globally to provide epigenetic health insights with regards to biological, eye, hearing and memory ages.

Our bioinformatics and science teams have identified the genes - as well as the specific biomarkers which sit upon them - that correlate to cellular ageing. We have also developed the world’s first custom epigenetic analysis chip, refining the current 850k from Illumina, which provides hyper focussed information surround health, fitness and longevity.

This allows you to see a true representation of how your diet, lifestyle and environment has been affecting you at a cellular and genetic level, as well as the current status of your internal health.

And next year we have some fantastic news, as our bioinformatics team will be launching a further 20 epigenetic aspects, such as metabolism, stress, mental health, lipid metabolism and how specific vitamins and minerals are being utilised by the body.

While external characteristics can sometimes give us an insight into our internal health, in many instances we can simply misinterpret external factors such as bigger muscles, faster running times or eating a certain type of diet as they do not actually actuate to being healthier.

By simply having “Good genes” offers no guarantees to our health and wellbeing, nor does it on living to 100. Muhdo helps to simplify the fact that epigenetics is the intersection’ between genetics, nutrition, and environment and how diet, micronutrients, exercise and sleep can all change the expression of our genes, and all of this at a touch of a button.

Epigenetics allows us to cut through the media noise of the latest hyped training style or fad diet to enable us to better ascertain which lifestyle changes we must make individually. 

These alterations are to provide our “genetic hardware” with the specific “lifestyle software” our body needs to nourish our internal health and, ultimately, live a healthier, happier and longer life.

For the most part there will be two things that you with keep with you for the majority of your life, your mobile phone and your health. And as the symbiosis between humans and AI moves ever closer and at an exponential rate, the realisation that the synergy between man and machine could possibly be the panacea for improving our health and longevity.

Trying to improve your Biological age will obviously have huge benefits on your health and wellbeing. As we age our capacity to cope with lifestyle, environmental and physiological challenges diminish.  In addition, important assets such as hearing, sight, memory and mobility also deteriorate as we age.

A variety of factors can contribute towards us ageing at an accelerated rate, such as, nutritional deficiencies, stress, poor sleep and the pollution levels in our towns and cities.

Ageing is not a simple process to understand, it is like a jigsaw puzzle where analysing just a few pieces will not provide you with the complete picture. There are various aspects that contribute towards ageing, from the genetic cards you have been dealt from your parents to the lifestyle that you choose.

No one wants to become ill at any stage in life and, unfortunately, with the gap between life expectancy and health expectancy seemingly being pushed further apart each year, understanding your biological age will become the new currency of health.