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As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Sergey Young, founder of Longevity Vision Fund and author of the new book, The Science and Technology of Growing Young.
Sergey Young is a longevity investor and visionary on a mission to help one billion people extend their lifespans and live longer, healthier lives. To do that, Sergey founded Longevity Vision Fund to accelerate breakthroughs in life extension technology and to make longevity affordable and accessible to all.
Sergey is on the Board of Directors for the American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) and is the Development Sponsor for AGE REVERSAL XPRIZE’s global competition designed to cure aging.
Sergey Young has been featured as a top longevity expert and contributor on CNN, BBC, Fox News, and Forbes. As the author of books such as ‘The Science and Technology of Growing Young’ and the mastermind behind the online life extension platform SergeyYoung.com, Sergey is passionate about sharing news from the exciting world of longevity.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
For a long 25 years, I was solely focused on building my career and making money to support my family. My health had never really given me any trouble and I had never had to give it any thought. But six years ago, during a regular checkup, my doctor wrote a prescription for the pills he claimed I would need to take for the rest of my life. I could not accept this medicated situation, and I set out on a quest to learn everything I could about longevity and health. I managed to find a way to gain back control of my health without the pills, surgeries, or treatments that control our view of health.
Another episode that made me focus on the concept of health was my father’s illness. At the age of 60, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. After long and exhausting therapy, he survived, but his quality of life never fully recovered.
These incidents prompted me to start thinking of my health and the health of my loved ones in a different way. I figured out how to improve my situation by implementing several changes in my lifestyle and this all brought me to a bigger question: what can I do to live a long and health life? Hopefully, I would be able to live way beyond the current known record of 122 years. I found this challenge extremely fascinating and that kick started my journey in longevity.
Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One story that I like to share happened in the Vatican. I describe it in my upcoming book “The Science and Technology of Growing Young.” Here is an excerpt from the book:
Three years ago, as I walked through the grand stone gateway of Vatican City, I felt as though I was stepping back in time. I’d traveled to Rome and crossed the border into the world’s smallest country to explore the futuristic breakthroughs that will soon allow human beings to extend our previously expected lifespans. By the time I left, I was certain that it would soon be possible to prolong the lives of pretty much everyone on our planet.
The official title of the conference I was attending was “How Science, Technology, and 21st Century Medicine will Impact Culture and Society.” However, the real subject matter of the gathering was more intriguing: how to reverse the physical aging process and dramatically extend human life. This event, blessed by Pope Francis, was inspired by the Vatican’s desire to be more progressive, to liven up its historic brand, and to boost its aging “customer base.”
As I took my seat in a vast hall, I looked around at the three hundred invited attendees. It was an unusual crowd, to say the least. Black-robed cardinals with bright red sashes and large, dangling crucifixes mingled with well-dressed doctors, tech billionaires, and the occasional celebrity. Over the next three days, we explored fascinating concepts like genetically engineered human beings, stem cell therapy with the potential to rejuvenate the body using its own “building blocks,” breakthroughs in drug development that may finally win the war on cancer, and the morality of immortality.
We kicked off the first day with a panel. My good friend and role model, XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis, was telling the audience about some of the amazing ways in which the very definition of the human body will change over the next couple of decades, allowing us to extend our lives to at least age 150. Then he paused, his face lit up with excitement. “Who here wants to live to 150?”
I raised my hand immediately, as did many of our XPRIZE crowd, who were sitting around me. But despite my own unrestrained enthusiasm to such a mind-blowing proposal, Peter’s expression registered shock and surprise. As I turned to scan the rest of the room, I immediately saw why. Only a small percentage of the audience had raised their hands. Peter had clearly been expecting this crowd to enthusiastically embrace the idea of extended lifespans. After all, these were the people working to cure disease, improve health, and help people live longer.
So why on earth wouldn’t they want this for themselves? After the conference and with this question in my consciousness, I embarked to implement this thought provoking concept of longevity hesitation into my mission.
Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?
I’ve always been the type to take responsibility for what happens in my life. I’ve never delegated this responsibility to my external environment. Obviously, no one can control what happens in their lives 100%, but everyone is in control of how they respond and react.
I try to give more than I receive. I spend a lot of time mentoring, giving advice and introductions; I do pro-bono and non-profit work dedicating my time and financial resources to the causes I deeply care about, including health and longevity.
I try to keep an optimistic outlook on everything. I call it “positive reframing.” Focusing on the positive side of one’s situation changes one’s environment for the better.
Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?
My mission is to extend the healthy lifespans of one billion people. In other words, I am attempting to make healthy longevity accessible and affordable for all. To complete this mission, I began with founding the Longevity Vision Fund that supports companies working on breakthrough technologies aimed at extending the human lifespan.
I launched a non-profit corporate life extension program, Longevity @ Work, which is designed to create work environments that contribute to the health, happiness and longevity of their employees.
Additionally, I wrote a book titled “The Science and Technology of Growing Young,” to spread my positive message and share information regarding the exciting future of longevity, which I am privileged to witness as an active investor in the space.
How do you think this will change the world?
All these amazing technologies combined with the Longevity Vision Fund and fellow investor support will help to make the world a better place where people can not only live dramatically longer, but they can also stay healthier in the meantime.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?
Dramatically increased human lifespan does come with some potential risks. I dedicated a whole chapter of my book to some of these potentially negative side effects. You can download this chapter here (www.moralityofimmortality.com). But I believe that we as humans will find a way to use these potential drawbacks as a unifying idea rather than a means to increase inequality amongst us. We should start solving these potential problems now instead of waiting for 20 years.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?
I can provide the same answer as to q#1, so I suggest we skip this one
What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?
One big initial step would be a recognition of aging as a disease. Some countries are closer to this goal than others, but we all are on the path in this direction. This step is important for creating a sustainable regulatory and economic model, which would fundamentally increase investments in fighting disease and longevity.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.
- Practice moonshot thinking when you and your team are hoping to achieve something believed to be impossible. It motivates you to think big by putting yourself in a wishful state and allowing everyone to remain positive.
- Keep focused on your primary goal and learn how to say no (kindly) to what’s not fundamentally important for your goal.
- Choose challenging objectives that are not easy and short term but demand time and effort. Having lofty goals allows one to fail while still ending up successful in some regard. This reward will be great.
- Exhibit resourcefulness, and leverage whatever is at your disposal to help you achieve your goals. Be creative, be open-minded, and don’t give up. Listen to advice and always get multiple opinions. Don’t think “how can I do this,” think “who and what can help me achieve this goal?”
- Use all the possibilities the digital world has to offer and keep attempting to intake information from great people. You have years of research and knowledge available right at your fingertips.
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I am a VC myself. We tend to think that making money and changing the world for the better are mutually exclusive. At Longevity Vision Fund, our goal is to back companies and products that aid to improve quality of life and one’s environment as both can be successful and lucrative. So, my message to my fellow VCs is to not focus solely on financial results but prioritize any additional benefit for humanity.
Thank you for these excellent insights. We wish you continued success in your great work.
The Longevity Vision Fund: Sergey Young’s Big Idea That May Change The World In The Next Few Years was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
