History will judge us by one simple fact: were we the last generation to die of stupidity, or the first to cheat death? Science is finally "hacking" aging. And not with cannabis ointments or meditation on Šmarna gora, but with the brute power of artificial intelligence, genetic scissors and - you won't believe it - crypto financing. Will artificial intelligence defeat death?!
If you manage to survive the next decade – that is, if you don't get buried by the stress of watching Echoes, if you don't get run over by someone at a crosswalk for looking at their phone, and if you survive the queue at the Ljubljana Medical Center – you have a realistic chance to you live to be 150 years old. And I'm not talking about living on a ventilator in some overcrowded nursing home where your diapers are changed twice a day. I'm talking about playing tennis at 100 and complaining about the youth who can't do it anymore. to drive a car (because it will be driven by AI anyway). Will artificial intelligence defeat death?
But before we open the champagne, we need to clarify some basic concepts. Especially those about where we live and how we think.
Auto mechanic for the human body
Look, the situation is simple. Until recently, we viewed the human body as a brand-new car. Flag 101. You drive it until it runs. When it starts to rattle, you fix it a little. When the engine starts to rust, you take it to the scrapyard. That has been the mantra of biology for millennia. “It’s natural to grow old and die,” we were told.
Nonsense.
Today advanced scientisti – those who are not funded by our ZZZS, thank God – view the body as software. As in code. Aging is nothing more than the accumulation of errors in that code. These are “bugs” in the system. And what does a good programmer do when finds a bug? Don't throw your computer out the window (although Windows sometimes forces us to think that). No, he fixes the code. He uploads the fix. He presses “Update”.
If we had auto mechanics, who would tell you: “Look, ma’am, the rust on your fender is just a natural process, it’s the fate of your car, there’s nothing you can do about it,” would be dismissed in a second. But doctors accept this as sacred truth.
In Slovenia, we have one big paradox. (the country the author comes from) On the one hand, we have a system that is falling apart. We have excellent mechanics (doctors), but the “service owner” (the state) prohibits them from working effectively. We have top experts, doctors of motor science, who are forced into bureaucratic nonsense instead of utilizing their knowledge. And what happens? These mechanics “slack off” in the afternoon or go off on their own, because that is the only economic logic.
But on the other hand, we Slovenians the nation, who deeply believes in “fixing”. When the system fails, a miracle happens. We collect corks. We send SMS. We raised millions for little Kris, for Urban, for the society Thumbelina HelperChildren with rare genetic defects are sent to the US for gene treatments, which cost millionsThat's right - we believe in new technologies.
What does this tell us? Yes, we are already Slovenians. transhumanistsWe understand that illness is just a mistake. in DNA code, which needs to be fixed with technology. We're just financing it in the most bizarre ways - with voluntary contributions, instead of editing it systemAging is just... universal form of this errorAnd if we can fix the gene for spinal muscular atrophy, why not fix the gene for “dying“? Will artificial intelligence defeat death?
Guinea pigs with millions in their accounts
Let's take a look at what's actually cooking in the world's laboratories while we wait for... review date 2025.
First on the menu is genetic engineering. You've probably heard of it before. Bryan JohnsonThis is what a tech millionaire looks like wax doll, who escaped from Madame Tussauds, and who spends a fortune every month to stay young. Many laugh at him. “Look at him, the fool, he takes 100 pills a day.”
But Johnson is a pioneer. He is "crash test dummy"for humanity. He recently used gene therapy with follistatin. It's a protein that blocks myostatin in the body. Myostatin is that nasty stuff that tells your muscles, "Enough, stop growing." When you block it, it explodes. Mice with this therapy become muscle monsters and live 30 years longer. Johnson paid for this therapy 25,000 euros. Where? In Honduras.
Why in Honduras? Because the American FDA and the European EMA (and our beloved bureaucracy) operate on the principle of “safety before progress.” For them, aging is natural, and treating aging is “risky.” Therefore the rich are moving to special economic zones, where the laws don't apply, and they inject themselves with experimental substances.
This is the medical tourism of the future. In 2026, you won't just be going to Turkey for new hair, but for new livers and rejuvenated muscles. Ironic, isn't it? While we collect corks for basic operations, they collect years. But don't be jealous. The information Johnson will get (and maybe die in the process or get a third hand) will make technology cheaper for all of us. Just like the first one was mobile phone big as a brick and expensive as a car, but today every first grader has one. So – will artificial intelligence defeat death?!
Polishing a scratched CD
The second revolution is cellular reprogramming. David Sinclair, a Harvard professor (who looks suspiciously young for his age), has an interesting theory. He says that our cells don't lose the information on how to be young. They just "forget" it.
Imagine an old CD (for those of you born in this millennium – that's that shiny circle that used to hold music). When CD scratch, the laser can't read the music. It skips. That's aging. The information (the music) is still there, but the reader (the cell) can't find it because of scratches (epigenetic changes).
Sinclair's solution? "Polishing" the CD. Using so-called Yamanaka factors, which force the cell to reset itself. To return to factory settings. In monkeys, this process has already succeeded in regenerating the optic nerve and restoring vision.
Do you understand what that means? If it works for the eyes, why wouldn't it work for the kidneys? For the heart? For the brain? This is no longer treating symptoms. This is a "Restart" button for your body. In theory, you could take a pill at age 60 and biologically return to age 30. It sounds like magic, but in reality it's just engineering. Will artificial intelligence defeat death?!
Crypto brothers save science
Now we come to the part that will confuse Slovenian skeptics the most. Who is funding this? The state? No, but where? Countries are bankrupt, they deal with pensions and social transfers. Pharmaceutical companies? Not necessarily, because they'd rather you take blood pressure pills for the next 30 years than be cured once and for all.
The solution comes from the world of cryptocurrencies. DeSci (Decentralized Science).
While our politics still treat cryptocurrencies somewhere between gambling and money laundering, this same community is funding research that will save our lives. Organizations like VitaDAO are collecting millions of dollarsin cryptocurrencies and invest them directly in longevity researchNo bureaucracy, no tenders where the one who knows the minister wins, and no waiting for seals.
The irony is perfect. That "Internet money" your neighbor told you was a scam is now paying scientists to invent a cure for death. The world keeps moving forward, with or without us.
Artificial Intelligence: Your New Personal Doctor
And then there's artificial intelligence (AI). We're all afraid that AI will take our jobs. That ChatGPT will write a better article than a journalist (which, let's face it, is not difficult at the level of Slovenian journalism). That robots will take over factories.
But the real revolution of AI is not about writing your term paper for you. The revolution is in biology. Insilico Medicine used AI to develop a drug for pulmonary fibrosis. The AI tossed around billions of molecules, simulated their effects, and found the right one. In months, not decades.
In 2026, we can expect a flood of drugs “invented” or just found by a computer. And this computer doesn't need coffee, doesn't go on vacation, doesn't strike for higher wages, and doesn't need union approval. It just works. It solves problems that people didn't have any IQ not time.
Imagine having an AI doctor on your phone who knows your entire genome, your microbiome (yes, it will even analyze the contents of your gut, because that is where the key to immunity lies) and who warns you about cancer before it even develops. This is not the future. This is “Tuesday” in the year 2030.
Slovenian "reality check": Will we survive our own stupidity?
All of this sounds wonderful. But let's go back to Krtina, to Domžale, to Ljubljana. To our reality.
The problem is not that the technology doesn't exist. The problem is whether we, here and now, will have access to it. Or will we remain in a "public" system reminiscent of Cuba, where we will wait for basic serviceswhile the world rushes past us.
Slovenia decided in a plebiscite to Western lifestyleBut in our minds we are remained in socialism. We still believe that the state should take care of everything. That health is “free”. Nothing is free. Health costs money. And top-notch health, the kind that gives you 50 years of life, will cost even more.
Therefore, it is an illusion to expect that we will ZZZS pays for gene therapy for rejuvenationbut when he barely pays us once every 10 years dental fillingGood doctors will, following economic logic, migrated to the private sectorThose who will remaining in public, will they burn out or will they work along the line of least resistance.
This will cause a radical division. We will have a caste of people who can afford to “fix the circuit” and a caste of people who will die the old way – “naturally.”
The mathematics that our country's government doesn't understand
And here we come to the final problem: pensions.
If we all live to be 150, who will pay for it? Our pension system is based on Bismarck's 19th-century idea: work until you're 65, then die politely within a few years so you don't burden the treasury.
What if you don't die? What if you look like you're 40 at 90 and still able to work? Will we work until we're 100? Will we have a universal basic income generated by AI?
The politics we have today – and I mean all colors, left and right – have no idea what's coming. They're dealing with change, with minimal corrections, while it rolls over them tsunamiAs someone wrote: The dove did not add 1+1He got some stupid official proposal and is defending it without simulating the consequences in a world where the rules of the game are fundamentally changing.
If we don't wake up, we will have a generation of penniless "super-retirees" living in their oversized, energy-wasting houses, waiting for the state to transfer to them that 450 euros of revalued pension. This is a recipe for disaster.
Conclusion: Your task – for the next 10 years – is survival.
So what to do? Will artificial intelligence defeat death?!
First time: Stop waiting for the state. The state will not solve your problem. The state is like that slow Internet Explorer - by the time it responds, the train has already left.
Second time: Take your health into your own hands. Get tested. Measure your blood pressure. Wear a smartwatch. Invest in your body like you invest in a car (or at least half as much). Use the technology that is available.
Third time: Save. And not in a stocking. You need to understand capital, investments, maybe even that "infamous" crypto. Because you will have to buy your immortality (or at least a comfortable old age) yourself.
And above all: Don't die of stupidity. The next 10 years will be critical. This is a period of transition. A period, when old medicine will say goodbye and the new one has only just really taken hold. Your only strategic task right now is to stay alive and relatively healthy until 2035.
If you manage to do this, if you survive Slovenian roads, Slovenian politics and Slovenian waiting lines, then see you at the celebration. your 150th birthday. I'm coming. I'll probably look younger and more fluid than I do today.
Good luck. You will need it.
