$6.96B was raised by private longevity companies in 2022

There are a lot of hucksters in this area but I think some of the investments will produce good results. It’s definitely better to pour VC money into longevity research vs “Uber for X” or blockchain.

So what happens if we eliminate aging? Would we be doomed to work until the end of time, forever being in a state where you don't have enough money for the infinite retirement?

Before the comments come in talking about whether we actually <i>want</i> to cure aging, let me present my favorite argument I&#x27;ve seen on the topic:<p>Imagine the situation were reversed: nobody is aging, and we&#x27;re worried about Earth&#x27;s limited resources. Your proposed to solution is to <i>kill everyone</i> over a certain age!?

Research is great -- I&#x27;m all for that -- but I&#x27;m less certain about actually turning this into a product just yet.<p>As an analogy, it is like a weekend cyclist spending $10,000 on a high end bike to save a pound or two off their bike, meanwhile they are 30 pounds overweight. It would be better to lose that weight (for cycling performance and for many better reasons) before trying to buy cycling performance at $10,000&#x2F;lb.<p>Getting back to the point, people imagine it would be great to live 500 years, perhaps longer. Ask yourself: are you maximizing your current life? If you are currently unhappy, bored, sick, lonely, feeling like you are trapped in a certain lifestyle, why would you want an extra 400 years of that?

There&#x27;s a strange amount of posts on HN related to &#x27;longevity&#x27;. It feels more than coincidental, and I don&#x27;t see much about the topic anywhere else.<p>Are people disproportionately afraid of old age and death here?

Much better than that wealth being hoarded more and more without doing anything.<p>Its amazing how even the ultra rich who hoard dozens of billions act as if they will live forever, hoard their wealth without investing it in anything tangible but using it to hoard even more wealth, then rapidly decline in health in their later years without their wealth doing them any good.<p>With such investments, at they can make life longer and better for themselves and the humanity at the same time, putting that wealth into a tangible good use.<p>Humans take a long time and a lot of investment to bring up and educate. Any singular human lost is a loss for humanity due to the creativity and resourcefulness that even the dumbest members of human race have are invaluable. If everyone lived longer and healthier, we could be living in a much better paradigm then our current one that is still stuck somewhere in between late 20th century and the start of 21st century. The progress we can make is indescribable.<p>We can live longer, and if we look at the other species in our planet, we !should! be living much longer: There are tortoises that live centuries. There are sharks who live centuries. Even cetaceans can live well over a century. Higher mammals living in very hard, hostile conditions live 70 years or longer like elephants.<p>The biology of this planet basically says that living long is the norm for complex organisms. We humans are the exceptions to that, by living a ~70 years on average and living the last 2 decades of it with declining capacity. The problem is with our civilization and the way we live - not with biology itself.<p>...<p>There is absolutely no benefit to anyone in the hoards of imaginary wealth of this planet amassing more useless hoards of imaginary wealth by sitting in investment tools.<p>If even a fraction of that wealth is actually put to use, everything can change.

Does anyone know these companies or if they are promising? AI for drug discovery also boasts lofty fundraising numbers but a lot of the field is fluffy.

Interested to know how much of this capital is going into basic public health initiatives (preventative health) vs what I imagine are extremely expensive treatments to stretch out one&#x27;s life (acute treatment).<p>100 bucks says it&#x27;s the latter. I therefore eagerly await a VC-subsidized BBaaS (Blood Boy as a Service).<p>Reference: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=hBA0AH-LSbo">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=hBA0AH-LSbo</a>

Promising longevity to the wealthy has been an effective way to raise money for thousands of years.

First time hearing the term &#x27;private longevity&#x27;. Doesn&#x27;t sound quite right to me. Sort of implies there is some kind of &#x27;public longevity&#x27;. Wouldn&#x27;t &#x27;personal longevity&#x27; make (slightly) more sense?<p>Edit - I&#x27;m an idiot, ignore me. It&#x27;s clearly not &#x27;private longevity&#x27; but &#x27;private companies [that deal with longevity]&#x27;

Do they have report of which sectors? I can&#x27;t find it on the article.

If one of these private logetivity companies hasn&#x27;t already taken the name &quot;The Howard Foundation,&quot; I will be sorely disappointed.

Found this FT article with some additional information<p>The paywall let me through so hopefully others can also view:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;649b0446-698c-4363-82ad-0be5b5faa68f" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;649b0446-698c-4363-82ad-0be5b5faa...</a>

Why do people want to live longer? It is a young man&#x27;s dream.