Biohacking is the New Extropianism
I have often wondered about the field of longevity and how to achieve optimal health. This train of thought has led to a social movement that our species has never witnessed: biohacking. What is biohacking? Well, it is the modulation of the human body via methods like supplementation and exercise. So, for example, if you consume caffeine, you are actually doing a little biohacking.
Bryan Johnson
In my research, I have come across one person who shares many useful tips about biohacking: Bryan Johnson. He's a now-famous tech mogul who sold Venmo's parent company, Braintree, to PayPal in 2013, making hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, he is leading a popular biohacking movement with the goal of achieving peak health. Johnson's Blueprint Protocol involves a strict bedtime, diet, exercise and supplement routine, making it not for most, but you can still take in aspects of it to form your own protocol.
Nick Szabo and extropy
Nick Szabo, the creator of Bitcoin's predecessor, Bit gold, and the famous coding concept, smart contracts, was once heavily involved in discussion surrounding extropy. Extropy is similar to futurology and deals with advanced concepts surrounding human advancement, including longevity.
Mr. Szabo's famous interest in extropy is what led him to become more involved in the cypherpunk movement with other famous computer scientists like Hal Finney and Wei Dai. Personally, I see biohacking as a nascent form of the extropian movement in some respects.
The reason is that many people involved in the biohacking scene seem to be libertarians like myself. This makes sense, since someone who biohacks in their free time likely doesn't place too much trust in doctors to take care of their health. But also, correcting the damage associated with aging is a goal of extropianism, since it involves (often complex) methods to extend one's life.
This line of thought also matches Bitcoin, since the whole point is to minimize trust in third parties.
The human body is incredible
An example of a biohack is supplementing with a combination of the amino acids glycine and n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) to form the endogenous antioxidant glutathione. What is glutathione? It is a vastly important tripeptide made by our bodies that scavenges free radicals and protects organs from damage that accumulates over time.
ER doctors are instructed to administer NAC intravenously to patients with acetaminophen (Tylenol) poisoning to rapidly build glutathione so that it binds to the toxin, thereby preventing liver failure. As it turns out, glutathione declines rapidly with age and is vital to maintaining the homeostasis of the body due to its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Indeed, as we age, the level of cellular damage builds up significantly over time, which, when combined with the natural decline in glutathione, contributes strongly to bodily deterioration. Extensive research has been conducted into NAC and glycine, which has resulted in a reversal of aging markers in vitro and, more importantly, in vivo. Animal studies conducted on glyNAC supplementation show a consistent, drastic improvement in aging hallmarks such as genomic instability and deregulated nutrient sensing.
These remarkable effects have been confirmed in a well-designed randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in humans. Crucially, there are numerous other important endogenous molecules like glutathione that decline with age, including carnosine, creatine, etc., making supplementation vital. Luckily, these molecules and their precursors (beta alanine for carnosine, etc.) are readily available from lab-tested supplement companies.
The future of medicine
Many people, even some doctors, unfortunately view biohacking as a pseudoscience, which couldn't be further from the truth. When done correctly, biohacking is not any of those things, as there is sound research being conducted into safe molecules like glycine, NAC, and curcumin.
Now, none of this is to say that you should just stop seeing your primary care physician and hop onto the biohacking train completely. You should still have a doctor that oversees your care, but I recommend consulting a doctor with a strong understanding of supplements and exercise, such as Mark Hyman. The reason being, if you were to tell a "normal" doctor about molecules like NAC and glycine, which have clinical evidence confirming their effects, they still probably haven't heard of them.
The overall point here is that when you're not rooted in dogmatism and continuously research the human body, you can achieve great things that were otherwise not thought to be possible. In my eyes, biohacking is the newest and hottest form of extropianism that will continue to unleash a vast increase in research on longevity.
