Fermare l’orologio biologico: il tempo delle decisioni | Riccardo Campa | TEDxVicenza

Quick Overview

Riccardo Campa, a sociologist, advocates for embracing anti-aging technologies across three scenarios—pharmacological, cyborg, and auto-evolutionary—by reframing religious objections via alternative interpretations, like Bacon's view that God encourages humanity to seek the tree of life, and by dismissing secular objections, arguing that longevity is natural in other species and population decline concerns are shifting.

Key Points: The pursuit of eternal youth is the world's oldest dream, originating from the Epic of Gilgamesh, but modern science has taken up the challenge, with billions of dollars invested in making extreme longevity plausible. Sociologist Riccardo Campa surveyed audience acceptance of anti-aging technologies, finding mixed reactions to the easy-to-use 'pharmacological scenario' (a geroprotective patch) but a prevalence of 'red light' (veto) for the 'cyborg scenario' involving piece-by-piece organ replacement. The 'auto-evolutionary scenario,' which involves direct DNA reprogramming to make someone twenty years old, resulted in many 'red light' votes, despite the potential to trigger the birth of a successor to Homo sapiens. Campa argues against religious objections that scientists 'play God' by referencing Francis Bacon's interpretation of Genesis, suggesting God actually wants humanity to find the path to the tree of life after gaining knowledge. Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism offer less resistance to these ideas because concepts like reincarnation make viewing the body as a modifiable tool more acceptable. Secular objections regarding 'against nature' are countered by citing naturally long-lived species like the Greenland shark (up to 500 years) and the potential immortality of certain jellyfish. Campa concludes that initial resistance to new accessible technologies, exemplified by the early rejection of cell phones, fades with familiarity, urging people to maintain their health now to be ready to 'board the plane' of unlimited life.