The U.S. Transhumanist Party proposes sustaining a political agenda for radical life extension through company failures and unsuccessful trials
The U.S. Transhumanist Party proposes sustaining a political agenda for radical life extension through company failures and unsuccessful trials
On October 9 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. Transhumanist Party chairman Gennady Stolyarov II spoke at Longevity Science, Tech & Policy Lightning Talks, a series of short presentations during Boston Longevity Week. He outlined a model for the party as a lasting political organization that would keep radical life extension on the public agenda as individual companies close and trials fail. To support that goal, Stolyarov proposes changing the rules governing access to experimental treatments and funding longevity research.
In his talk, Stolyarov linked life extension to politics guided by reason and science and to reducing existential risks, meaning threats that could destroy humanity. This brings the discussion from the laboratory into politics, where rules determine access to new treatments.
He proposes expanding the “right to try” to allow access to a drug, device or treatment after early safety testing, before conventional efficacy trials are complete. He also proposes granting conditional approval to new drugs after phase one trials, which primarily assess safety, and then collecting evidence of benefit from patients receiving them. Stolyarov proposes recognizing aging as a medical indication, meaning a reason to provide treatment, and allocating dedicated funding to longevity research.
Stolyarov explains the political mechanism through the Overton window, the range of ideas that politicians and the public consider acceptable to discuss. In his words, a radical goal “makes any incremental reforms look moderate and modest by comparison,” allowing narrower changes to enter the mainstream political agenda.
Stolyarov proposes this kind of organization because the movement itself is fragile. Companies run out of money, trials produce negative results, and people and organizations lose support or control.
“We need something more than a company that fails.”
For Stolyarov, that “something more” is an organization that operates on a small budget through volunteer work, advocates political change and sustains a long-term agenda. Its political work focuses on access to experimental treatments, medical recognition of aging and research funding.