Live a thousand years, seriously?
Three questions for John De Vos, cell therapy specialist and professor at UM, on the occasion of the Assises du corps transformé conference, which opens on October 9 in Montpellier.
What is transhumanism, the concept at the heart of this conference devoted to the "cyber-body"?
It is a school of thought that seeks to improve the human species, in particular by increasing life expectancy and/or genetic modification. This obviously raises strong opposition, and the subject has long remained taboo because it opens a Pandora's box. While these techniques can be used to treat genetic diseases, they can also be used to increase intelligence, height, lifespan, and more. The question that arises in particular is: for what purpose should the human species be improved? In addition, there is considerable potential for abuse, with the prospect of discrimination based on genetic modifications...
What are the most promising avenues for increasing lifespan?
These include drugs, which are the subject of intensive research, but also cell therapy. The idea is to offer regenerative medicine by injecting cells to repair organs damaged by age. We are only at the beginning, but very interesting results have been observed in animals for repairing the heart, muscles, and brain (Parkinson's).
So, would it be possible to live for a thousand years?
We have gained 40 years of life expectancy in the space of 300 years thanks to advances in hygiene and medicine, but we are now coming up against barriers that are more difficult to overcome. That said, there are prospects: in cell therapy, for example, a technique makes it possible to reprogram a patient's cells to an embryonic stage, i.e., to bring them back to a stage of a few days old! This is IPS (induced pluripotent stem cell) technology. We know how to rejuvenate a cell in vitro, but we don't yet know how to apply this to an organ, and it is currently difficult to give a timeline. With the exponential growth of research and the arrival of new players such as China, it is certain that life expectancy will exceed 80 years.
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The Transformed Body Conference,6th edition: The Cyber-Body.
Conferences – Debates
October 9 and 10, Centre Rabelais, 29 Boulevard Sarrail
With the participation of Jean-Claude Ameisen, Jacques Attali, Nicolas Bouzou, Jacques Mateu, François Vialla, and others.
Tel: 0467 29 83 32
Registration (required) and program
The University of Montpellier is involved in organizing the Assises du corps transformé (Conference on the Transformed Body) through the European Center for Studies and Research in Law and Health (UMR Dynamiques du Droit – UM, CNRS).