{"id":668901,"date":"2026-05-27T22:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668901\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T22:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:31:11","slug":"is-death-optional-inside-the-big-business-of-the-longevity-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668901\/","title":{"rendered":"Is death optional? Inside the big business of the longevity movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERKELEY, Calif. \u2014 On a sunny Thursday morning, around 100 people sat on folding chairs beneath a lawn tent preparing to do a mass blood draw. Standing onstage with a tangle of morning glories as his backdrop, Robby Wade, CEO of at-home testing company Rythm Health, warned that the process might be a little chaotic given the size of the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wade explained how to activate the heating pads by popping a small silver coin, prompting a chorus of admiring oohs from the audience as rays of warming crystallized gel spread like the sun. Within a few minutes, everyone, me included, had matching stick-on Tasso devices trickling blood from our upper arms into test tubes that promised to give insights into the health of our hormones, metabolisms, various organs, and biological age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like Theranos, but it works,\u201d said the gentleman sitting in front of me, who had recently given a talk on bodyoids \u2014 creating headless sacs of organs to replace aging people\u2019s failing hearts and kidneys.<\/p>\n

It was the first day of Vitalist Bay, a longevity conference-slash-festival launched last year that brings together founders, investors, biohackers, researchers, and the generally death-averse to discuss how to forestall, or even beat, our demise. Held at an event space (and rationalist AI doomer hub<\/a>) called Lighthaven<\/a>, the grounds were dotted with well-padded wicker patio furniture and taffy-pink rose bushes. Along with hearing talks on topics like cryopreservation and delaying menopause, attendees might opt to attend a workshop on longevity therapeutics led by a co-founder of BioAge Labs<\/a>, drop by a Krav Maga lesson, or take a sound bath. The mood was buoyant, the Oura rings ubiquitous, the stakes existential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we just going to give up and die like every other generation?\u201d Adam Gries, co-founder of the conference and larger Vitalist movement<\/a>, asked in his opening remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tAre blue zones real? Answering that question is harder than ever<\/a><\/p>\n

Giving up and dying had been basically my plan, though hopefully not for a long time. Perhaps that was because I hadn\u2019t given enough thought, as the people at Vitalist Bay had, to considering the alternatives. As the field works to make the showdown against death and aging mainstream<\/a>, the longevity community is now in the midst of shifting from \u201ca movement to really more of an industry,\u201d said Christine Peterson, co-founder of the Foresight Institute, which focuses on research on longevity and nanotechnology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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