One commonality among people who advocate for longer human lifespans is an intolerance of death even as a concept. Many proponents of super longevity remember the moment they first learned that a family member would die, and will tell you their refusal to accept it has led to a lifetime searching for a solution. Whereas many of us hoard money, amass achievements, or have children in search of surrogate immortality, longevity enthusiasts are determined to bring about the real thing, whatever it takes.
James Strole, for example, considers himself a warrior against a “deathist” paradigm. More than 75 years old, he doesn’t have the luxury of time to wait for science to solve aging. Instead, he is trying to bring about the solution himself. After a career in real-estate investing, Strole cofounded People Unlimited, a community to inspire people to live infinite lifespans, in 1995, then added the nonprofit Coalition for Radical Life Extension (CRLE) in 2016. A major goal of both organizations is to introduce the public to anti-aging developments so that when innovations come, they can be integrated into society as naturally as possible.
CRLE now hosts an annual scientific conference and festival called RAADFest, which stands for Revolution Against Aging and Death. Strole calls it “Woodstock for radical life extension.” RAADFest seems wild. The annual event used to be held in Las Vegas, then went online temporarily due to Covid-19. This year it’s in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sizzle reels of previous years intersperse panel discussions with on-stage exercise classes, rock and vocal performances, flamenco dance exhibitions, and a guy in a leopard-print hat playing a flute next to what looks like the android from Ex Machina. Suzanne Somers showed up. People did squats in businesswear. A speaker informed the audience that they were between “the last mortal generation and the first immortal human generation,” which might be true, depending on how you define “between.”
In some ways, Strole’s views are progressive, even refreshing. He stands against ageism, and believes that people should act without concern for whether their choices, behavior, or clothing are age-appropriate. But some RAADFest vendors could induce a bout of skepticism in even the most credulous consumer. Vendors and sponsors include supplement suppliers, biohackers, purveyors of eye creams, mystic oils, and an $8,500 air filtration system. There’s a group that hawks a pendant to protect the body from electromagnetic radiation, and another advertising a mat that beams electromagnetic radiation at the body to reduce age. (One hopes these antithetical booths aren’t located across from one another at RAADFest.) Some companies associated with RAADFest parrot wild claims about the threats of 5G networks—a common conspiracy theory—while Quantum Cellular Medicine, a “gold sponsor,” promotes misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine. It’s hard not to look at some of the products, in their hyperbolic packaging, and compare them to 1800s newspaper ads for Dr. You-Can-Trust-Me’s life-extending potions. Or worse.
We asked Nir Barzilai, M.D., director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which ones might be too good to be true.
Vibranz Orion Series Mystic Oils: Inhaling drops of these plant-based essential oils will balance your mind and body, Vibranz attests. The oils supposedly harmonize with the frequencies of your cells. Dr. Barzilai says: “Bullshit. Cells are not synchronized in any way that you could just breathe oil [and see results].”
Defytime Aging Care Cream: Activated molecules within this face and neck cream detect telomeres in your skin to vanish wrinkles and inhibit shortening, a key cause of aging. The price tag is steep: $1,500. Dr. Barzilai says: “Elongating telomeres or overexpressing telomerase can be harmful and possibly cause cancer, and having nice skin doesn’t mean you won’t die.”
AgelessRX NAD+ Injection: One injection can drive up to 100 mg NAD+ into the bloodstream via fatty tissue, boosting sirtuins to enhance your energy and slow down signs of aging. Dr. Barzilai says: “This is an OK dose, but sometimes, when you have an expensive, invasive treatment, you elicit a placebo effect because people want to believe in it.
Sedona Wellness Mat: Pulsed electromagnetic frequencies vibrate through the mat to heighten your circulation and oxygen supply, strengthening your cardiovascular and skeletal systems. Dr. Barzilai says: “Physics is an important part of our health, but there has to be more of a scientific connection than a mattress.”
Strole says in order to make strides in superlongevity, people will have to invest in anti-aging research the way they have in fighting cancer. That might be a more apt analogy than he realizes. The early, confusing days of cancer treatment were also bifurcated, with promising, incredible science on one side, and worthless nostrums on the other. Before the science matured, consumers had a hard time telling which was which.
That confusion hasn’t stopped Strole from experimenting on his own body. He’s bullish on senolytics, drugs that purge the body of deteriorating cells, and exosome treatments, which infuse the body with little packages of extracellular communication materials, usually from immortal stem cells. Neither is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but Strole in 2021 said he feels like a teenager, living and working in the retirement paradise of Scottsdale, Arizona.
James Strole hopes one day humans will live like bristlecone pines, some of which stand for 5,000 years.
But how long can that last? If you look at actuarial tables, the risk of death after age 30 doubles every eight years (a mathematical curiosity dubbed the Gompertz-Makeham Law of Mortality). The oldest humans have only made it to their 120s. Even if those stats start to change, it’s unlikely human lifespan will jump to that of Galapagos tortoises (~100+ years) or bowhead whales (~200 years) overnight, let alone approach infinity. Strole’s cofounder in People Unlimited, Charles Paul Brown, died in 2014 at the age of 79, of complications from Parkinson’s and heart disease. What happens if Strole doesn’t make it? If his doctor says he’s got six weeks?
“First I’d do everything to turn that around, but I would look then at staying alive on some level. I probably would look at Cryo[genic freezing]. That wasn’t my first choice, but I think that’s very noble work,” Strole says. He admits the question gives him pause. “It’s like when they asked [Mike Tyson] whether he had a plan when he went in the ring. And he said yeah, but the first punch in the face, it’s all over.”
This story has been adapted from an earlier Popular Mechanics feature published in July 2021. You can read the full story here.
February / March 2026
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October/November 2024
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June / July 2024
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April May / 2024
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February / March 2024
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December 2023 / January 2024
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October / November 2023
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August/September 2023
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June/July 2023
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➡The Race to Contain AI Before Singularity
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April/May 2023
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February/March 2023
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➡ The Secret War to Take Out Iran’s Fleet of F-14 Jets
➡ Russia Is Trying to Intimidate the U.S. with Hypersonic Missiles and Big, Scary Nukes—And It's More Than a Threat
December 2022/January 2023
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➡ China and Russia Are Dominating the Hypersonic Arms Race—And It’s Not Even Close
➡ When the South Fork Dam Broke, a Pennsylvania City Washed Away. Which Town Is Next?
➡ The Navy’s New $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Is Already Obsolete. This Weapon Can Save It.
October/November 2022
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➡ Inside the Final Minutes of the Concorde Disaster—and How It Doomed Supersonic Travel for Decades
➡ How the Massive Cargo Ship Felicity Ace Sank, Taking $400 Million Worth of Exotic Supercars With It
➡ I Turned My Old Gas-Guzzler Into a Zippy EV for $15,000
August/September 2022
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Featuring:
➡ Cosmic Secrets of the 17 Most Powerful Mega-Telescopes on Earth—and Beyond
➡ Can the Air Force's Secret, Hypersonic Jet Reclaim the Skies From Russia and China?
➡ For 50 Years, the Zodiac Killer's 340 Cipher Stumped the FBI—Then Three Amateurs Cracked the Code
➡ America's Most Fearsome Howitzer Has Entered the War in Ukraine
June/July 2022
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➡ Every Single Drone Fighting in the Skies Over Ukraine
➡ How to Buy a New Car in 2022 Without Getting Fleeced
➡ This Megastructure Could Keep Us Alive Forever
➡ The Race to Revolutionize EV Batteries
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