The Immortals - Ep 4: The Hype Cycle

Intrigue

BBC

True Crime, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.6 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jesse Karmazin’s Ambrosia Plasma clinic promised the fountain of youth, two litres of young plasma at a time. For a fee, anyone could go to his treatment centre in the redwood forest outside Silicon Valley and receive an infusion. The results - according to Karmazin - were remarkable. Silicon Valley billionaires were rumoured to be queuing up for their young blood. The problem was, the scientists whose work in mice he claimed to be bringing to the people disagreed with what he was doing, and he never backed up his claims with data. A journalist stepped in to investigate, and what she found was Silicon Valley hype without any substance. In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think. Can they? Should they? A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4 New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	So the first time actually at Jessica Amazon called me on the phone, on this phone in my office,
0:14.0	and started saying something about that what you published in 2016, how it fits with his business model.
0:23.0	And I had no idea what was he talking about.
0:26.0	This is Arena Convoy, one of the researchers who first discovered that old muscles and brains
0:32.0	appear to get younger when a young mouse's blood is put into an old one.
0:36.0	We met her and her research partner husband Mike in episode two.
0:41.0	The person on the other end of the line was Jesse Carmesan, the entrepreneur from the last episode behind Ambrosia Plasma.
0:49.0	Arena said he was very interested in the Convoy's research on young blood infusions for old mice.
0:56.0	I looked it up quickly and I realized that his business model was to inject old people with young blood plasma
1:03.0	and I told him I disagree, I don't think what we publish fits very well with that.
1:08.0	So this thing, when you have an idea, whether it's Frankenstein or artificial intelligence,
1:14.0	once you discover something, you have no control over where that idea goes and how it's used.
1:22.0	In 2017, the hype around Ambrosia Plasma's clinical trial grew around the world.
1:29.0	Controversial new treatment that may hold promise, but at a price.
1:34.0	It does appear to reverse the aging process.
1:37.0	Dr. Jesse Carmesan is talking about Mike and Arena found themselves unexpectedly wrapped up in the story,
1:43.0	having to be the spokespeople for their scientific community.
1:46.0	People would ask us, what do you think about the trial?
1:48.0	Everybody seemed to agree that the risks weren't worth the perceived benefit.
1:53.0	But for the people paying $8,000 per transfusion, the risks were absolutely worth it.
2:00.0	Sure, it was untested, but the man behind it was saying that the treatment reversed aging.
	...

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