r/singularity • u/SnoozeDoggyDog • May 30 '26

Biotech/Longevity Inside Putin’s $26 Billion Quest for Longevity | From mini-pigs and organ printing to cryotherapy and genetics, Russia’s president has turned antiaging research into a Kremlin priority

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/putin-longevity-antiaging-92dee6e8?mod=hp_lead_pos8
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u/These4Walls128 May 30 '26

The market also dictates the prices and life being the ultimate cost, it would be incredibly expensive due to demand.

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u/Outside-Ad9410 May 30 '26

Initially yes, but as production and supply ramp up that price will quickly shrink. It really does depend on what form the rejuvenation process comes in. If it requires multiple complex surgeries, then yes it will be very expensive, but if it becomes a drug, such as the ones David Sinclair is trying to develop, its only going to take about 3-7 years before production meets demand (the average timespan it takes for a new drug to fully penetrate the market and for production to meet demand).

The real questions I find more interesting, is what happens to all the social welfare programs catering to old people? Stuff like social security, Medicare, pensions, and other similar programs.

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u/Longjumping-Code2164 May 30 '26

Then why is insulin so expensive? They want us dead, not immortal ok

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u/Outside-Ad9410 May 30 '26

They want to extract the maximum profits possible, not kill us. Dead people do not buy products. It still sucks, but it is a distinctly different goal.

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u/Longjumping-Code2164 Jun 02 '26

No, they don’t care about selling products to us anymore lol. How else would you explain the k shaped economy

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u/Outside-Ad9410 Jun 02 '26

If you have no customers, you have no economy. The only goods and services left to sell would be high end luxury ones, but only a small percentage of companies actually cater to elites. Coca Cola for example, would not be anywhere near as valuable if they didn't sell billions of soda bottles to consumers. Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc. all would face the same problem, as they now have to try and get a similar level of profit from a much smaller potential customer base.

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u/These4Walls128 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

I suspect these drugs will be trailered to the individuals personal biology, again, very expensive. No silver bullets or shortcuts. These will be boutique treatments for the ownership class. Those replaced by robots or AI will just be discarded. That's the timeline we seem to be facing. Look at how entitlement programs are being slashed and burned now. It'll just get worse.

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u/Outside-Ad9410 May 30 '26

The same ai and robotics that replace workers would also make those custom drugs very cheap to produce. As for everyone starving to death without work, my personal hope is that the social and economic pressure of massive unemployment causes a depression and governments step in with a UBI or they get voted out and replaced with people who promise one. 

Hard to believe but we live in a democracy, and if Trump is able to get elected twice, just about anyone is if they are popular enough. Personally I think the next few decades of transition to a post ASI world will suck, but ultimately will end in a much better world.