#23 Hilarious, brilliant and deadly serious: José Cordeiro's quest to defeat death

This is our first — and probably our last — episode where the guest has brought with him an actual punch card and proceeds to explain why it is, in fact, caca (which is Spanish for 💩, by the way).

Welcome to the wild world of José Cordeiro. Stick around and you might hear anecdotes about Robert Kennedy Jr. in Memphis 🎸, late-night karaoke sessions 🎤, and a man shouting “immortality!” to anyone and everyone. But behind the eccentric props and the shameless self-promotion (José didn’t just bring punch cards — he also brought his books 📚, his merch 👔, and his signature Death of Death tie — to the point where we had to clarify we’re not actually sponsored), there’s a deadly serious mission: José wants to end aging and defeat death.

A futurist, MIT-trained engineer, and bestselling author, José Cordeiro argues that humanity is on the brink of longevity escape velocity 🚀 — the moment when medical advances will start adding more years to our lives than time takes away. In this episode, we explore his bold predictions, from reversing aging by 2045 to launching a global “war on aging.” We cover the science 🔬, the politics 🏛️, the money 💰, and the wild optimism driving the longevity movement — with cryonics ❄️, Martians 👽, and €10 immortality claims all making appearances.

This might be our strangest — and most fascinating — conversation yet. Buckle up.

-- IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT --

✅ Why longevity escape velocity may be closer than we think

✅ How AI will aid longevity

✅ Why technological optimism is rational

✅ How the Covid pandemic was a relatively minor pandemic

✅ How the concept of work will change

✅ What the future of energy may be

✅ A personal history of Marvin Minsky, Ray Kurzweil and José Cordeiro

✅ Where to meet Cordeiro and demonstrate against aging

✅ Why immortality is probable by 2045

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-- CHAPTERS --

00:00 Introduction

05:33 Cordeiro's struggle to end aging

12:28 Traveling the world to spread the word of The Death of Death

18:36 The small Covid Pandemic vs the huge aging pandemic

26:00 Scientific optimism

29:37 "Next time we meet we will be younger."

32:28 The concept of work through history

35:50 Exponentiality of progress - a personal history of computers

43:30 Kurzweil and Cordeiro mentored by Marvin Minsky

50:26 The future of energy

57:56 When will we reach LEV and what happens 2045?

01:03:00 Madrid as a Blue Zone

01:06:30 AI coming and helping with science

01:17:00 The amazing point of the human timeline we are on - biology can be immortal

01:19:50 We are mostly water - immortality for 10 Euros per year

01:22:40 Advanced bio engineering and disruption from outside

01:24:30 Zuckerberg to cure all diseases in this generation - billionaires to the rescue

01:28:40 Elon Musk will change his mind

01:29:34 Trump administration and visiting Elvis with RFK

01:36:40 The importance of campaigning for life - we need action now

01:47:22 Cryonics

01:51:56 Sing karaoke

01:53:00 What to read

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Get all LEVITY DeSci content here: reachlevity.com/t/desci (sorry about the wrong link in the episode)

📕 Check out Patrick's book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543163/the-case-against-death/

📗 Check out Peter's book (only available in Swedish): https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/evigt-ung-min-och-manniskans-drom-om-ododligheten-9789179652524

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Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com/subscribe

LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.

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