My Interview with Tassilo Weber and Review of his book “Life Extension Design”

Life Extension Design: Redesign your life for optimal health, performance, and longevity in order to become part of the first generation to choose whether to age and die ... or not. by Tassilo Weber

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Tassilo Weber escaped death and decided to make it his mission to discover the secrets of life. After studying philosophy for 7 years he said he eventually found the concept of transhumanism and singularity as an answer to the purpose of life. After more life, business and coaching experience, he says:

"There is one question that guides my life: What is the potential? When I apply this question to my life in general, the answer is: life extension. When it comes to death, I’ve become an ironist in the sense of Richard Rorty: I have made my peace with death and accepted my own mortality. Still, I do anything I can to fight it and make aging and death optional in the future."

That's the basis for his book Life Extension Design.

Life Extension Design challenges readers to reconfigure their life to live longer. Weber presents a plan which is completely customizable and built off of what does and doesn't work for each individual as well as accommodating changes in the individual as well as within the field of modern science and medicine as time progresses. The book breaks down the reconfiguration process into bite-size chunks:

• An introductions to life extension and design thinking 
• The basic major categories for life extension including nutrition, exercise and metal health followed by suggestions and best practices.  
•  The next step involves experimentation to see what does and doesn't work for you as an individual.
• The next step includes orchestrating your life to manage an maintain the changes that worked in the experimentation phase as well. 
• The last section of the design is mastering the practice using a strategic approach for optimum long-term results. 

I had to opportunity to interview Weber and below are the results of the interview:

1. When do you think the Extension Revolution will become a widespread/mainstream/everyone is doing it Revolution? You note in the book that the Revolution is in its beginning stages. How long before you believe there is before it expands?

Well, aging is currently defined through 9 different factors (see "Hallmarks of Aging"), and there are various approaches tackling each of those factors at a time, and each successful therapy will approximately add 5-10 years to an average human lifespan. It will be a gradual process over many decades until many of these therapies will be secure and available to wider masses. A very promising first candidate are senolytics with Unity Biotechnology as the pioneering company, currently in human clinical trials. With a bit of luck, it will only be a matter of months or few years until the first therapy is successful. Give it another 5 years for broader availability. However, it's not just technology, it's also biology which has a way bigger factor of uncertainty in the form of unforeseen side effects. As a wider picture, some trustworthy, but overly optimistic forecasters like Ray Kurzweil predict the revolution to kick in around 2030. I would rather add 10 years to that, but also mention that there will be a lot of incremental changes to the average human lifespan from drugs like metformin or rapamycin before that.

2.  What does your value pyramid look like and do you think it differs from the average persons?

My values (in order) are: health, meaning/purpose, family/friends, adventure. I don't think this differs too much from the average person.

3. What do your nutrition and exercise routines look like? Are the examples in the book yours?  

Yes, they are the examples in the book, even though I'm constantly experimenting with new things; latest was that I kept track of my blood sugar for two weeks and adjusted my diet accordingly.

4. You touch on the significance of mental health. You mention the use of Zen meditation. Do you recommend anything in particular? 

I'm very practical about Zen, so I recommend Katsuki Sekida's book. 

5. How long do you think it will take the average person to master life extension skills?  

Mastery of life extension is a life-long learning and self-improvement process, always reacting to changes in oneself and science. Getting the basics in place depends on the level of self-discipline and determination, but most transformations take place within 3-12 months.

6. What do you think uniquely qualifies you to write the book on this subject matter? 

The main thing is that I really live this and that I am a professional coach; so I think I can teach this way of transformation that I've been through myself in an empathetic way. I also have a scientific expertise and I am well up-to-date with regard to the developments in the field.

If you are looking for a way to extend your life in a practical and methodical way that is fluid, I suggest picking up this book. I found it, at the least, an interesting read that will make you examine your life and routines, if nothing else, if you perform the exercises in the book.