The culture today is toxic. Media reflects it and amplifies it.
As a society, we’ve become…
Cynical about the motivations of others
Simplistic in our thinking about complex issues
Certain that we have all the answers
Scared of the challenges we face
It’s understandable, but unsustainable. And it doesn’t have to be like this.
Progress happens when we’re…
Curious about new ideas
Thoughtful about hard questions
Open to considering other perspectives
Constructive about the challenges we face
In everything we do at Freethink Media, it’s our ethos that makes us different. And it’s our ethos that makes what we do matter.
Freethink: A platform for the people and the ideas that are changing the world
The Venerable Yifa — a Taiwanese Buddhist nun, scholar, and writer — and her educational nonprofit, the Woodenfish Foundation, recently invited me to Taiwan to talk with Buddhist nuns and monks about how gene editing may affect the future practice of Buddhism.
This trip was the first time I’d really delved deeply into Buddhist philosophy, and I came to understand something astounding: Buddhists aren’t trying to live as long as possible or make it to an afterlife like many people in Western culture. They are essentially trying to end a cycle of reincarnation and suffering — and cease to exist.
I’m not a believer in the modern longevity movement. While there are serious scientists studying how to extend healthspan or delay aging, much of it seems more like a religion than a scientific initiative. The figureheads tout data-based legitimacy while shilling questionable supplements on the side. Still, it came as a shock to me that not all cultures view death as, at the very least, something to avoid. I’ve long been skeptical of the longevity movement, but I now see the West’s general mission in life — to live as long as possible with the best health possible — as a narrow-minded view of what it means to live well.
———
Read the full article on bigthink.com. Link in bio.
Art: Leah Horowitz / @lthorowitz
Death doesn’t care about your story. It doesn’t care about race, gender, nationality, religion, or politics. Death is the “great leveller” – an egalitarian with a scythe. It comes for everyone, eventually, which is why human beings have written about it extensively.
Philosophers, ostensibly human, are no different. They are well known to have one eye on the Grim Reaper at all times. And so, the history of philosophy is strewn with thought experiments about both mortality and its mirror: immortality.
In philosophy, a thought experiment is a kind of mini-fiction that is designed to test our intuitions. A good thought experiment is supposed to be so obvious that most rational, level-headed humans would agree with the author’s conclusions. When it comes to death and mortality, however, we have as many thought experiments as we have philosophers — and as many philosophers as we have opinions. Here are five types of immortality from the history of philosophy — and what they can teach us about our time on Earth.
———
Read the full article on Freethink.com. Link in bio.
Art credit: @erikinternet
Americans are getting older. By 2050, experts predict there will be more adults aged 65 and over than children under 18. And older often means sicker, especially in the U.S. The average American today celebrates just one healthy birthday after 65, according to the World Health Organization.
Caring for this growing segment of unhealthy elderly will require an unprecedented investment of time and money. Yet those immense costs could be significantly slashed with a sharp societal focus on healthy aging.
Acclaimed writer and medical researcher Eric Topol wants to be part of that pivotal effort. Right now, our elderly tend to be “illderly,” Topol writes. He wants them all to become “wellderly.” His new book, “Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity,” offers a fantastic guide for how they can do so.
Topol, the director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, is one of the top 10 most-cited researchers in medicine. In “Super Agers,” he describes how advances in five areas — lifestyle, cells, artificial intelligence, drugs and vaccines, and omics (biology fields like genomics and microbiomics) — could increase our “healthspan,” or the number of years people live in good health, free from significant illness or disability.
By shifting social health along these lines, we can significantly reduce the big three age-related maladies: cancer, cardiovascular illness, and neurodegenerative disease. It’s a colossal task, yet as Topol told Freethink, he is more optimistic than ever that we can do it, thus narrowing the critical chasm between healthspan and lifespan.
———
Read the full article on Freethink.com. Link in bio.
Art credit: Lindsay Ballant @lballant
The Longevity Issue is live now!
This special issue explores the science and philosophy of living longer with essays and interviews from experts like Eric Topol, B. David Zarley, and Josie Zayner.
Some highlights:
1. A conversation with cardiologist and author Eric Topol on the science of living better in old age.
2. A deep dive into what animals can tell us about ageing by B. David Zarley.
3. An essay from Josie Zayner making a sharp case for embracing mortality.
“We are here because of death. It’s not a flaw in the system — it is the system.”
4. A feature by biologist and author Andrew Steele that explains how to tell genuine breakthroughs from snake oil—and why the first true anti-aging medicines could be approved within five years.
5. Freethink’s own science and tech writer Kristin Houser on cryopreservation — the tech that already powers IVF and cancer treatments, and could one day end the organ shortage, enable deep-space travel, and maybe even challenge death itself.
Explore the full issue on Freethink.com. Link in bio.
Art credit: @neembuneembu
Scientists are simulating life with virtual cells @chanzuckerberginitiative@pdhsu #generativebiology
__
It’s 2040. Drug discovery is booming, thanks to virtual cells. These AI-powered models of living cells have become indispensable tools in biomedical research, helping scientists test treatments in silico before they ever reach a lab — saving time, money, and lives.
Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming biology’s most powerful microscope.
Top research centers are using the tech to develop virtual cells, AI-based simulations of the core building blocks of all lifeforms — and it’s hard to overstate the impact their models could have on the world of health.
“The vision that we can really understand everything about a cell — from its molecular structure to its function to how cells interact and operate in living organisms to how they respond and react to any intervention — will go a long way to helping us cure, prevent, and manage disease,” said Patricia Brennan, VP of Science Technology and General Manager for Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
To find out how we got here — and where we’re going — this month’s Future Explored is taking a close look at virtual cells: what they are, who’s making them, and how they could shape the future of medicine.
__
Read the full article on Freethink.com. Link in bio.
Why are walkable neighborhoods basically illegal?
Zoning laws mandate endless parking, which creates sprawl and traps us in car dependency, not because it's what we prefer, but because it's the default. Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona, is breaking from that: no resident parking, freeing up space for housing, retail, and open areas, all supported by things like light rail and e-bikes.
It makes you wonder—if we gave people real choices, could we build healthier, more connected cities? Comment your thoughts below.
Watch the full video on the Hard Reset Youtube channel @hard -reset.
