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Marios Kyriazis qualified as a medical doctor (MD) from the University of Rome, Italy, and after preclinical work in the USA he worked as a clinician in acute medicine in Cyprus, and the UK. He subsequently qualified as a Gerontologist with interest in the biology of aging and became a Chartered Member of the academic organisation ‘Society of Biology’ in the UK. He also has a post-graduate qualification in Geriatric Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians of London.
Other appointments include Member of the Board of Trustees at the Mediterranean Graduate School of Applied Social Cognition, and affiliate researcher at the Evolution, Complexity and Cognition Group, University of Brussels.
Currently, he works with the ELPIs Foundation for Indefinite Lifespans, a serious endeavour to study the elimination of age-related degeneration. The research is focused on transdisciplinary models and explores common principles between biology, complexity sciences, evolution, cybernetics, neurosciences, and techno-cultural elements. Areas of interest include robustness and degeneracy in organic systems, fragility and redundancy, repair processes (including self-repair) and immortalisation of somatic cells.
One particular project involves the concept that agents which are useful in the evolution and adaptation of any system, are retained by that system. This concept can be applied in the specific case of humans who are actors within a highly technological and hyper-connected society, forming part of a Global Brain. The rationale is that these humans are valuable in the evolution of the global society and are thus more likely to live and function for longer. Biological mechanisms involved in this process could include microRNA and epigenetic modifications, phase transitions in metabolic and repair signalling, and other, hitherto poorly studied processes.
Certain essential consequences of this worldview are:
- Physical pharmacological treatments and rejuvenation biotechnologies alone cannot be effective in the radical elimination of age-related degeneration in humans. A much more sophisticated approach is needed in this respect, an approach which uses concepts from both hard and soft sciences, as well as philosophical and cultural elements.
- As our society becomes increasingly more technological and hyper-connected, we need to intentionally participate in this process and actively influence our own evolution. However, this does not depend on individual endeavour. It will only be effective if a large number of humans participate.
- Ethical and social transformation issues become more relevant: human fertility and childlessness, divisions within society, conflict resolution, architectural aspects (smart cities) and many others become pertinent notions in the discussion.
In other words, this anti-aging methodology is much wider and more encompassing, than mere biomedical interventions.
ELPIs Foundation co-organises the Cyprus Symposium on ‘Pathways to Indefinite Lifespans’, which aims to study these and other related concepts.
Some discussion can be found in these blogs:
http://scienceblog.com/author/marioskyriazis/
http://lifeboat.com/blog/author/marios-kyriazis
You can contact Marios at drmarios@live.it or marios.kyriazis@ronininstitute.org
