Coalition for Radical Life Extension

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January 20, 2021

The mission of the Coalition for Radical Life Extension is to bring about a sea change in how radical life extension is viewed and understood, in order to generate greater support for a broad range of related initiatives from scientific research to social and psychological breakthroughs, to intellectual and artistic expression.

About:

The Coalition for Radical Life Extension is rallying like-minded people to come together to stand up for radical life extension and physical immortality. Powered by People Unlimited, the Coalition is a not-for-profit organization reaching out to groups and individuals who already have an interest in radical life extension and physical immortality, in order to galvanize and focus our energy into a popular movement that is self-sustaining and expansive. This group of early-adopting advocates, numbering in the thousands, is forming a platform for influencing a much broader audience, and ultimately the mainstream.

Public perceptions change when people come together to identify and rally around a particular issue or set of issues. Virtually all the values fought for and considered radical during the protest era of the 1960’s and 1970’s – women’s equality, minority rights, ending the Vietnam War — have become mainstream perspectives today. Most recently, we have seen a transformation in attitudes towards gays, to the point where a sitting US President voices support for gay marriage. This is the scope of change we want to realize in how RLE is viewed by the public at large.

Unity within diversity

We have different views on what radical life extension, and even what to call it. People Unlimited calls it physical immortality. Pioneer telomere researcher Bill Andrews calls it curing aging. Trans-humanist Max More prefers super longevity. But what we all agree on is that the deathist paradigm has to go; it’s time to look beyond the past of dying to a future of unlimited living.

Radical life extension advocates are, by definition, free thinkers. That’s how we got here. The Coalition’s purpose is not to debate the relative merits of the various strategies for radical life extension or to seek to homogenize its members’ views on this. Rather, we are bypassing this endless debate, and hopefully all endless debates, by focusing on a common purpose of benefit to all – altering public opinion in our favor.

Ultimately, this will help shift political discourse, media coverage, scientific research allotments, academic hiring practices, Hollywood style story-telling, even Supreme Court rulings. When public opinion shifts, the institutions follow. By establishing and maintaining this focus, which is of benefit to all, the Coalition can include a broad range of voices and interests effectively and efficiently.