‘The End of Death’

Aubrey de Grey, British researcher on aging, challenges the most basic assumption on mankind - that aging is inevitable. He argues that aging is a disease - curable if it's approached as "an engineering problem." He wants to identify every component that cause human tissue to age, and remedy each of them - forestalling disease and eventually death. He calls the approach Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS).

In July 2005, the MIT Technology Review offered a $20,000 prize to any molecular biologist who could demonstrate that "SENS is so wrong that it is unworthy of learned debate." According to MIT's judges, SENS is in a middle ground of yet-to-be-tested ideas that perhaps "don't compel the assent of many knowledgeable scientists," but are "not demonstrably wrong."

The filmmaker Jorge Leon will zoom in on the consequences 'not dying' has for his artistic practice. And while Claudia Spits reflects on the actual state of the art in genetic research and access to the therapies, Julian Cockbain argues that minor life extensions can be accomodated, yet major ones require capital to be heavily taxed and require massive changes in laws in order to protect the young and the poor.

PROGRAMME:
19:30h: Welcome by Marleen Wynants/Crosstalks 
19:35h: “Rejuvenation biotechnology: why age will no longer mean aging”, talk by Aubrey De Grey/SENS/Strategies for Engineered Negiligible Senescence
20:10h: Artistic perspective by Jorge Leon/Filmmaker 
20:30h: Response by Claudia Spits/Regenerative Medicine/VUB
20:40h: Response by Julian Cockbain/patent laywer & doctor in chemistry/Oxford
20:50h: Discussion amongst invited speakers
21:10h: Open discussion with all the participants  
21:45h: Cocktail
22:30h: End of the Salon