About this episode
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/jacobkimmel">Jacob Kimmel</a> thinks he can find the transcription factors to reverse aging. We do a deep dive on why this might be plausible and why evolution hasn’t optimized for longevity. We also talk about why drug discovery has been getting exponentially harder, and what a new platform for biological understanding to speed up progress would look like. As a bonus, we get into the nitty gritty of gene delivery and Jacob’s controversial takes on CAR-T cells. For full disclosure, I am an angel investor in NewLimit. This did not impact my decision to interview Jacob, nor the questions I asked him.</p><p>Watch on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCLODgdCmKA">YouTube</a>; listen on <a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/evolution-designed-us-to-die-fast-we-can-change-that/id1516093381?i=1000722975425">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xUwUYLpjGI3bxsEM114jq?si=62f3b5c5836f4d9a">Spotify.</a></p><p><strong>SPONSORS</strong></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh">Hudson River Trading</a> uses deep learning to tackle one of the world's most complex systems: global capital allocation. They have a massive in-house GPU cluster, and they’re constantly adding new racks of B200s to ensure their researchers are never constrained by compute. Explore opportunities at <a target="_blank" href="https://hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh">hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh</a>\</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://goo.gle/4mw9BNg">Google’s Gemini CLI</a> turns ideas into working applications FAST, no coding required. It built a complete podcast post-production tool in 10 minutes, including fully functional backend logic, and the entire build used less than 10% of Gemini’s session context. <a target="_blank" href="https://goo.gle/4mw9BNg">Check it out on Github now!</a></p><p>* To sponsor a future episode, visit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/advertise">dwarkesh.com/advertise</a>.</p><p><strong>TIMESTAMPS</strong></p><p>(00:00:00) – Three reasons evolution didn’t optimize for longevity</p><p>(00:12:07) – Why didn't humans evolve their own antibiotics?</p><p>(00:25:26) – De-aging cells via epigenetic reprogramming</p><p>(00:44:43) – Viral vectors and other delivery mechanisms</p><p>(01:06:22) – Synthetic transcription factors</p><p>(01:09:31) – Can virtual cells break Eroom’s Law?</p><p>(01:31:32) – Economic models for pharma</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at <a href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe</a>