Things that we all should do every few days in order to help the health-span extension field (2018.11.09 edition)

Discussion on this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/longevity/comments/9ewtwu/weekly_thread_things_that_we_all_should_do_every/

Chapter 1 — Basics

• donate to non-profits that activate in this area
• invest in early-stage startups that operate in this area
• keep telling other people why they should do the same — be the annoying longevity guy in your group of acquaintances
• if you manage a newsletter, or if you have a business that sends transactional email, or if you simply use the worldwide email system, add this to the signature (can we improve the text btw?):

The current approach of treating disease instead of preventing it comes with high healthcare and emotional costs. Consider researching health-span extension (a branch of biotech focused on extending the amount of time spent by humans in their healthy years) and look over the good done in this world by non-profits like the SENS Research Foundation!

Chapter 2 — Creating a funding engine for the SENS Research Foundation

Rather than fight for every individual donation, we should help them create an engine that supports their funding. For SENS itself, the best bet is probably investing a big part of the donations received in related startups, and marketing with the purpose of getting even more donations.

[1] Contact charity ranking websites and ask them to evaluate SENS as well (feedback on how to contact them effectively, works for [2] as well):

• https://www.charitywatch.org
• http://www.charitynavigator.org
• https://www.givewell.org
• … (find others and contact them) …

[2] Contact charity funds or similar, and ask them to invest in SENS:

• https://app.effectivealtruism.org/funds
• https://www.givingwhatwecan.org
• https://www.openphilanthropy.org
• https://tab.gladly.io
• … (find others and contact them) …

[3] Contact your favorite media channels — not just from USA, and ask them to research the organization and its purpose, and do specials about it. For example, if you’re listening to a certain NPR podcast that is a good fit… tell them about it!

[4] Create a socially encouraging flair for usernames that show they’ve donated. Not necessarily how much someone’s given, just that they have. Like how /r/science has credentials. (please tell me when this has been completed in order to remove it; I won’t know because I don’t use flairs — I keep them disabled, and I have no idea about them)

[5] Do a yearly fundraiser, such as a fun run! This is one way to get friends and family to contribute without having to overcome their pro-aging stances, and convince them to donate directly to longevity research.

Chapter 3 — Social media

• post the signature from Basics on your social media channels from time to time
• post whatever you want about health-span extension on your social media channels; add a call to action at the end of each such post:

You can support health-span extension by donating to SENS: https://www.sens.org/about/about-the-foundation — preventing disease is more important than treating it!

• if you have ethos, create an AMA in /r/iama and educate people about health-span extension; here’s an example with the AMA created by Victor Björk:

Title: I am a molecular biologist working to raise awareness for aging research! — AMA

Body: Hi, I’m Victor Björk, a molecular biologist and director of the nonprofit aging research group Heales.

For the past decade, I’ve tried to understand the biological aging process in order to help us all live longer healthier lives. 110 000 people worldwide die everyday from age-related diseases, causing enormous suffering and economic costs for the society. More and more research is now showing that the aging process is open for intervention, which could lead to rapid biotechnological breakthroughs that transform the medical field at its core: instead of healing disease, we will prevent it.
Ask me anything!

Proof: …

Chapter 4 — Other

• There’s a connection that we’re not making between the cryptocurrency + smart contract platforms world and SENS. We need to bridge them somehow. How?
• I’m managing Crypto For Science, but I do realize that it’s too early for it to be successful, especially with the long bear market that we’ve had in crypto this year. People will donate cryptocurrency a lot more when cryptocurrency will be accepted for payments globally, at every supplier and in every supermarket. Why would they donate now, or even later during the next boom cycle, knowing that whoever receives the donation will sell it for fiat, therefore adding downwards pressure on the price? Anyway, those that want to be involved with ForSEH, for example through this, let me know!
• If you work at SENS, please tell them that their website is shit and they should redesign it. The main page should act as a very clear landing page, with convincing summaries of what’s being done, and convincing calls to action. If they need to, they can ask for my feedback during the redesign process because I have tremendous experience with marketing and conversion optimization.

Chapter 5 — Harder to realize, long-term objectives

• become a scientist
• become someone who can help scientists (example)
• start a business that can somehow help the field of health-span extension (either through research, or by publicizing and using current data)