Methuselarity: A Short History

Now that I am delving further and deeper into the idea of the Methuselarity, I feel that I should at least know the history behind the word itself. To begin with, Methuselarity was not coined by Aubrey de Grey--as what many has assumed. He says so himself. Aubrey said during an interview with H+ Magazine that a friend named Paul Hynek coined the word "Methuselarity" to mean the point at which we reach the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV). I have verified this fact via twitter.

Now the concept of the LEV is the one that Aubrey has been working on. He has been evangelizing the concept for many years now. As a matter of fact, Aubrey de Grey is the champion of The Longevity Escape Velocity.

Looking deeper into the concept of LEV, we find that it matches the concept of Actuarial Escape Velocity (AEV), an idea that was first publicly proposed by David Gobel, founder of the Methuselah Foundation.

The gut of AEV is this:
Life expectancy increases slightly every year as treatment strategies and technologies improve. At present, more than one year of research is required for each additional year of expected life. Actuarial escape velocity occurs when this ratio reverses, so that expected years of remaining life actually increase each year.

And here's what LEV is in the words of Aubrey himself:
Longevity escape velocity (LEV), in turn, is the rate at which therapies to repair the molecular and cellular damage of aging need to be improved in order to stop their recipients from becoming biologically older.

Thus, AEV = LEV -> Methuselarity

Methuselarity was then christened by Aubrey de Grey in his essay The singularity and the Methuselarity: similarities and differences. The publication of that essay launched Methuselarity across the internet, inspired this website and blog, and effectively encapsulated a meme that sticks better with the human psyche.

In essence, there are three aspects that everyone must know behind the history of Methuselarity: The concept, the coinage, the christening.

Methuselarity was coined by Paul Hynek (and christened by Aubrey de Grey) which means the point of reaching the Longevity Escape Velocity--a concept that is championed by Aubrey de Grey, which is another word for Actuarial Escape Velocity--a concept first proposed by David Gobel.

So there you have it. A quick primer on the history (and Etymology?) of the Methuselarity neologism, a word and a meme that--from here onwards, might stick with us for a very long time.

Links:
The singularity and the Methuselarity: similarities and differences
On the Singularity and Methuselarity
Actuarial Escape Velocity
Longevity Escape Velocity and the Singularity