Jacob Kimmel [https://x.com/jacobkimmel] 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. Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCLODgdCmKA]; listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/evolution-designed-us-to-die-fast-we-can-change-that/id1516093381?i=1000722975425] or Spotify. [https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xUwUYLpjGI3bxsEM114jq?si=62f3b5c5836f4d9a] SPONSORS * Hudson River Trading [https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh] 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 hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh [https://hudsonrivertrading.com/dwarkesh]\ * Google’s Gemini CLI [https://goo.gle/4mw9BNg] 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. Check it out on Github now! [https://goo.gle/4mw9BNg] * To sponsor a future episode, visit dwarkesh.com/advertise [https://www.dwarkesh.com/advertise]. TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) – Three reasons evolution didn’t optimize for longevity (00:12:07) – Why didn't humans evolve their own antibiotics? (00:25:26) – De-aging cells via epigenetic reprogramming (00:44:43) – Viral vectors and other delivery mechanisms (01:06:22) – Synthetic transcription factors (01:09:31) – Can virtual cells break Eroom’s Law? (01:31:32) – Economic models for pharma Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe [https://www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]