The Ancient Biohackers

Growing into an old age is natural and by design. Old is associated with tear and wear of a human body, but the pain and the aching of the physical body that comes with it can be reduced to a very large extent. Science is helping us get there, and over time, through a process of trial & error, we should be able to extend human life as well as the wear and tear of the physical human body. But it will come with a financial cost, and not everyone will be able to afford it. And this is where I spend a lot of time these days. 

I have been quite fascinated by the trees. They are extremely well put together physical architecture. And I do wonder if the fountain of youth is indeed the forest ? I was quite fascinated by the catalogue listing the benefits of forest medicine put together by Qing Li at the Japanese society of forest medicine. 

Research available in public domain provide conclusive evidence that trees really do have healing powers. For example, they release antimicrobial essential oils, called phytoncides, that protect trees from germs, which also has a host of health benefits for humans. The oils boost mood and immune system function; reduce blood pressure, heart rate, stress, anxiety, and confusion; improve sleep and creativity; and help with fighting depression.

Our ancestors were champion biohackers, and they managed to hone their skills and knowledge by living in the forest learning from nature. People who wrote Ayurveda thousands of years ago were mostly biohackers. They were continuously experimenting with herbs, plants and trees, and cataloguing the benefits of what they discovered in the forest to people.

We no longer live in the forest with nature, but our physiology or the DNA hasn’t changed, so while we have built our new home in the concrete jungle, living in the concrete jungle has real costs associated with it. And to heal ourselves, we keep going back to nature, because quite frankly nature is our true home. Nature made us from everything that is found in nature. So we come from nature, and we remain connected to everything that is nature.

Most likely in 20 -years from now we will perfect our ability to grow a human body and essential human organs in a lab, and those with money will be able to live for longer without aches or pain as their wealth will give them all the access they will need. Others maybe tempted to recode the entire human DNA to enable a human body to regenerate continually, in order to manage the physical wear and tear of a human body, thereby removing the aches and the pain associated with ageing of a physical human body. Which will get passed on to the next generation.

But some of us may have reservations, and probably rightly so. The idea that we are playing Gods will worry some of us, so there will be push back, and that’s natural. At some point in the future, we will need a rigorous discussion among ourselves to collectively make a good decision about the future of humans as species.

In our aspiration to reach stars and find humans a new home, what we shouldn’t forget is that, our physical bodies are our first natural home, because it is the only place we can live in.

I am assuming that, we all agree that nature is the best intelligence known to humankind. Nature is the best scientist there is, so inline with that thinking, perhaps it is also plausible that nature might not have anything against its creation improving themselves, and in the process also help better nature. Our evolutionary journey and the technological advances that we have made as a species is quire frankly a natural progression. Yes, we do have an inherent tendency to abuse ourselves and also nature, but collectively we do have a good track record of course correction. And our ability to adapt as a species is second to none.

The journey ahead is obviously not certain as there are blind spots. Having said that, we do have a lot of existing resources in hand to help us significantly improve the quality of life of a physical human body, thereby, reducing the aches and pains that comes with growing old and the lifestyle that we have chosen for ourselves.

There is more than enough evidence to suggest that an integrated approach to how we see health and the larger healthcare system is the need of the hour, to help us improve the quality of life of people. A good hybrid mix of modern medicine, state-of-the-art technological innovation wrapped with thousands of years of knowledge of forest and holistic medicine. Collectively, the integrated approach becomes a very potent resource that almost everyone can access, and in doing so also improve their own quality of life.

Thousands of years ago our ancestors, the ancient biohackers started a journey to improve humans health, and that journey is still carrying on.