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‘We Are Not Programmed to Die,’ Says Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan
The structural biologist, who has devoted his life to studying the processes behind aging, discusses the surprising things he has learned and the public misunderstandings about longevity.
After the enormous success of The Gene Machine, a memoir in which he recounts his human and scientific journey, he published the mighty Why We Die, a book—as its name suggests—dedicated precisely to illustrating the dynamics that regulate aging and which, progressively and inexorably, lead to death. Speaking of death and aging, you say in your most recent book that you “wanted to offer an objective look at our current understanding of the two phenomena.” What was the biggest surprise or most deeply held belief that you had to reconsider while writing and researching this work? The Nobel Prize-winning South American novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who recently passed away, expressed it best: “Old age on the one hand terrifies us, but when we feel anxious, it is important to remember how terrible it would be to live forever.
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