Artemyev said that at 28, after Alfa Group offered to buy Euroset for $40 million (his share was $20 million), he began thinking he should do something for society. His first idea was to change laws, but according to him, he did not win a seat in the State Duma, though he garnered 22% in his district. He then decided that changing people's mentality would take 60–70 years, and thought about living until then.
"So, I thought, I need to manage to live until that great Russia, and, accordingly, I need to invent a cure for old age," Reminder quoted him as saying.
Investments in Research
According to Artemyev, he has invested in three health-related startups: Retrotope (developing fortified polyunsaturated fatty acids), Viome (gut microbiome analysis), and MDSeq (DNA sequencing methods). In addition, he has supported Yevgeny Nudler's lab at New York University for many years, giving money without any conditions so that scientists could quickly test ideas.
Skeptics and the Key to Aging
Artemyev divided approaches to life extension into several categories: cosmetic products, which he claims do not work; "dreamers" promising an elixir of youth; and skeptics who consider rejuvenation impossible. Of the latter he said: "I believe their consciousness is simply limited by the possibilities they see directly before them." At the same time, he acknowledged that a healthy lifestyle is the most practical thing one can do for longevity today.
For a breakthrough in the science of aging, according to Artemyev, a computer model of the cell in silico is needed, along with an understanding of how to control processes in DNA and the creation of a "Wikipedia" on the biology of aging. He also stated: "I tell everyone that we are either the last generation to die of old age or the first to rejuvenate." In his estimation, anti-aging treatments will not necessarily be expensive, and he called the issue of accessibility more political.
Mental Health and Transhumanism
Speaking about preserving oneself, Artemyev advises being at peace with oneself, knowing one's weaknesses and fears, and giving up alcohol as a depressant. He admitted that he himself cannot yet fully follow these principles: "I'm hooked on chocolate," but since last spring he has been walking 10,000 steps every day.
Over time, he said, his understanding of longevity has changed: he no longer considers the idea of uploading the brain to cloud servers crazy and believes that transhumanism is serious. "If my personality were, as it were, multi-bodied, then the fact that body No. 1, in which it was born, is gradually decrepit would no longer matter much," he said.
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