Million dollar bet against aging
Two leading life-longevity experts have bet each other $1m (£647,000, €885,000) on who will die first Reuters

Two leading life-longevity experts have bet each other $1m (£647,000, €885,000) on who will die first, according to reports.

Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO of bioinformatics company Insilico Medicine, and Dmitry Kaminskiy, a partner at technology venture fund Deep Knowledge Ventures, reportedly made the bet at the JP Morgan Health Care Conference, though the deal has yet to be made public.

The terms of the bet have been reported by noted futurist and author Zoltan Istvan, who revealed the stunt is being carried out by the pair in order to prove their faith in anti-ageing science.

Terms of the bet

- If one of the parties passes away before the other, $1m in Insilico Medicine stock will be passed to the surviving party

- The agreement will vest once both parties reach 100 years

- Parties agree not to accelerate each other's demise (ie try to kill each other)

By competing for life longevity, Zhavoronkov and Kaminskiy hope it will encourage them to try different approaches to extend their lifespan, while also providing themselves with extra motivation to live.

"Longevity competitions may be a great way to combat both psychological and biological ageing," Zhavoronkov told Istvan. "I hope that we will start a trend."

Zhavoronkov predicts that advances in anti-ageing science will lead to an end to the idea of death being a culturally accepted fact and eventually open up the possibility of living for centuries rather than just decades.

Kaminskiy said: "I would really like to make similar bets with Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg so they could live longer lives and create great products, but I don't think they will be worthy competitors on longevity.

"But I would like to challenge Sergey Brin and Larry Page to a similar competition due to their seemingly high interest in the sphere."

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