Elon Musk says ageing can be reversed but warns of potential risks: 'Death serves purpose'

Elon Musk sparks discussion at Davos on ageing and Longevity. (Image credit: Reuters)

• Elon Musk talked about age reversal and longevity at his first WEF in Davos.
• Musk: Reversing aging likely; death has societal purpose.

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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made his debut at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. During a conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the billionaire opened up about age reversal on Thursday.

While discussing about ageing and longevity, the business leader shifted from the drawbacks of longer lives to the possibility of solving the visible signs of ageing.

Musk said ageing is an inevitable part of human life, but argued it is “very solvable,” adding that death also serves a purpose.

“The reason I say it’s not a subtle thing is that all the cells in your body, you know, pretty much age at the same rate. I’ve never seen someone with an old left arm and a young right arm ever in my life, so why is that? There must be a clock that is synchronising across 35 trillion cells in your body,” Musk said.

He further said that there is a reason why humans do not have a longer lifespan. “If people do live for a very long time, I think there’s some risk of an ossification of society. Of things getting locked in place.”

Pointing to a possible “lack of vibrancy,” Mush said society could become “stultifying.” “That said, do I think we’ll figure out ways to extend life and maybe even reverse ageing? I think that’s highly likely,” Musk said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Elon Musk also took a dig at US President Donald Trump during a panel discussion, saying, "I heard about the formation of the Peace Summit and I thought it's that piece or ... a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela."

This was Musk’s first time on the WEF stage, following an earlier remark in which he called the forum “boring.”