In this episode of Levity, Dr. Natasha Vita-More, a pioneering thinker in radical life extension and a founder of the transhumanist movement, shares her unique perspective on longevity, memory, identity, and strength at age 75. Drawing on her multidisciplinary background in art, philosophy, and science, she reflects on her journey from childhood illness to scientific innovation, and from artistic exploration to cryopreservation research.

Key Points:

Natasha Vita-More advocates for a systems-thinking approach to longevity, blending science, philosophy, and personal resilience. Her groundbreaking cryonics experiment with simple organisms suggests that memory can survive cryopreservation. She urges thoughtful, pragmatic optimism—accepting what we can't yet change, while designing a better future.

• Cryonics & Memory Preservation: Vita-More led a landmark study showing that C. elegans worms could retain learned olfactory memories after being cryopreserved and revived—suggesting long-term memory can survive cryonic freezing.
• Longevity as System Design: She sees aging as a solvable systems problem rather than an inevitable process, advocating for merging biology with technologies like nanorobotics and AI to extend healthy lifespan.
• Prosthetics & the Posthuman Body: Inspired by childhood illness and trauma, she designed Primo Posthuman, a conceptual whole-body prosthetic, to imagine bodies for a future beyond biological limits.
• Transhumanism and Its Evolution: Though she helped found the transhumanist movement, Vita-More now distances herself from its current hype and “clickbait” image, advocating instead for ethical rigor and philosophical depth.
• Stoicism and Radical Hope: She blends stoic philosophy with futurist optimism, believing in changing what we can, accepting what we can't (yet), and staying grounded in integrity and daily effort.
• Cultural Reflections & Inclusivity: From civil rights protests in her youth to observing disparities in medicine and memory, she emphasizes empathy, inclusiveness, and intellectual honesty in shaping a better human future.