Got a few things to talk about tonight. One is “vampire therapy”, which I will get to later,.

But first, we talk about Sword Art Online, an anime series I just started watching today and which is really sparking my imagination.

It’s set in a future where the VR dream is finally a reality in the form of an MMPORPG-type game called Sword Art Online that uses a brand new technology called NerveCenter to make it feel like you are Really There.

Now, what are the two rules of virtual reality movies? What are the two things you know will happen?

1. Someone will get trapped in it, and
2. If you die there, you die in real life!

And sure enough, that’s true here. The clearly insane inventor of the technology has rigged it so that there is no exit command, and if someone tries to take the VR helmet off you, it fries your brain. Ditto if you die in the game. So all the thousands of people who tried the game out on its first day of release are stuck in there now.

That is all a fairly well worn path by now, but the interesting part is the fact that it is set in a modern MMPORPG, and so there is this whole business with people being able to bring up menus and send messages and be able to teleport here and there, and so on, and so it all has this aspect of magical realism that I find very interesting.

It plays with the conventions of video games in an interesting way, and uses its imagery and its assumptions as quite excellent dramatic tools for telling fairly classic heroic type stories.

One thing bothers me : they make it clear in the second episode that people have been trapped in the game for months, and yet they have not explained why the hell they haven’t all died of thirst and hunger. I can only assume that all of their physical bodies are in hospitals all over the world, being treated like coma patients.

But I would still prefer the show to actually say that. But no, actual reality is never seen after the first episode.

Still, I love the premise. What would someone do if their favorite MMORPG suddenly became all too real, and they had to not just play it but live it? How would you cope if life became a game with no reset and no revive? Would you become incredibly cautious and never leave the first town, or would you join those willing to risk their lives in order to make it to the top of the tower and free everyone from the game and return them to reality?

I am both cautious and combative, so I am not sure how I would react. The sensible part of me would tell me to stay in the towns and hence never risk death at all. I could use my skills to open a tavern or a store or something. Just to get by. And I am sure I could make friends, have great conversations, and live a good life, all without risking death.

But the other side of me would go crazy knowing there was true glory and adventure out there and I was too big of a pussy to go out there and get it. That part would want to fight like a demon until I died or we won. Victory or death!

Probably, I would listen to the voice in the middle, where I would join the fight, but as a scientist. I would spend all my time exploring the game environment, looking for clues on how to reduce the risk to people and speed them to victory.

Anyhow, let’s talk about “vampire therapy” now.

In a turn of events right out of a 19th century science fiction story, it turns out that something as simple as giving old people transfusions of young blood can reverse some aspects of the aging process.

It turns out there is a protein called GDF11 (or as I like to think of it, Gandalf Eleven) which is present in abundance in young people but the older you get, the less of it you have.

It is believed to be responsible for keeping your muscles and organs supple and strong, which sounds good to me. There is other research indicating that young blood is also good for the brain, and might even be able to reverse Alzheimer’s.

Pretty amazing stuff, and I am not just saying that because I am almost 41 and want my young blood back.

First, let’s deal with the ghoulish aspects : this will not lead to armies of old people abducting youth off the streets in the dead of night to force them to give up their life-extending youth juice. Nor will it lead to some system where young people are forced by law to donate.

Instead, I see it as becoming a way to facilitate intergenerational wealth transfer. People can donate a certain amount of blood without much harm. Young, poor people could get paid to donate by old rich people and everyone comes out a winner.

But even that won’t likely be necessary, as I imagine that once we figure how this GDF11 stuff works, Big Pharma will simply mass produce it and make it available to health care systems worldwide.

After all, it will be better for all concerned if the many health problems of aging are simply prevented instead of having to be treated with expensive and invasive treatments.

Who knows… the secret of immortality might be as simple as taking your protein cocktail every day. A little GDF11, a little brain building protein, a little of the protein that protects your telomeres, and you just plain don’t age any more.

It has been my dream, as it has been the dream of millions since the dawn of modern medicine, that I will live long enough to see aging and debility conquered.

I hope I live long enough to live forever!

See you tomorrow, my faithful friends.