HBO / Silicon Valley
This is straight out of an episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley, only this is real life we’re talking about. And when I say this is straight out of an episode of Silicon Valley I mean this was literally a plot point in the most recent season, Season 4, when disgraced Hooli CEO Gavin Belson paid some young, blonde dude for his blood.
When I saw that episode I thought to myself ‘no fucking way this is real life’, but I was wrong. The Daily Mail is reporting that CEOs in Silicon Valley are paying up to $8,000 for blood/plasma transfusions from young and healthy individuals because they allegedly provide ‘age reversing effects on the body’.
This bizarre trend is being spurred along by Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, a man worth an estimated $61.5 billion. Uncle Larry is investing in a biotech startup that’s pushing this ‘parabiosis’ technique of old dudes getting blood transfusions from young and healthy bros:
Speaking to his biographer, Mr Ellison once said: ‘Death has never made any sense to me.’
The parabiosis technique involves transfusing the plasma from ‘young blood’ into older people, but it doesn’t come cheap.
Ambrosia, a start-up based in San Fransisco, offers plasma infusions at $8,000 (£6,180) for just two litres, to anyone aged over 35.
The firm sources the blood plasma – which comes from 16-25 year olds – from blood banks. (via)
Rich people. They’re like regular people except you remove all remnants of being normal. I can’t fucking fathom getting to a point in life where I thought that paying some $8,000 a pop for their blood was worth it.
According to the Daily Mail, Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel is one of the biggest proponents of parabiosis, which makes perfect sense given the stories I’ve read about Peter Thiel over the years. Parabiosis actually dates back to the 1950’s, but the billionaire playboys of Silicon Valley have revived this peculiar procedure in recent years.
What’s most surprising is the effects of parabiosis actually seem to be legitimate. Unlike other medical fads like cryo chambers which have zero data to back it up, scientists have found parabiosis to leave ‘near permanent’ benefits on the older person receiving the blood transfusions. You can learn more about this vampire science by following that link above to the Daily Mail.