It started with rumours online - mainly idle talk and casual observations. The top billionaires always looked so healthy, so young for their age. Most people thought that natural. The rich generally ate better, had access to the best doctors and the spare time to take care of their health.
It was really the Times article on Warren Buffett's 100th birthday when things changed. The article titled “Will Berkshire Hathaway need a successor?” certainly raised some eyebrows. The article brought up evidence showing that succession planning had taken a backseat at the investment company. That seemed strange for a company being run by someone far past the average person’s life expectancy let alone retirement age.
The times had also performed studies where they showed people two interviews with Buffett - one while he was 72 the other when he was 98. Interestingly, when asked to judge, based on answers and appearance, which video showed the 98 year old Buffet most people picked the interview from when he was 72. He seemed to appear younger as he grew older!
That article really opened the floodgates. Within a month there was a piece written on the top 200 richest people in the world - chronicling their health and apparent aging over the years.
It was soon after that the debates opened in congress - would the rich have to explain themselves? Were medical records still private if they were hiding life saving techniques. Even if the procedures were too expensive for the average person, they deserved to know. Of course, congress already knew about the procedure. Most had already opted to have it performed.
They were all hell bent on keeping it a secret. Resources could not sustain everyone living forever they said. It would tear apart the country and maybe even the world. Their arguments focused on the greater good and ensuring that society could continue to function. All while having the procedure done on themselves.
It wasn’t until the debates started that I realized their arguments were not driven by economics or the greater good - the arguments were based on greed. They all wanted the key to immortality for themselves and no one else.They couldn’t see the revolution that was to come. The masses would not stand by ignorant while the rich and powerful lived forever. No, they would rather die to find out the key to immortality.
I must admit, my decision to interview with 60 minutes was partially driven by greed - I wanted the recognition for what I had created. I wanted to ensure that it was my name to go down in the history books as the man who cured aging. But finally I also knew that this was the right thing to do. We lived in a democracy where the people should decide their fate - not be dictated to by the rich and powerful.