On the tropical island of Roatán, a bunch of individuals gathered in an unprecedented, longevity-themed pop-up metropolis – after which a few of them stayed, making the enterprise everlasting.
“You’re going the place?”
A pal invited me over, however I declined, telling him I needed to journey for work once more. “The place to this time?” he requested with a touch of envy, us being caught in the course of Seattle’s infamously gloomy winter. “Honduras,” I stated. He fell silent for a second after which requested cautiously: “What precisely does Honduras need to do with growing old biology?”
A good query. Final yr, my work took me to a different unlikely vacation spot: Montenegro, a tiny Balkan nation the place the longevity, AI, and crypto-themed pop-up metropolis of Zuzalu had briefly emerged. However Honduras? Let me let you know how all that is related, and why Honduras is way more about longevity than you would possibly suppose. “Zuzalu”, a bizarre AI-generated phrase that doesn’t imply something in any language, can even be talked about right here so much.
Stereotypes apart, there are sound causes for incredulity. Honduras is the poorest nation in Latin America. It sits excessive in crime statistics, surpassing Colombia and Venezuela. However that is additionally why, looking for to enhance its fortunes, Honduras has established particular financial zones, together with the one referred to as Próspera.
Most of it resides on the small island of Roatán, neatly tucked within the japanese nook of the Caribbean Sea simply off the coast of mainland Honduras. Roatán is a unique story from the remainder of the nation. It’s crawling with vacationers who come there on large cruise ships or fly in from a number of worldwide locations. With a inhabitants of about 50,000, the island is visited by greater than 1,000,000 vacationers a yr.
The place there are vacationers, there are fancy motels, timeshare villas, and costly eateries, however many of the island continues to be visibly poor: one thing that at all times rubs me the unsuitable manner about such locations. On paper, Próspera needs to alter this, if it doesn’t get kicked out of Honduras first.
Governance as a service
So, what’s Próspera? Formally, it’s a ZEDE, the Spanish acronym for “Zone for Employment and Financial Growth”, loosely modeled after larger particular financial zones similar to Shenzhen and Dubai. There are two different, even smaller, ZEDEs in Honduras.
Próspera’s appreciable independence stems from the ZEDE legislation handed by the earlier authorities. The brand new, extra left-leaning one repealed it in 2022. Nevertheless, the legislation had sturdy protections inbuilt, and for now, Próspera is surviving whereas preventing the brand new authorities in courts. Possibly finally, underneath a future authorities, Honduras will fall in love with Próspera once more, however its present precarious scenario is one thing to consider.
Like many radically new initiatives, Próspera is surprisingly exhausting to explain. We simply don’t have the vocabulary but to slap a concise but understandable label on it. Bloomberg referred to as it “a personal tech metropolis,” whereas one other media outlet went for “a personal authorities.” If you need a full, if a bit dated, account of Próspera’s nuts and bolts, look no additional than this improbable (and very prolonged) blog post by Scott Alexander.
So, sure, it’s non-public, run by HPI, an organization established by the passionate Venezuelan Erick Brimen and financially backed by a bunch of buyers. However Próspera additionally presents its providers as a authorities. In reality, “governance as a service” is the secret, which means that they promote you governance similar to different firms promote you, say, leisure.
Each non-public folks and corporations are welcome. You possibly can settle or arrange a enterprise on the very restricted (for now) territory managed by Próspera and luxuriate in a scarcity of paperwork and a positive regulatory local weather. Crypto is inbuilt, and companies on the island have been educated on how you can settle for it. You should purchase land and construct on it or purchase/hire properties constructed by Próspera. To reside there completely, you could receive Honduran residency, which isn’t a giant downside. You can be certain by some Honduran laws (similar to felony legal guidelines) however not by all of them. Próspera doesn’t have its personal police, to not point out a military, but it surely has employed non-public safety corporations.
Will you be capable of take part in governance? That’s a tricky query. There’s a council, but it surely’s principally managed by HPI. Próspera plans to regularly develop its democracy as extra folks take part. Theoretically, with time, Próspera residents will be capable of boot HPI out as a governing physique altogether, however we’re not there but. The query of how democratic constitution cities are / can presumably be is simply too difficult to be mentioned right here.
Immediately, Próspera is tiny, with about 1300 residents (in all probability together with e-residents) and 1000 acres of land. The true property pool is restricted, however the first high-rise complicated, referred to as DUNA, is nearing completion.
“V” for Vitalia
Thanks on your persistence; we’re lastly approaching the subject of life extension. Próspera has so much to supply to biotech startups: not in amenities, manpower, or financing, however in streamlined laws that assist to drastically minimize trial prices and speed up analysis. Firms like Minicircle, a developer of gene therapies, can attest to that.
Nonetheless, that’s not why I got here to Roatán. You see, Zuzalu supplied a whole lot of inspiration and concepts for co-living initiatives that may be prologues to community societies and finally states, but it surely lacked permanence and specialization. As per Balaji Srinivasan, in all probability the main ideologist on this subject, a viable community society begins with an overarching thought, a basic worth to cement enthusiasm and participation, similar to longevity.
The concept of a long life community society was being mentioned even earlier than Zuzalu, with teams similar to Vitalism exploring locations like Rhode Island as doable beachheads, however Zuzalu actually supplied a very good push. The seek for choices accelerated.
That is how the wedding between Próspera and Vitalia occurred. Vitalia (to not be confused with Vitalism) is an bold undertaking of a long life metropolis conceived by VitaDAO, the biggest decentralized autonomous group (DAO) within the longevity area, and Niklas Anzinger, who’s a VC centered on regulated industries, holds many longevity investments, and is a Zuzalu veteran.
Próspera had the authorized and bodily infrastructure, and Vitalia had the content material to pour into it. The concept was to determine, for the primary time ever, a everlasting presence of longevity fanatics in a single place, the place they’d cohabitate, get pleasure from a wholesome life-style, and speed up the invention and maturation of life-extending therapies.
Niklas had lived on the island along with his spouse for about 18 months, getting ready the bottom for Vitalia, earlier than the invites had been despatched out. As typical, taking such a undertaking off the bottom requires a whole lot of grinding, down-to-earth effort from its visionary founders, fixing issues like lodging, transportation, and web entry.
Las Verandas, Vitalia’s beating coronary heart
Vitalia is centered round St. John’s Bay, Próspera’s most important hub on the island, and St. John’s Bay’s coronary heart is Las Verandas: a sprawling resort of two-story villas subsequent to a golf course. So, in case you needed to go to Vitalia, you needed to hire a room there through the organizers, beginning at $1000 a month, or anyplace within the neighborhood by yourself. Early birds bought there in late 2023.
Vitalia takes so much from Zuzalu’s playbook, similar to organizing a string of conferences to draw residents and preserve them occupied. These included a two-part longevity biotech convention (learn our coverage of the second part), a convention on startup societies, and a pair extra. The conferences noticed a whole lot of star appearances, together with Bryan Johnson, Balaji Srinivasan, and Aubrey de Grey.
Left to proper: Laurence Ion of VitaDAO, Bryan Johnson, and Aubrey de Gray in Vitalia. Supply: VitaDAO
Once I flew in for my two-week stint in Vitalia, there wasn’t so much to do there. It was a “gradual week” – a significant departure from Zuzalu’s thought of fixed motion. It felt unfamiliar at first however mirrored Vitalia’s ethos of everlasting presence. If folks reside right here, they need to be capable of get some work finished. Even within the absence of official occasions, there was a continuing hum of exercise, with inhabitants making themselves busy.
What do longevity folks do once they collect in a single place? They go to the gymnasium. Quite a bit. And so they really feel gentle peer strain to take action (I did). They take chilly plunges (I didn’t). They do yoga on the seashore at 7 AM (not an opportunity, when will the world go away us evening owls alone?) Then, there are extra lessons for every kind of wholesome stuff. Then, a biohackers’ assembly. Then, a lecture on growing old biology. Then, meditation on the pier in full view of the attractive Caribbean sundown. Then, a celebration at a villa the place you welcome again all of the energy you burned through the day.
Jokes apart, nobody appears to know for certain how a semi-permanent longevity-oriented group ought to perform. At occasions, Vitalia felt a bit chaotic and never fully settled on itself.
I need to confess that, at first, I had the sensation that, having traveled that far, I used to be by some means entitled to being taken care of, entertained. Once I sat down to talk with Niklas Anzinger and one other Vitalia cofounder, Laurence Ion of VitaDAO, this was one of many subjects we mentioned.
Laurence, who was a number one determine in Zuzalu, doing a great deal of insanely exhausting work there, stated that after that, he “vowed that he’d permit folks to self-organize” and that in Vitalia, he needed to “encourage the group to personal extra facets of Vitalia’s on a regular basis functioning as an alternative of the organizers selecting up the mantle”.
“I feel,” I mused in a bout of self-criticism, “that regardless of us sporting these cool bracelets that say ‘BUILDER’ on them, many individuals, together with myself, really feel extra like company. We anticipate to have sure issues, and we complain about not getting them as an alternative of rolling up our sleeves and rising to the problem.”
To be truthful to Vitalians, it was extra nuanced than that. As I stated, many actions had been self-organized, and lots of issues had been being solved collectively. I believe that the spirit of self-organization will develop stronger as Vitalia transitions towards steady occupancy.
Kia Winslow of BioAge, additionally a Zuzalu veteran who got here to Vitalia for the second biotech convention, reminisced: “I arrived in Zuzalu through the first week, and I might say that within the very starting, no one had a transparent understanding of what was happening. All people was excited, however no one knew what to anticipate, and inside the first couple of weeks, folks began to self-organize and create occasions and areas, and there was a schedule, maps, and all the pieces. I used to be watching this pop-up metropolis rising and constructing itself. I feel Vitalia is principally a continuation of this course of.”
Vitalians hanging out on the pier chugging on complimentary booze
The enterprise of longevity
With all of the cool stuff happening and with the innumerable distractions Roatán needed to provide (snorkeling on the world’s second-largest reef, petting sloths, swimming with dolphins, and so forth), it was not simple to choose up Vitalia’s enterprise pulse. Nevertheless it was there massive time, producing new connections, collaborations, and even startups.
Bringing Vitalia to Próspera proved to be a fateful resolution. “There’s an unlimited variety of initiatives popping out of this,” Niklas stated. “We now have a start-up funding program that 40 startups have signed as much as. Some have existed earlier than, however they wish to profit from collaboration with Vitalia. One of many massive successes was the Augmentation Lab. They realized that they had so much to realize from partnering with Vitalia as a result of, till now, they had been very restricted in what they may do, in any other case they’d need to face the FDA. However right here, they’ll make progress a lot sooner.”
Oh, the Augmentation Lab! On one of many first nights, at a celebration, I encountered a man along with his hand bandaged. He defined to me that he simply had a programmable RFID implant positioned underneath his pores and skin. “I’m from Brooklyn,” he stated. “I’m going to make use of it for subway rides.” “Do you notice,” I requested him, “what number of conspiracy theories you’ll spawn going out and in of the subway with a wave of your hand?”
Presenting the lab in Vitalia, its founder, Jeffrey “Cassox” Tibbets, stated that the thought was “to create the one place on this planet providing bespoke implants and cutting-edge physique artwork.” Cassox has been working with cybernetic implants in California for years, however in Vitalia, he noticed the potential to do issues on a much bigger scale, faster and safer. “We have to have physicians on board to do these items safely,” he stated, “and Próspera is the one place on this planet the place that is doable.” Implants can do way more than open subway turnstiles; as an example, the lab needs to get into the CGM (steady glucose monitoring) enterprise.
Jeffrey Tibbets and Jason Hartgrave presenting in Vitalia. Now you understand what “medical punk” is (learn the highest headline).
“There are examples past the lab that show that we will efficiently appeal to biotech firms that profit from doing medical research right here,” Niklas stated. “We had Matter Bio right here, Gero, Unlock Bio, Bootstrap Bio, Limitless Bio. We’re nice for firms which can be on the stage of product improvement and fascinated about the place to launch their medical trials. They’ve been studying from Minicircle.” A few days in the past, Niklas revealed a weblog publish referred to as “The Final Information To Biomedical Innovation in Próspera” – the identify says all of it, so check it out.
Gero, an modern AI/longevity firm, introduced a number of of its folks to Vitalia for some off-site enjoyable and ended up severely contemplating doing its medical trials on the island. Gero co-founder Maxim Kholin stated to me that Próspera “realized that efficient governance creates a whole lot of worth.” Pleased with Gero’s “hacking mindset,” he was comfortable to satisfy many like-minded buyers and entrepreneurs in VItalia: “We now have a really comparable outlook. In the event you discover one thing essential however finished ineffectively, you wish to hack it. Próspera has managed to hack regulation and governance. We’re attempting to hack growing old. I really feel that our values resonate with lots of people right here. We’re actively exploring the alternatives that this jurisdiction presents to innovators like us.”
One firm created from scratch in Vitalia is Limitless Bio. Its founders, Ivan Morgunov and Anna Vakhrusheva, gained a Vitalia hackathon (there was a couple of) for “initiatives aiming to make demise elective, immediately or not directly.” A lofty objective, however there’s an extended highway forward. For now, Limitless Bio plans to roll out a VEGF gene remedy for hair loss and pores and skin growing old and search for different potential gene therapies they’ll shortly check and deploy, because of Próspera’s permissive laws.
VEGF (vascular endothelial progress issue) does what its identify suggests – promotes vasculature progress. Its ranges, like these of many different proteins, dwindle with age, and a few analysis reveals that bringing them again up improves well being and extends lifespan in mice. Nevertheless, we don’t know if this can be a good thought for people in the long term. Presently, VEGF-blocking therapies are used to deal with age-related macular degeneration and a few sorts of most cancers. Limitless Bio says that its VEGF-boosting gene remedy was authorized in 2011 in Russia for peripheral arterial illness and has since proven a very good security profile. If that’s sufficient to assuage your doubts, come to Roatán and provides it a go!
This can be a good instance of how they do issues in Próspera. Bryan Johnson, a well-known biohacker, truly got here to Vitalia to obtain a follistatin-boosting remedy from Minicircle, Roatán’s gene remedy pioneer. Follistatin promotes muscle progress and density, which is one thing Bryan is obsessive about. Like VEGF, follistatin has proven advantages in mice, however human information is restricted. Within the US or Europe, it might take years to convey these therapies to market, however in Próspera, it’s sufficient to point out some security information and you can begin flying in sufferers. That is agile and efficient at getting medicines to folks, however I’m certain you’ll forgive me for retaining some wholesome (pun meant) dose of skepticism.
Próspera’s bodily hub for medical trials and therapies is GARM clinic. Already long-running and providing stem-cell-based and different therapies, it has supplied inspiration and infrastructure for a lot of initiatives conceived in Vitalia. Once I was invited on a tour, I anticipated to see a shining medical facility, but it surely turned out to be a lot smaller and crampier than I’d imagined. Don’t decide a ebook by its cowl, although: GARM claims a very good security report and, on account of rising demand, is ready to develop and relocate to Las Verandas, turning into much more accessible to Vitalia residents and corporations.
Heather Terry, CEO of GARM clinic, reveals us round
Ought to I keep or ought to I’m going?
The second biotech convention was formally Vitalia’s final massive occasion earlier than an extended recess. It was quirky and a bit far and wide by way of subjects, but it surely obtained excessive marks from some conference-savvy folks, similar to Martin O’Dea, Dublin Longevity Summit’s cofounder.
“In some methods, it’s the identical because the conferences which can be held across the US and Europe, the one we now have in Dublin, and some others,” he stated. “Nevertheless it’s undoubtedly a unique vibe, a unique ambiance as a result of folks have been right here for 2 months. Each convention is an effective alternative for folks to come back collectively and collaborate and work, however right here, you’re virtually pressured to collaborate.”
Martin stated that Vitalia’s promise of everlasting presence “the place scientists and different folks inside the group can at the very least partially reside over the course of the yr might be a game-changer, a paradigm-shifting sort of occasion, however that’s to be seen. It’s very early days, and I suppose this place goes to empty just about within the subsequent few days.”
The nonchalant ambiance of the second biotech convention in Vitalia, with Dr. Max Unfried presenting
Really, Martin was solely half-right. Whereas lots of people packed their suitcases and left on or across the identical day I did, a shocking quantity remained: 40-50, in accordance with Niklas.
“We wish to preserve doing issues right here,” he stated. “The objective is to have 200 everlasting residents by yr’s finish. We’ll announce a schedule for what provides folks good causes to go to.” Some occasions have certainly been introduced since then, and extra are on the way in which.
The plans don’t cease there. Laurence envisions 1000’s of residents within the subsequent couple of years and, finally, as much as 1,000,000. “Hong Kong island is over 1,000,000 folks, and it’s roughly the identical measurement,” he stated. Niklas added that they wish to have three to 5 hubs around the globe and “a web-based group that’s about ten occasions larger.”
“Why would so many individuals transfer in right here?” I requested. Laurence’s response was: “As a result of it’s a tremendous life with a excessive density of like-minded folks and one in every of our few possibilities to really speed up progress and get growing old underneath medical management.” “San Francisco is profitable as a result of it has a really excessive density of aligned folks,” Niklas chimed in. “And we had been in a position to replicate that with Vitalia. That’s the rationale that many individuals that got here listed below are staying.”
Niklas and Laurence went so far as to assert that by way of folks, Vitalia was higher than San Francisco. To that, I stated with a chuckle: “Aubrey de Gray advised me in Zuzalu that it might take so much for him to depart his beloved Bay Space for some distant place.” Niklas smiled again: “Aubrey is a superb instance. Initially, he was skeptical of Vitalia, however then he preferred it right here a lot that he determined to remain all the time.”
“I went to Próspera for a number of days in November”, Aubrey confirmed to me, “and have become completely satisfied that it’s set to be central to the way forward for medical tourism, at the very least in respect of longevity, so I organized to spend the entire of January and February in Roatán, however in actual fact needed to go away abruptly in early February. Vitalia has totally lived as much as the problem of being a large step ahead within the furthering of modern longevity medication. It has totally capitalized on its start line of being positioned in Próspera, which has broad authorized autonomy and, thus, the flexibility to remove the numerous obstacles to regulatory approval in established jurisdictions that, in actual fact, ship no worth by way of security or efficacy. Having seen up shut what the folks at Vitalia are creating, I’m fully satisfied that Vitalia is ready to develop into, inside solely a few years, the worldwide hub for longevity pioneers.”
The bottlenecks and the imaginative and prescient
There have to be bottlenecks, proper? In spite of everything, we journalists are continuously searching for unhealthy stuff to report. One downside, in accordance with Niklas, is the notion of Honduras. “It hasn’t reached everybody but that Roatán is a paradise island and that Honduras will also be very nice when you get to know folks and you’ve got a solution to get round,” he stated. What about crime? Laurence famous that “Roatán is exclusive (for Honduras), and it’s a lot safer than most US states.”
Nonetheless, let me whine only a bit extra. Service on Roatán might be subpar. Niklas thinks this is perhaps because of the “tourism financial system,” which ends up in complacency as a result of “folks come to such locations anyway.”
“You don’t have Amazon supply,” Laurence sighed, and I instantly sympathized. For me, it’s a significant blow. As an immigrant, one of many issues I’m actually having fun with within the US is the flexibility to order just about something on this planet and have it delivered very quickly. In fact, Amazon Prime is only one of an entire lot of good issues to which vacationers is perhaps accustomed or addicted however are unavailable on Roatán.
The meals choices are nonetheless restricted and never low-cost, even the native grocery store (sure, there’s just one in Próspera’s neighborhood). Getting wholesome and vegan meals might be particularly difficult. Extra folks means extra and cheaper providers, Niklas stated, but it surely’s type of a hen and egg scenario.
One among solely two eating places in Vitalia. At the least they settle for Bitcoin!
Lodging is difficult to come back by and is perhaps expensive. This may supposedly change with the launch of DUNA, the place one would be capable of lease an condo for as little as 500 {dollars} per 30 days.
Then, there’s Próspera’s picture. Not everyone seems to be enchanted by the promise of “governance as a service” and streamlined (too streamlined?) regulation. Many ask themselves, how legit is it? Is their funding of cash and energy protected? What about their well being? The FDA could also be a drag, but it surely’s good to have its stamp of approval on the remedy you’re about to get.
Niklas, nevertheless, sees it as a unique path to success: “This method isn’t antagonistic to the FDA. We wish to do lots of the identical issues in the case of security that is sensible and different issues in a different way and nonetheless get market approval and entry in massive jurisdictions or markets, together with the US.” Credibility is significant for a nascent enterprise. Niklas and Laurence vow to do all the pieces of their energy to regularly construct Vitalia’s.
The excellent news is that Vitalia isn’t alone. After Zuzalu, there’s been a flurry of exercise within the subject of community societies, with folks collaborating and studying from one another. As an illustration, an entire software program ecosystem is being constructed, protecting such necessities as verification, scheduling, participation, and so forth.
Can we safely say that Vitalia is at the moment essentially the most superior undertaking on this subject? “It actually is a significant evolution within the technique for a brand new community society,” Niklas stated. “Having land or a jurisdiction first was at all times difficult. To construct an precise society, you want bodily area as a result of a lot of our lives are in the actual world.”
He sees Balaji Srinivasan’s technique of ‘digital first, bodily second’ as a shortcoming: “In the event you solely get good at group, however not at land and governance, you’re actually missing one thing that you could succeed. It’s very troublesome to succeed as a startup in case you don’t construct your core strengths from the start. So, with Vitalia, we’re the primary ones to construct a technique that has each issues, land, and group, from day one. I feel what we now have achieved to this point with Vitalia might effectively be the mannequin for the long run.”
In keeping with Laurence, a long life community society has an much more basic want for bodily presence as a result of you may develop software program on-line, however you may’t develop therapies that need to cross the scrutiny of enormous regulatory our bodies. Biotech’s very nature requires bodily presence and authorized autonomy.
A spot to come back again to
Like a lot of its individuals, I fell in love with Zuzalu swiftly and hopelessly. Was it the identical with Vitalia? The second time might be by no means the identical. I knew what to anticipate (that’s to not say Vitalia by no means pleasantly stunned me), so the wow impact was a bit blunted. That is how issues mature alongside the arrow of time: one thing the longevity subject is audacious sufficient to attempt to push towards.
Why am I even telling you about my emotions? Why transcend explaining how Vitalia and Próspera work? As a result of I imagine that how folks really feel about such locations is essential to their success. The incomparable pleasure of day by day interactions with good, variety, curious, like-minded folks was nonetheless there. The joy of soaking in all these tacky however beautiful niceties of a tropical vacationer vacation spot – the ocean, the sand, the solar, the palm timber, the swimming pools – verify!
There was additionally a brand new feeling I detected as my airplane was climbing up within the skies above Roatán – that I don’t half with this place eternally however can and possibly will likely be coming again to a rising, buzzing Vitalia, like folks come again to their favourite metropolis or lodge. Not a house away from house, however shut. And that’s price so much.
Vitalia, shot from the airplane’s window by the writer as he was considering his emotions in the direction of the place
