The Future Of Immortality: Outliving Disease And Living Young Forever

Opening and Guest Introduction 0:00

Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the Exponential Longevity Summit. I'm your host, Doctor Jeffrey Gladden. And as usual, we're here discussing how leveraging AI can be used to help us outlive disease and live young for a lifetime. And today, I have the pleasure of having one of the people that's been involved in the longevity movement probably longer than anybody else that I know. It's James Strohl, and James can give us a little bit of his history, but this goes back decades for him. And he's the, the leader of, People Unlimited.

He's also the director of Rad Fest. And I've had the pleasure of knowing him for several years now. He's an amazing human being. He has amazing insights on what it is to be a human being. And, I really am excited to talk to you today, Jim, about your perspectives on all the, everything going on and longevity at this point. So welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Jeff. I appreciate it's great having been out here with you. I was excited to have this conversation with you. Yeah, but you're doing some amazing work yourself, so I'm really grateful for everything you're doing.

Appreciate that. Yeah. Now it's super fun. A super fun time. So just share with the audience a little bit about your background, how you got into longevity decades ago. I'm not sure everybody's aware of that. So okay. Try going give me a short story on that. You know, a lot of time lapsed here, right. But, you know, as so many, people kind of share this, you thought, excuse me, other a horse in my throat. What are they? But so many people, that I've, spoke to in this object have had some experiences like this.

I think when we're, you know, kids, we we think that, we're immortal, right? Until we seeing that die and see the situation and, but I had experience as 11 years old, and my grandmother died, and it was very painful for me that close to her, and I. Oh, you know, something's wrong with this.

James Strohl's Early Longevity Awakening 2:06

To see her, this vibrant woman that was so alive and so progressive, obviously sudden operating and die of cancer is what she did. And and, and then I just thought, well, you know, something's wrong here. It doesn't feel right. No matter what people say about death and trying to make it more palatable. So I asked my mother, I said, well, when do I get to see grandmother again? You know, that's a critical stance, right? And and she said, oh, you know, when you die and go to heaven, that's still that totally didn't feel right.

And, you know, the concept of or not to know that but but then feel good. So I said, well, why can't we have heaven here on earth? And, and, and fortunately, I had had parents and particularly my mother, who was, a progressive. And, you know, she didn't, you know, slapped me down with some doctrine with that. She just. That's a good thought. You should pursue that. So, so so. Yeah. So that was in my heart, you know, for growing up. It was in my thoughts when I was in grade school. I actually wrote things about it.

I had my teachers come to me that, you know, they were very kind of use the word moved by it or touched by some of the things I would write about, you know, like world peace. But having a world that we didn't have, you know, death and it and, and, you know, we can make that happen here on earth. So so I read all that and, and I got, consequently, my mother was a, I guess, a progressive person. She took me to see anybody had come in town to teach me about any new thought or even sometimes, out of out of out of town, out of state fair speakers.

And so I got exposed to a lot of different speakers, and mainly people were people who were talking about some type of you know, humanistic issue. Brown many times longevity or, potential to live or, or just create a better world. So it's always better than that way to have that exposure, you know, through my, early days, growing up. And then actually, my mother introduced me to my partner, Bernadine Brown, and, who recently we unfortunately, we lost, as you know, due to cancer that last June. Right. But she was amazing, amazing human being herself.

And she had experienced someone like that, too, when she was young. And so, yeah, my mother introduced me to her and her partner at the time. We were both talking about the possibility of a potential potential living, forever. And that was I, 18. And so I thought, oh, I love this. This is what I'm really looking for. Are people talking about this? I want to talk about it. At that time, I wasn't, you know, speaking per se. I was in college. I was I was a basically guy, becoming a I want to be a writer.

At that point and get a business degree. And, but when I heard them, I thought, okay, this is what I want to do. I, I, I thought about it and so I joined in, short story and I started going to other events. They were living actually in Colorado. They had come here to Arizona at times to attend a lot of events where different states. I just I'd go there where they were at, along with other people that would, you know, gather there and hear them speak on the subject. And eventually I told them that I would like to work with them by helping to actually raise funds at the time, that was my I have to can I can contribute because I knew that they needed to get more financial support, you know, to, to get this agenda, get this, get out to the world more.

So that's what I did. I got involved with them in, in 1972, and started working with them, and basically starting businesses. I'd gotten had a lot of experience in business. My dad, he was a, owner of a brokerage firm and very successful. And it and I learned a lot from him. And so I began to do real estate investments, etc., etc., and I was happy that I was able to help support the movement to get it going. And, I traveled within the United States and were specimen on longevity and immortality.

And the possibilities of it at that time is, you know, there were no things about it, right? Right. Right. No, it was you were you were so many decades ahead of your time. Yeah. You were. You were like an alien on the planet at that point with those thought processes. So how do you say that? People asked us, are you guys on this planet at the moment? Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. So. But what's so cool that you, you know, that your mother was supportive and you learn things from your dad and you had a sweet relationship with your grandmother and.

Yeah. And other people. I mean, I think those formative things. I know, you know, one of the things that shaped me was my grandmother as she got older, telling me repeatedly, Jeff, it's hell to get old. You don't ever want to get old, right? Wow, wow. That's what I mean. My mother telling me the same thing. It's like you don't ever want to get old. It's hell to get old. And so it's like, oh, okay, well, I guess I was there young. Why don't we live young for a lifetime? Right? So, that's awesome.

That also come out. So kindred spirits there. That's right. Exactly. So then. So then you actually ended up, developing rad fast, which is become one of the world's leading conferences, focused on really this concept of, you know, let's live as long as possible. Let's make ourselves immortal, if that's possible. Right. And so that's. Right. So tell us a little bit about Rad Fast for those that aren't familiar with it. Yeah. Well, Bonnie and I, started, a group organization called People Unlimited here in Scottsdale in 1995.

And then in, 2014.

Founding People Unlimited and RadFest 7:24

We've been having, you know, great events here, and we bring people in to talk all the time and, and, but then one day, it's actually Joe Biden said, you in our communications director said to me, Jim, why don't you go out to the scientists and doctors and, and they sit in the longevity community and talk to them about doing some events that would maybe and we're talking about how do we bring the community together. Well, that's talk. I said, why don't you talk to them about maybe, some type of event, or even an organization that would help galvanize the longevity community and give a platform for these doctors and scientists to talk more about their, their personal, initiatives, etc., and also the public.

And we wanted to bring the public into that, to that sphere, to where to where that could be a, support, both, emotionally and financially to, you know, perpetuate the movement. So, so, that's what we did, I thought, reaching out to some of the scientists and, we were talking about your experience, your grandmother, first guy I met and talking to a doctor, Bill Andrews. Okay. Yeah, I to tell you, actually, yes, I saw him on LinkedIn, I responded, I just reached out to him. He immediately came back to me, and I told him what we were doing here in Scottsdale.

And he go, oh my God, you have a you have a community of and longevity enthusiasts and, you know, where have you guys been? I feel like I've been I've done a desert here by myself. Right. So then he proceeded to tell me that 11 years old to hear that, told him, go on aging. Okay. Yeah. You guys are actually interested in astronomy. He was interested and you know that in the universe. But they didn't. But he had the science, you know, energy to him. And his dad was, was, very much into that those fields himself, amongst other things.

But but his dad just said, hey, why don't you go out and cure aging? And that was just stuck in his mind, you know? And today he just as you know, he just whatever he can do to get that job done or or at least be a, a distributor to community. Yes. So, but yeah. So he said to us when I brought that up about, hey, why don't we, create something, an event and maybe even a, a coalition. And, for, this, what we call it now as coalition for Radical Life Extension is A41 C3 nonprofit, and it really is the organization.

And that's what I'm the director of. It produces Rad Fest. Okay. Right. That's one of it's one of its, initiatives. And so, yeah, when I went out to connect with everybody, I had overwhelming response. It was like the timing was, across the room from, like, Proposition Foundation stepped up to immediately to sponsor it to to help, you know, secure the finances. And doctor, I talked to every scientist was just. Oh, yeah, they love the idea. One thing they didn't say to me, they said, please don't create another boring science event.

Right. I thought that was funny. Know, there's a lot of our own events. We stand outside of them any time. It's not that we don't learn, it's great. But. So we went to the table and said, okay, why not? Like a red rhino, like a Woodstock? Something festive, fun, energetic, something will excite the people along with the scientist. And that would, create that cohesion between the science and the doctors and that, and, and the public and would draw the public. Because that's what we want to do. We want to draw the public in.

So the first year, 2016, when we did it, it was a huge success when we thought maybe we'd get 4 or 500 people, we got over a thousand and and it got and with that, exponentially until the, pandemic and that backstabber. Sure, sure. Yeah. And, I've had the have had the privilege to speak at Rad Fest the last couple of years, and I attended the 1 in 2017. And so what you guys were doing and then, and then we got reconnected and, I can tell the audience listening. It's an amazing event. It's really incredible.

It's you meet lots of like minded people, right? So if you feel like you're a little bit odd and really wanted to optimize your health and longevity, and you're thinking about how, you know, living young for a lifetime, is it possible to actually be immortal? You know, and if any of those questions resonate with you, this is a great community to join in. And there's a lot of really cutting edge science that gets presented at these meetings. So it's I think the audience finds fascinating, and the science is actually find fascinating.

And so, it's usually about three days this year. That's right. September in California. I'm not sure. I think the next one, maybe someplace else, but. In Vegas, in Vegas. And we're going to be I think we're going to be at the, Red Rock Resort in Vegas. But yeah. Which I think you, said to me, if I mentioned it to you, I can't remember now, but that you, move that resort. It's a beautiful resort. I think it's one of the locations. And, Vegas. It's about 20 minutes, actually, from the strip, which is kind of nice to bring up, but don't have to be right in it.

And, yeah, it's, July 10th through the 13th, so it's start that Thursday night, go through Sunday and it's going to be amazing. By the way, I'm going to announce this now, and you're going to be the first, you know, podcast to hear it. Okay? Okay. Speaking of, collaborations, we now are going to be merging, collaborating with Aubrey de gray, Doctor Aubrey de gray. He wants to merge his event with Rad Fest. So as you know, he's running the organization that's called, Longevity Escape Velocity now, lady.

Right. And and so we're excited about that because who's going to speak on the science? We've had really great science, but he's going to elevate that even, more scientists and and bring his, you know, touch that he has to the table. And so, we're very I'm very happy to announce that now he's, a tremendous scientist himself, but he's got he's bringing all kinds of other colleagues. And so it's going to be it's going to be a double whammy. That's in 25. Yeah. Got the best of science and the best of inspiration.

Yeah. That's that's really exciting. We Aubrey has been a guest on this. Yeah. Podcast for this longevity summit that we're putting out. Yeah. So yeah we know Aubrey quite well. And, he and I are working on a couple initiatives right now with regard. Yeah, some of the states and in the United States that basically have expanded their right to try law, Montana being right state in in question. And so we're looking at actually doing a clinic in Montana where we may be able to do some things that we, you know, it's hard to do in other states, so to speak.

Guess, which is kind of interesting. So anyway, you know, I've had some phone calls about that and kind of pursuing some things. Be nice to see if we can get Texas to do that as well. But yeah. Yeah for sure. Yeah. Beautiful. I love your doing that. Yeah. You know one of the I think one of the, great things about this area is that the people that are involved in it, you know, have kind of been in some respects, they've been marginalized. They've been thought as being weird and things like that. I will tell you this.

I had an occasion in the last several weeks to come in contact with traditional physicians. Again. And when I bring up to them, you know, they ask me what I'm doing. I tell them I was an interventional cardiologist and things like that, and now I've transitioned over here and to this, you know, longevity medicine. And I explain to them what that is. What's interesting is that, when I started this back in 2012, people would have looked at me sort of sideways, like, what are you even talking about?

Right? And now they're like, oh, yeah, we've heard about that. Are you doing PRP or are you. What is what is it about? Right. So it's actually starting this whole move. Yeah. Yeah. Starting to make its way known into the consciousness of traditional medicine, like, I think into society at large. So tell me a little bit about your plans to, I know you're planning a march, if I'm not mistaken. Yes. I intend to kind of talk about some of the right to try elements and also some of the ability for people to kind of understand that longevity medicine is here and it's real, and it's it actually can have a massive impact on decreasing health care costs or sick care costs, as we refer to it.

Exactly. A movement that you're working with to to do that in Washington. Yes, yes. Well, thank you for bringing that up because, we feel, that it's very important that and I'm happy to hear that, you know, you're getting better responses. I'll say to. Yeah. So people that are asking about these things now, my curiosity is being being put a little bit, stirred up. And that's what we want to do. There's more positive news all the time now on it. Of course, when I, when I first started, as you know, and the best thing about it, we were, we were like, you know, wretches from the north or something, or aliens or, you know, we never got a major negative response in many arenas, but now, you know, and so, great that, more and more people are getting things.

They ask. But I worry about the timing was perfect then for us to, analysis March. Actually, it's a rally, at this last rad fest that we had, in this last September. And, we, what the plan, what we're going to do, and we've got, I can say, overwhelming, response on it to help out people to wanting to help out some of the couple of them that came to me at Rad Fest actually helped organize a civil rights movement in the 60s that went with the king, you know, made that that great. Yeah. So they want to help.

They're very enthusiastic about it. So what we want to do is have this, rally for longevity, right?

Right to Try and Longevity Advocacy 16:48

Okay. People want you have any rights at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington? Yeah. So those who have any rights. I don't think that's a term that most people. You go to. Okay, okay. The right the right to choose, for example, is there is one big important one that you brought up that if you have a, a commemorative day, for example, that could that no other, you know, I say food medicine for it that you can, have the right to choose something, medicine that has but not approved yet by the FDA.

Because if you don't do it, you know, you're going to, you know, lose your life anyway. And so you should have the right to pick something that you like. It's the right to. Accept the right. It's the right to try. Yeah. Right. Right. So so another note, we also want to get, you know, which is, which is most of that same same, I'll say issue is the best choice medicine. You know, we can be able to choose the medicine that we want, without even medicines sometimes that aren't already approved, bettering our health or longevity purposes, etc., that, that the individual considers safe.

So what what this is really about, as I'm guessing and for the audience to understand, this is really taking the right to health care back. Right. Out of the hands of the practitioner. Yes. Or the government for that matter, and putting it in the hands of the person. Right? That's right, that's right. That's not medicine. Right. Who wants to to do something, try something or whatever else. Right. Yeah. And so that's really this what we're talking about is really empowering the population to have access to things that they feel they either want to try or whatever in any context, whether it's to optimize their health or to take care or deal with an illness that they're dealing with.

Right. It's this opening up. Allow the people to do what they want to do, right and yes. Right as that. Exactly. We as individuals should have that right. That's that's the, the or the initiative. We also a big one is that we want the FDA, and our government to acknowledge that aging is a disease. Now, that's a that's a big one. Okay. But we know we were there's a lot of evidence now that aging is a disease. And we want that, you know, research deeper. We want money to support the study of aging in that level to to be able to, interfere with the aging process.

And obviously, that's what you said. It's going to be a big economic boost, by us tackling the root of the cause rather than taking one disease at a time like we do now. Okay. Right. I get my I tip my hat to those who are fighting in the field of cancer. For example, I would put $2 into it. And and we take these diseases one by one like that and it's really over. It's focus slowly and so slow. And if we attack the disease of aging, that'd be that would be a domino effect by by killing aging or even make the advancements in that we begin to see a domino effect with these other diseases that are, that are, age related for that, for example.

Yeah. It's important to understand that in really a lot of these chronic diseases, apart from some genetic predisposition like sickle cell or something like that. Right. So apart from that, most of these diseases really. Right on top of the, the river with, with an ever accelerating current of aging. Right. That's really. Related to the intertwining of the hallmarks of aging as they kind of spin up like a tornado and start to. Exactly. Play off each other. Right. And so that's how that works. And this makes that worse.

And next thing that's right, you're you're headed towards, Niagara Falls. And so, you know, to actually treat the disease, which is the boat floating on top of the river is. Really is. Kind of missing the point, right? It's like, we. Know that river. Or something that can let the boat go back upstream. Right. So that's. Real sad. Said yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. And really we're not going to go I think this is important to say that we're not going to go to do a demonizing anyone or anything.

That's yeah, we think that's the wrong attitude. And I think people and generally speaking that mean well, maybe we don't maybe don't see the, the picture. And one way or another people, they see it the way they see it. We want to go with it. I'll say, a real, you know, passionate spirit, loving spirit in that context and just say, hey, look here, here's a world that we think might and we want you to take a look at it, and we think everybody will want to live in. That's what we do today. Because too often I'm going around the world speaking.

You've done it to and you hear people say, oh, I'm not even interested in living longer. I mean, I want to get off this planet, right? Either because they're not feeling good or are you? Because there's so much conflict, they're tired of it, you know, maybe going to world that we want to all live in, you know, you know, that's part of it. I agree with that. I think part of the problem, as I characterize it now is what I call binary thinking, yes, right. Where somebody is right and somebody is wrong.

And what I appreciate about what you're talking about in this movement, in Washington and really everything that you do is not making anybody wrong. Right? Because when you step into that binary thought process, then you're judging, right? As actually as that. If you look at it through a quantum lens full of. A zero in a field of all possibilities. Right now you're looking at how do we actually find the best solution. Nobody's at the situation. How do we find the best solution where everybody wins?

That's right. Bringing that kind of thinking to this, rather than polarize thing. Right. Too much of that. It's right. Too much of that. An invitation to pull people together around, you know, the common good, if you will. And I think that's a beautiful message to have. Exactly. I think this is something that that, you know, we've all moved in here together, that, everyone, everyone will eventually be able to see that, especially when we begin to show that this is the world that we all want, is not a person that, you know, I don't talk to you or you don't talk to you, even when they're sometimes depressed about their situation.

That would want health and vitality, as you know, I wouldn't want to. And many times people will say, oh, you know, living for a long time. I don't want to live that way. But then we'll say, oh, what about the level? And not not the way you're living, but with vitality and strength, and you can get better all the time. What about that now? Maybe the. Oh, yeah, that sounds good, right? So that's the way this is the world that we want to show them. It is possible. And look at these people. You have to say, you know what you turn their head towards.

They have, you know, grandkids. They have it, you know, and and they really innately, innately those, I call it the primal scream to let as then everybody, okay, what we have to do is tap into that. And I think that is that is a cohesive bond that can happen to any of us. It's a common cause that can bring us all together on this planet for that common, bigger purpose. That's right. You know. The way I think about this too, is that, you know, when you really get in touch, a deep touch with consciousness, right?

And you really get in touch with God, consciousness, whatever you want to. Right? That's right. It's pure love. It is, it is. And just what is love? Love to do. It loves to create right with this. Right. Universe. And then. Yeah. What's the upshot of creation? It's basically. That's right. So if we if we take this concept up from a very loving place, we want to create and bring joy, right?

RadFest 2025, Coalition, and Closing 24:18

That's what we're here to do. And so it's really talking about it's really a festival of joy is really what. Yes that's right, that's right. That's a good way to put it I think. In fact, I know that a lot of times if we had a dance, there's an icon of joy, abundance. We shouldn't juggle all the time and survival. Let's get out of the road of survival and get into the world. Creativity. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And really at their best, when we're creating quite. 100% and everything works better. Yeah.

You know, you look at what some people say to me, well, what is love have to do with all that science? What is that look by, by embracing this. You know, let's say I use the term this love of your, your body. And when I acknowledge the capacity that's there for us to create and work together and makes everything easier and everything you take, I don't care if I, when I do supplements, when I do exercise arms or anything, I do. You know what's better in your body when you when you really see that from that wholeness and that and that and that love for your body and others that just didn't better.

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And we got to us. Then we draw to us the innovations. Then rather than chasing them down, we'll draw to us everything we need from that, from that chemistry. Exactly. Yeah. You know, life is so much better. Stress is so much lower health, so better when you move out of that bind. Yes. What I. Like working from love and that's true for everybody is listening to this. Is that. You're an inspiration to so many people. It's been an inspiration to me. And I really have, treasured our, our relationship.

So I really appreciate you taking time to chat with us today. Thank you very much. Yeah. If you're listening to this, check out Rad Fest. I think it's going to be next June or July, if I'm not mistaken. Yes. June, July, 10th through the 13th. And as Vegas at the, Red Rock resort, it's going to be, a phenomenal time. Really don't don't miss it. If you're listening to this, because it'll change your life and all kinds of great ways. You'll meet people that like, like like, you know, Doctor Gladden here, who has a passion for life.

Beyond what? I'm really grateful for you, your movement and your expansion and what you're doing at the table. You've been great at Rad that we're going to do. A lot of people like Doctor Gladman and myself, who want to inspire and and want this joy and have this joy in themselves. So if you're not like my health, you know that, right? That and also keep in mind, coalition for radical. If you take the 501C32 doesn't as taxes and comes around, a communications director want me to mention that. Yeah.

That that because what we're doing, the money is being used now for these initiatives. We're going to need a considerable amount of money to put on this, rally in DC and in 26. But everything, is that spent is spent for the advancement of this new life. And so I'm really excited about it. Yeah. Well, it's beautiful. That's beautiful. Yeah. Just so you know, rad is build rad if you. At the state. Yeah. Rad. Revolution against aging and death. Right. Yeah. So so I read a note here, if you don't mind, that I just put on my desk.

And so. Yeah, if you want to look up the coalition is early coalition.com. The coalition is the producer of rock bass. And you will hear and be able to read a lot about what I'm talking about here and, and, and how you can donate if you want to. And all the details about being at rad. That beautiful. All right. Thank you so much. Such a pleasure to see you. Thank you thank you Jeff. Appreciate it. You bet.