The billion-dollar bet on reversing aging: from body as machine to life as editable information

Summary

This opinion article by Álvaro Machado Dias explores the shift in scientific metaphors for understanding the human body and aging. It traces how the body has been viewed through different lenses — from Newton's clockwork universe, to Helmholtz's body-as-engine model, to the emerging paradigm of life as editable information. The article discusses a new generation of billion-dollar therapies aiming to reverse aging by treating biological information as something that can be rewritten, moving beyond the mechanical metaphor of wear-and-tear.