Hi I'm Keith Comito,  President of the Life
Extension Advocacy Foundation non-profit group
dedicated to furthering biomedical research 
that will extend healthy human lifespan.
One of the first projects we
are working on is the launch of
a non-profit crowdfunding platform
dedicated specifically to life extension
research projects: Lifespan.io. 
Now, why we feel this is really
important, because you might ask yourself
you know there's other crowdfunding
sites: Kickstarter, IndieGogo.
Why does this matter?
Well we think there can be a powerful benefit 
from centralizing all crowdfunding efforts
in this space and also as a non-profit
we are able to extend fiscal
sponsorship to for-profit entities allowing
donations to be potentially tax-deductible
And in doing this not only is it about trying to
raise funds which is of course a good
thing but it's really about trying to
outreach to a broader group of people.
To get everyone, the public, excited about
this research and asking the right
questions. Opening a dialogue: will living
longer mean living decrepit longer?
Will overpopulation be an issue if people
live longer? These are important questions and
there should be a nice genial dialogue about it. 
You know we're not trying to tell people
what to think; we're trying to invite a
dialogue by allowing people to become
informed and engaged in this
 kind of research directly.
It's interesting to note that this is actually 
not a new idea. The idea of extending healthy
human lifespan has been around since the
Epic of Gilgamesh, the first great work
of literature our species has produced,
and I think there's something really
exciting about being alive at this
moment in time where literally anybody
can carry that torch forward and
essentially help find the flower of
rejuvenation that Gilgamesh sought. 
We all get to be part of the first hero's
journey together 
and that's pretty awesome.
