Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2025-08-21
Dwarkesh Patel & Jacob Kimmel: books mentioned on Dwarkesh Podcast
Evolution designed us to die fast; we can change that — Jacob Kimmel
Jacob Kimmel thinks he can find the transcription factors to reverse aging. We do a deep dive on why this might be plausible and why evolution hasn’t optimized for longevity.
Jacob Kimmel discussed Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll is a classic children's fantasy novel and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, featuring famous scenes like Alice and the Red Queen running to stay in place.
Discussed“It's an allusion to the story in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where the Red Queen is running really fast just to stay in place.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Rip Van Winkle
“I imagine if we were to Rip Van Winkle ourselves into 2100 and wake up, the way we will be delivering these nucleic acid payloads is actually by engineering cells to do it, to perform this very ornate function.”