Superhuman: Utopia or Reality?

In the final chapters of Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari refers to the human effort to transcend our own biology as "superhuman." The issue is no longer just survival; it is about conquering nature, managing death, and redesigning the body. Harari argues that modern humans view aging, pain, and death as "glitches," and that for this reason, Homo sapiens is embarking on a quest to deify itself through biotechnology and artificial intelligence. This approach is no longer a utopia; it has turned into an everyday pursuit.

The example of Bryan Johnson, featured on the cover of The Economist last week, is a concrete reflection of this. This entrepreneur, who takes a hundred pills a day, eats nothing after 11:00 AM, and tries to optimize his body like a computer, wants not only to extend his lifespan but to eliminate death entirely. Johnson is not alone. A group of billionaires who think like him and try to "hack" the human body—from Elon Musk to Peter Thiel—are trying to build a future that oscillates between science and fantasy under the name of "human enhancement."

When I brought this topic up in my interview with Serdar Savaş, he clearly criticized Bryan Johnson's approach. According to him, such projects are driven by individual desires and capital. The human body is not a "machine that will break down," but a dynamic system of balance. The Gentest Institute, founded by Savaş, operates precisely with this perspective. Their system aims to intervene before a disease even emerges through personalized genetic analysis, seeking to understand the individual biologically rather than medically.

From Deception to Science

As The Economist points out, this field still lumps fraud and science into the same bag. Concepts like Metformin, NAD+, or follistatin are scientific discoveries for some, and new-generation hope-peddling for others. But this is exactly where Serdar Savaş's model distinguishes itself. The approach at Gentest is scientific, ethical, and public. Moreover, the goal is not to create a super-human; it is to protect the healthy individual through early diagnosis. In other words, it is not biohacking, but biological repair.

First Early Diagnosis, Then Civilization

Today, aging is still not considered a disease in the US. Therefore, research in the field of anti-aging runs into regulatory hurdles. However, in Turkey, institutions like Gentest have already implemented scientific systems to slow down aging. This is a strategic turning point not only for the health of the individual but also for the sustainability of the healthcare system.

Harari's "superhuman," Bryan Johnson's immortality project, and Serdar Savaş's preventive medicine model all describe the same future: a longer, healthier, and more controllable life. The difference is this: one is building this future as an experimental laboratory for the wealthy, while the other is constructing it with a community-based model. The latter may be quieter, but it is much more serious.