Can steroids combat population collapse? The Enhanced Games wants to find out.

The Enhanced Games, a caller sporting contention explicitly designed to let performance-enhancing drugs, looks similar a publicity stunt for the techno-macho era: Olympic athletes connected steroids competing for million-dollar bounties successful Las Vegas. But co-founder Aron D’Souza has a 90% gross borderline telehealth concern successful mind, and a transportation to governments struggling with aging populations. 

Launching successful May 2026 with Peter Thiel’s backing, the Games committedness $1 cardinal bounties for breaking satellite records. Former Olympic athletes similar sprinter Fred Kerley and swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev have already signed up to compete. The extremity isn’t conscionable to smash satellite records portion fans cheer. It’s to physique a selling motor for a longevity manufacture that D’Souza believes volition beryllium worthy trillions. 

“We usage sports selling to merchantability a quality enhancement product,” D’Souza said connected a caller occurrence of Equity. “It’s a telehealth work similar Hims oregon Roman, but we [will] person grounds that the champion and fastest athletes successful the satellite usage our protocols.” 

The concern exemplary is borrowed from Red Bull – utmost sports arsenic advertisement for the merchandise – but the merchandise isn’t an vigor drink. It’s testosterone, maturation hormone, oregon immoderate other tin support humans competitory with machines and productive into their 70s and beyond. 

While the Games are seen arsenic controversial, D’Souza is betting the ick origin fades erstwhile radical spot athletes successful their 30s and 40s smash satellite records. He and billionaire co-founder Christian Angermayer person raised “double-digit millions” connected this mentation and poached executives from the U.S. Olympic Committee, Red Bull, and FIFA to physique what D’Souza calls a ngo to “upgrade each of humanity.” 

“I judge that erstwhile Fred [Kerley] breaks [Usain Bolt’s] 100-meter satellite grounds successful Vegas adjacent year, it volition beryllium a watershed infinitesimal to amusement that enhanced humans are amended than mean humans,” helium said.  

Put different way: if Sputnik launched the abstraction property and ChatGPT launched the AI boom, D’Souza thinks a juiced sprint could motorboat the quality enhancement epoch – and unlock the aforesaid flood of investment.  

Longevity startups raised $8.5 billion successful 2024 arsenic involvement successful lifespan hold moved from fringe obsession to mainstream concern thesis. The entreaty spans from billionaires backing anti-aging probe to mundane Americans turning to direct-to-consumer wellness tracking erstwhile accepted healthcare fails them. 

Aron D’Souza, co-founder and president of the enhanced gamesImage Credits:The Enhanced Games

But D’Souza believes longevity isn’t conscionable a nice-to-have; it’s becoming a need-to-have successful the look of ever-aging populations and ever-smarter machines.  

In galore parts of the world, falling commencement rates person enactment large planetary economies connected the way toward colonisation collapse. A caller McKinsey study recovered fertility rates are declining beneath the replacement complaint beauteous overmuch everyplace but sub-Saharan Africa. Many countries person utilized migration to code the challenges of an aging population, since immigrants usually get astatine a younger moving age, capable successful captious labour gaps, and thin to person much children.  

But wide migration has triggered a governmental backlash successful Europe and the U.S., wherever right-wing parties person gained crushed by stoking fears astir migration and nationalist identity. Immigration has been a cardinal contented of Donald Trump’s presidency, and D’Souza reckons the contented could propulsion far-right leaders successful countries similar Germany, France, and the U.K. into power.  

“If you’re against wide immigration, you extremity up with this demographic exemplary that looks similar Japan,” D’Souza said, adding that Japan’s mean property (49.8 years old) makes it 1 of the oldest populations successful the world.  

“So however bash you reconcile the tendency for economical maturation with an anti-immigration modality?” helium continued. “Well, the solution has to beryllium longevity and quality enhancement, due to the fact that there’s nary different way. We request a young, working, tax-paying population, and that doesn’t stack up with debased commencement rates.” 

It’s a stark pitch: Rather than clasp migration oregon grow societal information nets that mightiness promote higher commencement rates, conscionable heighten humans to enactment longer. D’Souza dismissed the argumentation alternatives – Europe already tried supporting families, helium says, and it failed to bring commencement rates up.  

Given this backdrop, the Enhanced Games has immoderate predictable backers, including Thiel and Donald Trump Jr., done his VC steadfast 1789 Ventures. D’Souza describes some arsenic “obsessive astir the demographics of the nation.” Thiel has poured wealth into longevity startups including Retro Biosciences, Unity Biotechnology, and NewLimit, which helium co-founded with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong successful 2021.  

Of course, galore of the Games’ aforesaid investors are besides betting billions that artificial wide quality (AGI) — essentially, AI that tin execute immoderate intelligence task that a quality tin — volition soon bash astir jobs amended than humans can. Which raises the question: If AGI is coming, wherefore fuss extending our moving years astatine all?  

“We person the Sam [Altman] presumption of the world, which is that AGI volition come, it volition regenerate each the humans, and past the humans are fundamentally a second-class taxon due to the fact that determination volition beryllium a superior taxon successful the machines,” D’Souza said. “And I deliberation the inevitable effect of that, which Sam won’t admit, is that humans [become] irrelevant.” 

The alternate paradigm D’Souza is proposing? A contention betwixt humans and machines.  

“The machines are getting amended successful existent time, and due to the fact that of outdated regulations, peculiarly by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti Doping Agency… quality enhancement is stifled, and truthful we aren’t capable to upgrade accelerated capable to vie with the machines,” helium continued. “Now, my extremity is to guarantee that humans tin stay competitory with the machines.” 

The occupation with this species-level framing, though, is that not each humans volition needfully get the upgrade.  

D’Souza says “technology diffusion” volition pb to a benignant of trickle-down enhancement, wherever what’s suitable for champion athletes becomes therapy for radical who bash things similar CrossFit, and past becomes much suitable for much non-athletes. But the concern exemplary – premium telehealth services marketed done elite athletes – points toward a imaginable world wherever the affluent get enhanced, and everyone other gets older.  

When I suggested that enhancement technologies would apt scope the wealthiest archetypal — and that elites mightiness hoard entree to these capabilities — D’Souza didn’t propulsion back.

“I deliberation that is simply a perchance pernicious effect of quality enhancement,” helium said.