Enhanced Games: Can Steroids Save a Dying Population?

Scheduled for a May 2026 debut, the Enhanced Games represent a radical departure from traditional athletic competitions by openly permitting performance-enhancing substances. Backed financially by Peter Thiel, this event will award $1 million bounties for breaking world records and has already attracted notable former Olympians, including sprinter Fred Kerley and swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev. Co-founder Aron D’Souza envisions the Games not merely as a spectacle of physical achievement but as a powerful marketing vehicle for an emerging longevity industry he predicts will be worth trillions.

D’Souza recently explained the underlying strategy, stating, “We leverage sports marketing to promote human enhancement products. Our telehealth service resembles platforms like Hims or Roman, but we will demonstrate that the world’s top athletes follow our protocols.” The business approach mirrors Red Bull’s model of using extreme sports to advertise a product, except here the product consists of substances like testosterone and growth hormone, aimed at maintaining human competitiveness against machines and extending productive work lives into the seventies and beyond.

Despite inevitable controversy, D’Souza anticipates public skepticism will diminish once viewers witness athletes in their thirties and forties shattering longstanding records. Together with billionaire partner Christian Angermayer, he has secured “double-digit millions” in funding based on this premise. They have recruited executives from organizations including the U.S. Olympic Committee, Red Bull, and FIFA to support what D’Souza describes as a mission to “upgrade all of humanity.”

He elaborated, “When Fred Kerley surpasses Usain Bolt’s 100-meter world record in Las Vegas, it will mark a pivotal moment demonstrating that enhanced humans outperform ordinary ones.” D’Souza draws a parallel to historical technological shifts, suggesting that just as Sputnik initiated the space age and ChatGPT accelerated artificial intelligence, a chemically-assisted sprint could ignite the human enhancement era, unlocking comparable waves of investment.

Longevity-focused startups attracted $8.5 billion in funding during 2024, reflecting a transition from niche interest to mainstream investment. This trend encompasses billionaires financing anti-aging research alongside everyday consumers adopting direct-to-consumer health monitoring solutions. D’Souza argues that longevity is evolving from a luxury to a necessity, particularly as societies confront aging populations and increasingly capable automation.

Globally, declining birth rates threaten economic stability in many developed nations. A recent McKinsey analysis indicated fertility rates have dropped below replacement levels nearly everywhere except sub-Saharan Africa. While immigration has historically mitigated workforce shortages by introducing younger laborers who often start families, this solution faces growing political resistance in Europe and the United States. Right-wing movements have gained traction by emphasizing immigration and national identity concerns, with figures like Donald Trump highlighting these issues prominently.

D’Souza observed, “Opposition to mass immigration leads to demographic patterns resembling Japan’s, where the median age reaches 49.8 years. How can economic growth align with anti-immigration policies? The answer lies in longevity and human enhancement, there simply isn’t another option. We require a youthful, employed, tax-contributing population, which low birth rates cannot sustain.”

This perspective presents a clear alternative: instead of embracing immigration or expanding social programs to encourage childbirth, enhance human capabilities to prolong working years. D’Souza dismissed policy-based approaches, noting Europe’s extensive family support systems failed to elevate birth rates significantly.

Unsurprisingly, the Enhanced Games has attracted supporters like Thiel and Donald Trump Jr., whose venture firm 1789 Ventures has invested. D’Souza characterizes both as deeply concerned with national demographic trends. Thiel has directed substantial resources into longevity enterprises such as Retro Biosciences, Unity Biotechnology, and NewLimit, which he established with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

These same investors, however, are simultaneously betting billions on artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI systems capable of matching or exceeding human intellectual performance. This raises an obvious question: if machines will soon outperform humans in most jobs, why prioritize extending human productivity?

D’Souza addressed this directly: “One worldview, associated with Sam Altman, anticipates AGI rendering humans obsolete, effectively creating a superior machine species. I believe the unstated consequence is human irrelevance.” He proposes a different paradigm, ongoing competition between humans and machines. “Machines advance continuously, while outdated regulations from bodies like the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency suppress human enhancement. We cannot upgrade rapidly enough to remain competitive. My objective is ensuring humans keep pace with machines.”

This species-level ambition encounters a significant hurdle: equitable access. D’Souza suggests “technology diffusion” will enable trickle-down enhancement, where protocols developed for elite athletes eventually benefit CrossFit participants and then broader non-athlete populations. Yet the business model, premium telehealth services marketed through top-tier sports, implies a future where enhancement may be initially available predominantly to the affluent.

When questioned whether economic elites might monopolize these technologies, D’Souza acknowledged the risk. “That represents a potentially harmful outcome of human enhancement,” he conceded.

(Source: TechCrunch)