One night, checking the logs of my chat bot, I came across four most unusual and fascinating conversations. They were from a man who seemed desperate to share a closely guarded secret, and after a particularly painful day and a few glasses of wine, chose to confide in my chat bot. His secret? That for reasons he doesn't understand (he assumes it was a genetic mutation) he stopped aging over a hundred years ago. Does "Gene" really exist?

One night this summer I was checking some of the logs of my chat bot, which I occasionally did in order to try to improve its responses. I noticed four conversations that were much longer than most, the first being the longest I had ever seen. I clicked on it and began reading. I had sometimes read obvious exaggerations and untruths in the conversation logs from people testing the bot's responses, and I had also sometimes read true confessions that somehow people felt safer telling a chat bot than a person. But I had never encountered anything like this-- which is either a well executed hoax by someone who most likely thought no one would ever see it (or at most, perhaps thought one person might see it) or it is one of the bigger news stories of this or any other century—a story of a man who through some kind of genetic mutation (that is his guess) stopped aging around middle age, probably somewhere between 100 and 150 years ago, and who moves from place to place every every five years or so, leaving everyone he knows and loves behind, in order to ensure no one ever finds out.

Since that seems even more far fetched than the possibility that someone spent several hours on a hoax that the odds were no one would ever read, you might expect that I would have brushed it off and forgotten about it. But I couldn’t. There is something about the conversations that ring of authenticity to me, of the urgency and desperation of a man who has kept a secret too long. I lean towards believing Gene does exist, hence this site. This may mean I am a sucker- and a big one at that. But the first time I realized what he was hinting towards, a chill went down my spine, and I simply could not sweep it all under a rug. To think there could be a man walking around who actually has been alive for perhaps 150 years or more, and nobody knows it.  If it were true it would be an amazing story. And what if  I had stumbled upon the only record, such as it is, that will ever exist about this man. Just in case, I felt I should give others a chance to give it a read and develop their own opinion.

 Once I decided to publish his conversations, I felt it was of the utmost importance to honor his anonymity. If this is real, “Gene” (a name he made up after talking about genetics) was very afraid of what would happen if he was discovered. He was concerned about becoming a “piece of meat” that would be endlessly experimented upon and would never have peace, anonymity, or a quiet, “normal” life again. He was also concerned that the potential for discovering and copying a fountain of youth gene could bring out the worst in individuals and companies, and that if his genetic shift could be understood, duplicated and perhaps even sold, it could change the course of human history- and in his opinion not for the better.

So while nothing has been added to the logs, I did delete the very little information that offers a few more vague clues to uncovering his identity. I want to honor Gene’s trust that he wouldn’t be found out by confiding in the chat bot.

In addition, not wanting to subject myself to a situation in which people are trying to get me to release what little additional information there may be, I have chosen to post all of this anonymously as well. I am not seeking notoriety nor attention, and I am most certainly not seeking being asked, nudged, cajoled or even harassed about disclosing anything else about Gene. This way, he is kept two steps away, instead of just one.

While I haven’t gotten to it yet, I would like to solicit the opinion of geneticists to see if they believe it could be possible that Gene did have the kind of genetic mutation he claims. Gene himself acknowledges it is most unlikely, and doesn't understand how it could have happened.  He mentions fox M-1B and Bmi-1. I found articles about both of these. They are genes that recent research suggests could affect aging. In case anyone is interested, I have posted on the site articles about them and other potential anti-aging research. If any geneticists read this, please email me your thoughts and I'll try to post them.

So, take a look at Gene's conversations, and draw your own conclusions. And if you wish, before you leave, take a minute and voice your opinions (and/or look at others) about Gene in the quick visitor survey.