Sure, but, I mean, will we get it sooner if private companies are not working on it at the same time as public research institutions are? If we don't have acces

Sure, but, I mean, will we get it sooner if private companies are not working on it at the same time as public research institutions are? If we don't have access to the tech because it is being hoarded, or because it does not exist, the effect is the same. I also think it will be hard to hoard it for long, particularly if it really works the way people are assuming it will work ("immortality serum" style). I think that's wishful thinking for now, and that at the very best we will get the Xerox PARC of ageing research, which, honestly, would be victory enough. > It might be kept completely secret instead. Easier said than done. Very few technologies are kept secret in that way. Keep in mind that even for the fission bomb, the Soviets got it fully replicated after just 4 years, and other countries soon followed suit. These days we are all in panic because even marginalized states can afford to build the damn things. The only reason not every developed country has a nuclear arsenal is not secrecy, but legal arrangements and joint defense treaties. Now remember that is literally the strongest conspiracy for scientific secrecy in the history of mankind, with good reasons and everything, and it involves a device for which manufacture is insanely expensive, not just R&D. Medical research is even easier to replicate given even partial information about its workings.