Niels Wu Exhibits AGNES at Celebration Hosted by Kaleidoscope

AgeLab researcher Niels Wu donned AGNES and discussed the AgeLab’s perspective at a celebration hosted by Kaleidoscope, a New York City-based podcast studio telling stories about cutting-edge ideas, technologies, and people shaping the future.

Kaleidoscope celebrated new seasons for three of their shows, including Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever, hosted by Kaleidoscope co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Mangesh Hattikudur. Skyline Drive follows Hattikudur through conversations with scientists and entrepreneurs trying to make immortality a reality, and his dawning realization that a longer life is not necessarily one better lived.

To help guests explore this possibility for themselves, Wu demonstrated AGNES, an aging simulation suit developed by the AgeLab that lets people experience an older version of themselves. AGNES has been used to inform the design of many products and services that support older adults.

Wu also exhibited PARO, a therapeutic social robot for people with dementia, and spoke about how the Longevity Preparedness Index may help people better prepare for old age.

On season 2, episode 2 of Skyline Drive, Hattikudur visited the AgeLab and donned AGNES himself. He found that wearing AGNES built his empathy for people moving more slowly around him: New Yorkers shuffling on the sidewalk, and even his own anxious mother. Ultimately, the experience helped him deduce that his goal is “not necessarily living longer, but living better in the years I do have.”

“It is a strange feeling,” Hattikudur said about wearing AGNES, not just about the weights strapped to his limbs, but also his muddled thoughts; during a series of activities like making coffee and climbing stairs, he could not recall how long he had been wearing the suit.