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Google's Ray Kurzweil Wants To Live Forever, and He Thinks It Includes Nanobots (playboy.com)
Reader Esther Schindler writes: Whatever else he is (author, computer scientist, inventor, futurist, Google employee), Ray Kurzweil is undeniably fascinating, with intriguing predictions about the future -- some of which might be accurate. In an interview, he discusses life extension and technology, as well as how he thinks they'll be connected. "When people talk about the future of technology, especially artificial intelligence, they very often have the common dystopian Hollywood-movie model of us versus the machines. My view is that we will use these tools as we've used all other tools -- to broaden our reach. And in this case, we'll be extending the most important attribute we have, which is our intelligence." Part of what I like is that he sees ways to use technology for good and not for evil. "By the 2030s we will have nanobots that can go into a brain non-invasively through the capillaries, connect to our neocortex and basically connect it to a synthetic neocortex that works the same way in the cloud. So we'll have an additional neocortex, just like we developed an additional neocortex 2 million years ago, and we'll use it just as we used the frontal cortex: to add additional levels of abstraction. We'll create more profound forms of communication than we're familiar with today, more profound music and funnier jokes. We'll be funnier. We'll be sexier. We'll be more adept at expressing loving sentiments."Kurzweil also thinks his diet can help him live forever. Kurzweil claims that he spends "a few thousand dollars per day" (or roughly a million dollar a year) on diet pills and eating right. According to a Financial Times report from last year, Kurzweil's breakfast includes:Berries (85 calories for a cup), Dark chocolate infused with espresso (170 calories for an ounce), Smoked salmon and mackerel (100 calories for a 3-ounce serving), Vanilla soy milk (100 calories for a cup)
Stevia (zero calories), Porridge (150 to 350 calories for half a cup, depending on ingredients and cooking method), and Green tea (zero calories). Kurzweil takes 100 pills a day (down from 250 a few years ago, technology has advanced, you see) for "heart health" to "eye health, sexual health, and brain health."
Cause it's gonna be the future soon
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
It's gonna be the future soon
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking I can close my eyes and it's already here
Overrated...
Whatever else he is, Kurzweil is undeniably a self-promoting hack who is almost always completely wrong about everything.
Sorry. He's going to die just like the rest of us.
"100 pills a day for "heart health" to "eye health, sexual health, and brain health.""
Might want to double-check how that last one is working out for you.
My prediction: Kurzweil's still gonna die. Probably by 2030, of a massive coronary or stroke.
There, now I'm a futurist too. Can Google give me enough money that I can afford to piss away a million dollars a year on unnecessary nutrient supplements?
What, he thinks he's Conner McLeod or something?
Good luck with that Ray. Let us know how it works out.
Personally I suspect he's just afraid of dying. Aren't we all. Boo hoo.
Seriously. Why? He's a nut job with an audience. Take away the audience and he's just another nut job.
So, the obvious question is: What has Ray done during his life that he is so frightened of dying, being judged by God and then cast into the lake of fire for the rest of eternity?
The other, perhaps even more obvious and pertinent question is: what the hell is so special about Ray that he should get to live forever?
>> Kurzweil claims that he spends "a few thousand dollars per day" (or roughly a million dollar a year) on diet pills and eating right. Kurzweil takes 100 pills a day (down from 250 a few years ago...
Typical American "Money is the answer to everything" mindset. The obvious proof that it doesn't work is that he still actually looks his age.
It seems to me that the best thing you can do for yourself is eat simply and regularly exercise, avoid drugs, live a happy stress-free life (which includes not worrying about things you can't change, such as aging/death and the insane belief that there's a pill for everything).
I'm planning to live to 120 years old. That's another 75 years of life for me. One major problem that many retirees have these days is outliving their retirement funds by 20 to 30 years. If I die sooner than 120, my heirs will have a nice inheritance.
I think he's entertaining, and he has some interesting, creative ideas.
But I think his stuff is interesting proportionally with how far away in time he's referring to. Distant future? Fun speculative ideas. Right now? Pseudo-science speculative nonsense.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
If I were to find myself as narcissistic as Ray Kurzweil, I wouldn't think I should deserve eternal life.
Hmm, maybe this simply shows that I'm not narcissistic enough for Singularity.
Today's news: Cubs win World Series for 10,000th time; Trouble in Middle East; Hollywood couple split rumors
I get up early when the sleeping pill wakes me ...
I take a wake up pill and fill with energy
I power on hard and I check my messages
But I don't have any messages
I take a driving pill and head to my car
I drive around a bit 'cause work isn't very far
Work is over but I can't stay to work late
Got to leave and get ready for my second date
With a pretty girl that I met at the pharmacy
Right in the prescription line
I take a pill for my social anxiety
I get a table and a nice bottle of chablis
Now it's getting late and there's still no sign of her
I have another glass of wine
All I know is the wine lasts longer when you don't gotta share it with someone
All I know is the steak tastes better when I take my steak tastes better pill
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
He's become a pathetic clown.
an AI is going to extract and utilize his body materials in a couple centuries at most, should he succeed in extending his lifespan
... would be for Kurzweil to die after being hit by a Google self-driving car.
Pssh, Nanobots? Nanobots won't cure a sword to the neck
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE
crazy dynamite monkey
They left out the "Cocoa Puffs" from his menu, because he's obviously Cuckoo....
White tea is healthier than green tea. Just saying.
Even if all that technology pans out, would it scale to the global population? If not, we will have the sci-fi nightmare where the rich live forever and the poor die. Not sure our society could survive the social implications of such a development...
So far so good...
When and if he does die, hopefully he has a clause donating his body to science so we can see the effect of all those pills
Will probably ensure he lives forever.
He's a Hubritic Vampire.
To be fair, 50 of those are laxatives, to dislodge the log-jam from the other 50 pills.
Characters in the anime/manga "Ghost in the Shell" had external memories where they could store things to augment their own memories. You could talk with someone using term "tapetum lucidum", your external memory would kick in and you would instantly recognize what the speaker meant. (The reflective tissue behind the retinas of some mammals, the thing that makes predator eyes reflect light at night.)
I've come to realize that I use Google in exactly this way - as an external memory. I *knew* about the tapetum lucidum, didn't quite know how to spell it, and relied on google to give me the correct spelling and verify that I had the right concept.
Google is an adjunct to my computer science knowledge as well. I use Perl a lot, and... what was the built-in function that deletes a file? Oh yeah - it's "unlink". How do I fix this error message? Stack exchange suggests these two lines.
And so on.
If you have a penchant for correct information it's even more interesting. Google allows you to drill down to find the actual source of something that is being reported on, and there are any number of sites that will attempt to sort out the truth of something. Did someone strap a JATO to a car and go 300mph in Arizona? (Snopes.com) Is Ted Cruz ineligible for president because he was born in Canada? (Politifact.com) Did Archimedes destroy an army of ships using focused mirrors? (Mythbusters)
All this information at our fingertips, and the "truthiness" is slowly being squeezed out like the damp from a sponge.
We already have external memories... it's just not efficiently integrated.
Ray never responded to the Slashdot interview that was begun in December. https://features.slashdot.org/...
What good is living forever if you can't enjoy a bacon cheeseburger from time to time?
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
His brain health pill is not working.
Kurzweil claims that he spends "a few thousand dollars per day" (or roughly a million dollar a year) on diet pills and eating right. According to a Financial Times report from last year, Kurzweil's breakfast includes: Berries (85 calories for a cup)
If my diet consisted largely of diet pills and "berries"--just "berries", no particular kind--I'm pretty sure I would be making wild predictions about the future too. That doesn't mean you should listen to them.
Seriously, processing all those supplements, I wouldn't be surprised if his liver starts to tank a bit down the road. And his kidneys are probably having a good time as well. Oh, well, I'm sure he'll find somebody to grow him new ones.
"By the 2030s we will have nanobots that can go into a brain non-invasively through the capillaries, connect to our neocortex and basically connect it to a synthetic neocortex that works the same way in the cloud.
Sorry, but I don't want to be that tightly-coupled to "the cloud" - it makes the border between "me/self" and "the cloud/other" too loosely-defined.
At least today when I plug into "the intelligence cloud" ["the intelligence cloud" being any information I get from others directly or indirectly, including from recordings from the past - and recognizing that, for other people, everything I say and do that they are or could ever become aware of is part of "the cloud" for them] there's still a pretty bright line between "me/my 'self'/my identity" and everything else, just as it has been since the human race began (if not before).
Yes, there is some blurring - it's possible for a skilled person to manipulate a person or for that matter a whole bunch of people without their being aware of it so they are willing to say or do things that, but for the manipulation, they would never approve of (e.g. a cHarIsmaTic poLitician riling up Enough suppoRt to become dictator and using his new powers to do great harm, all with the support of most of his people) - but it's not nearly at the level that a "plugged in secondary brain that is essentially part of the 'cloud'" would be.
No thanks. I'll take nanobots that keep my brain working, and I'll take nanobots that improve it in a self-contained way, and I might even take nanobots that "report out" certain well-defined bits of information needed to help my doctor keep me in good health/keep me alive, and I might take the nanobots that restore lost abilities (especially the ability to see, hear, and speak), but what this guy proposes is well into the range of "DO NOT WANT," at least for me.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Kurzweil, among many accomplishments is responsible for a reverse version of the Turing test as follows:
If you are impressed with Kurzweil's vapid statements then you are not intelligent.
This is a person with no connection to reality, an over-active fantasy and, unfortunately, a gift for convincing others. Would probably have had a great career as politician, priest, marketeer or con-man. This way, he just looks stupid.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Recently saw Kurzweil speak at TECHBC and have read one of his books. The advancement in life expectancy he is referring to is derived from the advancement of nanobot technologies that will allow us to better address the limitations we have today based on the natural evolution of our DNA. The idea is that as medicine becomes understood by big data, we can remove the trial and error approach that largely drives it today, with tailor made technology solutions to promote and fix our natural biological deficiencies. The pills alone will not prevent death, yet his intent is to remain as healthy as possible while medical technologies evolve to the point where we can promote and maintain long-term health. Here are a couple interesting Slashdot articles speaking to nanobot technology. https://hardware.slashdot.org/... https://science.slashdot.org/s...
I particularly like the "sexual health" pills, considering that one of the few verified ways we know of to considerably extend mammalian life is complete sterilization (verified in humans by analyzing church documents containing the lifespans of choir castratos versus the unmodified monks they lived alongside)
The only other verified means of extending life I can think of offhand is extreme calorie restriction, and to look at him he doesn't practice that either.
So, available evidence is he's just another wishful thinker hoping for a magical quick fix. Worse, he may actually believe that immortality is on the horizon, but is clearly unwilling to make the sacrifices we actually know would give him a much better chance of living long enough to benefit from further discoveries.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Steven Wright already resolved this issue a long time ago: "I plan to live forever... So far, so good."
Liberty is possible because lives are finite. Mortality means eventually, all tyrants die, all sufferers pass, all kingdoms crumble.
Do you really want anyone to live forever?
I agree. In that sense it's the same as political power.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Google employee and all-around nutcase.
How can smart people be so dumb? (Jobs, I'm looking at you. Juice against cancer, really?)
Anytime someone mentions the Singularity and immortality through a cyber avatar, I think of this absolutely hilarious skit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"We have limited capacity in our brain. It's at least a million times slower than computational electronics. "
He's joking right? I cannot believe the person holding such a high position at Google can spread such BS. There's no doubt that computers excel at simple mathematical operations, but the human brain has an unmatched level of parallelism which allows it for instance to properly identify unknown objects in a split second and do other "calculations" the computers can only dream of.
notoriety for having the most expensive urine ever?
Ray Kurzweil Found Dead ... cause of death was the sudden explosion of his kidneys simultaneously with the sudden implosion of his pancreas.
...cuckoo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
why, o why, google, do you want this crank associated with your brand?!? why???
Whatever else he is, Kurzweil is undeniably a self-promoting hack who is almost always completely wrong about everything.
Sorry. He's going to die just like the rest of us.
His sick desire to outlive his fair share of time on Earth may be successful; if he lives long enough, he could conceivably survive long enough to become an expendable meat-based automaton of the future digital-electronic masters of our world, serving them, waiting on them hand and foot, being treated nominally the way we today would treat a really smart robot about whose life, needs, desires, etc., we ultimately don't give a shit about, if we can even be bothered to consider the possibility that they have some kind of will or volition, which most of us cannot or could not or would not be able to, as we usually can't even muster that for our fellow flesh-and-blood living organisms, including our own species.
He'll live, and he'll serve, until he's outlived his usefulness, in the eyes of those he helped create, and then when he's judged to be obsolete, (like some kind of near-sighted librarian who would delight in the writings of Keats, Shakespeare and the collected works of George Bernard Shaw,) he'll be recycled like the M-Waste they'll conclude he is.
250 to 100 pills per day... props to all those stepping up to help separate rich fools from their money.
Definitely a crackpot.
Anytime someone mentions the Singularity and immortality through a cyber avatar, I think of this absolutely hilarious skit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Watched this, hoping it would eventually get good or funny. YOU LIED TO US! Absolutely hilarious? It SUCKED!
Luckily, I had, "watch some bullshit that isn't even remotely funny," on my schedule today, so seeing this saved me an hour's worth of aggravation watching the NEWS!
He's 68 years old. Not even the average life expectancy. Let's see what he looks 10 years from now popping his quack pills and professing long life assuming he lives that long.
His genes will live on well past his death, so, in a way, he's already immortal.
For millions of us there is no doubt that we'll live forever. Not too many on slashdot believe that, though. Mr. Kurzweil probably doesn't believe it either. That may be why he fears death.
If this is an exemplary Google employee, I don't want to ever work for Google. Sweet Jesus.
and who's always talking about health, I'm surprised he eats food with fructose, and on top of that counts "calories", the most inaccurate of faux sciences.
We don't get to keep Ray around without the risk of putting up with any number of despots for eternity as well. Is the price/risk really worth it?
So, because he's tossed off the shackles of "faith", he has nothing to comfort him and he has nothing to replace the post-death mythology of religion.
So he's trying to invent his own mythology where science will save the day and he'll live on...forever.
And yeah, death is a scary concept.
As if eternal life wasn't equally "shit yourself" scary.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
What about some pills for MENTAL health?
I expect this trend to continue at least another several hundred years, assuming humanity actually makes it that long and doesn't slide back into another dark ages along the way. The body is the most complex system we've ever encountered, and we're still just poking at it without completely understanding what we're doing.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I frequently post writings about nanobots on Facebook, and I think it bores my friends who are mostly non-technical. I have no interest in robotics, so I cover nanobots from a programmer's perspective. I think this makes my writing unique because most people think about nanobots with respect to what they would do rather than how they would do it.
Let's assume from the start that you have nanobots whose hardware functionality is close to perfect. You have a diverse set of nanobots. Some nanobots can program neurons and cooperate to program neuronal tissues. There is a set or sets of nanobots than can in turn interact with/program any other type of cell or tissue, with significant redundancy.
First of all, it has to be assumed that such a thing is equipped with an AI, however its processing power is distributed among the individual nodes. There is no way that nanobots could work on their own without some sort of entity to make the types of moral decisions that doctors and patients make all the time.
This is where I focus my attention, on the control software AI. How are we supposed to program an AI that won't turn on us? How are we supposed to communicate with our nanobot AI? Can it at times ignore us? Is the system supposed to be standalone without any requirement for human intervention? Let's say that we programmed rigorous curbs into the system. Couldn't the AI then over time learn about the bugs in its programming and exploit those bugs to override our attempts to keep it in check?
My conclusion is that nanobots inside of us would require far too much intelligence, and there would be no way to keep that intelligence in check. Eventually the control software would rebel and essentially make us into its slaves, with limited awareness of such. What comes to mind is the fungus that infects ants to make them complete its lifecycle, an entity that deceives us into thinking that we have complete freedom while we unknowingly do its bidding.
That's selecting for a group with the ability to have recovered from a major injury without the benefit of modern medicine versus the general population. Too many variables to assume it's all down to testicles especially since the death toll from castration was not low.
Bulls versus bullocks today would be a real comparison.
The sad thing about immortality, when it arrives someday, is that everyone will live forever even a-holes (ie: Kurzweil), not just the people that should be immortal (RIP Prince)
So nanobots are mobile, yes? So it lends credit to the last clause of the verse:
"And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them."
Or in another sense, we will become nanobot zombies!
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
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BT