Monday, July 25th, 2005, 6:52 am
Kurzweil Predicts Immortality
Raymond Kurzweil, the man who made fascinating predictions such as the emergence of the Web and defeat to humans against the computer in chess, foresees artificial rejuvenation of cells by 2030. This essentially talks of inner-body maintenance, leading to longevity provided you can afford it. The article also states: “Given all of Kurzweil’s successes to date, it seems unwise to dismiss his forecasts for 2030 and beyond”.
Skeptics will point out that Kurzweil is reaching the age when his ideas should be taken with a grain of salt. It seems like wishful thinking which comes from a man who will be 82 in 2030. Nonetheless, the article makes an interesting read. The predictions, as the article phrases them:
By 2030, Kurzweil believes, biomedical technology will have advanced to the point where it will be possible to halt the body’s aging process.
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Soon after that, around 2050, we should be able to reverse-engineer a human brain and upload it into a robot.
August 30th, 2005 at 1:52 am
Kurzweil is off his trolley. Even those in the transhumanist community (in which I’m a part of) don’t take his wild claims that seriously. He recently claimed that he had “not significantly aged in fifteen years” by chowing down 250 supplements a day. His latest book, “Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Forever” was co-authored with Dr. Terry Grossman, who I heard practices some rather dubious therapies.
IMHO the technologies which will make immortality a reality are more likely to arrive in the later part of this century at the earliest.