Lifeboat Foundation

In case you’ve missed the news, Lifespan.io has another crowdfunding campaign running right now!

Before I’m too late for the party, I’d like to let you know that Lifespan.io’s crowdfunding campaign AgeMeter for the development of a diagnostic system to measure functional human age has been extended by two weeks. Presently, 70% of the necessary funds have been collected, i.e. a little over 20.000 dollars out of 30.000. It would be great if yet this other campaign made it to its goal, so if you haven’t made your donation yet, please do—remember, there’s no such thing as a donation which is too small: Broadly speaking, as long as the amount you donate is a positive real number, it is much appreciated! The AgeMeter campaign will end on September 16, 2017.

Continue reading “News from Lifespan.io campaigns” »

North Korea ‘low on our list of concerns’ says Tesla boss following Vladimir Putin’s statement that whoever leads in AI will rule world.

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A new study published by scientists at the Salk Institute recently shows how that changes in the nucleolus of progeria cells and normally aged cells share some characteristics that may allow them to be used as a biomarker for biological age[1].

What is Progeria?

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria is a rare genetic disease that causes people to suffer from aging-like symptoms on an accelerated timescale compared to regular aging. Whilst it shares similarities with regular aging it is not accelerated aging per se, but the outcome is much the same.

Seoul is poised to give green light to install four more batteries of controversial Thaad system amid tensions with Pyongyang.

When Kristopher Boesen of Bakersfield regained consciousness after losing control of his car while driving in wet conditions, he was paralyzed from the neck down. The prognosis was grim: he was told that he might never regain control of his limbs again.

But he has. At least some of them. He has movement in his upper body and can use his arms and hands. He can feed himself, text friends and family and even hug them. To him, this means that he has his life back. How did this miracle come about?

Kris was offered the opportunity to participate in a human clinical trial at the University of Southern California and Asterias Biotherapeutics. He is one of five previously paralyzed patients who experienced increased mobility after the trial.

Continue reading “First paralyzed human regains his upper body movement after being treated with stem cells” »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLgJZ-yNBBE&feature=share

Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading minds on artificial intelligence, technology and futurism. He is the author of five national best-selling books, including “The Singularity is Near” and “How to Create a Mind.”

Raymond “Ray” Kurzweil is an American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist. Aside from futurology, he is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He has written books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements, and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology.

Continue reading “Ray Kurzweil — A Revolutionary Future” »

How is Artificial Intelligence actually thinking? Even their creators often don’t really fully understand. But if AI becomes more and more important you should at least have an idea of how algorithms get to results. And they think totally different to how human beings do, says Sara M. Watson, tech critic and writer at the Digital Asia Hub, Hong Kong. How can literature and journalism help to find a new perspective on AI?

“The biggest problem AI has is that even the engineers can’t really explain certain outcomes or certain decisions that go through an artificially intelligent system.”

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence and Smart Journalism” »

Article out by Ron Bailey at Reason Magazine that discusses #transhumanism and #libertarianism:

Kai Weiss, a researcher at the Austrian Economics Center and Hayek Institute in Vienna, Austria, swiftly denounced the piece. “Transhumanism should be rejected by libertarians as an abomination of human evolution,” he wrote.

Clearly there is some disagreement.

Continue reading “Transhumanism and Libertarianism Are Entirely Compatible” »