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Mar 16, 2018

Bionic Kidney To Replace Dialysis

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, bionic, biotech/medical

It’s not uncommon for the press to get hyped up before the long process of refinement and FDA approval. Let’s hope that this one moves along quickly — while demonstrating safety and efficacy.

https://www.troab.com/worlds-first-bionic-kidney-set-replace…-two-years

Mar 16, 2018

Undoing Aging With Aubrey de Grey Part Three

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Parte 3 of the SENS Research Foundation interview by LEAF is out!


Welcome to part three and the final part of our SENS Undoing Aging 2018 interview; we have a few more scientific questions today for Aubrey and his team as well as questions about future developments and taking new therapies to market.

Dr. de Grey, has your position on the relevance of telomere attrition changed since you first devised SENS, especially in the light of the recent results with fibrosis and your involvement with AgeX?

Continue reading “Undoing Aging With Aubrey de Grey Part Three” »

Mar 16, 2018

Undoing-Aging 2018 at full throttle — more…

Posted by in category: life extension

Undoing-Aging 2018 at full throttle — more than 300 scientists from 36 countries — 3 days of presentations and networking. love it smile

For updates on the presentations see the event page.

Fb.com/events/495046104177327/

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Mar 16, 2018

The Transhumanist Test of Faith

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, ethics, human trajectories, moore's law, singularity, transhumanism

This piece originally appeared at the Institute for Emerging and Evolutionary Technologies website. It is dedicated to Leon Festinger.

Transhumanism is more often regarded as a faith by its detractors than its supporters. For my own part, I have long argued that the signature themes of transhumanism – especially the preoccupation with intellectual immortality and physical resurrection – bear the marks of Abrahamic theology. Indeed, without that theological backdrop, transhumanism’s zeal for mind uploading and cryonics looks simply bizarre. However, in this context, transhumanists can reasonably argue that they are scientifically delivering on those original theological promissory notes. Nevertheless, there remains the potentially pejorative sense of ‘faith’ lurking in what might be called transhumanism’s sense of eschatology – that is, its account of when, how and to whom those promissory notes will be delivered.

History shows that any humanly conceived idea is eventually realized in some form. Most of these ideas are realized fairly shortly after conception and in more or less the manner intended by their conceiver. However, many of the most important ideas – the ones that profoundly alter humanity’s self-understanding — are only realized much later and typically in a context quite alien to those who originally conceived them. Norbert Wiener famously observed that the possibility of an artificial intelligence was first raised in Talmudic discussions of the Biblical Golem. One of the goals of medieval alchemy was the creation of life from non-living materials. As for space travel and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, they became staples of speculative thought starting with the European Renaissance’s unprecedented confidence in the power of human ingenuity. But in all these cases, the ideas have taken 500‑2000 years to be realized – and many have yet to fully satisfy the ambitions of their conceivers.

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Mar 16, 2018

Hybrid artificial-natural cells bring together the best of both worlds

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Sometimes I think I’m jumping the gun when speculating. Take this further, a better full body replacement?


The more we study natural biological cells, the more we learn about how to control them or build artificial versions. These independent avenues of study have huge potential, but also their limitations. Researchers from Imperial College London have worked out a way to borrow the strengths of each, fusing together living and non-living cells to create tiny chemical factories that might one day aid drug delivery.

In past work, scientists have packaged proteins and enzymes inside artificial casings to better treat conditions like cancer or diabetes. Rather than just using some natural parts, the Imperial College study instead wrapped entire biological cells inside artificial ones.

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Mar 16, 2018

Pentagon Wants Silicon Valley’s Help on A.I.

Posted by in categories: government, internet, military, robotics/AI

On Thursday, Robert O. Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, will announce that he is teaming up with the Center for a New American Security, an influential Washington think tank that specializes in national security, to create a task force of former government officials, academics and representatives from private industry. Their goal is to explore how the federal government should embrace A.I. technology and work better with big tech companies and other organizations.


Older tech companies have long had ties with military and intelligence. But employees at internet outfits like Google are wary of too much cooperation.

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Mar 15, 2018

This mind-reading AI can see what you’re thinking — and draw a picture of it

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Scientists have developed a program that can read your brainwaves and produce an image based on what you’re thinking about.

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Mar 15, 2018

Is cryonics the key to immortality?

Posted by in categories: cryonics, life extension

Freezing the deceased in the hope of one day reviving them could become a mainstream service, advocates say.

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Mar 15, 2018

I’m excited to see legendary writer Richard Dawkins share my latest Newsweek article on 3D Bioprinting, transhumanism, and Quantum Archaeology

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, bioprinting, quantum physics, transhumanism

Hundreds of comments under his post today: http://www.newsweek.com/quantum-archaeology-quest-3d-bioprin…ife-837967

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Mar 15, 2018

I rode in a car in Las Vegas that was controlled by a guy in Silicon Valley

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Intelligent Machines

I rode in a car in Las Vegas that was controlled by a guy in Silicon Valley.

A startup thinks autonomous cars will need remote humans as backup drivers. For now, it’s kind of nerve-racking.

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