06.15.10

„Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 5:40 am by rheil

„Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday (New York Times, 06/11/2010, By ASHLEE VANCE)

Some of Silicon Valley’s smartest and wealthiest people have embraced the Singularity. They believe that technology may be the only way to solve the world’s ills, while also allowing people to seize control of the evolutionary process. For those who haven’t noticed, the Valley’s most-celebrated company — Google — works daily on building a giant brain that harnesses the thinking power of humans in order to surpass the thinking power of humans.

Larry Page, Google’s other co-founder, helped set up Singularity University in 2008, and the company has supported it with more than $250,000 in donations. Some of Google’s earliest employees are, thanks to personal donations of $100,000 each, among the university’s “founding circle.” (Mr. Page did not respond to interview requests.)“ [read original article]

04.17.10

Werden wir ewig leben?

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:38 am by rheil

Werden wir ewig leben? (Jörg Auf dem Hövel, telepolis, 15.04.2010)

„Ein Interview-Sammelband prüft die Thesen von Ray Kurzweil und gibt den Stand der Dinge zu Enhancement und Lebensverlängerung zum besten.

Roman Brinzanik und Tobias Hülswitt haben nun unter dem Titel „Werden wir ewig leben?“ die Ideen von Kurzweil zum Anlass genommen, den heutigen Stand der Naturwissenschaften zu optimierenden und lebensverlängernden Maßnahmen mit ihren Interviewpartner abzuklären, Wissenschaft von Heilsversprechen zu treffen und die ethischen Herausforderungen auszuloten. Zu Wort kommen unter anderem der Chemie-Nobelpreisträger Jean-Marie Lehn, der Stammzellforscher Hans Schöler, der Hirnforscher Wolf Singer, der Demographen James W. Vaupel und der Technik-Ethiker Bert Gordijn.“ [zum Originalartikel]

02.19.10

Transhumanism: The way of the future

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism, What is Transhumanism? at 7:02 am by rheil

Transhumanism: The way of the future (Natasha Vita-More, The Scavenger)

„The only way for us to survive is to evolve. Transhumanism – a movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve the mental and physical characteristics and capacities of humans – is the way forward, writes Natasha Vita-More.“ [read original article]

12.24.09

The Year in Biomedicine

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Technology at 7:22 am by rheil

The Year in Biomedicine (TechnologyReview, By Emily Singer, Tuesday, December 22, 2009)

„Advances in antiaging drugs, acoustic brain surgery, flu vaccines–and the secret to IQ.“ [read original article]

12.12.09

Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we didn’t hear in the news

Posted in Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Transhumanism at 7:06 am by rheil

Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we didn’t hear in the news (Sandy Szwarc, JunkFoodScience, 12. July, 2009)

„This should have been the lead:

The long-awaited research on the effects of calorie restriction on aging in rhesus monkeys from the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center have just been released. It found no statistically significant difference in the number of deaths among the monkeys who’ve been eating a calorie-restrictive diet for more than 20 years compared to the monkeys who’ve been allowed to eat ad lib all day as much as 20% over their normal calories.

But that’s not what made the news, of course. Instead, we’ve been bombarded with a thousand news stories all reporting in lockstep that low-calorie diets have been proven to add years to our lives.“ [read original article]

07.11.09

Langes Leben mit und ohne Diät

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 11:58 am by rheil

Langes Leben mit und ohne Diät

Matthias Gräbner (Telepolis, 09.07.2009)

“In den Spamordnern wird uns bald ein neuer Begriff begegnen: Rapamycin, haben Forscher gezeigt, verlängert das Leben signifikant – und zwar auch bei Säugetieren

50 Milligramm längeres Leben sind derzeit für 32 Euro zu haben. 99-prozentig reines Rapamycin, leicht zu finden, da sogar per Google-Textanzeige beworben vom Hersteller, der Firma LC Laboratories in Woburn, MA – dass die Substanz in der Lage ist, das Leben zumindest von Mäusen signifikant zu verlängern, haben die Spammer seit dieser Woche schriftlich.” [zum Originalartikel]

First Drug Shown to Extend Life Span in Mammals

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 11:22 am by rheil

First Drug Shown to Extend Life Span in Mammals

Rapamycin, an immunosuppressant, enables elderly mice to live longer.

By Jocelyn Rice (TechnologyReview, Wednesday, July 08, 2009)

“A drug derived from bacteria in the soil on Easter Island can substantially extend the life span of mice, according to a study published online today in Nature. The drug, called rapamycin, is the first pharmacological agent shown to enhance longevity in a mammal, and it works when administered beginning late in life. Prior to this research, the only ways to increase rodents’ life span were via genetic engineering or caloric restriction–a nutritionally complete but very low-calorie diet.” [read original article]

05.22.09

Holding back the years

Posted in Anti-Aging, Transhumanism at 4:02 pm by rheil

Holding back the years (Tom Templeton, The Observer, Sunday 16 September 2007)

„Ageing is a disease that can be cured. This is the radical claim that has made biomedical theorist Aubrey de Grey a popular hero of gerontology – and a maverick among the science community. Tom Templeton meets the man who wants us to live for 1,000 years“ [read original article]

04.28.09

Glaube, Technik, Zukunft

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Future, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Technology, Transhumanism at 12:36 pm by rheil

Glaube, Technik, Zukunft, von Richard Jones (Technology Review)

„In der TR-Essay-Reihe zur Technik untersucht der britische Physiker Richard Jones, der auch das Blog Soft Machines betreibt, den heutigen Glauben an die Technik, die wirkliche Fragilität der modernen Zivilisation und den Fehler des Determinismus in hochtechnisierten Erlösungsphantasien.“ [zum Originalartikel]

02.27.09

h+ magazine – Is the future cancelled?

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:49 am by rheil

h+ magazine – Is the future cancelled?

01.21.09

Online Book: “Living Healthier and Longer – What Works and What Doesn’t”

Posted in Anti-Aging, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 12:27 pm by rheil

Welcome to the online edition of “Living Healthier and Longer – What Works and What Doesn’t”.

by Carl Bartecchi, M.D. and Robert W. Schrier, M.D.

„This is book is part of an innovative public health initiative to disseminate timely, accurate, and undestandable health information on a wide scale.“ [download location]

Science-based Longevity Medicine

Posted in Anti-Aging, Technology, Transhumanism at 12:22 pm by rheil

Science-based Longevity Medicine (Harriet Hall, Science-Based Medicine, 01/20/09)

„Much nonsense has been written in the guise of longevity medicine. In Fantastic Voyage, Ray Kurzweil explains why he takes 250 pills every day and spends one day a week at a clinic getting IV vitamins, chelation, and acupuncture. He is convinced this regimen will keep him alive long enough for science to figure out how to keep him alive forever. In Healthy Aging, Andrew Weil chips in with his own mixture of science and magic. I pointed out the flaws in their reasoning in a review for Skeptic magazine – available online. There are many other popular books that promise to tell you how to live longer. Most of them amount to little more than speculation based on extrapolations from animal studies, in vitro studies, and odd non-clinical facts.“ [read original article]

01.08.09

Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Posted in Anti-Aging, Cryonic, Transhumanism at 7:51 am by rheil

Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever (Brave New Traveler)

„Will science finally be able to fix the “problem” of death? In a provocative interview, Jason Silva explains how very soon you may live forever.“ [read original article]

12.07.08

Never Say Die Step aside, quacks. The search for longer life is a real science now.

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:46 am by rheil

Never Say Die -Step aside, quacks. The search for longer life is a real science now.

By Anne Underwood | NEWSWEEK, Published Dec 6, 2008, From the magazine issue dated Dec 15, 2008

By the time it reaches the age of 18 days, the average roundworm is old, flabby, sluggish and wrinkled. By 20 days, the creature will likely be dead—unless, that is, it’s one of Cynthia Kenyon’s worms. Kenyon, director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of California, San Francisco, has tinkered with two genes that turn simple worms into mini-Methuselahs, with life spans of up to 144 days. “You can beat them up in ways that would kill a normal worm—exposing them to high heat, radiation and infectious microbes—and still they don’t die,” she says. “Instead, they’re moving and looking like young worms. It’s like a miracle—except it’s science.” [...]

11.22.08

Telomerase verlängert das Leben

Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:15 am by rheil

Telomerase verlängert das Leben

Florian Rötzer 21.11.2008 (Telepolis)

Spanische Wissenschaftler konnten an krebsresistenten transgenen Mäusen zeigen, dass diese eine bis zu 50 Prozent längere Lebenszeit haben, wenn das mit Telomerase verbundene Krebsrisiko unterdrückt werden kann

Wissenschaftler haben nicht nur Supermäuse geschaffen, die wesentlich leistungsfähiger sind ([local] Genveränderte Supermäuse) sie haben nun auch gentechnisch veränderte Mäuse entwickelt, die krebsresistent sind und weitaus langsamer als gewöhnliche Mäuse altern. Würden Menschen ebenso verändert werden, dann könnten sie mit einer [extern] durchschnittlichen Lebenszeit von 120 Jahren rechnen. [...]

10.18.08

h+ transhumanist magazine launched

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, biotech, Cryonic, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Nootropics, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 11:08 am by rheil

h+ transhumanist magazine launched

Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) has launched h+, a stylish, web-based quarterly magazine that focuses on transhumanism, covering the scientific, technological, and cultural developments that are challenging and overcoming human limitations.

Edited by the legendary RU Sirius, co-founder and editor of the seminal Mondo 2000 magazine, and beautifully designed by virtual worlds artist D.C. Spensley, the magazine’s first issue features cutting-edge ideas and interviews with leaders in longevity, neuroengineering, nanofabrication, open-source robotics, science fiction, and other breakthrough areas. [...]

06.04.08

Technology Makes Us Optimistic; They Want To Live (NYT 1997)

Posted in Anti-Aging, Cryonic, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:06 am by rheil

Technology Makes Us Optimistic; They Want To Live (New York Times Magazine 1997)

Obviously I’m an optimist to some degree,” says Larry Wood, a hard-bodied 50-year-old who lives with his wife, Candy, and their two dogs in the mountains above Los Angeles, ”but I really believe we could be the first generation that lives forever. Either that, or we’ll be the last generation to die.’ [...]

06.18.07

The Scientific Conquest of Death

Posted in Anti-Aging, Cryonic, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:42 am by rheil

The Scientific Conquest of Death

Essays on Infinite Lifespans (2004) Edited by Immortality Institute

ISBN: 9875611352

Book Content

Introduction

Overview

Chapter I: SCIENCE: Biomedicine, Nanotechnology and other strategies

- Biological Immortality – Rose

- The War on Aging – Grey

- The Dream of Elixir Vitae – Magalhes

- Therapeutic Cloning – West

- Nanomedicine – Freitas

- Human Body Version 2.0 – Kurzweil

- Progress Toward Cyberimmortality – Bainbridge

- Will Robots Inherit the Earth? – Minsky

- Medical Time Travel: A Question of Science – Wowk

Chapter II: PERSPECTIVES: Ethics, Sociology and Philosophy

- Some Ethical and Theological Considerations – Mellon

- Superlongevity without Overpopulation – More

- Upsetting the Natural Order – Treder

- The Self-Defeating Fantasy – Rabkin

- Time Consciousness in Very Long Life – Clynes

- Confessions of a Proselytizing Immortalist – Vyff

- Some Problems with Immortalism – Best

- An Introduction to Immortalist Morality – Geddes

- Should We Fear Death? – Blackford

- Who Wants To Live Forever? – Bostrom

Chapter III: Resources

Bibliography

Publishers Note

Thanks

[complete book online ...]

03.31.07

What if Humans were Designed to Last?

Posted in Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Transhumanism at 5:53 am by rheil

The Scientist: (»We challenged experts across fields to imagine a new way to solve the problems of human aging. Our question:

What if Humans were Designed to Last?

By S. Jay Olshansky, Robert N. Butler, and Bruce A. Carnes

Illustrations by Thom Graves

When Michelangelo painted The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he portrayed the Renaissance view of humanity as having been molded by the hand of its creator, a “perfect” physical specimen. Charles Darwin, when drafting his theory of evolution, presented imperfections in humans’ anatomic structures and functions as the strongest evidence for his theory. It now appears they were both right. [...]«)

03.19.07

Engineering Transcendence

Posted in Anti-Aging, Future, Human Enhancement, Nootropics, Transhumanism at 7:05 am by rheil

Giulio Prisco (Transhumnar): Engineering Transcendence

(»I moved this old (2004) article here for further editing and translating. I argue that science may develop the capability to resurrect the dead, perhaps sooner than envisaged by Tipler in his Omega Point scenario. I propose to base a “transhumanist religion” (perhaps “religion” is not the right word) on this idea.

The essay is divided in “Engineering Resurrection”, “Engineering God”, and “Engineering Hope and Happiness”. [...]«)

03.14.07

Could Baby Boomers Be Approaching Retirement in Worse Shape Than Their Predecessors?

Posted in Anti-Aging, Transhumanism at 7:25 am by rheil

Could Baby Boomers Be Approaching Retirement in Worse Shape Than Their Predecessors?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, March 5, 2007

Media Contact:

Susan Farrer or Linda Joy

301-496-1752

nianews3@mail.nih.gov

(»Americans in their early to mid-50s today report poorer health, more pain and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks than their older peers reported at the same age in years past, a recent analysis has shown. The research, published in print and online this week by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), was supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health. [...]«)

02.24.07

James Hughes: The Death of Death

Posted in Anti-Aging, Transhumanism at 6:35 am by rheil

from Changesurfer.com

James Hughes: The Death of Death

(»The current definitions of brain death are predicated on the prognostic observation that brain dead patients would quickly die even with intensive care. But this is now shown to be untrue. Neuroremediation technologies and advances in intensive care will make it increasingly possible to keep alive the bodies of patients who would currently be classified as brain dead, and recover much of the memories and capabilities that we currently consider irrecoverable.
The on-going redefinition of death is the result of the technological deconstruction of dying. Instead of a relatively instantaneous, binary process, death is now more like a “syndrome,” a cluster of related attributes, with a probabilistic diagnosis. This disaggregation requires that we decide how many of these attributes are required before we begin treating someone as “dead,” just as physicians must decide how many psychiatric traits are required before making a diagnosis of “schizophrenia.” Electroencephalograms can only determine if there is a cessation of electrical activity on the surface of the brain, not in the deeper structures, and cannot determine if the electrically quiescent brain tissue is irrecoverable. Many of those who are diagnosed as brain dead in fact have clear evidence of functioning midbrains and brainstems, and are not necessarily irreversible.A key argument in favor of whole brain death criteria over neo-cortical death, that the brain provides integrative functions that the body needs to survive, has also been shown to be fallacious since patients meeting the current clinical criteria for whole brain death have survived for years. [...]«)

01.05.07

Al Fin Longevity (Blog)

Posted in Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Transhumanism at 9:38 am by rheil

Al Fin Longevity (Blog): (»Primary interest is seeing that the best of humanity survives long enough to reach the next level.«)

Blog with a lot of links and videos about life extension.

12.29.06

Life Extension Foundation – Highest Quality Vitamins And Supplements

Posted in Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Organisations, Transhumanism at 7:31 am by rheil

Life Extension Foundation – Highest Quality Vitamins And Supplements (“The Life Extension Foundation is a nonprofit organization, whose long-range goal is the radical extension of the healthy human lifespan. In seeking to control aging, our objective is develop methods to enable us to live in health, youth and vigor for unlimited periods of time. The Life Extension Foundation was officially incorporated in 1980, but the founders have been involved in antiaging research since the 1960′s. “)

The Longevity Meme – pointing the way to a longer, healthier life

Posted in Anti-Aging, Human Enhancement, Organisations, Transhumanism at 7:30 am by rheil

The Longevity Meme – pointing the way to a longer, healthier life (“Aging is an enemy. It saps our strength, cripples and eventually kills us. The lack of information, advocacy and awareness of anti-aging and healthy life extension research is a terrible thing. Much of the general public thinks of aging as inevitable and natural, rather than as a medical condition that may one day be curable. Comparatively few people know that the effects of aging can be slowed with diet and lifestyle choices, just as for many other medical conditions. The Longevity Meme is a non-profit organisation, founded in mid-2001. Our goal is to encourage achievable technologies, lifestyles and other means that will help people live comfortably, healthily and capably for as long as they desire, well beyond the current limits of mortality. We aim to ensure that the means and potentials of healthy life extension become commonly accepted throughout the world.”)

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