Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: life extension

HRP Area of Study: Environment | NASA

The Rise of the Rest and Mars Colonization
The Chinese word for crisis has two characters (危機). The first character represents danger and the second can be interpreted as opportunity, change of time, moment or chance. Even though the meaning of these Chinese characters can vary according to the context and nearby characters, the understanding of crisis (危機) as danger (危) plus opportunity (機) can help us think about the challenges faced by humanity in 2030.

In the coming years, China will have the largest economy of the planet, dethroning the USA to number two, both economically and scientifically. India will also be catching up fast as the third largest economy in the world, and its population will continue increasing after overtaking that of China in 2025. The re-emergence of Asia, as represented by China and India, will create a dramatic shift in power and geopolitics from what has been called the West to the East. The international hegemony enjoyed by the West during the last half millennium will move back to the East, which already led the world in many areas before the European Renaissance.

Fortunately, during the next two decades, the world economy will keep expanding and human conditions will get better throughout the whole planet. Indeed, a rising tide lifts all boats. Poverty will be substantially reduced and the environment will be significantly improved thanks to a growing global conscience and continuous advances in technology. Even Africa, the historic cradle of civilization, but considered a basket case during the last few centuries, will experience its own re-emergence in the world stage. After experiencing growth of 5% during the 2010s, and even higher during the 2020s, most African countries will be joining the rapid development of China and India, like most of the rest of the world.

The world in 2030 will be radically different from the world today. Rapid economic growth and convergence will have lifted the conditions of the bottom of the pyramid, and many people will raise their eyes into outer space. The colonization of Mars will start during the 2020s according to different plans by many governments (like those of China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and the USA) and even some private enterprises (for example, MarsOne, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic).

Exponential Technologies and Immortality
Change is not constant, in fact, change is accelerating very fast. We will see more transformations in the next 20 years than in the past 200 years. Some technologies are radically changing humanity, in general, and also changing human beings, in particular. Many experts now talk about the four sciences and technologies of the future: NBIC (nano-bio-info-cogno). The NBIC fields are converging at an accelerating rate and they will help to transcend many human limitations in order to improve lives all around the world, and eventually beyond our tiny planet.

We might think of nano and bio as the hardware of life, and info and cogno as the software of life. In the next two decades, we will be able to replicate and improve the complexity of both the hardware and software of human beings. The complexity of our hardware is embodied in the human genome and its 3 gigabits of data, while the complexity of our software is implied by the human brain and its 1017 operations per second.

According to some technology trends, we might achieve physical immortality by copying, reproducing, augmenting, and enhancing our current hardware and software. In medicine, some scientists say that aging is actually a disease, but a curable disease. In fact, some cells do not age, for example, bacteria, germinal cells, stem cells, and cancer cells do not go through the aging process. It is fundamental to understand why this happens and use that knowledge to stop aging in more complex organisms like us. By so doing, our hardware might live indefinitely thanks to longevity discoveries related to genetic treatments, regenerative medicine, and stem cell therapies, for example.

We might also reach immortality through backing up our software. Thanks to research like the Human Brain Project in Europe and the BRAIN Initiative in the USA, we will be able to reengineer our brains. As computer-to-brain interfaces keep improving, some scientists believe that we will eventually be able to upload our brains into machines. In the next two decades, we might well see the “death of death”.

Humanity is fast approaching what some people call the “Singularity”: the moment when artificial intelligence will reach human intelligence levels, and then quickly overtake it. Perhaps then some humans might become transhumans and posthumans, changing forever life on Earth and the universe.

José Luis Cordeiro, MBA, PhD (www.cordeiro.org)

Visiting Research Fellow, IDE-JETRO, Tokyo, Japan (www.ide.go.jp)
Director, The Millennium Project, Venezuela Node (www.Millennium-Project.org)
Adjunct Professor, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (www.mipt.ru)
Founder and President Emeritus, World Future Society, Venezuela Chapter (www.FuturoVenezuela.net)
Founding Energy Advisor/Faculty, Singularity University, NASA Research Park, California, USA (www.SingularityU.org)

Count of St. Germain; a mystery to still be solved. Ever since I was 7 yrs old, I have found this man as a great mystery. He was a true Renaissance man like Di Vinci; however, know one knew his real age, where he truly came from, and his real story. I hope to pick up my own research again on this man; I have always loved solving puzzles and mysteries.

IS IT POSSIBLE that a man can achieve immortality – to live forever? That is the startling claim of a historical figure known as Count de Saint-Germain. Records date his birth to the late 1600s, although some believe that his longevity reaches back to the time of Christ. He has appeared many times throughout history – even as recently as the 1970s – always appearing to be about 45 years old. He was known by many of the most famous figures of European history, including Casanova, Madame de Pampadour, Voltaire, King Louis XV, Catherine the Great, Anton Mesmer and others. Who was this mysterious man? Are the stories of his immortality mere legend and folklore? Or is it possible that he really did discover the secret of defeating death?

ORIGINS
When the man who first became known as Saint-Germain was born is unknown, although most accounts say he was born in the 1690s. A genealogy compiled by Annie Besant for her co-authored book, The Comte De St. Germain: The Secret of Kings, asserts that he was born the son of Francis Racoczi II, Prince of Transylvania in 1690. Other accounts, taken less seriously by most, say he was alive in the time of Jesus and attended the wedding at Cana, where the young Jesus turned water into wine. He was also said to be present at the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. What is almost unanimously agreed on, however, is that Saint-Germain became accomplished in the art of alchemy, the mystical “science” that strives to control the elements. The foremost goal of this practice was the creation of “projection powder” or the elusive “philosopher’s stone,” which, it was claimed, when added to the molten form of such base metals as lead could turn them into pure silver or gold. Furthermore, this magical power could be used in an elixir that would impart immortality on those who drank it. Count de Saint-Germain, it is believed, discovered this secret of alchemy.

COURTING EUROPEAN SOCIETY
Saint-Germain first came into prominence in the high society of Europe in 1742. He had just spent five years in the shah of Persia’s court where he had learned the jeweler’s craft. He beguiled the royals and the rich with his vast knowledge of science and history, his musical ability, his easy charm and quick wit. He spoke many languages fluently, including French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and English, and was further familiar with Chinese, Latin, Arabic – even ancient Greek and Sanskrit. It might have been his extraordinary learnedness that led acquaintances to see that he was a remarkable man, but an anecdote from 1760 most likely gave rise to the notion that Saint-Germain could be immortal. In Paris that year, Countess von Georgy heard that a Count de Saint-Germain had arrived for a soiree at the home of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France. The elderly countess was curious because she had known a Count de Saint-Germain while in Venice in 1710. Upon meeting the count again, she was astonished to see that he hadn’t appeared to age, and asked him if it was his father she knew in Venice. “No, Madame,” he replied, “but I myself was living in Venice at the end of the last and the beginning of this century; I had the honor to pay you court then.” “Forgive me, but that it impossible!” the perplexed countess said. “The Count de Saint-Germain I knew in those days was at least forty-five years old. And you, at the outside, are that age at present.” “Madame, I am very old,” he said with a knowing smile. “But then you must be nearly 100 years old,” said the astonished countess. “That is not impossible,” the count told her matter-of-factly, then continued to convince the countess that he was indeed the same man she knew with the details of their previous meetings and of life in Venice 50 years earlier.

EVER PRESENT, NEVER AGING
Saint-Germain traveled extensively throughout Europe over the next 40 years – and in all that time never seemed to age. Those who met him were impressed by his many abilities and peculiarities:

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I have nothing against the idea of designer babies. Why not better ourselves through science? There will always be a baseline version of humanity kicking around, even if it’s in cold storage,thus ensuring that any mistakes made early on don’t destroy the species. Besides, the same technology that allows us to make ourselves better could just as easily be used to repair us if we do make a mistake of some kind. TOO much red-tape, as always.

Room: B-3245.

Recent discoveries and advances in medicine are setting the bioethical world on fire. Some technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9 and fast DNA sequencing techniques, have tremendously increased our control over our own genome. GMOs, Gene Therapy and life extension are examples of applications of our new gained knowledge in genetics. For more than a few, the thought of scientists playing with the fundamental building blocks of life brings an uneasy feeling. Yet, what are the scientists really doing?

As technologies keep on advancing, it is crucial to question ourselves on the implications of genetic research, and the first step to do so is to understand what is being done in the laboratories. The goal of this presentation is to convey reliable information on the field of genomics to non-experts so that they can take on a rational stance on the issues at hand. Simultaneously, in the spirit of Philopolis, the presentation revolves around the philosophical question of what is natural and what is not.

Christophe Lachance-Brais and @[601985428:2048:Philippe Castonguay] will give the talk and animate the discussion.

The 1h presentation will be followed by a 30 minute discussion.

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An article on transhumanism in the Huff Post:

2016-02-05-1454642218-44797-futurecity.jpg Future Transhumanist City — Image by Sam Howzit

Transhumanism–the international movement that aims to use science and technology to improve the human being–has been growing quickly in the last few years. Everywhere one looks, there seems to be more and more people embracing radical technology that is already dramatically changing lives. Ideas that seemed science fiction just a decade ago are now here.

Later this year, I’ll be speaking at RAAD, a one-of-a-kind life extension and transhumanism festival in San Diego where thought-leaders like Ray Kurzweil, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, and Dr. Joseph Mercola will be sharing their ideas on our future. With so much radical tech growth and science innovation occurring in the last few years, the question has been asked: What are the best strategies for the transhumanism movement moving forward? Of course, as the 2016 US Presidential candidate of the Transhumanist Party, I have my own ideas–and naturally they’re quite politically oriented.

2016-02-05-1454642421-1811629-demonstration.jpg Transhumanist Party supporters protesting against existential risk — Photo by Daniel Sollinger.

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A new study has shown that the lifespans of mice can be extended by up to 35 percent by simply clearing out senescent cells — defunct cells that stop dividing, accumulate in old age, and trigger inflammation in fat, muscle, and kidney tissues.

Not only did the mice experience significantly longer lifespans thanks to removal of these cells, but the treatment also delayed the onset of age-related disorders such as heart and kidney deterioration, and the development of cataracts and tumours.

“It’s not just that we’re making these mice live longer; they actually stay healthier longer too. That’s important, because if you were going to equate this to people, well, you don’t want to just extend the years of life that people are miserable or hospitalised,” one of the team, cell biologist Darren Barker from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, told William Herkewitz at Popular Mechanics.

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Ampakines are known mental stimulants, but in rats they can also shelter the brain from age-related decline and even reverse deterioriation

A number of changes happen in the aging brain and one of these is a dendritic loss which onsets around middle age. In a new study, researchers have shown a particular drug belonging to the ampakine class of compounds, has significant neuroprotective properties.

Shielding the brain

Ampakines have already been shown to aid cognitive function in older rats, and they also appear to boost levels of BDNF, brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is associated with staving off neural decline. In the latest study using one such ampakine, older rat brains were compared to adolescent samples. While untreated rats had short dendrites and fewer dendritic branches, after 3 months of treatment older rat brains were identical to younger ones. If that wasn’t enough, they showed enhanced signalling and even had more dendritic spines than the adolescent rats did.

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Becoming immortal is one of mankind’s many quixotic notions that most people will relegate to the world of fantasy and science fiction. However, there is a subset of prominent scientists who believe that immortality is not only attainable, but it is something that will come to fruition in as little as 25 years. This idea is shared by men like Google’s Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil; Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk; and one of the most interesting presidential candidates outside of Donald Trump and Deez Nuts, Zoltan Istvan. All three men identify as trans-humanist, and for those who don’t know, trans-humanism is the idea that mankind will one day be able to transcend our biological limitations through the use of science and technology; not to mention, the movement has accumulated over 3 million supporters worldwide. So the question remains, with the multitude of prominent intellectuals who believe immortality is a tangible goal, just how will they go about achieving it? Well, the six answers below could possibly hold the key to everlasting life.

Number Six: Uploading Minds to Computers. Futurists believe that at some point in the near future we will be able to copy and scan all of the data that exists in our brains and upload the information into a computer. This will allow us to perpetually exist as incorporeal inhabitants of cyberspace. Of course, the idea of mind uploading is still purely science fiction, but if it ever becomes tangible, progeny could possibly live in a limitless world, that echoes notions expressed in the Matrix; minus the robot despots.

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Aging, inflammation, cancer, and cellular senescence are all intimately interconnected. Deciphering the nature of each thread is a tremendous task, but must be done if preventative and geriatric medicine ever hope to advance. A one dimensional analysis simply will not suffice. Without a strong understanding of the genetic, epigenetic, intercellular, and intracellular factors at work only an incomplete picture can be formed. However, even with an incomplete picture useful therapeutics can and are being developed. One face is cancer, a number of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division. The other is slue of degenerative disorders stemming from deterioration in regenerative capacity.

Geroprotectors are a diverse and growing family of compounds that assist in preventing and reversing the unwanted side-effects of aging. Senolytics, a subset of this broad group, accomplish this feat by encouraging the removal of decrepit cells. A few examples include dasatinib, quercetin, and ABT263. Although more research must be done, there are a precious handful of studies accessible to anyone with the inclination to scroll to the works cited section of this article. Those within the life extension community and a few enlightened souls outside of it already know this, but it bears repeating: in the developed world all major diseases are the direct result of the aging process. Accepting this rather simple premise, and you really ought to, should stoke your enthusiasm for the first generation of anti-aging elixirs. Before diving into the details of this promising new pharmaceuticals we must ask what is cellular senescence? What causes it? What purpose does it serve?

Depending on the context in which they are operating a single gene can have positive or negative effects on an organism’s phenotype. Often the gene is exerting both desirable and undesirable influences at the same time. This is called antagonistic pleiotropy. For example, high levels of testosterone can confer several reproductive advantages in youth, but in elderly men can increase their likelihood of developing prostate cancer. Cellular senescence is a protective measure; it is a response to damage that could potentially turn a healthy cell into a malignant one. Understandably, this becomes considerably more complex when one is examining multiple genes and multiple pathways. Identifying all of the players involved is difficult enough. Conboy’s famous parabiosis experiment shows that alterations in the microenviornment, in this case identified and unidentified factors in the blood of young mice, can have be very beneficial to their elders. Conversely, there is a solid body of evidence that shows senescent cells can have a bad influence their neighbors. How can something similar be achieved in humans without having to surgically attach a senior citizen to a college freshman?

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This is not good especially as we look at those aspirations for more nanobots to connect us to the cloud plus Mr. Kurzweil’s desire to live forever.

Medical device manufacturers are struggling to safeguard their newly connected designs from current and emerging security threats.

Natick, MA (PRWEB) January 29, 2016.

The medical device sector will be among the fastest growing markets for embedded security software through the next five years, according to a new report by VDC Research (click here to learn more). The market for medical devices spans a variety of hardware profiles including high-performance imaging systems, mobile diagnostic equipment and pumps, and wearable or implantable devices. Until recently, the majority of medical device manufacturers and others within the ecosystem treated security as an optional value-add under the misconception that their devices/products did not produce valuable data or would be a target for a hacker. The Internet of Things has enlarged the crosshairs on medical devices as such systems become more accessible and integrated with enterprise hospital platforms.

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