/ News

03.12.2013

Google's latest company Calico plans to do anti-ageing research

THEY'RE famed for their limitless sense of possibility, whether it's mapping the world's streets or creating driverless cars.

Now Google bosses have turned their sights on a much more complex subject - the human body.

The tech giant has recently embarked on a series of high profile hires for its new venture Calico, a company which wants to extend human life by up to 100 years.

Short for California Life Company, Calico is headed up by Art Levinson, the former CEO of biotech company Genentech and Apple board member, who this week announced the elite recruits on Google+.

Pharmaceutical guru Hal Barron will serve as President of research and development, while David Botsein, the former head of Princeton's Genome Unit will be chief scientific officer.

Genetics expert Cynthia Kenyon and oncology expert Robert Cohen will also join the company.

So far the company, which is backed by Google but run as a separate entity, has kept its cards close to its chest with no details on the amount of funding they have received.

However it fits with co-founder Larry Page's vision that Google should think about big ideas that can make the world exponentially better.

Google co-founders Sergey Brin (L) and Larry Page have plans well beyond search and email.

"OK … so you're probably thinking wow! That's a lot different from what Google does today. And you're right. But as we explained in our first letter to shareholders, there's tremendous potential for technology more generally to improve people's lives," Mr Pageposted on Google+ when the new venture was announced.

"So don't be surprised if we invest in projects that seem strange or speculative compared with our existing internet businesses. And please remember that new investments like this are very small by comparison to our core business."

It comes after the company hired Ray Kurzweil as engineering director, the 65-year-old credited with inventing speech recognition technology who also has unusual views on mortality.

The futurist and inventor is renowned for publishing The Singularity , a book which envisions a world where man and machine merge to create the path to immortality.

He also takes 150 supplements a day to keep his body in optimum condition until the "nanotechnology revolution" takes place.

"Biology is a software process. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each governed by this process. You and I are walking around with outdated software running in our bodies, which evolved in a very different era," Kurzweil said in an interview with Maclean's.

"At that point, we can have little robots, sometimes called nanobots, that augment your immune system. We can create an immune system that recognises all disease, and if a new disease emerged, it could be reprogrammed to deal with new pathogens," he said.

Google's not the only one getting on board with immortality.

Russian millionaire Dmitry Itskov's 2045 Initiative is working on building an avatar with a human brain, where one's personality can be transferred at the end of their human life.

Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison donated $445 million to fight ageing diseases, while PayPal founder Peter Thiel also gave $3.5 million to work on anti-ageing efforts, the LA Timesreports.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/money/investing/googles-latest-company-calico-plans-to-do-antiageing-research/story-e6frfmdr-1226769532121




/ About us

Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.

The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies. 

The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.

A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.

The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.

An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.

 

Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society

2015-2020

The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.

2020-2025

Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning  bodily life. Such technologies will  greatly enlarge  the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make  all  kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.

2030-2035

Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness  with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness  onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of  cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence,  expand human capabilities  and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times.  The final result  at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.

2045

This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive!  Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.

Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots  will become affordable  and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however:  humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover,  prerequisites for a large-scale  expansion into outer space will be created as well.

 

Key elements of the project in the future

• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of  the project of "Immortality”.

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