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Here's a Surprising Look at How Nanotechnology Could Reengineer Our Bodies
Nanotechnology could change human biology forever. From prosthetic limbs and new burn treatments, to cancer detection and bones that heal in days or weeks, nanotech could be the future of medicine.
Nanotechnology is any technology that allows for manipulation of matter beginning at the nanometer (nm) scale, commonly on the 1–100 nm range. According to nanomedical expert Frank Boehm, "[t]he ability to work at this scale will allow for the fabrication of unique materials and devices with improved and novel properties, such as enhanced water repellency (superhydrophobicity) or the increased performance of chemical reactions (catalysis) due to dramatically increased active surface areas."
Currently, nanomedical devices are typically made of special kinds of nanomaterials like nanoparticles, solid or hollow nanoshells, nanotubes and hollow nanospheres. While these technologies are "still quite rudimentary and passive," because they simply let the bloodstream carry them along, Boehm says future devices will navigate with synthetic derivatives of flagella or cilia.
The most advanced nanotechnology we have right now are the gold nanoshells, 100-200nm in diameter, which are solid silica cores covered by a very thin gold skin. It's used in AuroLase Therapy, where the gold nanoshells are guided to cancer cells and activated by a laser light that makes them collapse, release cancer drugs and destroy tumors. (It's still undergoing trials.) Other similar technologies are underway.
What's the future of nanomedicine? Boehm posits this nanomedical concept, an imaging device just one micron wide. Thousands could work together to map an entire human vascular system.
Image Credit (All): Frank Boehm/io9
These devices could provide an amazingly high-resolution map of a patient's veins and arteries, letting doctors know the thickness of various pathways or where plaque is building up in the bloodstream. Thus, they could be used to let doctors know whether a patient is at risk of an aneurysm or heart attack.
Autonomous nanomedical devices could be used to quickly identify and neutralize toxins, as well as supplement the immune system. They'd basically hunt down threats to an organism's health and destroy them. Nanoretinal implants could provide blind individuals with full vision, or augment regular human vision. The possibilities are endless; they could even extend the human lifespan. One Indian review concluded that "[o]nce nanomechanics are available, the ultimate dream of every healer, medicine man and physician throughout recorded history will at last become a reality."
Would it be safe? You can probably let your fever dreams of grey goo go. Nanomaterials are present in "order-of-magnitude higher" levels in our environment, and are generally far less deadly than household cleaning products or insectides which we encounter every day.
But scientists don't yet adequately understand the potential effects. Because of their high surface-mass ratio, nanoparticles are highly reactive and could trigger unforeseen chemical reactions. Some could be toxic. Or because of their "large surface area, reactivity and electrical charge," they could agglomerate, clumping together and forming much bigger lumps of material.
Slate says you shouldn't be concerned, saying that "technologically wonderful as engineered nanomaterials are, many of them don't seem as worrisome as imagined when seen in the cold light of commercial reality." Development, research and production techniques will minimize risks, and scientists are already busy tackling safety concerns.
Source: http://www.policymic.com/articles/89803/here-s-a-surprising-look-at-how-nanotechnology-could-reengineer-our-bodies
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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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