HEALTH/TECHNOLOGY - According to American scientist Ray Kurzweil the world "may" have the technology that immortality will be within our grasp by the year 2030, but it will only be available to people who can afford it.
Kurzweil hypothesizes that nanobot technology will have made such a breakthrough they will be able to swim through human arteries, warding off diseases and repairing damaged cells. Kurzweil himself is 61 years old and quite an expert on regenerative health and increasing life expectancy. The goal is to create the technology that doesn't just ward off diseases, but eradicates them / repairs the damage done by them.
Thus the causes of death would be accidental.
Or sheer decrepitness. Let me explain. As we get older we injure or break things. We chip our teeth, our bones break or become brittle (the latter could be solved wi
th diet and exercise) and a myriad other things that either can't be fixed after they happen or fixing them is expensive (ie. a new hip).
So lets imagine then that our life expectancy is DOUBLED, instead of becoming infinite. Say about 144 years, give or take a few decades.
British futurist Aubrey de Grey says "the first 1,000-year-old is almost certainly alive already." De Grey is the head of the SENS Foundation, an American group that tracks regenerative medicines such as stem-cell therapy. His theories are widely considered to be "fantasy" and actually hurts the legitimate scientific community because his ideas sound too much like those of a crackpot scientist. Even his critics however support more anti-aging research and government funding.
In October the Nobel Prize in medicine was given to three American scientists for research on the "immortality enzyme" which allows cells to multiply without damaging themselves. It is a considered a breakthrough in the fight against cancer and could also be used to regenerate old tissue.
So there is a lot of reason for scientists to be optimistic. In all the fields related to aging, huge progress is being made. Indeed we're already in position to extend life expectancy, but doing so would be both expensive and require people to make changes in their diet and exercise lifestyle.
WHAT WE'VE ALREADY DONE:
+ Eye surgery.
+ Heart pacemakers.
+ Heart transplants and transplants of other major organs.
+ Cloning organs, skin and muscle tissue.
+ Organ thieves.
+ Neural implants for Parkinson's patients.
+ Therapy & exercise programs for Alzheimer's patients (exercise and problem solving puzzles have been proven to stave off Alzheimer's).
+ Human Growth Hormones that helps to regenerate old muscle tissue.
+ Artificial pancreas.
+ Free health / dental care (countries with free health/dental care have dramatically higher life expectancy rates).
BIZARRE THEORIES FOR THE FUTURE:
+ Younger clones that are set aside in stasis for future brain transplants. (The plot from an old Twilight Zone episode and also the film "The Island".)
+ Regenerating necrosis (premature dead tissue), the repair of dead tissue (caused by exposure to toxins or trauma) using nano bots.
+ Restoring life to the recently dead, before their bodies begin to decompose.
After all we live in a world now where we carry computers (cell phones) in our pockets that have a thousand times more computing power than the room sized computers from the 1970s. Twenty years from now we could see dramatic changes in both computing power, nano technology and advances in health care.
Or maybe we will still be chasing the Fountain of Youth.
American, Canadian, Toronto & International News Commentary: Spreading Freedom in the Face of Tyranny
November 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Affordable Website Design & SEO
|
Featured Posts
The Sarcasm Symbol
Ever had some confusion online or with your cellphone when someone fails to catch the sarcasm? Well now with the SarcMark you can ge... |
|
Behold, the Scorpion Hydrogen Supercar
CARS - To the right is the future of supercars... it is a hydrogen supercar called the Scorpion. The Scorpion from Ronn Motors in Texas is t... |
|
Documents show Stephen Harper misusing public funds
CANADA - According to 950+ pages of documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act the Privy Coun... |
|
Pink's Rosie the Riveter
ENTERTAINMENT - What I like about this video is how it meshes different social movements like feminism, veganism, anti-capitalism... |
|
California's Dustbowl
ENVIRONMENT - The photo on the right is a farm in California that has been put up for sale. Its just one of thousands of farms that are n... |
|
Is Steampunk the New Goth???
GOTHIC - Watch out what you see on the subway late at night because while in 2001 you might have seen some pretty freakish goths, by 20... |
|
Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?
HEALTH - A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) ... |
|
North Korean timeline towards Inevitable War
POLITICS - The following is timeline of events that have occurred on the Korean Peninsula. 1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States a... |
|
Judgment Day is Tomorrow, so sayeth Cult
RELIGION - According to a cult based in California, Judgement Day is tomorrow (May 21st 2011) and Jesus Christ will return to the Earth a... |
|
Sex in Space Forbidden
SEX/TECHNOLOGY - Sex in outer space is a big no-no according to NASA. Not for professional astronauts at least, but the growing numb... |
Popular Posts / Last 30 Days
-
When was the last time you read a poetry book? If you enjoy poetry by Canadian poets do check out Gail M. Murray 's book: Reflections &a...
-
CARS - Nobody ever steals a pink car. According to a Dutch study which compared the colour of cars being stolen, pink is the safest colour ...
-
By Charles Moffat - September 2010. ENTERTAINMENT - Vanilla Coke was first introduced in 2002 and despite widespread popularity and being ...
-
CANADA - The following is a list of 10 reasons why Torontonians are considered the rudest city in Canada. The sad part is Toronto may deser...
-
CANADA - I am henceforth boycotting Yak Canada and encouraging other people to do the same. A telemarketer from Yak Canada called me on my...
-
ENVIRONMENT - Air travel in Europe has practically ground to an halt as ash and chemicals from an erupting volcano in Iceland makes air tra...
-
FASHION - Imagine working in a spa as an aesthetician and having a mother phone to order a bikini wax... for her 10 year old daughter. No...
-
By Charles Moffat - October 2010. CANADA - If you are looking to buy a home in Toronto, or even Brampton or Mississauga then the prices of...
-
POLITICS - The price of oil continued to fall today, falling below $40 US for the first time in 4.5 years despite OPEC's cut yesterday ...
-
CANADA - Even advocates of scrapping the Long Gun Registry are rethinking your convictions now that the RCMP have released a report showing...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate every comment. If you want to advertise on this blog it is $30 per link.