5 replies to this topic

[albedo]

I think that, to a certain extent, both Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey would be happy seeing Europeans moving in the right direction, gathering critical mass both in terms of human and financial resources (about 2.5b$ funding over 10 years for 2 projects out of 6 finalists) with the EU's FET Flagship Projects, moving key areas of Science leveraging IT. It is starting already now with key decisions next year !

If selected and in particular, projects such as the Human Brain Project and IT Future of Medicine will have a huge impact on the life extension, anti-aging and disease prevention research.

HBP is aiming to "create the informatics, modeling and supercomputing technologies required to build biologically detailed models of the complete human brain. Such models could serve as the basis for new diagnostic tools and treatments for brain disease, new interfaces to the brain, a new class of low energy technologies with brain-like intelligence, and a new generation of brain-enabled robots"

ITFoM. "This is the first time that huge IT implications of worldwide individualized patient care will be addressed in combination with genomics and medical requirements. The project outcomes will enable calculation of health, disease, therapy and its effects for individual patients. These may revolutionize our health care with enormous (i) benefits for health (prevention, diagnosis and therapy), (ii) reduction in cost by individualising combinations of a limited number of drugs, and (iii) new commercial opportunities in IT, analytics and health care."

Detailed information at http://www.fet11.eu/

[albedo]

Also to be followed is the Virtual Physiological Human project which "aims to help support and progress European research in biomedical modeling and simulation of the human body. This will improve our ability to predict, diagnose and treat disease, and have a dramatic impact on the future of health care, the pharmaceutical and medical device industries."

[albedo]

As side comment, despite the implications for anti aging of these programs, I would have loved to see a program focused on anti aging itself. I do not really see bold programs on that, à-la-de Grey (that is why I think he could be only to a limited extent happy). I think bold anti aging science is not yet done and there is not enough public pressure for this. Aubrey is fighting against this with his foundation and written a lot already. I also think to have read somewhere that his SENS program could be implemented by rising "only" 100m$ which is about 1/10 of the FET budget!

[albedo]

This very interesting presentation from Dr Aubrey de Grey (at the Alcor 2006 conference) is good to put in perspective and relation SENS and Cryonics. You also learn his estimation of the funding level needed for his program to fight aging is in the order of what the EU foresees for the FET projects (he quotes ~100M$/year for 10 years for his Robust Mouse Rejuvenation (RMR) program achievable at 90% chances! * ). Therefore I wonder if his proposal was submitted at first and if so why it is not at least in the finalist 6 projects list. One reason might be related to the impact on IT which is a prerequisite for the the projects funding.

(*) RMR would consist of making a 2 years old mouse (without having being treated with drugs), expected to live one more year, actually live 3 more years.

[Julia36]

Yup EU's quite impressive.

The disastrous corruption in banking has knocked GDP but it is recovering.

Even more impressive is the interaction between nations.

Many big issues show we're one world, but EU has a fast track for projects anyone can enter on for funding.

It has 1/5 of world GDP and economic growth is good (this blip will correct- technology-led.



GROWTH current a/c

and was the largest exporter in the world 2011 (CIA frustratingly out of date factbook)

https://www.cia.gov/...r/2078rank.html

Also the basic incpme has been petitioned and will almost certainly meet the 1 million signature by January to mandately debate it in the EU parliament.

)Unconditional income to everyone)

European Citizens' Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income



We search for a new economics, but technology acceleration and consequent devaluation of products, means most things will end up free.

Much is free now.

Look at world wealth...it;s on a discernable growth pattern



Because the EU was devastated in 2 world wars, including the end of most of itl;s monarchies and end of its empires, esp GB, it had a new start and has the highest human rights.

Edited by Innocent, 14 June 2013 - 12:10 AM.

[albedo]

And I think you all know the HBP is now one of the two winning projects of the competition for funding (the other being nanotechnology oriented), e.g. see here: http://www.humanbrainproject.eu