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January 15, 2005: Life Extension - Ray Kurzweil
Published 5 months, 1 week ago
Description
Art Bell interviews inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil about radical life extension, artificial intelligence, and the accelerating pace of technological change. Kurzweil outlines his three bridges to living forever: using today's nutrition and supplements to stay healthy, harnessing the coming biotechnology revolution to master disease at the genetic level, and eventually rebuilding bodies at the molecular level through nanotechnology.
Kurzweil describes how RNA interference can now turn off specific genes, pointing to experiments where mice ate freely yet stayed slim and lived 20 percent longer after their fat insulin receptor gene was disabled. He explains that pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring similar treatments to humans within five to eight years. Art presses him on the ethics and social consequences of such breakthroughs, asking whether the world is ready for people who never age.
The discussion turns to artificial intelligence, with Kurzweil predicting that by 2029 computers will pass the Turing test and exhibit the full range of human intelligence, including humor and emotional depth. He envisions nanobots in the brain extending human cognition and enabling full-immersion virtual reality from within the nervous system, arguing that biological and non-biological intelligence will merge rather than compete.
Kurzweil describes how RNA interference can now turn off specific genes, pointing to experiments where mice ate freely yet stayed slim and lived 20 percent longer after their fat insulin receptor gene was disabled. He explains that pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring similar treatments to humans within five to eight years. Art presses him on the ethics and social consequences of such breakthroughs, asking whether the world is ready for people who never age.
The discussion turns to artificial intelligence, with Kurzweil predicting that by 2029 computers will pass the Turing test and exhibit the full range of human intelligence, including humor and emotional depth. He envisions nanobots in the brain extending human cognition and enabling full-immersion virtual reality from within the nervous system, arguing that biological and non-biological intelligence will merge rather than compete.