Ray Kurzweil Predicts Human Immortality in 20 Years

[stevenmansour]

Ray is a quack and a scammer - read his book "The Singularity is Near". It's a completely circular argument that opens on the premise that some flaky suppositions are right, and bases the rest of his "facts" in the book on it (ie "it's impossible that there's life anywhere in the universe except on Earth, because that would make the prior statements I've just made lies!") and so forth.

Also, you can pay $20,000 a course or something like that if you want to study him at "Singularity university":

http://singularityu.org/

Sigh.

 

[Svenparty]

Robot Sex sounds brilliant....

Too bad this seems like the early 50s predictions of houses on Mars and Robot Butlers.

 

[Kevvers]

Yeah, he'll be 81 by then, he will be sooo gutted if he misses the boat.

...Although maybe in 20 years living to 81 won't be such a big deal.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

If the people who made similar predictions 20 years ago were right we would all be driving around in Jetson Style Hovercars and yet I still have to cycle to work

not really, most of those people weren't very good, Ray is pretty good about hitting things on the head. he's occasionally wrong but is usually in the ballpark

 

[SamuelT]

Eh, when it becomes mass-reproducive, everyone can have it. It's a lot less appealing then.

 

[VanityGirl]

NooooOooOooOo, I don't want immortality, it will be an excuse for people to run around saying they're vampires and that they're married to the Twilght boy!!

I wouldn't mind living LONGER, but forever? Meh, pass. I doubt that even if that DID come out in 20 years that I would be able to afford the cost of nanotechnology.
I would like to hold my breath for 4 hours.

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

Also, if you want to stop aging, you'll have to kill off all the free radicals in the body - which are required for certain essential biological processes. Even if they weren't a necessary part of the body's mechanisms, the amount of antioxidants needed to get rid of all those radicals would almost certainly exceed the fatal dose.

From what I understand, it is possible to repair the damaged caused by free radicals - something to do with anti-oxides in plants or something.

I don't think you can actually repair damage due to free radicals, but you can prevent them from damaging cells in the first place using antioxidants. And like I said, too much antioxidant (or indeed any chemical that can be introduced to the body) will do more harm than good.

Not to mention they've been linked to strokes and colon cancer - something to do with the oxidative stress interfering with the body's metabolism.
[/nerdage]

 

[CuddlyCombine]

I have to say it; this guy is a lunatic. Such medical and technological advances within the next fifty years would be pushing it; in the next twenty?

I mean, I could see his prediction coming true if everybody dropped what they were doing and started working on nanobots. However, we have a lot to deal with; global warming, political instability, failing economy, etc. etc. You can't fix those with nanobots.

Also, another thing - ever heard of grey goo? Exactly.

 

[Danny Ocean]

"Kurzweil says that this nanotechnology would "reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing."

I guess he never did his homework, or has no idea how/why ageing really works. Yet, it is nice to dream, since nanotechnology is one of the newest phlebotinum in sci-fi realm...

It's just degeneration of DNA, right? Fix the DNA as you go along, it never degenerates, you never age?

Just my very basic knowledge.

Also, another thing - ever heard of grey goo? Exactly.

Ever heard of a nuclear chain reaction? Didn't stop us then. Won't stop us now.

 

[Liberaliterr]

It won't happen, and if it does can you imagine the consequences?

Assuming it becomes available even some of the population wouldn't it mean that overcrowding will eventually destroy earth? Overcrowding would lead to poverty, disease etc.
And how would wars be fought? Everything would fall apart.

 

[Monshroud]

I think everyone needs to look at the Futurists of the 1920's - 1950's and read about all the things they said we were going to have by now because of how fast our technology is improving.

Here is a real short list:
Flying Cars
Homes on the Moon
Robotic servants in the home

Also, I find it funny how someone makes a bold statement like that and doesn't think to address how we would continue as a population like that. You know, things like food, housing, jobs... It's like the flying car, it's a neat idea, but it just isn't practical.

 

[Beltom]

I'd happily do this as long as the nano-bots can't cure a bullet wound to the head if I ever get sick of immortality. We could all be like JC Denton from Deus Ex, only without the trench coat and sunglasses.

 

[The Austin]

Immortality is a bad idea, it would make death an even bigger deal.

 

[grimnul]

Kurzweil is a pathetic man, really. Not bad, just pathetic. I saw a show about him on the discovery channel a while back, evidently, his family is rather short-lived, no one in recent history lived past I believe the number was 60. Well, Ray's coming up on the big six-oh soon, and like all people facing their imminent mortality, has because desperate. He spends tons of money of private physicians, takes something like 60 vitamin supplements a day, runs on a treadmill for two hours daily, drinks 12 cups of green tea, essentially spends his life trying to stave off the reaper. in the hopes that withing the next few years, we'll find some sort of "cure" for death. The irony in all this, of course, is that he's wasting so much time trying not to die that he's really stopped living. I really do feel sorry for the guy.

The man is in denial of his own mortality, pure and simple. He will die, and so will we all. Death is a necessary function of life and without it, the world would be a much worse place.

 

[scotth266]

I doubt that it'll happen, but hey, at least it gives people inspirations to try crazy things.

I don't think immortality is a good idea though, considering the population problems you would have after a while.

 

[Borntolose]

I wouldn't want to live forever anyway, it would be really boring.

 

[ae86gamer]

In 20 years I'll be 37... I'll still do it.

 

[Icehearted]

So the wealthy will live forever? The population boom is already out of control; so in 20 years those that can afford it will be immortal, while the rest of us will probably end up as....

Spoiler

Soylent Green

.