Looking to the Future of Technology and Human Being. an Interview with Anders Sandberg
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Biogerontology: a Novel Tool to Stay Healthy in Old Age
MoPAct Policy Brief: 5 Biogerontology: a novel tool to stay healthy in old age Policy priority Healthy lifestyle interventions in particular regarding nutrition and vaccination need to be implemented early in life with a lifecourse perspective. Summary: Key findings: • Accumulating evidence from experimental studies shows that aging is not inevitably linked with the development of chronic diseases. • Only 20-25% of healthy life expectancy (HLE) is predetermined by genes; lifestyle and environment play a major role. • Age-associated accumulation of molecular and cellular damage can be prevented or greatly delayed by lifestyle interventions e.g. dietary manipulations. • Classical strategies (e.g. nutrition, exercise, vaccination) require broad communication to public. • Novel strategies (e.g. dietary interventions, novel drugs, stem cells) need successful translation from the understanding of molecular mechanism to animal models to clinic. • To be successful interventions need to be started early Figure 1. Strategies to increase HLE. (1) Classical interventions include nutrition, exercise, vaccination, no smoking/alcohol/drugs. (2) Novel interventions include in life with a life-course perspective. dietary interventions, clearance of senescent and damaged cells, mitohormetics, stem cells, drugs against inflammation, rejuvenation factors from blood, telomeres, Background: epigenetic drugs, chaperons and proteolytic systems (novel interventions adapted from López-Otín et al., Cell 2013). Population aging is progressing fast in all developed countries. Aging is associated with the development of multiple serious chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart Prevention disease, stroke, cancer, cognitive impairment and increased Prevention prior to the development of age-associated diseases morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases. As people is key for successful aging. -
An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement
18 TheWisdomofNature: An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg∗ Abstract Human beings are a marvel of evolved complexity. Such systems can be difficult to enhance. When we manipulate complex evolved systems, which are poorly understood, our interventions often fail or backfire. It can appear as if there is a ‘‘wisdom of nature’’ which we ignore at our peril. Sometimes the belief in nature’s wisdom—and corresponding doubts about the prudence of tampering with nature, especially human nature—manifest as diffusely moral objections against enhancement. Such objections may be expressed as intuitions about the superiority of the natural or the troublesomeness of hubris, or as an evaluative bias in favor of the status quo. This chapter explores the extent to which such prudence-derived anti-enhancement sentiments are justified. We develop a heuristic, inspired by the field of evolutionary medicine, for identifying promising human enhancement interventions. The heuristic incorporates the grains of truth contained in ‘‘nature knows best’’ attitudes while providing criteria for the special cases where we have reason to believe that it is feasible for us to improve on nature. 1.Introduction 1.1. The wisdom of nature, and the special problem of enhancement We marvel at the complexity of the human organism, how its various parts have evolved to solve intricate problems: the eye to collect and pre-process ∗ Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, Faculty of Philosophy and James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University. Forthcoming in Enhancing Humans, ed. Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 376 visual information, the immune system to fight infection and cancer, the lungs to oxygenate the blood. -
The Transhumanist Reader Is an Important, Provocative Compendium Critically Exploring the History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Transhumanism
TH “We are in the process of upgrading the human species, so we might as well do it E Classical and Contemporary with deliberation and foresight. A good first step is this book, which collects the smartest thinking available concerning the inevitable conflicts, challenges and opportunities arising as we re-invent ourselves. It’s a core text for anyone making TRA Essays on the Science, the future.” —Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick for Wired Technology, and Philosophy “Transhumanism has moved from a fringe concern to a mainstream academic movement with real intellectual credibility. This is a great taster of some of the best N of the Human Future emerging work. In the last 10 years, transhumanism has spread not as a religion but as a creative rational endeavor.” SHU —Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford “The Transhumanist Reader is an important, provocative compendium critically exploring the history, philosophy, and ethics of transhumanism. The contributors anticipate crucial biopolitical, ecological and planetary implications of a radically technologically enhanced population.” M —Edward Keller, Director, Center for Transformative Media, Parsons The New School for Design A “This important book contains essays by many of the top thinkers in the field of transhumanism. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the future of humankind.” N —Sonia Arrison, Best-selling author of 100 Plus: How The Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything IS The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in T overcoming fundamental human limitations. The Transhumanist Reader presents the first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist Re thinking regarding technology’s impact on the future of humanity. -
Global Catastrophic Risks Survey
GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC RISKS SURVEY (2008) Technical Report 2008/1 Published by Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom At the Global Catastrophic Risk Conference in Oxford (17‐20 July, 2008) an informal survey was circulated among participants, asking them to make their best guess at the chance that there will be disasters of different types before 2100. This report summarizes the main results. The median extinction risk estimates were: Risk At least 1 million At least 1 billion Human extinction dead dead Number killed by 25% 10% 5% molecular nanotech weapons. Total killed by 10% 5% 5% superintelligent AI. Total killed in all 98% 30% 4% wars (including civil wars). Number killed in 30% 10% 2% the single biggest engineered pandemic. Total killed in all 30% 10% 1% nuclear wars. Number killed in 5% 1% 0.5% the single biggest nanotech accident. Number killed in 60% 5% 0.05% the single biggest natural pandemic. Total killed in all 15% 1% 0.03% acts of nuclear terrorism. Overall risk of n/a n/a 19% extinction prior to 2100 These results should be taken with a grain of salt. Non‐responses have been omitted, although some might represent a statement of zero probability rather than no opinion. 1 There are likely to be many cognitive biases that affect the result, such as unpacking bias and the availability heuristic‒‐well as old‐fashioned optimism and pessimism. In appendix A the results are plotted with individual response distributions visible. Other Risks The list of risks was not intended to be inclusive of all the biggest risks. -
Shared Ageing Research Models (Sharm): a New Facility to Support Ageing Research
Biogerontology (2013) 14:789–794 DOI 10.1007/s10522-013-9457-0 METHOD Shared Ageing Research Models (ShARM): a new facility to support ageing research Adele L. Duran • Paul Potter • Sara Wells • Tom Kirkwood • Thomas von Zglinicki • Anne McArdle • Cheryl Scudamore • Qing-Jun Meng • Gerald de Haan • Anne Corcoran • Ilaria Bellantuono Received: 5 July 2013 / Accepted: 16 August 2013 / Published online: 2 October 2013 Ó The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract In order to manage the rise in life expec- Wellcome Trust, open to all investigators. It collects, tancy and the concomitant increased occurrence of stores and distributes flash frozen tissues from aged age-related diseases, research into ageing has become murine models through its biorepository and provides a strategic priority. Mouse models are commonly a database of live ageing mouse colonies available in utilised as they share high homology with humans and the UK and abroad. It also has an online environment show many similar signs and diseases of ageing. (MICEspace) for collation and analysis of data from However, the time and cost needed to rear aged communal models and discussion boards on subjects cohorts can limit research opportunities. Sharing of such as the welfare of ageing animals and common resources can provide an ethically and economically endpoints for intervention studies. Since launching in superior framework to overcome some of these issues July 2012, thanks to the generosity of researchers in but requires dedicated infrastructure. Shared Ageing UK and Europe, ShARM has collected more than Research Models (ShARM) (www.ShARMUK.org) 2,500 tissues and has in excess of 2,000 mice regis- is a new, not-for-profit organisation funded by tered in live ageing colonies. -
Viewer Comments
Article Oxylipin biosynthesis reinforces cellular senescence and allows detection of senolysis Graphical abstract Authors Christopher D. Wiley, Rishi Sharma, Sonnet S. Davis, ..., Marco Demaria, Arvind Ramanathan, Judith Campisi Correspondence [email protected] (C.D.W.), [email protected] (A.R.), [email protected] (J.C.) In brief Senolytics, transgenic, and pharmacological interventions that selectively kill senescent cells are currently in clinical trials aiming to treat age-related degenerative pathologies. Here, Wiley et al. discover that senescent cells produce multiple signaling lipids known as oxylipins. One oxylipin, dihomo-15d-PGJ2, promotes features of senescence by activating RAS and is released from cells during senolysis, serving as the first biomarker of the Highlights process in culture and in vivo. d Senescent cells make several oxylipins, dihomo- prostaglandins, and leukotrienes d Dihomo-15d-PGJ2 is intracellular during senescence and released during senolysis d Dihomo-15d-PGJ2 activates RAS, promoting senescence and the SASP d Positive feedback between prostaglandins, RAS, and p53 maintains senescence Wiley et al., 2021, Cell Metabolism 33, 1–13 June 1, 2021 ª 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2021.03.008 ll Please cite this article in press as: Wiley et al., Oxylipin biosynthesis reinforces cellular senescence and allows detection of senolysis, Cell Metabolism (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2021.03.008 ll Article Oxylipin biosynthesis reinforces cellular senescence and allows detection of senolysis Christopher D. Wiley,1,2,* Rishi Sharma,1 Sonnet S. Davis,1 Jose Alberto Lopez-Dominguez,1 Kylie P. Mitchell,1 Samantha Wiley,1 Fatouma Alimirah,1 Dong Eun Kim,1 Therese Payne,1 Andrew Rosko,1 Eliezer Aimontche,1 Sharvari M. -
HCB 524 — Transhumanism
HCB 524 Special Topic in Bioethics Fall Semester, 2019. Tuesdays 6-8:30pm. Instructor of Record: Adam Sepe, MA, MLS(ASCP)cm [email protected] Course Description: Transhumanism and [Human?] Dignity. Throughout human history — and prehistory for that matter — technological advancement has drastically altered every aspect of human life. Most of us will say that many advents — such as cooking and the wheel — have been largely, if not entirely, beneficial. Would we say the same of all technology? Surely each of us can list technologies that have, in the very least, some considerable downsides. So while history and experience can tell us that some technologies are beneficial and that some other technologies are harmful, how can we know what kind of impact future technology will have? For now we can’t, and so all we can do is try, to the best of our ability, to imagine such futures and develop our technology with these considerations in mind. ‘Transhumanism’ refers a diverse collection of ideas that have one at least thing in common: through future technology, humanity will be fundamentally altered to an unprecedented degree. Some even believe there will come a time when, through our own action, the word ‘human’ will be obsolete; that we will be succeeded by entities (or an entity) for which ‘human’ does not apply. Most people who identify as transhumanists are, to varying degrees, proponents of such technology. They are in favor of such alterations and they argue that these will be beneficial. In this course, we will take a critical look at transhumanist claims. -
What Is the Upper Limit of Value?
WHAT IS THE UPPER LIMIT OF VALUE? Anders Sandberg∗ David Manheim∗ Future of Humanity Institute 1DaySooner University of Oxford Delaware, United States, Suite 1, Littlegate House [email protected] 16/17 St. Ebbe’s Street, Oxford OX1 1PT [email protected] January 27, 2021 ABSTRACT How much value can our decisions create? We argue that unless our current understanding of physics is wrong in fairly fundamental ways, there exists an upper limit of value relevant to our decisions. First, due to the speed of light and the definition and conception of economic growth, the limit to economic growth is a restrictive one. Additionally, a related far larger but still finite limit exists for value in a much broader sense due to the physics of information and the ability of physical beings to place value on outcomes. We discuss how this argument can handle lexicographic preferences, probabilities, and the implications for infinite ethics and ethical uncertainty. Keywords Value · Physics of Information · Ethics Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the Global Priorities Institute for highlighting these issues and hosting the conference where this paper was conceived, and to Will MacAskill for the presentation that prompted the paper. Thanks to Hilary Greaves, Toby Ord, and Anthony DiGiovanni, as well as to Adam Brown, Evan Ryan Gunter, and Scott Aaronson, for feedback on the philosophy and the physics, respectively. David Manheim also thanks the late George Koleszarik for initially pointing out Wei Dai’s related work in 2015, and an early discussion of related issues with Scott Garrabrant and others on asymptotic logical uncertainty, both of which informed much of his thinking in conceiving the paper. -
Syllabus 2018
FINAL DRAFT Summer One Semester 2018 HCB 504 BIOTECHNOLOGY: Special Topics Room 067 Mondays, Tuesday, Thursdays 6 – 8:30 pm Instructor of Record: Migdal, Kobba, Post Phyllis Migdal, MD MA [email protected] Timothy Kobba MA [email protected] Stephen Post PhD [email protected] Course Description: Dignity and Biomedical Aspirations – Therapy, Enhancement & Transhumanism The three “supers” of transhumanism are not just “science fiction.” Super-longevity, super-happiness, and super-intelligence, along with perfect babies, are works-in-progress at the interface of “old” evolved human nature as we have known it and technical progress toward the posthuman of our own creation. With the astonishing biotechnological powers that are increasingly reshaping nature and human nature, are we in a “transitional state” (transhumanism) en route to a redesigned posthuman future in which current limitations are overcome? Four centuries ago, Francis Bacon announced the biological utopia of the future in his The New Atlantis, replete with fountains of youth and chimeras. The term “transhumanism” was originally coined by the British biologist philosopher Julian Huxley in a 1957 essay to capture the ways in which social institutions could supplant evolution in refining and improving the species, as could technology. Sensory perception, emotive ability, cognitive capacity, health and life spans could all be augmented. The term was taken over in the 1990s by British philosopher Max More, who began defining the principles -
Living to 100”
The Likelihood and Consequences of “Living to 100” Leonard Hayflick, Ph.D. Professor of Anatomy, Department of Anatomy University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine Phone: (707) 785-3181 Fax: (707) 785-3809 Email: [email protected] Presented at the Living to 100 Symposium Orlando, Fla. January 5-7, 2011 Copyright 2011 by the Society of Actuaries. All rights reserved by the Society of Actuaries. Permission is granted to make brief excerpts for a published review. Permission is also granted to make limited numbers of copies of items in this monograph for personal, internal, classroom or other instructional use, on condition that the foregoing copyright notice is used so as to give reasonable notice of the Society’s copyright. This consent for free limited copying without prior consent of the Society does not extend to making copies for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for inclusion in new collective works or for resale. Abstract There is a common belief that it would be a universal good to discover how to slow or stop the aging process in humans. It guides the research of many biogerontologists, the course of some health policy leaders and the hopes of a substantial fraction of humanity. Yet, the outcome of achieving this goal is rarely addressed despite the fact that it would have profound consequences that would affect virtually every human institution. In this essay, I discuss the impact on human life if a means were found to slow our aging process, thus permitting a life expectancy suggested by the title of this conference, “Living to 100.” It is my belief that most of the consequences would not benefit either the individual or society. -
2 the Biology of Ageing
The biology of ageing 2 Aprimer JOAO˜ PEDRO DE MAGALHAES˜ OVERVIEW .......................................................... This chapter introduces key biological concepts of ageing. First, it defines ageing and presents the main features of human ageing, followed by a consideration of evolutionary models of ageing. Causes of variation in ageing (genetic and dietary) are reviewed, before examining biological theories of the causes of ageing. .......................................................... Introduction Thanks to technological progress in different areas, including biomed- ical breakthroughs in preventing and treating infectious diseases, longevity has been increasing dramatically for decades. The life expectancy at birth in the UK for boys and girls rose, respectively, from 45 and 49 years in 1901 to 75 and 80 in 1999 with similar fig- ures reported for other industrialized nations (see Chapter 1 for further discussion). A direct consequence is a steady increase in the propor- tion of people living to an age where their health and well-being are restricted by ageing. By the year 2050, it is estimated that the per- centage of people in the UK over the age of 65 will rise to over 25 per cent, compared to 14 per cent in 2004 (Smith, 2004). The greying of the population, discussed elsewhere (see Chapter 1), implies major medical and societal changes. Although ageing is no longer considered by health professionals as a direct cause of death (Hayflick, 1994), the major killers in industrialized nations are now age-related diseases like cancer, diseases of the heart and 22 Joao˜ Pedro de Magalhaes˜ neurodegenerative diseases. The study of the biological mechanisms of ageing is thus not merely a topic of scientific curiosity, but a crucial area of research throughout the twenty-first century. -
Longevity Industry in Israel LANDSCAPE OVERVIEW
Longevity Industry in Israel LANDSCAPE OVERVIEW SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES, COMPANIES, INVESTORS, TRENDS Longevity Industry in Israel Landscape Overview 2018 Mind Map Longevity Industry in Israel 3 Executive Summary 6 Chapter I: Israel Longevity Industry Landscape Overview 18 Сhapter II: History of Geroscience in Israel 37 Chapter III: Current State of Longevity in Israel 42 Chapter IV: Israeli Longevity Alliance (ISRLA)/VETEK 58 Chapter V: Top Universities Focusing on Longevity 61 Chapter VI: Media and Conferences 70 Chapter VII: The Policy Landscape of Longevity in Israel 76 Chapter VIII: Global Landscape Overviews from our previous reports 84 Chapter IX: The Economics of Longevity in Israel 109 APPENDIX/ PROFILES 10 Israel Longevity R&D Centers 128 10 Israel Longevity Non-Profit Organizations 141 10 Israel Longevity Conferences 154 60 Israel Longevity Influencers 167 160 Companies: Longevity in Israel 230 180 Investors: Longevity in Israel 393 Disclaimer 577 Longevity Companies - 160 Industry in Israel Personalized Investors - 180 Medicine Non-Profits - 10 Landscape 2019 R&D Centers - 10 Progressive Wellness Investors Companies Non-Profits R&D Centers Preventive Medicine AgeTech LONGEVITY Regenerative INTERNATIONAL Medicine Longevity Industry in Israel 2019 - 160 COMPANIES Drug Development Progressive wellness Gene therapies AgeTech Neurotech Others Progressive R&D Implant & Prosthetics Cell therapy Diagnostic Executive Summary Executive Summary 6 BIRAX Aging: Leapfrogging Population Ageing & Establishing A Strong Longevity Industry & R&D Landscape One of the most significant developments to occur in the Israel Longevity Industry in the past year is the formation of the BIRAX Partnership on Aging. The Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX) is a multi-million pound initiative launched by the British Council, the Pears Foundation and the British Embassy in Israel, supported by both the Israeli and British Ministries of Science, to invest in research initiatives jointly undertaken by scientists in Britain and Israel.