RAY KURZWEIL - FUTURIST
Meet the Google executive who plans to cheat death: Ray Kurzweil takes 150 vitamins a day so he can 'hold out long enough for invention of robots that will keep humans alive'
- Futurist Ray Kurzweil explains the biology of the body is like computer software that needs upgrading
- Key is a 'bridge to bridge' system where you maximize current methods in order to live until life-lengthening technology is at its greatest
- Kurzweil is currently taking 150 vitamin supplements per day
- We will eventually hit a stage where robots will subsidize our immune system
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Google engineering director and futurist Ray Kurzweil believes we are close to realizing everlasting life and is dead-set on getting us there.
The inventor and noted author believes the key to such a scientific breakthrough is a system of 'bridges' that enable the body to move from strength to strength over time.
The youthful 65-year-old currently takes 150 supplements a day, which he argues if the first bridge.
The idea is to build enough bridges to ensure the body holds out long enough for life-lengthening technology to come into its own.
He has likened the biology of the body to computer software and believes we are all 'out of date'.
Key to the fountain of youth: Ray Kurzweil, futurist and Google engineering director, says the biology of the body is much like computer software and that we are in need of of an upgrade. The hope is to go along enough 'bridges', or stages, to reach the point where life-lengthening technology is at its greatest
Bridge number one: Staying as healthy as possible. Ray Kurzweil currently takes 150 supplements a day to keep his body at its peak
In an interview with Canadian magazine Maclean's, Kurzweil says he hopes the supplements will keep him healthy enough to reach the 'nanotech revolution'.
'I can never say, “I’ve done it, I’ve lived forever,” because it’s never forever,' he said.
'We’re really talking about being on a path that will get us to the next point.
'Bridge one: Stay as healthy as possible with diet and exercise and current medicine.
'The goal is to get to bridge two.
'Bridge two (is) the biotechnology revolution, where we can reprogram biology away from disease.
'And that is not the end-all either.
'Bridge three is to go beyond biology, to the nanotechnology revolution.
'At that point we can have little robots, sometimes called nanobots, that augment your immune system.
'We can create an immune system that recognizes all disease, and if a new disease emerged, it could be reprogrammed to deal with new pathogens.'
Such robots, according to Kurzweil, will help fight diseases, improve health and allow people to remain active for longer.
Genius: Ray Kurzweil is considered a revolutionary in his field and is currently working on Artificial Intelligence
'Biology is a software process,' Kurzweil told Maclean's.
'Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each governed by this process.
'You and I are walking around with outdated software running in our bodies, which evolved in a very different era.
'We each have a fat insulin receptor gene that says, “Hold on to every calorie”.
'That was a very good idea 10,000 years ago, when you worked all day to get a few calories; there were no refrigerators, so you stored them in your fat cells.
'I would like to tell my fat insulin receptor gene, “You don’t need to do that anymore,”.'
Kurzweil referenced a lab mice experiment at the Joslin Diabetes Center, which managed to turn off the mice's fat insulin receptor gene.
The mice continued to eat, remained slim, did not get diabetes or heart disease and lived 20 per cent longer.
Google is hoping to help expand the human lifespan with its new company Calico, which aims to make improvements in human health and well-being.
Kurzweil has previously predicted that by the late 2020s humans will be able to eat as much junk food as they want because everyone will have a nanobot injected into their bodies that will provide all the necessary nutrients while simultaneously eliminating fat.
Kurzweil is current work towards building smarter computers is being seen as the first step towards developing such technology.
His goal is to improve the natural language processing skills in computers that will allow robots to read, consume and understand human communication.
Kurzweil believes creating intelligent robots is key to human evolution.
Leading the way: Google is hoping to help expand the human lifespan with its new company Calico, which aims to make improvements in human health and well-being.
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