V

Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn't Age Normally

2009-06-26T15:11:00Z

Hello everyone,

A toddler who is chronologically 16 years-old! I hope her condition can in time help researchers make major insights into how to slow the aging process. When I first heard about this story I thought it had to be a hoax.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/Story?id=7880954&page=1

John Grigg

Electronic Evolution- lab robots form a community of both ethical and unethical members

2009-06-26T14:55:00Z

Hello everyone,

I thought this article about robotics research gives real insight into social evolution and the universality of selflessness and selfishness, even among lifeforms that are not biological. Astounding!

The earliest Autobots and Decepticons are among us...

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/05/a-robot-hitler.html

John Grigg

why not start up a Mexico based cryonics company?

2009-01-12T09:13:00Z

Why not start up a Mexico based cryonics company owned and primarily run by Americans? I would think the start up costs in terms of buying property, equipment, paying employees, etc., would be much much lower than in the US or Canada. And at this point I think Mexico is politically stable enough that this proposition could be seriously considered.

If KrioRus can charge a mere nine grand for a neuro, than a Mexico based cryonics company might be able to charge the same or even less. Anyone here think a "CryoMex" is a good idea?

And please try to contain yourselves when it comes to the tequila dewar and cryonics siesta jokes. My friends at the Immortality Institute just could not contain themselves...

John Grigg

Journalist Jason Silva investigates immortalism

2009-01-08T06:24:00Z

The Brave New Traveler website has a great interview with journalist Jason Silva regarding immortalism and it even includes a short film.

http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2009/01/05/interview-jason-silva-on-how-science-will-make-you-live-forever/

I'd like to know what the people here think about his insights and approach to things.

John Grigg

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

2008-12-02T06:12:00Z

"I was thinking how nothing lasts and what a shame that is" Benjamin Button

I'm greatly looking forward to watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button." A man is born old and grows younger as the years go by. It
is a bittersweet modern-day fairy tale and seems to have an
anti-aging/death slant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Case_of_Benjamin_Button

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thecuriouscaseofbenjaminbutton/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?rid=11986

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939098.html?categoryid=2880&cs=1

John Grigg : )

Orion's Arm Universe Project looking for writers regarding world religions

2008-11-27T21:38:00Z

Hello everyone,

The Orion's Arm Universe Project is looking for people to write
entries about world religions within their far future millieu.

And to think Ben Goetzel bets religion (in just about any form) will go the way of the
Dodo Bird over the next millennia! LOL

John Grigg

Drashner1 wrote:
orions_arm@yahoogroups.com
<drashner1@yahoo.com>

Hey all,

Been working on setting up hyperlinks in the new CMS and in the
process discovered that while we make mention of both Judaism and
Islam as being active religions in the setting we don't seem to have
articles on either one (we do have articles on Taoism, Christianity,
and likely others).

If we have any members out there who have expertise on these religions
and would like to contribute an EG article on one or both of these, it
would be much appreciated. For an idea of the sort of entry we are
looking for in terms of size, etc. please refer to our existing
articles on other religions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to post
them here or contact me offlist.

Thanks!
>>>

The official website:

http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html

The Wikipedia entry about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion's_Arm

A dozen things to be thankful for from earth, space, and cyberspace

2008-11-27T21:04:00Z

I thought considering it's Thanksgiving (for at least some of us) this might be fun to share. It is always important to reflect at times on one's blessings.

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/

John Grigg : )

My Convergence08 Adventure

2008-11-20T09:28:00Z

My trip to Convergence08 turned out to go extremely well and I had a
great time. My volunteer position was to hawk books at a table in the
hall. I ended up selling almost everything they assigned me. "Read all
about the possible end of the world, edited by Nick Bostrom!" I took
many pics with my cell phone and will send them this way soon.

The "unconference" format was very cool. A huge wall poster schedule
was put up and anyone who wanted to create a topic that they would be
speaking about and group hosting could do so. The response was huge
and at any time a dozen or more interesting things were going on. I
felt like a human pinball trying to take in as much as I could.

The event was held at the Computer History Museum and they had a vast
and amazingly thorough collection of computers. I felt old as I
realized many of the "ancient" machines were from my adult years! hee
Actually, though, the conference was held upstairs and the museum
itself was downstairs. We were so busy that most conference attendees
did not even visit the museum. But I toured it and was astonished at
the vast assortment of computers and how well they had documented
their development and evolution. They even had a Babbage calculating
machine!

I regret that we did not have organized tours for conference attendees
to see the museum. It would have been so cool to be in a group of
geeks (especially the likes of Robert Freitas, Ralph Merkle, Keith Henson, etc.)
and reminisce about various machines and advancements!

Before the conference I toured downtown San Jose. I toured the Tech
Museum of Innovation and they are a top notch kid's museum that adults
can definitely enjoy. The space and oceanic sections were especially
good. I took lots of pics. They had a "once in a lifetime" Leonardo
DaVinci show (on loan from Italy) but it was very expensive and so I
passed on it and just took in the regular parts of the museum. But I
still enjoyed myself.

Afterward, I visited the San Jose University and their (far more impressive
than ASU's!) library. What impressed me was that it was set up to
feel more like a public library, with the latest best sellers, music
and audiobooks available. ASU librarians should be taking notes.

I enjoyed gathering around with the Imminst leadership and discussing matters
As they recorded it for U-stream. Justin, Bruce, Susan, and Shannon (I might have
missed someone, sorry) are sharp folks and very dedicated.

The Imminst made about $53,000 last year (much of it from advertising). The possibility
Of an operations officer to help run things was brought up. This would be a demanding but
paid position. Also, the idea of hiring proposal writing experts to raise money by obtaining
grant money was considered. I brought up my thoughts about having a specific officer whose
sole responsibility Is to help seed and grow Imminst student bodies throughout the globe.
But this was seen as not a good idea because the Methuselah Mouse Project student groups
already exist and are expanding.

Some key moments for me were the following. Fred Moulton laughing so hard you
could hear him throughout the auditorium when a sincere young man said the Torah
says man's lifespan is maximum allotted lifespan is 120 years and if you calculate the
number of heartbeats in that life it would be 4.5 billion, the same age as the known
universe. I thought it was kind of deep.

Paul Saffo was the opening guest speaker and is a supposedly major league futurist.
He brought up some good points but I really disagreed with his comment "the future
will look much like today, But with much better gizmos." This is certainly lacking in
transhumanist vision. But then as one Prominent transhumanist in attendance said,
"they seem confused around here as to whether they even really want to use the
word transhumanist."

Denise Caruso was the naysayer during the synthetic biology panel. I agree with her that
Necessary precautions to protect people and the environment must be made, but she
Really poured out the fear and insecurity vibe. She even dared bring up the "pre-cautionary
Principle." When she did this I wanted to immediately jump up and lecture her about Max and
Natasha's pro-actionary Principle and how fear must not dominate and overcome us.

A Dept. of Defense civilian biochemist attended the conference on official business
and sat next to me during the Friday restaurant get together. She knew nothing
about transhumanism and so I went into detail about various terms and gave her
the run-down on various organizations, websites and mailing lists. A very lovely lady.

I spoke with a NYC based architecture professor who gave a presentation about the
Timeship project of Saul Kent and Bill Faloon. This cryonics temple/body repository
project that I had thought was "DOA" is supposedly back on line. A coffee table book
about the project has been produced and land for the site has been purchased. But the
construction budget has been targeted at a whopping 300 million+, far larger than the
fortunes of Kent and Faloon. The prof was a good man, a classic New Yorker, and
very interested in my life.

Terry Grossman, the popular anti-aging doctor was in attendance. I felt almost lightheaded
as he read a laundry list of medical tests every person should have done. In another group
with him one of his patients took out his laptop and showed the program he had devised for
himself with Dr. Grossman's help. This guy was an engineer and it sure showed with his charts
and records. lol

Gregory Benford, the powerhouse science fiction author and physics professor, was there
promoting his biotech company. Yes, you heard me right, Gregory Benford is now yet
another up and coming biotech mogul! lol He claimed to have a very promising anti-
alzheimer's drug in the works (along with anti-aging stuff). I was rather in awe of him
and spent a lunch listening to him talk. He seems to enjoy having an audience. lol Benford
was in fine form when during the synthetic biology panel he made a dryly sarcastic reply to a
"precautionary principle" advocate who got to be tiring.

I met Scott Cragg (I think it was his name), who is a newbie to transhumanism and was
absolutely brimming with excitement. He wants to create "birthright" machines" that will
follow each person through their life, coaching and protecting them. He did a group
on how transhumanists should ally to do open source work based around Burning Man.

While holding a microphone during a Q & A session a man motioned to me wanting to make
a comment during someone else's question. I said no, but then looked at the name tag and
said, "oh, go right ahead Keith!" It was our bright and persecuted friend, Keith Henson. A
man of almost Extropian legend to me. I could kick myself that I did not make time to
speak one on one with him.

I bumped into my good friend Spike. It was so cool to see him and it was sad that he
could not attend the conference (though he did hang out with the resident transhumanist
brain trust in the evening, lucky bastard). I tried to use my cell phone to take a pic of
the two of us together but I kept on missing one or both of us! lol Then he tried to do
it but without any luck. Finally, I asked a passerby to do it and now I have a memory
of the two of us there. You rock, Spike!

It was so cool seeing our resident geniuses, Eliezer and Anders there. Eliezer has put on
weight and has a sweet ready smile. It was such fun seeing him playfully question Anders
about his AI presentation. And speaking of smiles, Anders still has his trademark smile and
has fortunately not lost his charming Swedish accent. The rumor is that Nick Bostrom (not
in attendance) has.

I finally met Michael Annisimov, charming transhumanist provocateur. He has quite a bit of
boyish charm and he and his friends kept on breaking up into laughter during Michael's lifeboat
presentation. I had no idea the end of the world could be so darn funny! Annisimov, like me,
has painfully light sensitive eyes and so has almost fully closed eyes in many pictures.

I found with both Michael and Eliezer, they each had quite a following of admirers/groupies/
minions. hee This is especially true of Eliezer! "And thus said Eliezer" was something I heard
one way or another during the course of the conference.

Kennita Watson did a group on cryonics acceptance, and the attendees were more focused on
the technical aspects of it rather than the usual "religious objections/I won't fit into the future"
subjects. Kennita was her usual fun and energetic self. Tanya Jones was in the audience.

And speaking of Tanya, she did a group presentation about Alcor goals and plans. But as I was
bouncing around the groups (so many!) I just got a glimpse of the things she must have covered,
one of them being how important it is for Alcor to pre-position standby equipment so that they don't
have to deal with customs. Her group was well attended and she was bright and charming as usual.

It was great to meet Professor James Hughes. He told me a post I had written regarding the ASU
conference on transhumanism had a positive effect. Now a transhumanist representative will be present at all the future conferences to balance things out. Dr. "J" is a charming fellow and it was cool speaking with him. But I did disagree with him (as many did) about his presentation called "digital surfs and electronic buddha's." His point was that future society will be so automated that people will either not work or only put in a 10-20 hour week. I think as is the case now, better tools will not stop 40+ hour work weeks a century from now. But it was still an interesting presentation. His co-presenter, Michael LaTorra, talked to us about detaching from the ego to gain psychological strength. I wanted to stay and hear more but I left to bounce around and take in other presentations. I will have to find out what I missed from Michael.

I met Stuart LaForge, an extropy list poster. It was cool to put a face to the name. He told
me about his work in biotech and his frustrations due to the current administration. And he
encouraged me, saying that being an "everyman" rather than a scientist or engineer, etc., is
still making a contribution to the cause.

My friend Shannon Vyff was my supervisor as I did my volunteering duties and it was so great
to get to know her better. She had a table set up promoting her 21st Century Kids book. I was
amazed at how she juggled so many things as the conference progressed. Shannon deals with
severe chronic pain due to a nerve/abdominal condition and I deeply respect her mental and
physical endurance. A great lady.

Seeing Bruce and Susan is always a delight. They are the "first couple" of the Imminst and truly
awesome people. A very cool moment happened when Susan was in Bruce's lap (they are so romantic) and they were talking to Ben Goetzl and another person. As I got my cell phone camera aimed there way Bruce gave me the finger, with a hardcore metal expression on his face! LOL Susan slapped his hand for being so mischievious. hee When I said goodbye to Bruce I had a lump in my throat.

Oh, and Ben looks more than ever like a young old testament prophet due to his long long locks of hair. I had a discussion with him over snacks and had to disagree with him that organized religion is going to simply fade away over time. I see it changing, but definitely not going away. Ben was great on the panels and always seemed to have a funny observation that caused the audience to break into serious laughter.

It was very cool to finally meet my Mormon Transhumanist Association friend, Lincoln Cannon. We were hotel roommates and it was such a pleasure to stay up late talking about our lives and how transhumanism fits into it all. My thanks to Lincoln for his friendship and graciousness.

Though I have known Natasha Vita-More for many years through the net and greatly admired her for her achievements and big heart, I had never had a real world sit down visit. And so it was incredibly cool to join her at lunch and get to know her better. Her lunch group sat outside on a balcony and we discussed current events and the gay marriage issue. I said if people are concerned about this than they will be even more upset when some folks want to marry an android or an uplifted dolphin. When Natasha first greeted me at the conference, she gave me a big hug, which was so great. And then she asked me (she knows me too well) "John, do you need rescuing?" LOL

I never did talk with George Dvorsky of Betterhumans fame. I saw him whizzing by me at near light speed as he met with people and took care of various tasks. Next conference I hope to speak with him. He's lost weight and looks good. The new and improved George!

The day I left the city the newspaper headlines told of an Asian engineer who after being fired from his job shot to death threesenior executives from his former company. The killer was married with three kids and was known for being a friendly, easy going guy. I wonder what drove him off the edge?

I had a wonderful time exploring San Jose and the Tech Museum of Innovation, attending the Convergence08 Conference, and lastly visiting the Computer History Museum. I did the best I could to document my experience so I could share it with others.

My pictures:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=21008688&uid=11823366

Best wishes,

John Grigg : )

cartoon about indefinite lifespan

2008-11-03T09:48:00Z

Adult Swim has been running this cartoon about life extension/indefinite lifespan and the possible effects on society. Also be sure to watch the other shorts in the series, they are all very good.

Click onto the video in the *up next* section titled "medicine."

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=...11d5311478f00da

Let me know what you think...

John Grigg

'Boosting' research to develop world's fastest nanomotor

2008-05-13T19:41:00Z

http://www.biodesign.asu.edu/news/boosting-research-to-develop-worlds-fastest-nanomotor

In a “major step” toward a practical energy source for powering tomorrow’s nanomachines, researchers at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute report the development of a new generation of tiny nanomotors that are up to 10 times more powerful than existing motors.

Just like weekend hot-rodders who tinker with their car engines in the ultimate quest for speed, a research team led by Joseph Wang, who directs the institute’s Center for Biosensors and Bioelectronics, set out to improve on the design of current nanomotors. These so-called “catalytic nanomotors” are made with gold and platinum nanowires and use hydrogen peroxide (the same chemical that bleaches hair) as a fuel for self-propulsion.

But these motors are too slow and inefficient for practical use, with top speeds of about 10 micrometers per second, the researchers say. One micrometer is about 1/25,000 of an inch or almost 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair. (If one could somehow magnify the nanoworld to human scale by multiplying by a factor of 100,000, the speed would be the seem the same as a walking speed of 3.6 miles per hour.)

Wang and colleagues supercharged their nanomotors by inserting carbon nanotubes into the platinum, thus boosting average speed to 60 micrometers per second. This was the first time that carbon nanotubes had been added to the existing gold and platinum nanowires. The tiny tubes, only a few atoms thick, help conduct electricity and heat.

This is the first example of a powerful, man-made nanomotor, said Wang, who is an ASU professor with a joint appointment in the departments of Chemical and Material Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Science.

Spiking the hydrogen peroxide fuel with hydrazine (a type of rocket fuel) kicked up the speed still further, to 94- 200 micrometers per second (using the same multiplying factor of 100,000, the top speed would now be equal to a moped-like speed of 43.2 miles per hour). This innovation “offers great promise for self-powered nanoscale transport and delivery systems,” Wang states.

The Biodesign team is interested in more than just bragging rights at the nanotechnology research racetrack. By packaging the nanomotors with the right cargo, Wang says the powerful nanomotors could one day deliver disease-fighting drugs inside the body to invading pathogens or tumor cells, or help clean up environmental toxins by using the toxins as fuel.

Authors on the paper include: Rawiwan Laocharoensuk, Jared Burdick, and Joseph Wang. Their study is scheduled for the May 27 issue of ACS Nano, a monthly journal. They also reported their findings in the online edition of ACS Nano Carbon-Nanotube-Induced Acceleration of Catalytic Nanomotors.

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