Immortality. It’s an age-old idea that has plagued humanity for centuries. Over the years, many have tried to find a way to live forever, but futurist Raymond Kurzweil thinks he may have found the best way. According to Kurzweil’s new book, nanorobots could be the key to stopping human aging and allowing us to live for thousands of years.
Of course, there are many concerns about living for thousands of years, much less forever, but new anti-aging therapies remain a common research topic among leading scientists. While many are pursuing ways to slow physical decline and simply extend lifespan, some, like Kurzweil, seem to have loftier goals.
Kurzweil discusses the use of nanotechnology for this research in his new book, The singularity is approaching and, WiredBoth discuss the merging of biotechnology and artificial intelligence to overcome frail human life by slowing down human aging as much as possible.
One of the biggest problems with aging is that as cells regenerate over and over, errors begin to accumulate in our bodies and cells. Many anti-aging treatments aim to reduce these errors and allow the body to repair itself faster, slowing down aging overall. For Kurzweil, the only solution is to “cure aging itself.”
An ambitious goal, to be sure. Of course, Kurzweil acknowledges that his prediction may sound absurd at this point, but he believes advances in medical nanorobots could help cure all aspects of human aging in the near future. The human body may need hundreds of billions of nanorobots to repair and augment deteriorating organs and keep them functioning at their best.
But this is just one person’s vision of the future, so if the idea of billions of nanobots coursing through your body doesn’t appeal to you, you’re probably not alone. It’ll be interesting to see if Kurzweil’s predictions come true, but given the current state of AI, I’m not excited.
