Preventing Technological Armageddon

wang_anissimov_tn.jpg

Brian Wang and Michael Anissimov at the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend

Michael Anissimov co-founded the Immortality Institute in 2002, a life extension advocacy organization that today includes hundreds of members and an online community. In 2003, he founded the SF Bay Area Transhumanists. He has also written numerous articles for the Q&A site WiseGEEK, offering “clear answers for common questions” on technology. Michael is Fundraising Director, North America for the Lifeboat Foundation, and serves on the Global Task Force for the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, he gave a presentation on the measures currently being taken by the Lifeboat Foundation to address existential risks, or possible human extinction event scenarios.

Continue reading

Global Challenges in Transition to the Conscious-Technology Age

jerome_glenn_transvision1.jpg

Ronald Bailey and Jerome C. Glenn at Transvision 2007

Jerome C. Glenn is the Director of The Millennium Project on global futures research of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and the Executive Director of the American Council for the United Nations University. He is the co-author with Ted Gordon of the annual State of the Future of the Millennium Project for the past ten years. His presentation at Transvision 2007 was entitled “Global Challenges in Transition to the Conscious-Technology Age.”

Continue reading

Arguing the Scientific Feasibility of Anti-Aging

longevity_aubrey_tn.jpg

Aubrey de Grey is the editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research, a medical journal which publishes cutting-edge work on anti-aging therapies in the laboratory and clinic. At the “Securing the Longevity Dividend” event in Chicago organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, he argued the scientific feasibility of anti-aging therapies by exploring the concept of longevity escape velocity and sharing interim results from research funded by the Methuselah Foundation.

Continue reading

Securing the Longevity Dividend

longevity_olshansky_tn.jpg

Professor of Epidemiology of the University of Chicago, Jay Olshansky helped to introduce the concept of the Longevity Dividend: pursuing the sum of health, social, and economic benefits attained from a seven year delay in aging. A leading proponent of research into increased human longevity, he gave a presentation at the “Securing the Longevity Dividend” event in Chicago organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. There he argued for the necessity of reducing health risks by slowing the biological process of aging.

Continue reading

Popular Arguments For and Against Longevity


longevity_dvorsky_tn.jpg

George Dvorsky is the Deputy-Editor of Betterhumans, co-founder and president of the Toronto Transhumanist Association, and the producer of the award-winning Sentient Developments blog and podcast. He is the co-director of the Cyborg Buddha project, and the winner of three 2008 Blogisattva Awards. At the July 23, 2007 Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies conference called “Securing the Longevity Dividend,” he discussed various popular arguments for and against radical life extension.

Continue reading