Thomas G Posted April 27, 2017 Report Share Posted April 27, 2017 Glad they are investing in anti-aging research. Wish they were doing so with transparency and public interest at the center. They're not. It’s not unusual for new startups to be stealthy for a period while they get going, but there’s usually some public statement with specific details about the technology or science being developed. That Calico won’t say what it’s doing bothers leading aging researchers. They expressed confusion or frustration about Calico’s stealthiness, and said the secrecy is not productive for science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordo Posted April 28, 2017 Report Share Posted April 28, 2017 It would be nice to know why they are so secretive, but I'm sure they have their reasons. Maybe they just want to make their employees feel more free to do whatever they want, like head transplant experiments or embryonic stem cell work without facing any backlash. Maybe they just want to protect commercial interests. If they are working on a pill to grow/activate brown fat or a version of rapamycin that doesn't compromise one's immune system, they don't want someone else beating them to market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBAvoider Posted April 28, 2017 Report Share Posted April 28, 2017 Unfortunately, from reading about how their anti-aging initiative came about and who were the people involved, I can safely say, they are not doing anything of the remotest relevance to us or indeed of any scientific credibility. While the google founders mean well, and often support smart projects, they also make a lot of mistakes and have a tendency to listen to charismatic kooks, as their hiring practices often attest (see: Ray Kurzweil whom they hired... of what relevance and credibility is that guy?). In other words, another Nothingburger. A pity really, as they do have the resources, all they need is someone credible to get their ear; sadly this time around, they got snookered by another huckster. Maybe they can do better on another project in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordo Posted April 28, 2017 Report Share Posted April 28, 2017 Perhaps its not so bad that the google approach is different from other approaches - do we really need everyone taking the same approach? Perhaps google is focused more on AI in the hopes that intelligent machines are more likely to solve the human aging problem before humans can. I don't think that idea is so crazy... What Ray Kurzweil is doing at Google: teaching computers to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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