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Longevity "Myth Busting" - Aubrey de Grey (Foresight Inst., April 2019)


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Possibly, Dr. de Grey's WORST public presentation to date (imho) ... because of ...

  • No new information or update (WRT progress on  de Grey's other projects and affiliations; e.g., SENS, etc)
  • Overuse of sensationalism and emotional tags (dropping F-bombs, etc).
  • The predictions about the next 5 years (near the end of the talk)
  • Etc.

BTW: Wrt de Grey's comment on his (and thinkers like him) lack of popularity in Asia and other non-European/USA cultures ... it may not be lack of scientific awareness, as he claims ... but the Eastern acceptance of the dead-endedness of physical/BIOLOGICAL/wetware continuity -- i.e., if not disease, then the tsunami or volcano. Transcendence of the soul or spiritual software ... is more the Eastern ideology. 

 

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I think de Grey still believes in his convictions. Maybe that's a bit of cognitive dissonance going on ... i.e., that he has been making similar near-term (and positive) projections for longevity (and the singularity) for about 20 years ... that it's right around the corner (as in case of the video above).

In a way, public figures like him get trapped -- to the investors, book publishers, and their (mostly young) followers ... so it seems ever few weeks they are featured on yet another conference, podcast, or You Tube vlog.... plugging their agendas. With de Grey, the list of his affiliated side projects (not SENS) is sizable. If you play the above video [Foresight Institute] , YouTube's suggestion panel (right) will list videos from some others orgs including:

  • Singularity University
  • Undoing Aging
  • NUS Medicine
  • TED
  • Talks at Google
  • Joe Rogan
  • etc.

That's a lot of PR and commitment and time-sink ... meaning less time for core research. 

I do think these "celebs" drink their own Kool Aid.

Take Elon Musk .... most of his claims (projects) have been demystified ... yet he continues to be popular and accumulate wealth. 

 

Edited by KHashmi317
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1 hour ago, KHashmi317 said:

Take Elon Musk .... most of his claims (projects) have been demystified ... yet he continues to be popular and accumulate wealth.

While I wholeheartedly agree with the skepticism on de Grey, the Musk videos are nonsense.

I know a little bit about the hyperloop projects and first, Musk is not involved in almost anything going on there. Second, there are billions being poured in private investment, including by some very smart people who can tap into some of the best expertise available in the world. Third, the videos take cheap shots at the initial white paper and the technology is rather different. Fourth, while the media presents the technology as aimed at moving passengers, the money is going into freight -- the largest investor is also among the largest freight infrastructure owners and operators in the world. Long-haul passenger tracks will come later, probably much later.

As to Space-X, 10% cost savings right off the bat is pretty significant even if nothing else follows. And the smart money is on at least something else following.

I would grant you that Tesla's valuation is grossly overpriced, but so are the handful of companies that keep the stock bubble growing.

People love to hate Musk, some for political reasons, others just because, like they hated Jobs. But the fact is, he is arguably by far the most innovative of the current billionaires and in my book, that's a good thing.

Edited by Ron Put
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23 hours ago, KHashmi317 said:

I think de Grey still believes in his convictions. Maybe that's a bit of cognitive dissonance going on ... i.e., that he has been making similar near-term (and positive) projections for longevity (and the singularity) for about 20 years ... that it's right around the corner (as in case of the video above).

You seem to be overlooking Aubrey's smashing success in achieving perpetual youthfulness of apparel, 20 years on and he still dresses like a college student.

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10 hours ago, DHL said:

Hey guys give Aubrey a break. You see how old and raggedy he looks ?

He better find that anti-aging miracle he’s looking for STAT.

Doesn't look like he has much time left.  

Good advice and No wonder Sinclair is more well known he wears makeup, dresses much nicer  and shaves😉!

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de Grey especially wanted to be in Silicon Valley for multiple reasons ... but certain co-located health and biotech firms are giving that area a bad reputation. Most of have you have probably already heard about the multi-billion-$ Theranos scandal ...

 

.... and just recently, another crappy deal 😉 ....

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Off topic, but just to keep the full suite of entertaining Musk bashing vids in one thread, anyone see the latest on full self driving Teslas? It is getting better over time, but kind of scary to think they seem to be planning to unleash this software soon: 

With lidar and more cameras it will eventually be perfected I'm sure, but I think there are a lot of existing car owners that believed a bunch of hype (and still do) 

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