Ray Kurzweil + Joe Rogan. What could go wrong?

When someone is an expert in their field for over 60 years, it generally pays to listen to them. If you've heard of The Singularity, welcome to Ray Kurzweil.

This week the UK Independent posted an article discussing renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil's prediction that artificial intelligence will herald a new era of hybrid humans capable of ageing in reverse within the next five years.

Now working with Google, Kurzweil says he's been involved with AI for the last 61 years, gaining prominence in 2005 when he predicted in his seminal book "The Singularity Is Near" that the technological singularity – the moment where AI surpasses all humans and triggers an intelligence explosion – would take place by 2045.

The Independent article referred to Ray Kurzweil's appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.

"When asked on the Joe Rogan Experience about what kind of revolutionary changes that AI could bring to society within the next few years, Dr Kurzweil said he believed it would soon be able to reverse human ageing. "One thing I feel will happen in five years, by 2029, is we’ll reach longevity escape velocity. So right now you go through a year and you use up a year of your longevity ... However, scientific progress is progressing exponentially and by 2029 you’ll get back a full year ... And past 2029 you’ll actually get back more than a year ... It doesn't guarantee you living forever ... [you could still] die tomorrow.”"

Kurzweil's concept hinges on the exponential growth of medical research. Throughout history, medical discoveries have gradually increased life expectancy. Things like better sanitation, antibiotics, and vaccines all contributed. In recent decades, the pace of medical progress has quickened.

We've seen breakthroughs in areas like gene editing, stem cell research, and nanomedicine. Kurzweil believes this acceleration will reach a tipping point by 2029, ushering in an era of rapid life extension.Kurzweil sees AI as a key player in achieving longevity escape velocity. AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential drugs and therapies that target the root causes of aging. If you're interested, here are some words you can look up: telomere damage, epigenetic dysregulation, DNA damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, senescence, stem cell exhaustion and chronic inflammation. AI can analyze individual health data to create personalized treatment plans that address specific aging processes. Advanced AI-enabled robots could assist with complex surgical procedures aimed at repairing or rejuvenating tissues.What do you think ?

Would you want to extend your life indefinitely?

What would the consequences be?

Here's the entire 2 hour Rogan interview. Skip to 00:24:07 to get the anti-aging quote outlined above.What's always interesting about Kurzweil's predictions is his core idea of exponential growth. That focusing on today's obstacles tends to lead to people underestimating the transformational capability of exponential growth.