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Time of India
24-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Humans will be immortal by 2030, futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts—here's how technology could make it happen
The notion of immortality has captivated human imagination for millennia. From ancient myths of life elixirs to contemporary science fiction with characters overcoming death, the notion of eternal life has been a beguiling prospect. Until recently, immortality was quite often a philosophical or fictional endeavor. Yet, with progress in artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology, the horizon of life itself is being extended, turning a fantasy into a scientific debate. At the forefront of this revolution is Ray Kurzweil, a prophet thinker, inventor, and erstwhile Google engineer, whose recent prophecy has reawakened universal curiosity and debate. Humans could achieve immortality by 2030 through nanobots Kurzweil has forecast that by 2030, humans can accomplish what was previously considered impossible—biological immortality. The statement, though incredible, is not an imaginary one. Rather, it is underpinned by the rapid advancement of major scientific disciplines like nanotechnology, genetics, and robotics. The future of medicine, Kurzweil predicts, will be characterized by the emergence of microscopic machines called nanobots. These kind of small robots will help travel in the human circulatory system, continuously checking the body's status, healing the cells that are broken, and reversing the signs of aging. If realized, this technology might not only heal diseases before their appearance but also restore the human body on a cellular level, effectively stopping the aging process. Who is Ray Kurzweil by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trade Bitcoin & Ethereum – No Wallet Needed! IC Markets Start Now Undo Ray Kurzweil is no stranger to the realm of dramatic technological predictions. He is best known for his vision in anticipating the direction of digital innovation. Most of his predictions, made many years ago and considered unlikely at the time, have come true with astonishing precision. He famously predicted the emergence of the internet, artificial intelligence, and the merging of biology and computing, sometimes decades before they reached popular adoption. With a batting average of success—almost 86 percent of his 147 predictions have held true—Kurzweil has gained both praise and criticism. In 1999, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology, the highest award given by the American government to its innovators. His credibility does not only come from his professional success but also because of his hands-on approach to research and development of advanced technologies. How AI and human minds will merge to redefine intelligence by 2029 Together with this biological transformation comes the unprecedented evolution of artificial intelligence. Kurzweil thinks AI will hit its crucial benchmark by 2029, when machines will have human-level intelligence and will be able to pass the Turing test—a benchmark of a machine's capability to simulate behavior indistinguishable from a human's. He predicts that humans and machines will not just coexist, but will come together. The merger of human consciousness with AI would augment memory, perception, and decision-making to take human abilities past the natural biological boundaries. Human intelligence will multiply beyond imagination around 2045 At the heart of Kurzweil's prophecy is the idea of the Singularity, a theoretical point in time in the future where technological development accelerates to the point at which it radically changes human civilization. He predicts this transition to take place around 2045. Human intelligence will be raised a billion times as we start to integrate with our own inventions. This integration should bring about a new type of existence where consciousness is not limited to carbon-based tissue but can be uploaded, augmented, and even made to last forever. Kurzweil is not the only one imagining such a world. Tech innovators globally have seconded such thoughts. One of them is Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, who has also forecasted the emergence of super-intelligent machines by 2047. According to Son, the machines will learn on their own and potentially acquire emotional intelligence that can topple humanity's position at the pinnacle of the intellectual chain. SoftBank's creation of Pepper, a humanoid robot with the ability to sense human emotions, is an instance of how emotional computation is already making inroads. How the latest AI breakthroughs are reshaping society and raising alarms The world is already experiencing the initial stages of this revolution. In 2023, Google and Microsoft, among other leading tech companies, launched advanced AI-based chatbots, both intriguing and terrifying people. Although these developments brought concerns about the capabilities of AI, they also reflected its uncertain nature. Public opinion varied from enthusiasm at the potential of new abilities to fear about the social consequences of AI systems that learn, improve, and behave autonomously beyond the control of humans. In March 2023, a collective of scientists, engineers, and technology entrepreneurs led by Elon Musk signed a public letter demanding a pause in AI research. They said that existing AI systems are a serious threat to society and need to be properly regulated before they can be permitted to go further. What happens when death is no longer the end—questions we can't ignore While Kurzweil's vision of immortality is based on hope in the power of science, it is raising very fundamental ethical and philosophical issues. If human beings no longer age and die naturally, how will society manage population growth, distribution of resources, and economic balance? Will immortality only be an option for the rich, or will it be a right that everyone has? And, more fundamentally, what does our perception of life, purpose, and legacy do when death is no longer an unavoidable reality? These are not scientific questions alone—they are cultural, ethical, and profoundly human issues that we need to get ready to deal with. Also Read | Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja receives $139 million compensation package; know who is he, educational qualifications, net worth and more AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Why federal funding for life sciences—now being slashed—is a strategic necessity for America
In the summer of 1977, the day before Independence Day, physician Raymond Damadian watched as his mechanical invention (dubbed 'The Indomitable') produced a crude image of the internal structures of a living human's chest. That human, Larry Minkoff, was one of Damadian's postgraduate students at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. This moment would accelerate the creation of one of the most revolutionary medical innovations in history: the MRI scan. But the science behind the innovation was decades in the making. Damadian wasn't the only scientist experimenting with magnetic resonance. Since the 1950s, chemist Paul Lauterbur had been researching ways to take the signals detected by nuclear magnetic resonance and convert them into images. This made it possible to create an effective map of potential disease. Lauterbur struggled for years to find financing for his research, until securing critical funding from both the National Institutes of Medicine and the National Science Foundation in the early 1970s—support that rapidly advanced his research into MRI's application in cancer detection. In 1988, both Damadian and Lauterbur received the National Medal of Technology from President Ronald Reagan. Today, it is impossible to imagine what health care would look like without the MRI. It's estimated that as many as 150 million MRIs are performed annually across the globe. It's just one of many examples of American ingenuity, made possible by federal backing. Modern researchers are embarking on similar journeys in biotech, medtech, and digital health. Their potentially transformative work—much of which is also decades in the making—is fueled by public funding. This is the process that has cemented the United States as the global leader in life sciences and medical innovation. That position is not guaranteed. In February, the Trump admin announced that federal funding for research and development at academic institutions would be greatly reduced. Since then, hundreds of research projects have been terminated. Such reductions forfeit our competitive advantage in the global market and put our own economic interests at home at risk. Meanwhile, other nations are aggressively investing in their life sciences sectors, eager to claim global dominance in STEM. The U.S. is already falling behind when considering research and development (R&D) funding as a percentage of our GDP. As President Trump said in 2018, 'A pillar of national security is economic security and trade.' Our ability to rapidly develop new technologies—from diagnostic tools to cutting-edge therapies—is a national security imperative. We must ensure that we are not relying on other countries, particularly our adversaries, for access to life-saving therapies such as the next COVID-19 vaccines. The life sciences industry generates treatments and cures that keep our nation healthy, and we cannot afford to cut off the steady investment that has made us a global leader in this space. The U.S. life sciences market is not just a pillar of global health care—it's an engine for national economic growth. This is an industry that generates $2.9 trillion in economic impact annually and employs 2.1 million people across the country. In Pennsylvania, NIH funding supported nearly 22,000 jobs in 2024 and generated $5.24 billion in economic output. That's just one state. If you close your eyes and place your finger on a map of the U.S., you're likely to find high-skill, high-wage life sciences jobs that are invigorating local economies. These are the jobs that are helping sustain our nation's position as a global leader in scientific discovery. The human impact of this engine is too big to ignore. At Pennsylvania's leading academic medical centers alone, nearly 700 ongoing clinical trials funded by the NIH are giving more than 333,000 patients a fighting chance against diseases ranging from cancer to rare genetic disorders. Innovation advances by a process of trial and error. Inherent to the process are risks that the private sector often can't shoulder alone. Without a committed public funding model, promising medical discoveries are doomed to languish—and the patients who would benefit from them most are left waiting for hope that never comes. America's innovators are undoubtedly our secret weapon in the global STEM race. But even the brightest minds need institutional support to turn their groundbreaking concepts into commercially viable, life-saving solutions. If not for the May 2020 launch of Operation Warp Speed under President Trump, NIH-supported mRNA vaccines would not have been ready by the end of that year. Likewise, if not for funding from the NIH and NSF in the 1970s, Lauterbur would have continued to struggle finding financing to support his experiments with magnetic resonance. Damadian may not have built 'The Indomitable' in 1977—at least not before foreign competitors. After all, it was Soviet scientist Vladislav Ivanov who first proposed the concept of magnetic imaging in 1960. Thankfully, history didn't play out that way. The U.S. federal government invested, and in doing so, claimed one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. Funding for life sciences innovation is not an optional expense. It's a strategic necessity that gives our nation a competitive edge. Just as federal dollars propelled MRI technology from a research concept to an indispensable medical tool, today's federal investments are laying the groundwork for tomorrow's breakthroughs in medtech, biotech, and digital health. Scaling back now would be disastrous—akin to throwing in the towel in the STEM race. The choice is clear: The U.S. can continue to lead the world in life sciences, ensuring economic growth, job creation, and better health outcomes, or we can allow our scientific brilliance to stagnate. If we want to remain at the vanguard of innovation on the international stage, we can't afford to scale back federal funding. In the global STEM race, the prize is economic prosperity that fuels strong national security. America is winning—for now. The opinions expressed in commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. This story was originally featured on
