For today’s featured video from COSM 2022, watch Babak Parviz, Vice President at Amazon, lead a discussion on synthetic biology, the multi-disciplinary field that applies engineering principles to redesign biological systems for new purposes. The panel focuses on bio-medical technologies that hold great promise for curing diseases and even counteracting human aging.

For more material on the topic, see this piece on Altos Labs and their work on bio-longevity. Part of their project also involves artificial intelligence research:

Altos Labs’ vision isn’t too far removed from that of the transhumanists who want to computerize human consciousness. For them, however, longevity is a junior varsity goal — what we really need is a way to live forever. Harrison quips at the end of her article, “Anyway. See you in MetaHeaven, where we sacrifice our data to our meat-smoking Lord Zucko in exchange for eternal algorithmic life.”

While perhaps the end goal of biological longevity remains distant, the race for an even longer and healthier life is well underway. Could the results ever be democratized? Would only some people benefit from these “groundbreaking” advances? Who knows. In any case, one question we sometimes neglect is whether the longevity of life is worth it when one’s spiritual, emotional, and mental quality of life is wanting.

-Peter Biles, Do You Really Want to Live Forever? | Mind Matters