ALSO Found at Betterhuman here:
http://www.betterhum...ID=2003-10-13-3
Topic: Bruce Klein, ImmInst founder, answers questions by fellow member, Devon Fowler.
Devon Fowler, ImmInst Full Member
Bruce Klein, ImmInst Founder
What initially interested you in wanting to form the Immortality Institute?
As far back as I can remember, I’ve felt lucky to be alive. I’ve always had an optimist personality with the underlying desire to know how things really work. So, I believe my interest started early and probably progressed out of a natural curiosity.
While young, I did all the things most American kids do. I was socially active and participated in sports. There was considerable positive family influences. I had a health conscious father who helped promote good diet and exercise.
Philosophically however, I found myself thinking differently, especially about death. I never bought into the notion of religion, and thus continuously searched for answers.
In 1994 I entered college and found the Internet. This opened up a world of new ideas, namely transhumanism. I read Drexler and Ettinger and found a philosophical home for my wandering mind.
From 1994 to 2000, I continued to think and read. I joined newsgroups and participated in chat rooms. I made mistakes in logic, yet quickly learned from helpful people online. Eventually, I saw a way where I could reciprocate the help. By formalizing a few ideas, and using software, I made a plan to start an online community whose underlying goal would be to promote the continuance of life.
In 2000, I slowly learned web design and started BJKlein.com – Home to Immortals. I quickly realized to be useful we would need to organize into a non-profit. Thus, with great help from friends, the Immortality Institute was born.
What do you hope to accomplish by having and running a web site devoted to the issues of life extension?
ImmInst's mission is to conquer the blight of involuntary death. ImmInst’s Constitution dictates that we provide our members with the tools necessary to reach our mission.
To leverage limited resources, we use the Internet and the extraordinary talents of our members to reach out, write articles, produce educational literature and host and attend conferences.
Why the word “immortality"?
We debated the term ‘immortality’ extensively beforehand, yet came to the conclusion that ‘immortality’ was right because it sets the right tone.
There may be initial misunderstandings because of the association with a spiritual and religious immortality, but this is quickly overcome by our evident focus on science.
The reason why we chose ‘immortality’ as opposed to more conservative terms, such as ‘life extension’, was that we don’t want to limit ourselves by any implied ambiguity. Even though we’re unable to live forever at this point in history. we believe this problem can be overcome.
I notice a lot of sites out there dedicated to progress in humanity. The so called “Transhumanist” sites or “Extropian” sites seem to have similar goals. Does the Immortality Institute share some of the same ideas and beliefs? Or are we talking about completely different things?
Many ImmInst members share the same aspirations expressed by organizations such as the World Transhumanist Association and the Extropy Institute. Some ImmInst members are also members of these organizations.
However, ImmInst only has one major objective, that is to conquer the blight of involuntary death. This allows ImmInst the opportunity to work with many different organizations because when it comes down it, most of us just want to stay alive.
In your site there is a strong interest in the Singularity, what is it and why is it so important? What do you hope it will do for people? Why should such a philosophy interest your average person?
From an immortalist perspective, the Singularly is important because it could help people bootstrap to a semi-immortal state faster than any other approach.
The Singularity is the point in time when artificial intelligence advances beyond human intelligence. This point is significant because homo sapiens will no longer be the wisest life forms on Earth.
The key to understanding the Singularity is that unlike biological intelligences, AIs will have access to their own source code. Thus, AIs will have the ability to improve their own intelligence in this way.
To some degree, humans have this ability. We go to school, take mind enhancing supplements, and continue learning from the time we're born. Yet, this approach is a far cry to what will happen with machine intelligence learning.
Really, AI represents a new kind of intelligence because it will have the ability to improve itself faster than we can comprehend. To understand this, know that AIs will 'think' with electrons. So, AIs are going to be much faster than biological brains in that they will learn at the speed of light.
Few people understand, much less, realize the possibility of the Singularity. This needs to change if we hope to make a safe transition to a post-Singularity world.
I suggest reading ‘Accelerating Progress and the Potential Consequences of Smarter than Human Intelligence' by fellow ImmInst director, Michael Anissimov, for more on this.
Why should people be interested in Nano-technology which many people on this site talk about?
Nanotech will be an important tool for immortalists. We'll use nanotech to finely tune the world around us in order to create a safer and more livable environment.
What are “smart drugs” and how does that tie into life extension?
Also referred to as nootropics, smart drugs are a tool that some immortalists use to enhance mood and improve intelligence. ImmInst advisor, LifeMirage has contributed a nootropics review here.
Do you see a great deal of opposition to your progressive ideas of life extension and Transhumanism? And if so does the threat of negative publicity potentially worry you?
Actually, the more opposition the better in my opinion. In part because the criticism legitimizes the prospect of immortality for many people, but mostly because there are so few people brave enough to talk about immortality. It’s almost a relief when anyone actually takes the time to talk negatively about it.
I've catalogued some of the more famous negative remarks by such leaders as Leon Kass, who once said, ‘immortals can not be noble’ here. In comparison, we have pro-immortality quotes archived here.
Do you believe the world should “wake up” and start taking your ideas more seriously?
I’m not in favor of strong handed coercion nor do I see a mass waking up of society. Human just don’t change very quickly about core issue such as death and afterlife.
Yet, I’m optimistic about recent biotech advances. I think we will lengthen the maximum lifespan and improve health in older people. Once this happens, people will naturally see immortality as a possible next step.
I’d imagine money being a big factor and many people are probably unaware of why life extension is so important. Do you want the public to get more involved so better funding can happen, or is there enough money in the science community to help out?
There’s money out there, but it’s going disproportional to fight disease that have little direct effect on the underlying causes of aging. Rarely will governments grant money to ambitions antiaging projects, so rarely do you see scientists making any such proposals. There’s a chicken and egg problem. It’s starting to change for the better, but much to slow for my taste.
I’d imagine the religious right would be opposed to some of your intended goals. What do you say to people who think that some of your ideas maybe immoral?
I shy away from ideological wrangling. I would hope that life for life’s sake would be enough to justify our effort. But, obviously this is not the case. Humans have evolved tendencies toward rigid core beliefs. Religious and afterlife issues are a big part of this core belief system.
I wouldn't recommend trying to change anyone directly concerning a core belief. It rarely works and can actually be counterproductive. It’s better to participate in a debate format so that an audience can see both sides. In this way, the exchange can be more cordial and more people can learn and decide for themselves who's right.
