59 replies to this topic

[Decimus]

If you have a particular researcher or organization that you would fund, please include.

Edited by Decimus, 28 December 2007 - 12:55 AM.

[forever freedom]

First, i would do some extensive research so i would find the best place to throw the money. ProbI would probably give it to Aubrey, but i would seriously consider giving it to organizations that are studying the brain with the aim of someday reverse engineering it.

[modelcadet]

10 million would go a long way with Novamente LLC. It's not directly a life-extending technology, though.

[gavrilov]

If you have a particular researcher or organization that you would fund, please include.

I would fund my own research described at:

http://longevity-science.org/

and will offer a well-paid job to all of you, to join my projects!

Kind regards,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-sci....org/Books.html

[Ghostrider]

I would probably give most of it to SENS, but would also consider investing in the area of systems biology or toward improving DNA Synthesis technologies. Actually, I would invest it in myself so that I can quit working to pay the bills and work instead to save my life.

[Neurosail]

If I hit the lottery and was able to donate 10 million I would give some of it to SENS, Alcor, ImmInst (for a scholarship program), Lifeboat and Mr. Gavrilov's lab. The amount would be the limit that the IRS allows to write off on taxes. I would also invest most of the money to Life Extension / Nanotech LLC's for profit so that I could donate more money each year. I would also ask a financial planner (Rudi Hoffman) to help me not to waste the money!

[Ghostrider]

If I hit the lottery and was able to donate 10 million I would give some of it to SENS, Alcor, ImmInst (for a scholarship program), Lifeboat and Mr. Gavrilov's lab. The amount would be the limit that the IRS allows to write off on taxes. I would also invest most of the money to Life Extension / Nanotech LLC's for profit so that I could donate more money each year. I would also ask a financial planner (Rudi Hoffman) to help me not to waste the money!

On second thought, I don't think I would donate much to advancing DNA synthesis. There is already sufficient funding and research in this area. I would look for an area where the money would really go far, something that is not currently on the radar, but could lead to a great increase in longevity. I don't think that there is an IRS limit for charitable donations. In other words, if you won the lottery, you could give all the money away and not have to pay any taxes on it...check, but I think that's the case. I asked the same question last year on this forum.

[maestro949]

I'd donate the money to groups developing the enabling technology that will make systems biology a reality. Good work is being done now to flush out the data behind genome-wide transcription networks but they're very complex and it will take a significant amount of time and money to finish and build the tools to translate this data into a set of potential therapeutic targets. I think it should be the key focus of aging research as all downstream interventions will benefit greatly from these tools including stem cell therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy, reliability engineering, etc. The initial data is showing that gene expression patterns vary greatly across organs and species so personalized medicine with a heavy dose of frequent testing will likely be a key aspect of slowing the aging process via drugs that target transcription factors.

[dave111]

First, i would do some extensive research so i would find the best place to throw the money. ProbI would probably give it to Aubrey, but i would seriously consider giving it to organizations that are studying the brain with the aim of someday reverse engineering it.

co-sign. I'd give it to Aubrey and trust he'd spend it better than I could right now. Although an option not on the table which I'd follow first would be to invest it narrowly into me. $10 million is a small sum, so I'd probably just invest it in a diversified way, and wait for tangible life extension products to spend on myself. I'd use that level of wealth to do things like live in a safe place near a good teaching hospital, and have emergency medicine residents live with me for free.

[forever freedom]

First, i would do some extensive research so i would find the best place to throw the money. ProbI would probably give it to Aubrey, but i would seriously consider giving it to organizations that are studying the brain with the aim of someday reverse engineering it.

co-sign. I'd give it to Aubrey and trust he'd spend it better than I could right now. Although an option not on the table which I'd follow first would be to invest it narrowly into me. $10 million is a small sum, so I'd probably just invest it in a diversified way, and wait for tangible life extension products to spend on myself. I'd use that level of wealth to do things like live in a safe place near a good teaching hospital, and have emergency medicine residents live with me for free.

You're cheating! "Investing in ourselves" wasn't an option. If it was, i'd also cash all the money in.

[Shannon Vyff]

I thought SENS would be most logical, although there are many good options and I'd like to split it up--but apparently most have also gone with SENS

[kevin]

Likely there should have been an addition Poll selection.. The Mprize...

I'm of course biased.. but I would give it to the organization that has proven itself the most capable of penetrating the mindset of the media and capturing the imagination of scientists and the public alike.. The Methuselah Foundation... it is going to take the efforts on the scale which science has never seen to make the progress in life-extension that we all would like to see in our lifetimes, and the Methuselah Foundation is perfectly poised to lead, and is leading, the way.

I would strongly consider giving the 10 Million to the Methuselah Mouse Prize as a lump sum of 10 million dollars would bring the total of the Prize to almost 15 Million!!!! and this would be more than enough of an incentive to attract the attention of THOUSANDS of researchers, and the media, and serve as a clarion call to the public that the real War on Aging had been declared. No one could pooh-pooh the magnitude of such a Prize. As with other competitive prizes, the money additionally does not get spent, but serves as a CONTINUAL incentive and nucleating center for the required shift in public attitudes that aging IS an approachable challenge.

A ten million dollar injection into the Mprize would be phenomenal and the best lottery ticket you could buy, because the money doesn't actually stop working until WE ALL WIN!

At the same time I am a bit torn as I would really like to relieve Peter Thiel of the remaining two million dollars of his Matching Challenge Grant so perhaps splitting the 10 million with 4 million towards SENS Research (which Thiel's pledge matches) which would mean 6 million! and the remaining six million towards the Mprize (which would push it over 10 million) would be a similarly fantastic scenario....

Just my wishful thinking!

Kevin

Edited by kevin, 04 April 2008 - 02:25 AM.

[niner]

Kevin, I think that is a good plan. You would leverage the money by investing in an organization the the MF. I would suggest one other form of leverage that can pay off handsomely: Lobbying the federal government. All kinds of evil groups do it to their great advantage; how about using it for good?

it is going to take the efforts on the scale which science has never seen to make the progress in life-extension that we all would like to see in our lifetimes

I think this makes it sound too difficult. If we do nothing, the natural course of biomedical research will accomplish substantial life extension eventually. All we have to do is speed up the process. If the level of investment were just 10% of what we spend on cancer research, that would be huge. If it were 10% of what we spend on the military...

[kevin]

Kevin, I think that is a good plan. You would leverage the money by investing in an organization the the MF. I would suggest one other form of leverage that can pay off handsomely: Lobbying the federal government. All kinds of evil groups do it to their great advantage; how about using it for good?

Absolutely, the whole point of waking up the public is so that their representatives wake up! Lobby groups already abound for various age-related social and medical causes, and if we could build one which was a consensus from these, we would have an effective lens indeed with which to focus the billions in resources we expect to have spent to our benefit.

it is going to take the efforts on the scale which science has never seen to make the progress in life-extension that we all would like to see in our lifetimes

I think this makes it sound too difficult.

I'm not talking about the initial patchwork of piece meal therapies that will be the first offerings, and which I believe are really just around the corner in many respects, but bonafide on-demand rejuvenative medicine FOR ALL. That is a much more difficult proposition. Thankfully, I think the guilt complex that the average westerner with access to such therapies would feel will not only help address poverty but also the inequities in medicall accessibilty.

If we do nothing, the natural course of biomedical research will accomplish substantial life extension eventually. All we have to do is speed up the process. If the level of investment were just 10% of what we spend on cancer research, that would be huge. If it were 10% of what we spend on the military...

I believe that a modest shift in societal spending priorities will be the crack in the damn necessary and the pressure of the need and hope will do the rest. All h*ll will break loose, figuratively of course..

KP

[PWAIN]

I'd invest it in the Blue Brain project. I think the best hope of true life extension is to hurry along the singularity and I think that the BB project has the best chance of suceeding in this. With enough funding, I think BB could be quite dramatically accelerated.

[lunarsolarpower]

With enough funding, I think BB could be quite dramatically accelerated.

Moore's law doesn't work fast enough for you? I'm surprised no one has specifically mentioned backing Dr. Olshansky's Longevity Dividend proposal although the mention of using the money for lobbyists is close.

[PWAIN]

Moore's law doesn't work fast enough for you?

Nowhere near fast enough, millions of people are dying daily and shouldn't be. Intrestingly, it seems that money invested in chip development has increased significantly with time. Perhaps increasing the money invested in Blue Brain would put us further down the track wrt BB's moores law equivalent. Lets face it, if we bring on the singularity, then money may become irrelevent so spending it now would be prudent??

[Unregistered]

Strategies For Engineered Negligible Senescence(SENS).

[bacopa]

I would definitely invest in stem cells and SENS. So I would pick two. Next would be Nanotech and than biotech we have to stop death dammit!

[dave111]

I'd invest it in the Blue Brain project. I think the best hope of true life extension is to hurry along the singularity and I think that the BB project has the best chance of suceeding in this. With enough funding, I think BB could be quite dramatically accelerated.

Probably better for a different thread and forum, but what level of doubt do you have about this? To deliberately create something both smarter than you and smarter than you'll ever be hardly sounds to me like a wise strategy to maximize your personal persistence odds. I fail to understand the strain of thought that something much smarter than you will be kind. The only foreseeable garuntee, in my estimation, is that it will be more powerful than you. Permanently.

[brokenportal]

I cant see any better way than to put it all into the sens mprize right now. Ive read and heard Aubrey talk about it so many times Its really starting to occur to me, like a lot of people around here say that we should give to the mprize until it hurts.

Maybe we could start another matching proposal, of say.. I dont know, how much do you think we could raise here? Ive been thinking about a tv with Aubrey video booth thing for universities that sells merchandise in support of this to profit the mprize. Ill post a new topic about it.

One of the best points that Aubrey made about this was, I thought, that once the mprize creates a mouse that garners positive public opinion and interest and realization that we probably can subdue aging soon, that the public opinion will likely create a situation where it will be impossible to get elected unless you have support for this on your platform. So then of course overall the mprize will probably make this effort go from where it is now, to being on the tips of the tongues and the minds of everybody around the world.

[Heliotrope]

SENS Mprize, give them the first chances and most money, re-invest some like in stocks, keep capital growing

[kevin]

I cant see any better way than to put it all into the sens mprize right now. Ive read and heard Aubrey talk about it so many times Its really starting to occur to me, like a lot of people around here say that we should give to the mprize until it hurts.

I don't think the hurting part is necessary... but we should try to infect others with our optimism and feeling that this is the most important endeavor ever until it hurts..

Maybe we could start another matching proposal, of say.. I dont know, how much do you think we could raise here? Ive been thinking about a tv with Aubrey video booth thing for universities that sells merchandise in support of this to profit the mprize. Ill post a new topic about it.

Great idea!

One of the best points that Aubrey made about this was, I thought, that once the mprize creates a mouse that garners positive public opinion and interest and realization that we probably can subdue aging soon, that the public opinion will likely create a situation where it will be impossible to get elected unless you have support for this on your platform. So then of course overall the mprize will probably make this effort go from where it is now, to being on the tips of the tongues and the minds of everybody around the world.

Absolutely.. it needs to be made political.. and in order for that to happen, it needs to permeate the non-scientist mainstream. The amount of work that needs to be done to achieve optimal outcomes is beyond the resources of any one nation. There will need to be a global consensus on the level of that of global warming to get the best results. I would settle for less than optimal, which may be achieved at local levels with lesser amounts of resources, but this would be a rather poor substitute for what I hope to be the real eventuality.

[JonesGuy]

Some portion would be a lump sum to the MPrize. Another sum to be a matching-grant dealio (it's been a great idea). I guess there are basically two M. Mouse groups, and so both get money.

30% would be reserved to buy-into good startups, at least. I dunno the rest.

[Heliotrope]

Some portion would be a lump sum to the MPrize. Another sum to be a matching-grant dealio (it's been a great idea). I guess there are basically two M. Mouse groups, and so both get money.

30% would be reserved to buy-into good startups, at least. I dunno the rest.

yah can act like venture capitalists and help fledgling biotechnology /longevity start up companies

[John_Ventureville]

I'm going to change the question... LOL It is now how would you invest 5 billion! Only a few dozen people on the planet could actually do this. I would put together a foundation that would fund SENS research for a very long-term thirty year plan. The interest from the five billion (let's say a conservative 5% a year) would easily cover or exceed the $100 million a year/for 20-30 years project Aubrey deGray dreams of carrying out. And with a properly managed five billion dollar superfund, even inflation would not eat away at it's purchasing power.

Please help us Mr. Gates...

John Grigg

[Heliotrope]

I'm going to change the question... LOL It is now how would you invest 5 billion! Only a few dozen people on the planet could actually do this. I would put together a foundation that would fund SENS research for a very long-term thirty year plan. The interest from the five billion (let's say a conservative 5% a year) would easily cover or exceed the $100 million a year/for 20-30 years project Aubrey deGray dreams of carrying out. And with a properly managed five billion dollar superfund, even inflation would not eat away at it's purchasing power.

Please help us Mr. Gates...

John Grigg

Yeah Mr. Gates, are you reading this? Lol. even 5 BILLION is a small fraction of bill gates' fortune

I bet the dozens of billionaires on earth would love the idea to live forever and get chance to spend their billions. Email all of them and ask for the funds!

Edited by HYP86, 11 May 2008 - 11:46 PM.

[Heliotrope]

I'm going to change the question... LOL It is now how would you invest 5 billion! Only a few dozen people on the planet could actually do this. I would put together a foundation that would fund SENS research for a very long-term thirty year plan. The interest from the five billion (let's say a conservative 5% a year) would easily cover or exceed the $100 million a year/for 20-30 years project Aubrey deGray dreams of carrying out. And with a properly managed five billion dollar superfund, even inflation would not eat away at it's purchasing power.

Please help us Mr. Gates...

John Grigg

Yeah Mr. Gates, are you reading this? Lol. even 5 BILLION is a small fraction of bill gates' fortune

I bet the dozens of billionaires on earth would love the idea to live forever and get chance to spend their billions. Email all of them and ask for the funds!

i mean most billionaires probably got to be billionaires NOT because they're some God-fearing, righteous religious fundies. They probably got that way thru ruthlessly cutting out competitions, agressively buy low sell high or whatever they do, got that by by "cheating" "scheming" "intimidating" their way to the top of the corporate ladders, acting like bullies that want everything. Sorry this offends ppl. My view is that many rich ppl don't freaking care much about society and longevity of others, except Gates and a few exceptional ones.

Edited by HYP86, 12 May 2008 - 10:39 PM.

[VictorBjoerk]

I don't understand why there isn't more interest in life extending technology from the richest people on earth...

[Heliotrope]

NewsWEEK Magazine studies show that THe most generous income groups are those making 75,000 to $99,999 /year, and not those with multi-million dollar incomes. The 75k-10k income group on average donates %1.5 of their fortunes, while the millionaires donate only %0.7 to 0.8% of their fortunes , not even willing to donate a lousy percent . SO proportion-wise, the upper-middle class guy is twice as generous as the super rich guys, though in raw value, one rich guy's single donation is worth a bunch of average joes' put together.

NewsWEEK Magazine studies show that!.

Edited by HYP86, 12 May 2008 - 10:40 PM.