Feature
DR CLARENCE TAN EXPECTS TO LIVE FOREVER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
Dead certain of
LIVING FOREVER Technology is advancing at such a pace, the prospect of eternal life in a cyber world is no longer a sci-fi dream says one expert.
The 46-year-old, an Adjunct Professor at Bond University’s Faculty of Business, is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology to solve some of humanity’s greatest biological, social and logistic challenges. Dr Tan has eagerly enlisted to ride the soaring exponential curve of technology, which he says in the past decade alone has empowered mankind to a level that completely shadows the power of all previous humanity combined. He looks to the future with the same unbridled enthusiasm as a child on the eve of its next birthday. “Time doesn’t matter to me anymore . . . we will live forever in some form, genetically or biologically or in the cyber world,’’ says Dr Tan. “In 25 years, computers will be so powerful you will be able to simulate every neuron in your brain, merge it into a computer and live forever – if you wanted to do that.’’ There is no arrogance about Dr Tan’s optimism. He has already seen the future. That occurred last year when he attended the cuttingedge Graduate Studies Program (GSP) at California’s Singularity University (SU), an elite think tank which seeks to provide a superior level of idea development that supplements traditional educational institutions. SU was founded nearly four years ago by Dr Peter Diamandis and Dr Ray Kurzweil as an academic institution that seeks to harness some of the world’s sharpest minds. Its philosophy is to use new technologies to solve some of the greatest challenges that face mankind and the world today and in the future. SU is located in the NASA Ames Research Centre in Silicon Valley right next to Google. The University’s annual GSP brings together the most accomplished experts in academia, business and
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government then presents them to some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs and brightest graduate and post-graduate minds. Over an intense 10-week period, the students form teams to invent something that potentially could positively affect the lives of at least a billion people over the next 10 years. As the Australian and Malaysian ambassador for SU, Dr Tan is like a disciple spreading the good word. And he backs his views with significant experience and scientific proof. “Ten years ago, the sequencing of the genes in your body was the domain of only the world’s top universities and research centres at a cost of millions of dollars. Today it can be done for less than $1000,’’ says Dr Tan. Tan points out that there now are commercial entities operating on the internet that can provide gene sequencing inside three days for a set fee (and if the local laws permit). “They will send it back to you in a computer program that can be downloaded and matched against comparable DNA,’’ he says. There are other scientific examples he cites to illustrate the rapid technological advances of recent times. These include research teams that routinely build animal organs, a company that will soon sell beef grown purely from the cells extracted from cattle and the development of a miniscule oxygen carrier that could be injected into the bloodstream to give humans the ability to stay underwater for hours. Dr Tan uses 3D printing as another example of where technology is taking us. At the moment there are two types of 3D printers, he says – one that puts down layers of plastic and another that cuts shapes out of solid blocks of material. “They can print using any substance you want,” he says, “titanium, glass, steel, fabric, chocolate, you name it.” “For example, in the future you won’t need to go out and buy a Louis Vuitton bag. You will go online, select the design you want then download it to a 3D printer that will make the bag for you.
Winter 2012
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