As he has written – both in his forthcoming book ‘ Loneliness is Nearer ‘ (published in the US on 25 June and not yet translated into English), in his earlier book ‘ Loneliness is Nearer’ published in 2021, and in an essay in Wired magazine – the fusion of biotechnology and AI will lead to nanotechnology helping to “completely overcome the limitations of our biological organs”.
Bugs accumulate in our bodies as cells multiply over and over again, causing damage. Such damage can be quickly repaired by young organisms, but not so quickly with the accumulation of age.
“The only solution, longevity researchers argue, is to cure ageing itself,” Kurzweil wrote. “In short, we need the ability to repair the damage caused by ageing at the level of individual cells and local tissues. Various options are being explored to achieve this, but I believe the most promising final solution is nanorobots.”
However, in context, this is one man’s vision of the future. There is currently no technology that comes close to what Kurzweil predicts, nor is there any guarantee that his vision will become reality. But there is also no guarantee that it will not happen, at least in the long term.
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Kurzweil agrees with biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey that the first human being to live for 1,000 years will probably have already been born. “If nanotechnology solves enough ageing problems by 2050 to allow centenarians to live to 150, by 2100 we will have time to solve the new problems that may arise at that age,” says Kurzweil. “With artificial intelligence playing a central role in research by then, progress will be exponential in the meantime.”
Kurzweil admits that all these predictions may sound “absurd” now, but he thinks there are “strong arguments” to support medical nanorobots. He believes that deimondoid nanorobots with built-in sensors, manipulators, computers, communicators and even power supplies could function in a human bloodstream the size of a cell. Each organism could need several hundred billion nanorobots to repair and replenish damaged organs.
“By controlling the supply of these vital substances, adjusting their levels when necessary and maintaining organ structures, nanobots can indefinitely maintain good health in the human body,” he wrote. “Eventually, nanobots will be able to completely replace biological organs if needed or desired.”
In addition to preserving normal functions and limiting the effects of ageing, he believes that nanobots could create a more optimal human body.
“When nanobots can selectively repair or destroy individual cells,” he says, “we will have completely mastered our biology and medicine will become the exact science it has long aspired to be.
But longer life is not the only thing Kurzweil believes will come from technology. According to Kurzweil, as the field of nanotechnology grows, so will the role of nanobots in the human body. At some point, the body may become more than 99.9% non-biological. He envisages a situation in which technology will take full control of DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence will be able to understand the human body and solve problems before they occur, nano-computers will be able to control the workings of our bodies by rewriting DNA and controlling cells, and (at some point) our blood and brain tissue will be replaced by nanobots that connect us directly to the machines that control us.
Kurzweil believes that by the 2040s or 2050s, our bodies and brains will have been reorganised far beyond what we know today. “Once nanotechnology takes off, we will be able to make our own optimised bodies,” he says. “We’ll be able to run much faster and longer, swim and breathe like fish in the ocean, and even give ourselves functional wings if we want. We’ll think a million times faster, but most importantly, we won’t be dependent on any of our bodies to survive.”
