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Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

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Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#41

Post by nickpsecurity »

the_watcher wrote: post #34
nickpsecurity wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The link from bra-ket... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-human-bra... ...illustrates the problem well. Here's a nice quote: "Although researchers worldwide were publishing tens of thousands of neuroscience studies every year, neither our understanding of basic brain functions nor our ability to treat brain disorders seemed to be progressing much. " It's mostly been a failure. The successes have bee…

So we should just quit. Do you actually find the best way to get hard things done to be quitting because others failed?

The best way to do things with limited cash is to invest research into understanding how certain things are happening then devise solutions to specific problems or mechanisms identified. He might succeed where he does that. As other article indicated, that pre-requisite is often not there enough for stuff to happen. The article indicated another project with that problem was failing to tune of hundreds of millions of dollars while whole field was mostly failing to achieve useful stuff.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#42

Post by eutectic »

the_watcher wrote: post #35
azinman2 wrote: post #2

“We can program yeast to do a specific function. We can expect the same path with neural code.” Ummm... that's quite a big leap!

Oddly enough, the applicable quote is from The Martian: "We built a lunar lander from scratch in seven years." Hard things get done by people who try to do them. Seriously, it's his own money .

Assuming this refers to the Apollo Lunar Module, landing on the moon was an engineering challenge based on known science, and it still cost an obscene amount of money for questionable benefit.

This is a relatively small sum being spent on a project for which very little of the basic science is in place. It may be his own money he's spending, but everyone else is also free to give their honest opinion that he's throwing it down the drain.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#43

Post by nickpsecurity »

tim333 wrote: post #39
nickpsecurity wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The link from bra-ket... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-human-bra... ...illustrates the problem well. Here's a nice quote: "Although researchers worldwide were publishing tens of thousands of neuroscience studies every year, neither our understanding of basic brain functions nor our ability to treat brain disorders seemed to be progressing much. " It's mostly been a failure. The successes have bee…

There has been some success with things like cochlear and retinal implants. The approach Johnson and Berger appear to be taking doesn't seem so far removed from that.

Oh yes, there's been successes. Thanks for the reminder on those. Johnson and Berger might have a chance if they keep their focus similarly narrow and practical. Personally I hope they succeed as I have brain damage myself. I'm just playing the odds on very ambitious projects that require correctly guessing how the brain works and changing that for the better.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#44

Post by cjdkcnsnd »

tristanho wrote: post #38

The negativity in these comments is astounding. Here's someone who's investing his own hard-earned money into a "device aimed at reducing cognitive deficiencies for sufferers of conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia." And all anyone can do is complain that it's infeasible or that he's unqualified. I don't know about you, but I want more people working on these problems, not less. Seems very reminiscent of when Mus…

So when you other HN'ers make a formulaic "I'm shocked at all the negativity here" post, is it typically with the intention of riding the contrarian karma train to the top of every thread, or do you actually hold these positions?

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#45

Post by CaveTech »

nickpsecurity wrote: post #40
the_watcher wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers, but you find that a bad thing? What's your problem with someone spending his own money to chase something you think is impossible? Seriously, the amount of hate on HN for people that are actually trying to do hard things is astonishing.

"A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers" Oh no. That's one possible inspiration. Another would be Braintree IPOing or continuing as a company providing an alternative to Paypal's BS I constantly read about while guy continues to make tons of money or get rich. Then he invests in hard problems we're likely to solve where we have the necessary foundatio…

The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing. You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity and that's simply not the case.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#46

Post by nickpsecurity »

tristanho wrote: post #38

The negativity in these comments is astounding. Here's someone who's investing his own hard-earned money into a "device aimed at reducing cognitive deficiencies for sufferers of conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia." And all anyone can do is complain that it's infeasible or that he's unqualified. I don't know about you, but I want more people working on these problems, not less. Seems very reminiscent of when Mus…

That's a good point. Space travel was something whose principles were well-understood with plenty of worked examples. Quite unlike the Johnson investment we're talking about but let's continue. It was mainly hard to engineer on a budget due to all the variables and components involved. I was really excited but cautious about that company. I really wanted them to succeed.

So, lets test your theory by having a look at one of their regularly, successful launches that 14 years investment brought them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arIc1NlHvV0

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#47

Post by nickpsecurity »

CaveTech wrote: post #45
nickpsecurity wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers" Oh no. That's one possible inspiration. Another would be Braintree IPOing or continuing as a company providing an alternative to Paypal's BS I constantly read about while guy continues to make tons of money or get rich. Then he invests in hard problems we're likely to solve where we have the necessary foundatio…

The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing. You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity and that's simply not the case.

"The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing."

That's compatible with my comment. It proposes alternative to the path he took that other bootstrappers with utilitarian bent might find interesting. It doesn't require him personally to do anything. I even said his success was "good for him" in terms of efforts in and result achieved.

"You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity"

You made that up. I explicitly said he didn't. His goal was to get rich. It would take more selfless individuals to do lasting things for humanity. It will take majority of humanity working together to save humanity.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#48

Post by nickpsecurity »

the_watcher wrote: post #35
azinman2 wrote: post #2

“We can program yeast to do a specific function. We can expect the same path with neural code.” Ummm... that's quite a big leap!

Oddly enough, the applicable quote is from The Martian: "We built a lunar lander from scratch in seven years." Hard things get done by people who try to do them. Seriously, it's his own money .

You realize that project cost billions of dollars with insanely huge teams of smart people working with established principles of physics, chemistry, and so on rather than mostly unknowns in neuroscience?

No practical comparison between this and Apollo despite me wanting an Apollo-style effort put into certain problems we face. Including understanding the brain although maybe communications infrastructure, cheap computing, and MOOC's first. That will give us more brains for Apollo-style endeavors.

Re: Bryan Johnson invests $100M in Kernel to unlock the power of the human brain

#50

Post by robotresearcher »

nickpsecurity wrote: post #48
the_watcher wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly enough, the applicable quote is from The Martian: "We built a lunar lander from scratch in seven years." Hard things get done by people who try to do them. Seriously, it's his own money .

You realize that project cost billions of dollars with insanely huge teams of smart people working with established principles of physics, chemistry, and so on rather than mostly unknowns in neuroscience? No practical comparison between this and Apollo despite me wanting an Apollo-style effort put into certain problems we face. Including understanding the brain although maybe communications infrastructure, cheap comp…

> [Apollo] cost billions of dollars

I looked it up - around $20.4B in 1960s dollars, so $160B today. $20B per mooon landing. Not counting Mercury or Gemini.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1579/1

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