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$500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

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Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#11

Post by randycupertino »

jghn wrote: post #6
burnto wrote: post #2

Is this an investment that disease and genetics researchers believe will be valuable? Or is this primarily tax deductible funds flowing back into the AI industrial complex? (Honest question! If it’s a truly promising path that’s great)

They already donate a lot of useful money via the Chan Zuckerberg Institute so there’s a good track record at least

Chan Zuckerberg Institute doesn't produce much actual research it's mostly fancy dinners, global travel for congresses and conferences and big opulent parties. They actually got in trouble in the building with the landlord for too many parties, there was a problem drunken individuals peeing in the hallways when they had Justin Bieber and other celebs on site (seriously).

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#12

Post by hackinthebochs »

randycupertino wrote: post #9
yalogin wrote: post #7

Genuine question, there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all - but is this all optimistic investment or is there any iota of indication that this is a viable path? I am very skeptical of the ai initiatives in medicine and biology where they want to solve problems that humans cannot yet. I would love to be wrong of course

> there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all Chan Zuckerberg is NOTORIOUS for overly ambitious claims, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative started in 2015 with the bold statement they would "cure all disease in our lifetime." It's been 11 years. Have they cured 1 disease? Let alone ~all~ disease? No. When Zuckerberg realized he probably wasn't going to hit this…

>Have they cured 1 disease? Let alone ~all~ disease? No.

I mean, curing all disease isn't something where progress is linear. A large portion of the work is done upfront before you see any result. Then when your knowledge base and methodology is sufficiently robust, many disease can then be cured in quick succession. The fact that they have no visible success after 10 years says little about the viability of their goal.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#13

Post by adamandsteve2 »

Tostino wrote: post #3
burnto wrote: post #2

Is this an investment that disease and genetics researchers believe will be valuable? Or is this primarily tax deductible funds flowing back into the AI industrial complex? (Honest question! If it’s a truly promising path that’s great)

An attempt to live forever IMO.

Is that an issue?

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#14

Post by firebot »

yalogin wrote: post #7

Genuine question, there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all - but is this all optimistic investment or is there any iota of indication that this is a viable path? I am very skeptical of the ai initiatives in medicine and biology where they want to solve problems that humans cannot yet. I would love to be wrong of course

Worked for AlphaFold, ostensibly.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#15

Post by ehnto »

randycupertino wrote: post #9
yalogin wrote: post #7

Genuine question, there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all - but is this all optimistic investment or is there any iota of indication that this is a viable path? I am very skeptical of the ai initiatives in medicine and biology where they want to solve problems that humans cannot yet. I would love to be wrong of course

> there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all Chan Zuckerberg is NOTORIOUS for overly ambitious claims, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative started in 2015 with the bold statement they would "cure all disease in our lifetime." It's been 11 years. Have they cured 1 disease? Let alone ~all~ disease? No. When Zuckerberg realized he probably wasn't going to hit this…

I honestly don't think it matters, so long as they're working toward the same guiding direction they'll achieve the same thing regardless of the arbitrary point in the future they pick to aim toward.

It is nice to know when confronted with new information that they might revise their stance too.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#16

Post by apparent »

Onavo wrote: post #4
burnto wrote: post #2

Is this an investment that disease and genetics researchers believe will be valuable? Or is this primarily tax deductible funds flowing back into the AI industrial complex? (Honest question! If it’s a truly promising path that’s great)

They will probably do a rugpull like what they with their children school funding.

Alternate theory: part of the reason they stopped funding the school is to allocate their philanthropy to projects like this one.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#18

Post by walletdrainer »

randycupertino wrote: post #11
jghn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already donate a lot of useful money via the Chan Zuckerberg Institute so there’s a good track record at least

Chan Zuckerberg Institute doesn't produce much actual research it's mostly fancy dinners, global travel for congresses and conferences and big opulent parties. They actually got in trouble in the building with the landlord for too many parties, there was a problem drunken individuals peeing in the hallways when they had Justin Bieber and other celebs on site (seriously).

https://chanzuckerberg.com/grants-ventures/grants/

A lot of parties.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#19

Post by xsor »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #12
randycupertino wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are a lot of overly ambitious efforts like, even though this seems the most ambitious of them all Chan Zuckerberg is NOTORIOUS for overly ambitious claims, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative started in 2015 with the bold statement they would "cure all disease in our lifetime." It's been 11 years. Have they cured 1 disease? Let alone ~all~ disease? No. When Zuckerberg realized he probably wasn't going to hit this…

>Have they cured 1 disease? Let alone ~all~ disease? No. I mean, curing all disease isn't something where progress is linear. A large portion of the work is done upfront before you see any result. Then when your knowledge base and methodology is sufficiently robust, many disease can then be cured in quick succession. The fact that they have no visible success after 10 years says little about the viability of their go…

Not sure if that’s true.

Looking at the history of modern medicine, the cure rate of diseases was not exponential, it was gradual over the course of hundreds of years.

Sure there were a few big jumps- water sanitation and antibiotics come to mind- but if you look at cured cardiovascular diseases, cancers, GI diseases etc., they all started with bad treatments that indeed slowly improved over decades.

If CZI is looking to eliminate all disease in a lifetime (say 100 years) I would expect some progress.

Re: $500M for Virtual Biology Initiative, Funded by Zuckerbergs

#20

Post by jghn »

randycupertino wrote: post #11
jghn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already donate a lot of useful money via the Chan Zuckerberg Institute so there’s a good track record at least

Chan Zuckerberg Institute doesn't produce much actual research it's mostly fancy dinners, global travel for congresses and conferences and big opulent parties. They actually got in trouble in the building with the landlord for too many parties, there was a problem drunken individuals peeing in the hallways when they had Justin Bieber and other celebs on site (seriously).

Purely anecdata but I know many people who have had their work funded through CZI. And no, this wasn't drunken parties.
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