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Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

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Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#21

Post by MikeCapone »

FD3SA wrote: post #9

Absolutely brilliant. Finally, Aubrey De Grey's unapologetically straightforward logic [1] regarding aging has gained traction with the crowd who has the means to tackle this grand challenge. I am sincerely proud of Page and Brin for their vision and commitment. This is one of those rare times that powerful people make bold choices that catalyze a shift in the world's thought paradigm. Aging will now be seen for what…

This is great if they do take the engineering approach of SENS and Aubrey de Grey. Ideally they would partner with SENS.org since they already have a lot of the infrastructure set up.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#22

Post by ianstallings »

bitwize wrote: post #19
api wrote: post #7

I'd love to see some of these want-to-live-forever transhumanist moneybags actually put some money behind some of these things and move them past the pipe dream phase. I hope this is somehow a step in that direction. BTW: Calico... what a non-ValleyHipster name...

BTW: Calico... what a non-ValleyHipster name... Yeah... they should have gone with Doctr.

.io

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#23

Post by mrschwabe »

Apparently your internet browsing data is not enough, Google also wants your medical records and DNA.

Seriously though, I wouldn't trust any company connected with Google for 'health and well being'. Their total disregard for privacy would imply they are not working in my best interest for health either.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#24

Post by melling »

throwaway172 wrote: post #11

To what extent is this guided by the self-interest of aging tech darling CEOs (Larry Page must be in his 40s by now)? As a young person I tend to think "some of these health issues ought to be solved problems by the time I'm older." But I don't have the kind of capital to spend on it that companies like Google, or persons like Larry Page, do. Regardless of motivation, I'm happy to see investment in this domain.

How many diseases have we cured in the past 20 years? The past 40 years? Medical advances are really, really slow. As for the "self-interest" question (that's why you created a throw away account?), I'm sure as you get a little older, and you notice people dying who are close to your age, you might be wish that people took an interest in being self-serving a couple decades earlier.

Steve Jobs, for example, had billions of dollars, had his genome sequenced, and probably tried very hard not to die so young. I bet if he had known 10 years earlier that he was going to die from pancreatic cancer, some of that money would have gone into searching for a cure.

Larry Page might live a perfectly healthy life, die in his sleep at 101, out living most of us. However, if you've got that kind of money and influence, why not buy some real insurance.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#25

Post by cbhl »

psbp wrote: post #16
cbhl wrote: post #4

I'm sceptical, since Google Health never quite caught on. There's room for improvement, certainly, but the regulatory requirements for mixing health and tech, and the externalities of dealing with vendors' proprietary formats will make this challenging at best.

This doesn't seem like a Google Health type service.

Even if it's more like Thalmic Labs or 23andMe, I'm worried about whether fundamental infrastructure (or a leap-frogging equivalent, like cell phones) will be widespread enough for this sort of research/work to be useful to the people who need it most.

Like, there are feel-good stories like Dean Kamen's Slingshot (IIRC, he partnered with Coca-Cola to distribute the things) but I have absolutely no idea how well such things work in the field and the papers written about things like the Roundabout PlayPump are pretty damning.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#27

Post by netrus »

ianstallings wrote: post #20

I for one welcome my immortal transhumanist cyborg overlords. But seriously, the fact that the first thing they do is start a corporation to control the science is not exactly comforting to me. Genentech is known for selling Avastin, their drug that fights cancer for $55k after they received harsh criticism for the proposed cost of $100k+/year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevacizumab#Costs I fear a future where "all…

I for one fear a future where anyone can become immortal. This would result in unimaginable struggles for our ecosystem.

I always feel modern medicine should focus on raising life quality for as long as we are alive, rather than extending life itself. But of course this view is painted by the large number of old people living in inhuman conditions we currently have.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#28

Post by psbp »

mrschwabe wrote: post #23

Apparently your internet browsing data is not enough, Google also wants your medical records and DNA. Seriously though, I wouldn't trust any company connected with Google for 'health and well being'. Their total disregard for privacy would imply they are not working in my best interest for health either.

Did anyone read the article? This seems to be a biomedical company focused on engineering solutions to aging/illness. It's seemingly not Google Health 2.0.

Re: Google announces Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being

#29

Post by gdulli »

I'd rather see a high quality of life for everyone on earth for 80 years than 150+ year life spans for the first world. Which will just further increase the footprint of the rich and divert resources from the poor.

Not to mention, it's a more attainable goal. It doesn't help much to keep the body going for 50 more years if you can't also keep the brain going. I believe these are very different problems. If you can somehow solve both, it doesn't help if you can't feed and house all these people.

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