How A.I. Will Help Us Defeat Aging

What is life all about? Did you ever ask this question? One can be pretty sure that we all have pondered it once in a while. Life has always been the promise of death and once people realized it, they mostly went on to enjoy the years in light.

It was also a philosophical question that arose whenever the hardship of our existence became unbearable and people were stuck in a time and age that didn’t offer much salvation. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that we finally expected more thanks in large part to all the medical advancement and changes in society.

However, it takes a whole lot more to tackle the issue of life and its inevitable end. In fact, not even sci-fi came up with a meaningful way of presenting a future without death (even the science-loving Star Trek needed its own planet, Ba'ku, to do so).

It was not until recently that humanity witnessed the beginning of artificial intelligence, hence signaling the potential to end all disease and death eventually.

Many companies are looking further into A.I., promising the ultimate gift and one company, in particular, was awarded the ‘Most Promising Company’ title at the Palo Alto Personalized Medicine World Conference back in 2015.

Managed by Dr. Zhavoronkov, director of IARP (International Aging Research Portfolio) the sights are set on identifying and ultimately finding ways of extending longevity by reaping the benefits from an ever-increasing artificial intelligence.

Mr. Zhavoronkov is especially promoting one project, called the OncoFinder, destined to discover new research tools and analyzing any activities of molecular pathways using an algorithm able to predict which medication will be the most effective in the treatment of cancer and age-related diseases. According to him, all the necessary steps have been taken and all building blocks aligned to power the upcoming rejuvenation biotechnology he wants to play an important part in.

Going forward at all times of his (and our) existence and striving for more is part of his credo anyway, highlighted in his book The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy.

Going back to Artificial Intelligence though, Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov is praising its benefits when trying to solve complex tasks common in the world of multifactorial diseases. In a recent interview with the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation the ambitious researcher found ample time to talk about how A.I. is going to defeat aging altogether:

"I think that applying AI to aging is the only way to bring it under the comprehensive medical control [and] our long-term goal is to continuously improve human performance and prevent and cure the age-related diseases […] In 5 years, we want to build a comprehensive system to model and monitor the human health status and rapidly correct any deviations from the ideal healthy state with lifestyle or therapeutic interventions. Considering what we already have, I hope that we will be able to do it sooner than in 5 years […] One of our major contributions to the field was the application of deep neural networks for predicting the age of the person. People are very different and have different diseases. I think that this approach is novel and will result in many breakthroughs."

That’s sounding a lot like working on the bleeding edge of what seems possible at the moment and even though the number of specialists of this research field is growing steadily, Dr. Zhavoronkov also needs to ensure that his work will not be compromised by the ‘human component’ this intelligent man might underestimate.

Pionic has come across many extraordinary papers and scientists in the last couple of years, ranging from a real cure for allergic coryza (hay fever) to neurodermatitis. All failed due to the immense power and lobby of the pharmaceutical industry in many countries. It remains to be seen whether Dr. Zhavoronkov’s progress of any kind benefits all of us or just a small fraction.

Nonetheless, the researcher and his team strongly believe that pain and suffering occurring in later stages of life will at least be a thing of the past for all of us and will be achieved within their own lifetime. In his opinion, aging is simply another form of disease and A.I. is the one capable answer that will catapult us to a new age with priority and paradigm shifting. A shift that happens inevitably and can’t be stopped leading to a new focus on and for humanity.

Who knows what kind of questions we have, once life is promising much more light… maybe, we will then be ready and determined to climb the ladder of culture in an attempt at becoming a Planetary Civilization.This story was originally published on pionic.