Apple Chairman Art Levinson to Head Google Spinoff Dedicated to Solving Age-Related Health Issues

Hmm...I'm not sure why Apple would keep Levinson on as chairman. And WTF is Tim Cook giving comments in a Google press release?!! Also, I don't think it's coincidental that Google announced this the week Apple releases new software and iPhones.

Good, I'm glad someone with money is trying to solve this problem. There are plenty of smart people who have the knowledge and desire to work on this type of medicine, but money is always the limiting factor.

Seems... far fetched, but who knows?

The implications for society of longer lifespans are fairly staggering. Imagine if people have 40, 50 year retirements or longer? Or, would people be able to stay healthy and just work for another 20 years or so. Imagine the implications for the world population?

I'd like to see this company bring in Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Adobe, and other tech giants to lead the way into healthcare.

Imagine what can be done with the money and resources all these companies can provide.

If this is done for non-profit, imagine what existing healthcare companies will be faced with. Its about time all these billions of dollars goes to something important.

unplugme71 said:

I'd like to see this company bring in Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Adobe, and other tech giants to lead the way into healthcare.

Imagine what can be done with the money and resources all these companies can provide.

If this is done for non-profit, imagine what existing healthcare companies will be faced with. Its about time all these billions of dollars goes to something important.

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As long as this company is independent from Google.

Aging is not a health problem. It's natural. Without death none of us would be alive. When are these rich guys with nothing else to do going to realize that when it's their time to go, it's their time to go. Such self-importance. Not that this research will get anywhere. Huge waste of time and money.

Will now wait to see how long Art is accused of "stealing" from Apple and giving intel to Google

Will now wait for someone to comment how they wouldn't trust any health related information with a spin-off from Google because they will just sell it for advertising. I can see it now "I wouldn't take that vaccine developed by the spinoff from Google. They probably inserted some nanochips in there to track my every move"

Extending life causes more problems than it solves, at the moment. Imagine you can extend life to up to 200 years. They'd need medication and machines for most of the time and they're bearly alive. Morally, you are bound to keep those people alive as long as possible, but thinking more rationally, you are building a trap. I don't think "solving death" is something people actually want. Personally, I'm scared of that idea.

Rogifan said:

As long as this company is independent from Google.

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It mentioned its an entirely separate company.

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SgtPepper12 said:

Extending life causes more problems than it solves, at the moment. Imagine you can extend life to up to 200 years. They'd need medication and machines for most of the time and they're bearly alive. Morally, you are bound to keep those people alive as long as possible, but thinking more rationally, you are building a trap. I don't think "solving death" is something people actually want. Personally, I'm scared of that idea.

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First: It's barely, not bearly.

Second: I don't think people care to live longer. People just want the ability to live it healthy until their time is up. (eg. someone who has a tumor, can have it removed, and returned to 100% normal health). Natural death is what we all hope for.

And people say Apple is too full of itself.

Larry is trying to buy immortality?

MichaelJohnston said:

Good, I'm glad someone with money is trying to solve this problem. There are plenty of smart people who have the knowledge and desire to work on this type of medicine, but money is always the limiting factor.

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Yeah, exactly. But money isn't leadership. The wording in the article and by the quoted individuals is kind of obnoxious.

I hope this tech giant wealthy guy doesn't think this is a simple fix. As Cooke said... 20 years down the line. And that's probably optimistic.

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unplugme71 said:

Second: I don't think people care to live longer. People just want the ability to live it healthy until their time is up. (eg. someone who has a tumor, can have it removed, and returned to 100% normal health). Natural death is what we all hope for.

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You kidding? I want to live forever. Healthfully, yes. But I sure as hell (not that i believe in hell) do want more life. My life has been wasted by playing the games of my society and being screwed by it. I need way more lifespan to fix what was done to me emotionally, socially, and economically. There's no way I can scrape my carcass out of the 99% in what time I've left.

"I want more life fuc#er!"

(I hate censoring myself, it's so childish. Does this site even care?)

unplugme71 said:

Second: I don't think people care to live longer. People just want the ability to live it healthy until their time is up. (eg. someone who has a tumor, can have it removed, and returned to 100% normal health). Natural death is what we all hope for.

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People don't want to live longer? Well, I do, so that kind of shoots your theory.

Dying of cancer is a totally natural death, not that anyone would choose to go that way, except over the many others that even more unpleasant.

The issue here is the vague mission of this company. What are their goals? How are they going to achieve them? Not to be too cynical here, but it seems to me like this is the ultimate good guy move by Google. They get great press, even if this company does nothing of use, which seems highly likely.

Can Google solve Death?
Maybe. But only if they cancel the self-driving car project.

ValSalva said:

Aging is not a health problem. It's natural.

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Oh, really? Not long ago lifespans averaged half as long as they do today. Clean water, sanitation and such are responsible for most of that doubling of lifespans. Sometimes simple little things reduce the death rate and aging of organisms. "Aging" is quite complicated. Perhaps with some other simple things it might again be doubled. I realize there are some people who are bored with life and want to move on but some of us are quite busy and have a lot more to do before we're done. Another thousand years might make a dent in my to-do list...

ValSalva said:

Without death none of us would be alive.

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Hmm... Yet some organisms live for thousands of years and their descendants are also alive.

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SgtPepper12 said:

Extending life causes more problems than it solves, at the moment. Imagine you can extend life to up to 200 years. They'd need medication and machines for most of the time and they're bearly alive.

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No, you're thinking of sickness. Aging is merely getting older. We now get older and live much longer healthier lives than the average person did a century or so ago. Simply solving some basic problems like sanitation and clean water made a big difference. Other small differences could keep people healthy for centuries, or indefinitely. People who wanted to would be able to continue living productive, creative lives. You might want to stop but many of us are still actively engaged with life into advanced ages and have long to-do lists we want to keep working on. I for one enjoy the process.

What probably does need to be canceled is the concept of Retirement. That is a modern idea that should be killed.

The more I think about this, the more it seems like the creepiest publicity stunt in history.

First, you'd think this was the world's first effort to study age and health issues. Well, hardly. Many not-for-profits have been on this task for decades. Hey, but they're not run by tech geeks, so what do they know?

Second, the founders of Google are billionaires many times over. If they wanted to start a charitable corporation to advance health issues, they could have endowed one, and probably attracted the support of other wealthy benefactors. But instead, they formed it under the Google flag. Chilly, brrr.

Finally, is this a charitable corporation, or what? Are they planning on selling health and longevity, assuming they come up with anything?

The entire thing is bizarre.

Does death need solving?

Rogifan said:

As long as this company is independent from Google.

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If this company remains a Google satellite/subsidiary, and its leader is an Apple Board Chairman.... then this is a massive conflict of interest. The same way that resulted in a Federal investigation into Eric Schmidt (that would be me!) being a Google mole inside Jobs-era Apple.

The conflict of interest is erased once this new company becomes completely independent from Google.... which does not seem to be the case.

A PR exercise in public vanity.

IJ Reilly said:

The more I think about this, the more it seems like the creepiest publicity stunt in history.

First, you'd think this was the world's first effort to study age and health issues. Well, hardly. Many not-for-profits have been on this task for decades. Hey, but they're not run by tech geeks, so what do they know?

Second, the founders of Google are billionaires many times over. If they wanted to start a charitable corporation to advance health issues, they could have endowed one, and probably attracted the support of other wealthy benefactors. But instead, they formed it under the Google flag. Chilly, brrr.

Finally, is this a charitable corporation, or what? Are they planning on selling health and longevity, assuming they come up with anything?

The entire thing is bizarre.

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But it got Google on the front page of Time Magazine the same week Apple is launching new iPhones. Only good thing is people don't read magazines anymore.

IJ Reilly said:

The more I think about this, the more it seems like the creepiest publicity stunt in history.

First, you'd think this was the world's first effort to study age and health issues. Well, hardly. Many not-for-profits have been on this task for decades. Hey, but they're not run by tech geeks, so what do they know?

Second, the founders of Google are billionaires many times over. If they wanted to start a charitable corporation to advance health issues, they could have endowed one, and probably attracted the support of other wealthy benefactors. But instead, they formed it under the Google flag. Chilly, brrr.

Finally, is this a charitable corporation, or what? Are they planning on selling health and longevity, assuming they come up with anything?

The entire thing is bizarre.

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Google... yes, creepy is the right word.

longer lifespans will lead to manned deep space exploration