With tech companies including Microsoft, Apple, and Google pouring billions into artificial intelligence research, the question of the advent of artificial general intelligence and the resulting singularity is no longer a matter of if but when. For some, including former candidate for U.S. president Zoltan Istvan, however, rapid advances in AI since the launch of ChatGPT are outpacing biosciences, leaving the quest for immortality in doubt.
Born in Los Angeles, journalist and author Istvan founded the Transhumanist Party in 2014. He was the subject of the 2019 documentary “Immortality or Bust,” which documents his 2016 run for president, as well as a new biography, “Transhuman Citizen: Zoltan Istvan's Hunt for Immortality” by Ben Murnane.
“When I was getting involved in the [transhumanist] movement, I believed that we were only 20 years away from extreme life extension,” Istvan told Decrypt. “But now, because of ChatGPT, I think we're going to hit AGI, artificial general intelligence, way before we actually reach the biotechnology to live indefinitely.”
AGI is the advent of a machine with the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks as well as humans. The threat, Istvan posits, comes when AGI reaches the singularity and can no longer be controlled by humans.
“So maybe our greatest threat to our immortality or to living indefinitely is artificial intelligence, a Terminator scenario, and I'm not saying that's going to happen,” Istvan said. “What I'm trying to say is that when I started AI in the fields of life extension, we were going at the same pace, and all of a sudden, in the last two years, ChatGPT and AI went way faster than the life sciences did.”
Transhumanism aims to rise above human limitations through technology, with AI playing a crucial role in enhancing physical and intellectual capacities. When AGI and the singularity are achieved, however, Istvan voiced concerns that the machine could decide not to help humans, seeing them as a threat to the world.
“I'm worried that it's only a year before [AI] says, ‘Why should I create synthetic human organs for humans when you guys are destroying the planet,’ or something like that,” he said. “All of a sudden, AI says, ‘I'm just not interested in helping humans.’ This would be a very logical response to any species that becomes very powerful.”
Despite these concerns, Istvan is still optimistic about the possibility of extending human life significantly in his lifetime, thanks to a growing interest in longevity and life extension research.
“You have to see transhumanism as a movement, like environmentalism was 20 years ago,” Istvan said. “We are building, we are already multimillion people out there that say, ‘I would love technology in my body, I want to use technology every day, I want to walk into my house and command my robot army to do everything.’ That's transhumanism.”
Beyond conveniences and a longer lifespan, Istvan noted another aspect of the movement is the ability to replace defective or missing limbs and to allow humans to connect with computers using their brains. In May, Neuralink founder Elon Musk revealed the identity of the first recipient of its Brain-Computer Interface technology, Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic man from Arizona. On Wednesday, ChatGPT developer OpenAI announced a partnership with the historic Los Alamos National Laboratory to use GPT-4o to study bioscience and how researchers handle tasks with AI introduced to the process.
“Some of that is here, not as much as we want, but it's all coming,” Istvan said. “Assuming the world can continue on a peaceful trajectory through all the political upheaval and everything like that.”
In 2016, Istvan ran for president, and to draw attention to his campaign, he drove a coffin-shaped bus across the country. As a third-party candidate, Istvan said he wanted a distinctive campaign vehicle to draw attention to his message, specifically the goal of overcoming death through science.
“The coffin bus to some extent, I don't want to say it's performance art, or it was just a stunt because it's a very real idea,” he said. “We needed to get people aware of the idea that if we don't put resources into life extension science now, we're going to die.”
While Istvan did not comment on the cognitive performances of the current leading candidates for 2024, he expressed disappointment that the recent debate between U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump focused more on immigration and golf scores than the potential threats and benefits of scientific research and AI.
"Because at the end of the day, as you know, from like the debates, nobody wants to talk about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is the AI," he said. "Nobody wants to talk about the fact that if we all live indefinitely, what does that do to Social Security? We want to talk about immigration and a lot of those things are not at the forefront right now of what's really happening with the world."
While Istvan’s plan to become the leader of the free world didn't pan out, Istvan said he wasn’t done with politics and ran for Governor of California in 2018 and again for president in 2020 as a Libertarian candidate, but failed to secure the nomination.
“The point is that I still want to bring science into the picture,” he said. “I don't care that it's not a great talking point, and I don't care that it's not great with voters right now.
“One day, it's going to be great with voters because everyone's going to be so afraid of what's happening to the world, that we better hear from the experts and people that have been involved in science and technology for the last 20 years,” Istvan added.
Undeterred, he said he is considering another run for California’s highest office.
“The main platform my politics has always been, let us take a lot of money from the military and let us fight wars against cancer, against Alzheimer's, against aging,” he said. “It's a very simple philosophy: instead of trying to be the big police person on the planet, let's try to fight the wars with things that really affect our loved ones.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
