There’s an awesome profile of Ray Kurzweil in WIRED today. I’m going to quote liberally from it now, and use that as a departure point to discuss and flesh out a few things.

Firstly though, for those who came in late, Kurwzeil is a prolific inventor, transhumanist pioneer and prophet of the Singularity. Partnered with medical doctor Terry Grossman, these two are actively pushing the limits of the body, mostly in the interests of radical life-extension.

Now, let’s start with the pull quote everyone seems to be running with:

Kurzweil does not believe in half measures. He takes 180 to 210 vitamin and mineral supplements a day, so many that he doesn’t have time to organize them all himself. So he’s hired a pill wrangler, who takes them out of their bottles and sorts them into daily doses, which he carries everywhere in plastic bags.

Kurzweil also spends one day a week at a medical clinic, receiving intravenous longevity treatments. The reason for his focus on optimal health should be obvious: If the singularity is going to render humans immortal by the middle of this century, it would be a shame to die in the interim.

Supplements – yeah, I take a few of them myself. At the moment just ginkgo, brahmi and a mega-antioxidant containing Resveratol and fish-oil. Oh, and lots of Green Tea; ’cause that’s how I roll.

There’s still a bit of debate as to how effective they can be; especially how much the body can actually digest. Taking them with food seems to be a must. Worst case, you’re just making really expensive urine.

Getting the full details of what’s in Kurzweil’s regime seems difficult. But it’s a safe bet that he’s taking what he sells. He and Grossman have an online store, with products such as the Memory Support and the Longevity Multipack.

Expensive, yes – but if you’re a dot-com millionaire, don’t stop there, go visit Grossman yourself for a full, tailored program:

The doctor charges $6,000 per appointment, and wealthy singularitarians from all over the world visit him to plan their leap into the future.

Grossman’s patient today is Matt Philips, 32, who became independently wealthy when Yahoo bought the Internet advertising company where he worked for four years. A young medical technician is snipping locks of his hair, and another is extracting small vials of blood. Philips is in good shape at the moment, but he is aware that time marches on. “I’m dying slowly. I can’t feel it, but I know its happening, little by little, cell by cell,” he wrote on his intake questionnaire. Philips has read Kurzweil’s books. He is a smart, skeptical person and accepts that the future is not entirely predictable, but he also knows the meaning of upside. At worst, his money buys him new information about his health. At best, it makes him immortal.

Immortal? Yes please! I’ll have cake, not death. But how do these traditional transhumanists see it all playing out:

According to Grossman and other singularitarians, immortality will arrive in stages. First, lifestyle and aggressive antiaging therapies will allow more people to approach the 125-year limit of the natural human lifespan. This is bridge one. Meanwhile, advanced medical technology will begin to fix some of the underlying biological causes of aging, allowing this natural limit to be surpassed. This is bridge two. Finally, computers become so powerful that they can model human consciousness. This will permit us to download our personalities into nonbiological substrates. When we cross this third bridge, we become information. And then, as long as we maintain multiple copies of ourselves to protect against a system crash, we won’t die.

Ah, as I commented earlier, I’m so sick of this meat hating, old school mentality. Love the body you’re with, I say. I’m over this desire to upload; didn’t they see The Matrix? :D

But just when I’m about to give up, they go and reveal themselves to some of the best Grinders around:

Kurzweil gets phosphatidylcholine intravenously, on the theory that this will rejuvenate all his body’s tissues. He takes DHEA and testosterone. Both men use special filters to produce alkaline water, which they drink between meals in the hope that negatively charged ions in the water will scavenge free radicals and produce a variety of health benefits. This kind of thing may seem like quackery, especially when promoted by various New Age outfits touting the “pH miracle of living.” Kurzweil and Grossman justify it not so much with scientific citations — though they have a few — but with a tinkerer’s shrug. “Life is not a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study,” Grossman explains. “We don’t have that luxury. We are operating with incomplete information. The best we can do is experiment with ourselves.”

Right on! Grind away, brother – just share the knowledge. Even if we have to pay to travel along with you.

Now, for our last pull quote, we learn this little factoid – Kurzweil’s a Greg Egan fan!

Ramona has long been the inventor’s virtual alter ego and the expression of his most personal goals. “Women are more interesting than men,” he says, “and if it’s more interesting to be with a woman, it is probably more interesting to be a woman.” He hopes one day to bring Ramona to life, and to have genuine human experiences, both with her and as her. Kurzweil has been married for 32 years to his wife, Sonya Kurzweil. They have two children — one at Stanford University, one at Harvard Business School. “I don’t necessarily only want to be Ramona,” he says. “It’s not necessarily about gender confusion, it’s just about freedom to express yourself.”

Yes, not content with pushing the limits of the body, Kurzweil wants to play with Identity as well. Can’t say the go doesn’t lack for ambition.

Now, if that wasn’t enough data for you, here’s some more.

Further Information:

• The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life
• Fantastic Voage: How to live long enough to live forever
• Kurzweil’s SALT lecture on the Singularity (Summary, Full Video)

thanks for the tip-off Matt Sweeney!