10 100

Os propongo una observación sobre el mundo actual, de como funciona ahorita mismo. Los de Google han creado un programa que han denominado proyecto 10100.

Aquí está su definición:

Finalidad del concurso

"Nunca antes tanta gente tuvo la información, las herramientas ni la manera de llevar a la práctica ideas buenas como ahora. Ni tanta gente, de distintas escalas sociales y laborales, se benefició de tanta ayuda, ya sea en pequeña o en gran medida.

Por otro lado, nuevos estudios corroboran la idea de que, a parte de cosas materiales muy básicas, lo que con el tiempo da realmente la felicidad es ayudar a otras personas.
"


la idea es que repartirán 10 millones de dólares entre los mejores 10 proyectos.

Y por otro lado tenemos a la fundación Matusalén, que piensa remitir su propio proyecto.

La idea de este post no es analizar el proyecto de la fundación Matusalén, de la que ya he hablado en posts anteriores, sino analizar la naturaleza del progreso en el mundo moderno. Los dos chavales de Google, que dieron con una idea que resultó ser un filón, han pasado de operar en un garaje a ser una de las empresas más grandes del mundo en 10 años. Con el dinero que han ganado están dispuestas a financiar proyectos de la siguiente generación de ideas. Las ideas que se van a presentar al proyecto son ideas absolutamente nuevas, como la que uso como ejemplo, que se han generado en los últimos cinco años y que se han generado gracias al uso de internet por parte de la comunidad científica.

En otras palabras, el progreso se está acelerando de una forma brutal. Hace cien años, el tipo de ideas de la fundación Matusalén, que suponen un cambio político, social, regulatorio, moral y científico, tardarían siglos en permear a la sociedad. Sin embargo ahora, gracias un poco al capitalismo liberal y otro poco al ambiente libertario de internet, estos conceptos se pueden abrir paso fuera de los cauces regulatorios del estado (demasiado lentos, ineficientes y pesados para estos tiempos) y progresar a toda velocidad.

Esto es nuevo, no existía antes y va a acelerar el progreso del género humano. Poneos en cómo funcionaba el tema hace cien años. Supongamos que uno de cada millón de humanos es un genio. Eso nos daría cuarenta genios por generación en nuestro país de cuarenta millones de habitantes. Estos 40 genios utilizarían el correo (así se hacía antes si no recuerdo mal) y las publicaciones científicas para intercambiar ideas. Teniendo en cuenta que una carta tardaba de una semana a un mes en llegar de un lado a otro, y que las publicaciones científicas eran mensuales en el mejor de los casos, la oportunidad de que uno de estos genios interactuara con otros y el ancho de banda que tenían disponible para interactuar eran mínimos, comparados con hoy en día.

Hoy en día hay mucha más población que hace diez años, los niveles económicos y de educación de la población son mucho mayores, por lo que el número de personas con un alto potencial es mucho mayor, y con el internet, estas personas se comunican en tiempo real entre ellas, en inglés y a nivel planetario. Esto ha creado una generación de tecnoélite cuyo credo es el progreso tecnológico, que va a enfocar sus recursos no en hacerse más rica, no en objetivos político/religioso/patrióticos como es la tradición entre la clase política (compuesta en un 70 por ciento de licenciados en derecho, que se dice pronto). Sino en avanzar las soluciones tecnológicas a los problemas humanos.

En estas condiciones el desarrollo tecnológico acelera el desarrollo tecnológico, y lo vemos con nuestros propios ojitos, sin mucha necesidad de hacer cuentas. Cada vez más signos nos muestran que la singularidad se acerca.

Y aquí está la entrada que piensa remitir la fundación Matusalén, y que espero que sea una de las ganadoras:



*Your idea's name (50 characters maximum):*

Bring Mitochondrial Repair to Phase 1 Trials

*What one sentence best describes your idea? (maximum 150 characters):*

Our mitochondria degrade over the years, contributing greatly to age-related
disease and frailty - but medical technology can fix this problem.

*Describe your idea in more depth. (maximum 300 words):*

I propose that the most promising of nascent mitochondrial repair
technologies be funded from their present early-stage standing to readiness
for Phase I clinical trials in humans. As a condition of funding,
methodologies will be published free of restriction for any group to further
develop and bring to market. This will be accomplished with the aid of a
non-profit research organization like the Methuselah Foundation, with a
history of raising matching funds for large donations, so as to maximize the
impact of the funding program.

Mitochondria are tiny power plants inside our cells, churning away to turn
food into energy. They were once free-roaming bacteria and have retained
their own mitochondrial DNA, distinct from our own nuclear DNA. As our
mitochondria fail, however, so do we. The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory
of Aging points to progressive damage to our mitochondrial DNA as an
important - and arguably the most important - root cause of age-related
degeneration, disease, and frailty.

At present, a range of plausible technologies exist to repair mitochondrial
DNA, replace mitochondrial DNA, or make damage to this DNA irrelevant. These
technologies stand at varying points between ideation and animal trials:
whole-body replacement of mitochondrial DNA was demonstrated in mice as
early as 2005, for example, as has the process of allotopic expression:
moving a single important mitochondrial gene into the cellular nucleus, such
that the necessary proteins are still made, and a damaged mitochondrion
continues to function.

These technologies are progressing very slowly and with a paucity of
funding, partly because this is the nature of early research, partly because
of perverse regulatory incentives. This is unacceptable when considered
against a) the comparatively low cost of basic research in this age of
biotechnology, and b) the vast potential benefits to humanity. Philanthropic
funding can overcome these hurdles.

*What problem or issue does your idea address? (maximum 150 words):*

Consequences of damaged mitochondrial DNA include failing organs, clogged
arteries, neurodegeneration, and much more. This is the Mitochondrial Free
Radical Theory of Aging, well supported by decades of evidence. A working
repair technology pushed into the clinical system has the potential to
entirely remove this large contribution to disease and frailty. But first it
must be finalized from the promising beginnings presently in the laboratory.

Regulatory bodies like the FDA restrict all application of medical science
to specific, named diseases; this makes early stage research to produce a
general repair technology for mitochondria unprofitable. It would be hard to
license, as a developer would struggle to make money on that license. Yet it
costs little to move established research to Phase I trial readiness - $1
million is a fortune for a single laboratory - and developers leap at
license-free medical technology. This is where careful philanthropy can
unjam the gridlocked system.

*If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?
(maximum 150 words):*


A mitochondrial repair technology demonstrated to be ready for human trials,
free of licensing cost, free from intellectual property restrictions, and
unjammed from the system of perverse incentives in early-stage research
stands to benefit everyone. It will be as universally beneficial a medicine
as aspirin; the elderly will benefit immediately upon availability, we will
benefit from it in decades to come, and our children will benefit when their
bodies too start to run down.

Everyone has mitochondria, and mitochondrial degeneration is a universal
condition, bringing myriad forms of suffering and pain. We got rid of
tuberculosis and smallpox as soon as we could, so why not this? Repair of
mitochondrial DNA damage is a very plausible near-future win for everyone,
given where the science is today. We can make it happen.

*What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
(maximum 150 words):*


I envisage the opening labor as follows: 1) Identify the existing non-profit
research group and volunteer cadre to run this project - my vote is for the
Methuselah Foundation, given their record and contacts within the research
community, and the way their mission aligns with that of this project; 2)
Identify the best groups and laboratories presently engaged in mitochondrial
repair and related research; 3) Develop prospective work, milestone, and
funding plans with researchers; 4) Start raising matching funds through
existing channels; 5) Select the initial funding opportunities from the best
of those produced, and get the researchers to work.

From there, I would like to see established a low-overhead but effective
volunteer group of researchers and advocates to manage the cycle of grants,
matching fundraising, and evaluation of progress and new research
opportunities going forward.

*Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully
implemented. How would you measure it? (maximum 150 words):*


The optimal outcome, after the completion of the project, is: a) for one or
more different repair technologies to be successfully readied for Phase 1
human trials; b) protocols and methods to be fully detailed and published,
free of restriction; c) multiple medical development concerns to be working
on bringing applications to market in diverse regulatory regions; d)
independently funded follow-on research taking place with the aim of
improving upon the initial technology; e) matching fundraising to
effectively continue even after the Google grant is complete.

Sample metrics for success include: a) the breadth and effectiveness of the
technologies developed; b) the quality of the published material; c) range
of developers working on applications; d) the range of independently funded
lines of work spawned by this philanthropic funding; and, most crucially, e)
the amount of matching funding and independent research and development
funding drawn by this philanthropic project.

*If you'd like to recommend a specific organization, or the ideal type of
organization, to execute your plan, please do so here. (maximum 50 words):*


The ideal organization is a research non-profit with existing connections to
scientists already involved in mitochondrial repair research, a very low
cost of operation for delivered funding, and a history of raising matching
funds for large donations. The ideal example is the Methuselah Foundation,
as you might have gathered.


Comentarios

rober ha dicho que…
Ahora los ineptos también tienen más ancho de banda. Y el porcentaje de ineptos es mayor al de genios, me temo.

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