Monthly Archives: January 2022

Multiverse Targets ‘Quantum Computing for the Masses’ – HPCwire

Posted: January 24, 2022 at 9:53 am

The race to deliver quantum computing solutions that shield users from the underlying complexity of quantum computing is heating up quickly. One example is Multiverse Computing, a European company, which today launched the second financial services product in its Singularity product group. The new offering, Fair Price, deliver[s] a higher accuracy in fair price calculations for financial institutions over current classical computing methods according to the company.

This is a product, says the company, thats now available and can be leased for 100,000 euros a year. Multiverse reports at least one bank is evaluating it for use in a production environment.

It does seem as if the financial services sector will be an early adopter of quantum computing and so-called quantum-inspired classical computing solutions. Caveat: These are still very early days for all of quantum computing. Multiverses product announcement is occurring even as the fundamental technology ecosystem of quantum processors, quantum networking, quantum storage, firmware, etc., is still developing.

Multiverses broad idea is to deliver quantum computing solutions that match the problem tackled with the most appropriate underlying quantum technology. Its a software company with extensive relationships within the quantum hardware community. The Fair Pricing product, for example, relies heavily on Monte Carlo simulation. For this application, Multiverse is leveraging IonQs trapped ion quantum computer. Portfolio optimization, the other product currently in the Singularity suite, has a different set of requirements. Multiverse uses D-Waves quantum annealing computer for this application.

Broadly, all of the quantum computing elements are hidden from the end user, explained Multiverse co-founder and CTO Sam Mugel during an interview with HPCwire. Half in jest, he said, Were quantum computing for the masses. Indeed, the whole quantum computing community is working feverishly to develop tools to abstract away the need to know much about the underlying quantum technology.

All thats needed to interface with Multiverse, says Mugel, is the ubiquitous Excel spreadsheet, a tool that is very familiar to quantitative financial analysts. Multiverse handles the under-the-hood quantum pieces. At least thats the idea.

Formed in 2019, with a headcount of roughly 35 and growing, Multiverse is one of many start-ups seeking to build on quantum research thats already done. They seek to act as a translating layer (for lack of a better term) to enable enterprises to use quantum computing. Like most quantum computing newcomers, Multiverses staff is dominated by Ph.D. mathematicians and quantum researchers. Mugels Ph.D., for example, was in cold atom quantum computing (link to founders).

Based in Spain, Multiverse is one of seven companies that recently formed a consortium (Amatech, BBVA, DAS Photonics, GMV, Multiverse computing, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech y Repsol) and launched the CUCO Project to foster quantum computing research and development in Spain. The CUCO effort is another example of burgeoning state-funded efforts around the world; CUCO is aimed at implementing medium-term private-public quantum projects.

Mugel didnt dig deeply into how the Fair Pricing product works. Other companies are leveraging quantum computings ability to quickly and effectively generate random numbers for use in cryptography and Monte Carlo simulation; presumably this plays a role in Multiverses approach. As described by Mugel, Multiverse has built a tool that takes input data (e.g. parameters) from the client via an Excel spreadsheet interface.

The IonQ tool we built relies on quantum-accelerated Monte Carlo. This is an extremely hot topic at the moment and has stirred a lot of excitement in the finance community because Monte Carlo tools are so omnipresent. The motivation is that you have very well-known and well-defined bounds on how far you can push a Monte Carlo calculation. If you do so many samples, then youre going to reach this accuracy. We know that statistically, and you wont be able to exceed that classically, but you can go beyond that quantum mechanically, said Mugel.

Well run two calculations in parallel, or its an option to run two calculations in parallel. Weve got default settings that will shoot [the job in the correct format] to IonQ. Then well do a classical benchmarking in parallel and have a comparison of the two outputs essentially, he said.

The company says using trapped ion quantum computers from IonQ with common PC-based software tools, the Singularity Fair Price solution can reduce error rates by 43 percent without increasing the number of runs or runtime. Below is a chart from a Multiverse paper, Quantum Portfolio Value Forecasting.

The portfolio optimization tool works differently.

Monte Carlo can only be run on certain types of machines, which are universal quantum computers or gate model quantum computers. For optimization, were using analog quantum computing. Quantum annealing is a very specific type of architecture. What youre really looking to do is solve an optimization problem and theres are very efficient way of doing this quantum mechanically. We found theres a very nice correspondence between the portfolio optimization tool, and the problem thats natively solved by D-Wave. At the moment, we have a bank that has access to the code and is playing around with it and seeing if they want to put it into production, said Mugel.

D-Wave, of course, is an early pioneer in analog quantum computing and a specialist in optimization problems. Its also one of very few vendors who have actually sold quantum systems as on-premise, stand-alone systems. Last fall, D-Wave expanded its efforts and started on a program to develop gate-based systems. The latter effort is in very early stages. (See HPCwire coverage, D-Wave Embraces Gate-Based Quantum Computing; Charts Path Forward)

Multiverse has published on its optimization work including this recent paper (Hybrid Quantum Investment Optimization with Minimal Holding Period) on arXiv on which Mugel was a lead author. Heres the abstract:

In this paper we propose a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for dynamic portfolio optimization with minimal holding period. Our algorithm is based on sampling the near-optimal portfolios at each trading step using a quantum processor, and efficiently post-selecting to meet the minimal holding constraint. We found the optimal investment trajectory in a dataset of 50 assets spanning a one year trading period using the D-Wave 2000Q processor. Our method is remarkably efficient, and produces results much closer to the efficient frontier than typical portfolios. Moreover, we also show how our approach can easily produce trajectories adapted to different risk profiles, as typically offered in financial products. Our results are a clear example of how the combination of quantum and classical techniques can offer novel valuable tools to deal with real-life problems, beyond simple toy models, in current NISQ quantum processors.

As youd expect, Multiverse uses a blend of classical and quantum computing resources to obtain answers for collaborators and customers. Mugel declined to describe what specific types of classical system resources it uses, but did say much the work is done in the cloud. The figure below from the Multiverse website identifies its partners and they are certainly familiar names in the quantum community.

Core to Multiverses approach is matching problems with appropriate quantum technology; thats an interesting challenge given steady advances being made among widely-varying qubit technologies. Like most quantum observers, Mugel expects there to be diversity of options.

At least in the short- or medium-term, I believe that were going to continue seeing different platforms. For instance, take the Fair Pricing tool that we developed; we dont actually need that many qubits for it. What we do need is very high fidelity and fully-connected architectures. Its important that any qubit can talk to any other, and that we have many gates. We need very high [circuit] depths. Error rates really compound if youre not careful. In this case, ion trap architectures were a godsend. But if we tried to apply ion trap architectures to portfolio optimization, they might not work as well. In portfolio optimization, we need lots of qubits, so that we can look at lots of assets. It doesnt really matter if theres lots of errors because even a suboptimal portfolio is actually already really quite interesting, said Mugel.

The company is actively working with many qubit technologies.

Weve done lots of work with IBMs architecture, also in the portfolio optimizations domain. Were working a lot with ultra-cold atoms (companies). Im really partial to this because this is what my PhD is in, and also it scales incredibly well. The problem is interesting: you have access to many more qubits, but the error rates are higher, but theres also more connectivity. So potentially, these are more suited for certain types of problems like, for instance, hybrid calculations, like Variational calculations, he said.

Weve got a very ambitious project ongoing with CUCO on how to solve quantum machine learning types of calculations on ultra-cold atoms. Were also working with photonic architectures and are good friends and supporters of Xanadu. Were looking at applying their architecture to energy markets. This is quite interesting. A client from completely outside of finance came to us and said, Hey, weve got a problem thats actually quite similar to portfolio optimization, were in a different field giving forecasts of supply and demands of energy. How do we optimize energy management? And we said there might be a fit to solve this on like some injuries architecture was very well suited for complex network problems.

With so much activity going on in the broad quantum computing ecosystem, it will be interesting to watch how companies like Multiverse fare in trying to deliver quantum computings advantage to users while hiding its complexity. While Multiverses current products serve FS niches, the company has ambitions to work with many industry segments.

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Multiverse Targets 'Quantum Computing for the Masses' - HPCwire

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Microsoft Quantum Computing Executive Sees Progress After Lagging Rivals – The Information

Posted: at 9:53 am

For more than 15 years, researchers at Microsoft have been chasing the idea of building a better quantum computer, an ultrapowerful machine that promises to accelerate everything from drug discovery to the development of electric batteries.

Along the way, the company has suffered setbacks as it takes a noveland riskyapproach to developing the technology. Last year, for instance, a group of physicists that included a Microsoft researcher had to retract a paper related to quantum computing, an embarrassment that dampened morale. And even as it made progress with one method of controlling the building blocks of quantum computers, it turned away from its work on another, shutting down a project that had been underway for several years. The move resulted in several hundred people having to find new jobs within Microsoft, said a person with direct knowledge of the change.

Still, Chetan Nayak, a distinguished engineer at the company and one of Microsofts top quantum computing researchers, told The Information in an interview that the company is making technical progress. A breakthrough just before the holidays gave him more faith in its efforts, he said. While Nayak wouldnt go into much detail, he said Microsoft conducted simulations that made him confident the companys approach wasnt a dead end. He was so enthusiastic about the results that he told his wife he didnt need a Christmas gift.

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Microsoft Quantum Computing Executive Sees Progress After Lagging Rivals - The Information

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How France Is Becoming a Quantum Computing Power – The National Interest

Posted: at 9:53 am

A year ago French president Emmanuel Macron announced plans to provide a framework for his nation's industrial and research forces to make the country a key player in the development of quantum technology. The "Quantum Plan" included an investment of 1.8 billion ($2 billion) over five yearsa significant increase that placed France third after the United States and China.

That included nearly 800 million for computers alone.

Thesector has already experienced significant growth, with patent filings doubling between 2018 and 2020, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. It is believed that the technology could potentially revolutionize areas of defense such as artificial intelligence (AI), enabling autonomous vehicles and improved targeting for precision weapons systems.

Quantum Leap Forward

Quantum computers are not just improved computers. Rather the machinesonce fully developedcould utilize the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform computations. Theoretically, a single quantum computer could complete in seconds tasks that would take classical computers thousands or even millions of years.

The first nation to achieve quantum computing could have a significant advantage, especially as the technology could render current encryption obsolete.

According to a new report from GlobalData, "Quantum Technologies in Defense," this is why many countries are concerned about falling behind in the quantum race due to the potential for the technology to revolutionize communications. Communication is a critical area for the defense sector, with quantum key distribution (QKD) having the potential to completely prevent adversaries from accessing secure communications.

Per the report: "As the existing quantum workforce is extremely small, with only a limited number of people having the capability to design and build quantum computers, countries are pushing to develop an industrial and skills base that will enable them to utilize quantum technologies."

Part of France's spending will initially be to create a platform that will allow traditional computers to access quantum processing power. "Quantum computers are expensive and extremely complex to build, so a remote platform is critical for providing the defense industry with access to quantum tools," explained William Davies, associate defense analyst at GlobalData, in an email.

"The technology is an important investment for the future of the French defense industry, and is a good move for the country to keep up with its peers," Davies continued. "Allies such as the U.S. and the UK are also investing, as well as adversaries such as China, largely to benefit their own defense interests. Further, IQM, a European quantum computer company, is opening an office in Paris in 2022 as a direct response to France increasing investment in quantum. This businessinvestment will provide opportunities for France to expand its domestic quantum base and increase the amount of trained personnel in the sector."

Along with hypersonic weapons, stealth technology, and high-energy weapons, quantum computing could be a significant game changer. Clearly France intends not to be left behind.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Reuters.

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How France Is Becoming a Quantum Computing Power - The National Interest

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China’s ‘little giants’ are its latest weapon in tech war with U.S. – The Japan Times

Posted: at 9:53 am

In todays China, behemoths like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are out of favor, but little giants are on the rise.

Thats the designation for a new generation of startups that have been selected under an ambitious government program aimed at fostering a technology industry that can compete with Silicon Valley. These often-obscure companies have demonstrated theyre doing something innovative and unique, and theyre targeting strategically important sectors like robotics, quantum computing and semiconductors.

Wu Gansha won the little giants title for his autonomous driving startup after a government review of his technology. That gave the Beijing company, Uisee, an extra dose of credibility and financial benefits. Last year, it raised more than 1 billion yuan ($157 million), including money from a state-owned fund. Its also become a unicorn, with a valuation of at least $1 billion.

Its an honor to wear the little giant label, Wu said. The essence of the project is that the companies must possess some specialty that others dont have.

The program has been around for more than a decade, but it has taken on new prominence after Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown against leading companies like Alibaba and Tencent. The little giants label has become a valued measure of government endorsement, a signal for investors and employees that the companies are insulated from regulatory punishment. Chinese President Xi Jinping has given his personal blessing to the program.

This is helpful to startups in many ways: Its a subsidy. Its a grant. Its an honor. Its a stamp of approval, said Lee Kai-Fu, founding managing director of the venture firm Sinovation.

The program is key to the Chinese Communist Partys ambitious strategy to reposition the countrys technology industry. For two decades, China largely followed the Silicon Valley model, allowing entrepreneurs to pursue their ambitions with little government oversight. That led to enormous successes, including e-commerce pioneer Alibaba, social media giant Tencent and ByteDance Ltd., creator of the hit TikTok short-video app.

Kai-Fu Lee, chairman and chief executive officer of Sinovation Ventures, center, speaks during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing in 2019. | BLOOMBERG

But in a series of regulatory moves over the past year, Beijing made clear the technology industry must realign to conform with government priorities. Alibaba and Tencent were quickly forced to eliminate anti-competitive practices, while games companies had to limit minors to three hours of online play per week. More broadly, the government has signaled softer internet services are out of favor.

Instead, Beijing aims to shift resources to strategically important technologies like chips and enterprise software. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has named 4,762 little giants since 2019, many in semiconductors, machinery and pharmaceutical industries. The designation typically comes with lucrative incentives from the central government or provincial authorities, including tax cuts, generous loans and favorable talent acquisition policies.

What the country is trying to promote is more hardcore technology, said Yipin Ng, founding partner of Yunqi Partners, a venture fund that is investing in little giants. In that sense, this is more in line with what they are trying to promote things that makes China more competitive.

Governments from the U.S. to Africa have established programs to support smaller enterprises, but Chinas efforts dwarf those in terms of scale, resources and ambition. Xi, the countrys most powerful leader since Mao, has instituted a half dozen programs that will collectively disburse trillions of dollars in pursuit of economic might, social stability and technological independence.

The U.S. trade war has stiffened the Chinese Communist Partys resolve to build a self-sufficient industry. The countrys vulnerability was exposed when former U.S. President Donald Trumps administration blacklisted national champions like Huawei Technologies Co. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. That prevented them from buying U.S. components such as chipsets and industrial software, crippling operations.

The little giants concept dates back to at least 2005, when the local government in Hunan province instituted policies to support small enterprises. The central governments powerful MIIT endorsed the Hunan campaign, which included land grants and financial support, as a model for developing the private sector. Local governments in places like Tianjin began their own initiatives.

It was in 2018, with the trade war, that the central government began to seriously push the program. MIIT announced a plan to create about 600 little giants that would develop core technologies. The procedure for winning the designation was designed to foster competition and identify the most promising companies.

Smartphones display the TikTok logo in front of the ByteDance logo in this illustration from 2019. | REUTERS

Candidates apply with a six-page form detailing financial status, number of patents and research accomplishments. In the first round of selection, each province could nominate no more than a dozen companies. The countrys top three tech hubs Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai had a combined quota of only 17 candidates.

Guan Yaxin, chief operating officer of Beijing-based ForwardX Robotics, said the process was relatively smooth for her company because it has proven innovations, with 121 patents globally, including 25 in the U.S.

This government endorsement is very helpful when I expand the business because the clients will understand we are not just a random startup, she said.

MIIT has since expanded the program to thousands of companies, with about 1,000 priority little giants at the top of the hierarchy. Members of this rarefied club, which includes Wus Uisee, receive direct funding from the central government. In January, the Finance Ministry set aside at least 10 billion yuan to fund small and mid-sized enterprises until 2025, with the lions share directly financing the priority startups research. The goal is to create 10,000 little giants by 2025.

Its quite clear that this is a selection of companies very much subordinate to Chinas specific industrial policy and needs, said Barry Naughton, a professor and China economist at the University of California, San Diego. They were partially picked because they are good firms, but an equally important criteria is they fit the urgent policy needs of the government right now.

There are substantial risks. The success of Chinas technology industry over the past 10 years came from giving entrepreneurs like Alibabas Jack Ma and ByteDances Zhang Yiming free rein to build their businesses. Flipping the model to focus on the governments priorities risks leading to waste and failure, Naughton said.

These are small companies that are being nurtured because they can potentially be alternative suppliers. How do you nurture them? You throw money at them, he said.

The little giants have become popular targets for venture capitalists, many of whom lost money on portfolio companies during Beijings crackdown. One VC said that some startups in the program have been able to raise capital in the last six months while boosting their valuations by 50% to 75%. Another VC reportedly invests only in companies identified as little giants by the government.

Signs of Alibaba Group and Ant Group are seen during the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, in Nov., 2020. | REUTERS

Zhang Hui, co-founder of Guizhou Changtong Electric Ltd., applied for the program in Guizhou province in 2020 and received the award last year, based on his companys power equipment technology. The startup soon landed more than 100 million yuan from state-backed funds, and other investors have been knocking on his door to offer additional capital.

Of course, venture investors will chase little giants for investment, he said. It would be a surprise if they didnt.

Venture investments in China hit a record last year despite the crackdown. The value of deals rose about 50% in 2021 to $130.6 billion, according to the research firm Preqin.

EcoFlow Inc., a portable battery startup in Shenzhen, announced a 100 million yuan fundraising led by Sequoia as the company won the little giant label from MIIT. The four-year-old firm now plans an initial public offering in its hometown city within three years.

The government is also making it easier for these startups to go public, another incentive for entrepreneurs and venture investors. China set up a dedicated stock exchange in Beijing last year to help small enterprises raise capital.

Guan of ForwardX Robotics pointed out that founders retain control over their companies even if they participate in such government programs. Her company, which makes mobile robots used in manufacturing and logistics, has about 300 employees and plans to expand into Japan and the U.S. She sees the governments support as a big benefit as little giants try to grow.

Many of them are very small now compared with multinationals, she said. But the government sees the potential for them to become a real giants one day.

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LG Electronics Joins the IBM Quantum Network – Database Trends and Applications

Posted: at 9:53 am

IBM has announced that LG Electronics has joined the IBM Quantum Network to advance the industry applications of quantum computing. By joining the IBM Quantum Network, IBM will provide LG Electronics access to IBM's quantum computing systems, as well as to IBM's quantum expertise and Qiskit, IBM's open source quantum information software development kit.

LG Electronics aims to explore applications of quantum computing in industry to support big data, artificial intelligence, connected cars, digital transformation, IoT, and robotics applications?all of which require processing a large amount of data.

With IBM Quantum, IBM says, LG can leverage quantum computing hardware and software advances and applications as they emerge, in accordance with IBM'squantum roadmap. By leveraging IBM Quantum technology, LG will provide workforce training to its employees, permitting LG to investigate how potential breakthroughs can be applied to its industry.

"We're happy to welcome LG Electronics to a growing quantum computing ecosystem in Korea at an exciting time for the region," saidJay Gambetta, IBM fellow and VP, quantum computing, at IBM. "The relationship between IBM and LG Electronics will permit LG to explore new types of problems associated with emerging technologies and will help strengthen the quantum capabilities in Korea."

At the IBM Quantum Summit inNovember 2021, IBM recentlyunveiledits new 'Eagle' quantum computing processor with 127 qubits, a major step forward in IBM's roadmap to reach Quantum Advantage.

There are more than 170 clients, including LG Electronics, Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, academic institutions and research labs working with IBM Quantum technology to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications.

For more information about IBM's quantum computing efforts, visitwww.ibm.com/quantum-computing.

H+ 3: Radical Life Extension? Cybernetic Immortality? Or Resurrection of the Body? – Patheos

Posted: at 9:50 am

Which do you prefer: radical life extension? Cybernetic immortality? Resurrection of the body? Or, just death as endless oblivion?

Transhumanism also known as Humanity Plus or H+ plans to solve all human problems with advances in AI (Artificial Intelligence). One H+ goal is to cure death. Without the threat of death, we could elect to live forever. Either in your body or in disembodied form. Are you interested?

Here are four options. Check the box you prefer.

1 Natural death as the end of all conscious existence.

2 Radical Life Extension (RLE) in your present body.

3 Cybernetic Immortality (CI): your consciousness lives on in the computer cloud.

4 Resurrection of the body as promised in 1 Corinthians 15.

In this post the public theologian will explore the contrast between radical life extension and resurrection in light of transhumanist promises. Whether via Radical Life Extension in the body or Cybernetic Immortality in disembodied form, enhanced human intelligence and consciousness have an unending future. So we are promised. Should we trust this techno-promise? Or, should we trust Gods promise of resurrection from the body, the soma pneumatikon? What does it take for us greet the end of life with contentment?

Tracy Trothen and Calvin Mercer are the indefatigable chroniclers of the interaction between Religion and the Technological Future.

Here, in this post, I offer the third in a series of column posts tackling the religious, ethical, and social concerns raised by genetic engineering, AI (artificial intelligence), IA (intelligence amplification), transhumanism, and posthumanism. First, we asked: H+ 1: Is AI a shortcut to virtue? Or to holiness? Then, secondly, we examined varieties of religious transhumanism in the post: H+ 2: The Transhuman, the Posthuman, and the Truly Human. Here we take up one specific issue: how do we compare multiple scenarios for life extension and immortality?

Death is natural, right? Death is the irreversible cessation of the processes that keep the body working, observes physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne. Death really is the end. Its annihilation (Polkinghorne 2019, 49). With death comes oblivion.

Yet, the prospect of falling from existence into non-existence at the moment of death issues forth in anxiety. In the anxiety of having to die nonbeing is experienced from the inside, says theologian Paul Tillich. This anxiety is potentially present in every moment. It permeates the whole of mans being; it shapes soul and body and determines spiritual life; it belongs to the created character of being quite apart from estrangement and sin(Tillich 1951-1963, 1:193-194).

Is death a disease that needs to be cured? Bioethicist Gilbert Meilaender denies that aging and death belong in the disease category. Unlike disease, he says, aging is a natural stage of life that seems built in (Meilaender 2013, 2). We should live within the limits of death and aging by cultivating the virtue of patience.

If you check this first option, you elect to end your embodied consciousness and to drop from being into nonbeing. Can you be patient with this?

Transhumanists define death as a disease. Like other diseases, medical science will cure death. Then, we can live in our present bodies indefinitely.

One clarification. Lets distinguish between the aim of longevity research (LR) and radical life extension (RLE). LR is being pursued by the Buck Institute, Geron Corporation, Michael D. Wests Therapeutics, and other laboratories. Both LR and RLE belong to the prolongevity club. Note that LR is modest while H+ RLE is dramatic. Big bucks finance both. (Photo: Aubrey de Grey)

Oxford transhumanist Nick Bostrom sells stock in both LR and RLE because of the potentially enormous returns, in terms of human welfare, to investment in biogerontological research if it could lead to a further significant extension of the human health span.

Cambridge geneticist and biogerontologist Aubrey deGrey proclaims that science must triumph over what has hitherto been natures province, namely, aging and natural death. There is a good chance aging can be entirely defeated within the next few decades, de Grey writes. The speed of speed is speeding up, meaning that the relevant laboratory research is advancing at an increasingly rapid pace. The longevity escape velocity or LEV is spiraling upward(DeGrey 2009, 21).

In the race for a life of a thousand years, the runner still needs to dodge incidental death threats. Referring to RLE as practical immortality, Calvin Mercer and Tracy Trothen alert us to remain alert. Practical immortality means that one will not die from internal biological causes that have been associated with aging, but one could still die of such things as accidental causes, a new infectious disease, natural disasters, or a cosmic event(C. a. Mercer 2021, 72).

Radical life extension consists of the prolongation of terrestrial embodied living as we have known it minus the deterioration of aging and the portent of an end to life. Unless we get run over by a bus or shot in a war, we can expect over the centuries an unending number of stints on the altar guild or picnics with the PTA. Are you ready for this?

RLE is embodied immortality. Cybernetic immortality is disembodied.

The aim of the cybernetic prolongevists is to dislodge our consciousness and our intelligence from our biological substrate and upload it into a computer. As long as the computer battery remains charged, we will live in a disembodied electronic cloud virtually forever. Immortality can be attained here by uploading the information stored in our brain, a process called whole brain emulation.

How might this work? Cybernetic immortality could be attained, according to computer whiz Ray Kurzweil, because intelligence is not dependent upon our biological substrate. Kurzweil, transhumanist in mind-set even if not in name, defines intelligence as an information pattern and, as an information pattern, our intelligence could be transferred from our brain to a computer. The current substrate that houses this information pattern is our body, the eighty to ninety billion neurons in our brain. Could this neuronal information be transferred to a disembodied digital substrate? Yes, say transhumanists.

Our intelligence can live on in an enhanced form even when extricated from our bodies and placed in a computer. Uploading a human brain means scanning all of its salient details and then reinstantiating those details into a suitably powerful computational substrate. This process would capture a persons entire personality, memory, skills, and history (Kurzweil 2005, 198-199). From Kurzweils forecast of the Singularity by the year 2045, todays 2045 Initiative has begun to organize the research.

Kurzweil, like others in the H+ movement, plans to derive Homo cyberneticus from modifying Homo sapiens. Once our minds are uploaded, we will become a new species, a posthuman species. The present generation giving birth to the future posthuman species is made up of the transhumanists.

Have we seen this before? Remember Ren Descartes (1596-1650)? Descartes was a substance dualist. Our body is a physical substance while are mind or soul is a spiritual substance. By performing a soulechtomy, God could extract the soul from its physical housing, said Descartes. Now the transhumanist can do what before only God could do, allegedly.

Would you like to live indefinitely bodiless in the computer cloud?

Is it realistic to anticipate the defeat of death and unending finite life? This question must be addressed on two levels, one psychological and the other scientific.

A curious argument has broken out over the psychological acceptance of living indefinitely. Transhumanists are convinced that nobody wants to die. The transhumanists are probably right on this point.

But, does it follow that everybody wants to life forever? This, it turns out, is a matter of debate. University of Liverpool philosopher Michael Hauskeller believes the transhumanists commit the Immortality Fallacy here. If you ask people whether they want to die, most of them will indeed deny it. However, if you as, the same people whether they want to go on living forever, you may find that most will deny this too. It is quite possible that a person does not want to die and still does not want to live forever(Hauskeller 2013, 89).

In short, the question of living forever is independent of the question of death. That a person does not normally want to die does not imply that the same person does not ever want to die (i.e. in the future), adds Pablo Garca-Barranquero at Universidad de Mlaga(Garcia-Barranquero 2021, 183).

Now we ask scientifically, is RLE realistic? Probably not. LR is not likely to lead to RLE, at least according to Michael Shermer, writing in Scientific American, Radical Life Extension Is Not around the Corner(Shermer 2016, 84).

If RLE is not realistic, might cybernetic immortality be realistic? Scientifically speaking, probably not. Kurzweils presupposed theory that the human mind is an information pattern extractible from the brain does not square with what is known about mind, intelligence, and consciousness.

First, human intelligence is not limited to the brain. It is distributed throughout the body by the nervous system.

Second, all thinking includes biological stimulus and interaction, much of it with the surrounding world(Peters, Where Theres Life Theres Intelligence 2017). Intelligence is relational. dependent on the relationship of the body to the world. Our intelligent minds are inextricably embodied and relational.

Computer scientist and theologian Noreen Herzfeld, for example, emphasizes that we cannot be who we are except in relationship to others and to our natural world (Herzfeld 2002, 86-95). In short, disembodied consciousness or mental activity does not make scientific sense. (Photo: Noreen Herzfeld)

The acknowledgment of embodiment makes neuroscientists critical of the concept of cybernetic immortality. Kurzweils knowledge of neuroscience is imply inadequate to the task at hand.He mistakes the striatum for cortex and apical dendrites for axons, belies the cognitive contributions of the basal ganalia.Yet he [Kurzweil] has the unerring belief of the prophet or the fool.(Koch 2013, 760). Are transhumanists fools?

Would you be a prophet or a fool to check the cybernetic immortality box?

Caution. Some in faith communities react spasmodically: H+ should immediately be shunned! Why? Because H+ represents human hubris. Because H+ constitutes playing God like Frankenstein.

Rather than simply kicking our H+ friends, however, I recommend pausing to take a deep breath. Then allot a few moments to compare and contrast RLE and CI with the biblical promise of resurrection.

When we turn to biblical Christianity, the question of immortality does not stand alone. Standing right alongside of resurrection is the forgiveness of sin and redemption from evil. Death constitutes a cleansing, so to speak. We become washed in the blood of the lamb.

Before approaching omega, lets return for a moment to alpha. Lets return to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3. Why did God expel Adam and Eve from the garden and place an angel with the fiery sword next to the No Admittance sign? Was God throwing a temper tantrum in response to the eating of the forbidden fruit? No. Adam and Eve had certainly eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but they had not yet tasted the fruit from another important tree in the garden. That was the Tree of Life. Had they eaten from the Tree of Life, then they would live forever (Genesis 3:22). That is, we human beings would live forever in our sin, never able to escape the vicissitudes of betrayal, victimization, suffering, agony, and anxiety anticipating all of this. Evil would then have to be endured everlastingly. Here is the point: death is Gods gift. By sending Adam and Eve to their death, God was graciously bestowing escape from everlasting distress and misery.

What about sin and evil? Our transhumanist friends are as cognizant of sin as a public monument is cognizant of the pigeon excreta that adorns it. That is, they ignore it.

Here is the implication: RLE and CI would perpetuate unendingly human malevolence and victimization. New Testament historian, N.T. Wright reminds us: The kingdoms of the world rage against the kingdom of God; the problem of evil grows teeth and claws, leaping out with a snarl from the debating halls of the philosophers and on to the stage of the real world, turning gardens into deserts and human lives to dust and ashes.Evil is alive and powerful(Wright, Evil and the Justice of God 2006, 38).

It is decisive, then, in Christian theology that when we die we really die to this world. Death is total. No soulecthtomy. No mind extraction. No residuals from this life are carried on. Or, more precisely, the sins and sufferings of this life die with us.

The purpose and meaning of our individual and social lives, to be sure, come to fulfillment in our resurrection. We undergo both discontinuity and continuity as we pass through death into resurrection.

In order to convey this point, Saint Paul employs the seed analogy. A seed in the hand looks dead. Its dry. Inert. But, when we plant it in the garden with fertilizer and water, it springs up with flower or fruit, with beauty or nourishment. This describes, at least in part, what it is like for you and me to die and be raised by God.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable (corrupt, pthora), what is raised is imperishable (incorrupt, aphtharsia).It is sown in dishonour (atimia), it is raised in glory (doxa). It is sown in weakness (astheneia), it is raised in power (dynameis).It is sown a physical body (soma psychikon), it is raised a spiritual body (soma pneumatikon). If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. (I Corinthians 15:42-44).

Note Pauls term for physical body, soma psychikon. That is an ensouled body, a body with a mind. Body and soul along with our intelligence die. Kaput. Kafinished. Over. No cybernetic immortality here.

Paul stresses that what is redeemed is healed, renewed, transformed. In the resurrection we will be made ready by Gods grace for eternal life. Thats what soma pneumatikon indicates, a spiritual body.

To be spiritual does not mean to be ethereal. The resurrected body is still a body, only healed.

Let me mention again that I am editing a book with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green,Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics(Roman & Littlefield, 2022). Watch for it.

Now, which box did you check?

Our transhumanist friends will attempt to make us immortal so we can live forever in this world, this fallen world. The biblical eschatological vision, in contrast, anticipates a transformation of the world coincidental with our resurrection. Cosmic eschatology and personal eschatology coincide. Eschatology has always to be both universal and individual, says Wolfhart Pannenberg rightly (Pannenberg 1991-1998, 3:543). The consummation of Gods redemptive work for the whole of the cosmos provides the backdrop for our personal resurrection from the graves oblivion. Jesus Easter resurrection is a prolepsis of your and my resurrection.

Reformed theologian and bioethicist Ronald Cole-Turner, sets up the parallel between H+ and the biblical promise. Technology offers to give us what we want, or at least what most of us think we wantlonger life, youthful bodies, greater health, and mental ability. Christianity invites us to give up what we want, indeed to give up life itself, as the one condition for real life(Cole-Turner 2009, 58).

The New Testament message is that the God who raised Jesus from the dead on the first Easter will greet us on the other side of deaths darkness. The light beyond deaths darkness is the light of the world, the brilliance of a redeemed cosmos. This is the gospels call to trust, to trust when we cannot be in control.

Ted Peters directs traffic at the intersection of science, religion, and ethics. Peters is a professor at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), in Berkeley, California, USA. He is author of Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002) and editor of AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? (ATF 2019). Watch for Teds forthcoming book, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). Visit his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

Cole-Turner, Ronald. 2009. Extreme Longevity Research: A Progressive Protestant Perspective. In Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension, by ed Calvin Mercer, 50-62. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.

DeGrey, Aubry. 2009. Radical Life Extension: Technological Aspects. In Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension, by eds. Derek F. Mather and Calvin Mercer, 13-24. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.

Garcia-Barranquero, Pablo. 2021. Transhumanist Immortality: Understanding the Dream as a Nightmare. Scientia et Fides 9:1 177-196.

Hauskeller, Michael. 2013. Better Humans? Understanding the Enchantment Project. London: Routledge.

Herzfeld, Noreen. 2002. In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit. Minneapolis MN: Fortress.

Koch, Christoph. 2013. The End of the Beginning for the Brain. Science 339:6121 759-760.

Kurzweil, Ray. 2005. The Singularity if Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin.

Meilaender, Bilbert. 2013. Should We Live Forever? The Ethical Ambiguities of Aging. Grand Rapids MI: Wm B Eerdmans.

Mercer, Calvin. 2015. Whole Brain Emulation Requires Enhanced Theology, and a Handmaiden. Theology and Science 13:2 175-186.

Mercer, Calvin, and Tracy Trothen. 2021. Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart. 1991-1998. Systematic Theology, 3 Volumes. Grand Rapids MI: Wm B Eerdmans.

Peters, Ted. 2017. Where Theres Life Theres Intelligence. In What is Life? On Earth and Beyond, by ed Andreas Losch, 236-259. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Polkinghorne, John. 2019. What can we hope for? Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Shermer, Michael. 2016. Radical Life Extensiion is NOT around the Corner. Scientific American 316:10 84.

Tillich, Paul. 1951-1963. Systematic Theology. 1st. 3 Volumes: Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wright, NT. 2007. Cosmic Future: Progress or Despair? In From Resurrection to Return: Perspectives from Theology and Science on Christian Eschatology, by Christine Ledger, and Stephen Picard, eds James Haire, 5-31. Adelaide: ATF Press.

. 2006. Evil and the Justice of God. London: SPCK.

Young, Simon. 2006. Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books.

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H+ 3: Radical Life Extension? Cybernetic Immortality? Or Resurrection of the Body? - Patheos

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Canadian military’s new search and rescue aircraft wont be operating this summer – Ottawa Sun

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The military cant say at this point when C-295 fixed-wing aircraft will be available for missions.

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The Canadian militarys new fleet of search-and-rescue aircraft wont be operating this summer as originally planned because of delays caused by the pandemic and other technical issues.