H+Summit to focus on the shifting limits of the human condition

The H+ Summit, a two-day event that explores how humanity will be changed by technology in the near future will be held on June 12-13 at Harvard University.

Speakers will explore the potential of technology to modify body, mind, life, and world -- chewing over the feasibility of redesigning the human condition and overcoming such constraints as the inevitability of aging, limitations on human and artificial intellects, unchosen psychology, lack of resources, and our confinement to the planet earth.

Speakers include Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey ("Hype and anti-hype in academic biogerontology research: a call to action"), Alex Lightman ("The Rise of Citizen-Scientists in the Eversmarter World"), David Orban ("Intelligence Augmentation, Decision Power, And The Emerging Data Sphere"), Heather Knight ("Why Robots Need to Spend More Time in the Limelight: People Tracking and Artificial Personality"), Michael Smolens ("Removing language as a barrier to cross cultural communication"), M. A. Greenstein ("Sparking our Neural Humanity with Neurotech!"), and Andrew Hessel ("Altered Carbon: The emerging biological diamond age").

Cost: $200

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Facing Up to the Demographic Dilemma - for business

S+B has a a report from the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Dalian, China, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities that aging populations present to business.

"The world is in the midst of an epochal demographic shift that will reshape societies, economies, and markets over the next century. The big news is that the world population, according to United Nations forecasts, will either stabilize or peak around 2050, after growing for centuries at an ever-accelerating rate. The main reason is the decline occurring in birthrates as nations advance economically, and it is already having a significant impact: As birthrates drop and better health care prolongs life spans, the world’s population is aging rapidly. For example, between 1950 and 2000, the percentage of the world population older than 60 rose almost imperceptibly to 10 percent from 8 percent. By 2050, however, that percentage will more than double, to 21 percent. And in many countries — notably Japan and those in western Europe — the share of population age 60-plus will be more than 40 percent by mid-century."

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Posted via email from The Future Café: People, Policy, Trends, Technology, Leadership, Foresight, Innovation, Design