ILabs

Key takeaways

ILabs belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ILabs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ILabs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

iLabs is a non-profit Milan-based organization pursuing multidisciplinary research on radical extension of human life-span. It was founded in 1977 by Gabriele Rossi and Antonella Canonico, who advocate the scenario known as “Semi-Immortality”, an elaborate vision of an era of quasi-immortal individuals (“intelligent systems”), that is philosophically linked to other instances of Transhumanism and futurists’ theories (such as Raymond Kurzweil’s). iLabs led the development of Artificial Intelligence tools in Italy: the first relational database (1984), a self-monitoring and self-modifying application for production planning (1985), programs for data compression (1980), visual recognition (1983), cryptography (1987). Starting with the publishing of Semi-Immortality in November 2007, iLabs has also been devoting considerable resources to further improve the impact of the research program and raise the general awareness towards semi-immortality and related topics, resulting in a series of books, articles, interviews and events popular in the Italian transhumanist community and beyond. On March 5, 2011 iLabs hosted the iLabs Singularity Summit, featuring speeches from Raymond Kurzweil and Aubrey De Grey.

History iLabs was founded in 1977 by two young Italian researchers, Antonella Canonico (psychologist) and Gabriele Rossi (computer scientist). The lab pursues a long-term research goal – the radical extension of human life-span – through the completion of midterm projects in several fields. Throughout their history, iLabs has been pioneering the use of Artificial Intelligence and psychoneurophysiology (also known as Psychoneuroimmunology) in a variety of experimental and real-world settings. In 1984, the iLabs department of Artificial Intelligence created the first Italian data-base, Sistema I, the first of a series of projects in computer science:

in 1991, IAssist, an expert system for customer care; in 1993, i5, an expert system for insurance risk management; in 1994, BBS-RCAuto, the first real-time comparison of insurance policies across the all Italian market; in 1995, ZaZen, an expert system for derivative market trading; in 1996, iAssicur97, a completely web-based software allowing natural language queries; in 2010, iMaat, a digital universe based on a proprietary reversible cellular automaton. The department of Psychoneurophysiology was one of the first institution in the country promoting the field through innovative proposals in psychology, stress management and bio-statistics:

in 1996, the creation of a free web-service for psychological assistance; in 2002, Buddhamam, a wellness center specialized in stress management; in 2008, iMed, a statistical estimator of biological age from blood samples. The department started focusing on psycho-oncology in 2000, with hundreds of subjects successfully treated since then.

iLabs R&D Structure iLabs is privately owned and run since their foundation. iLabs started commercial spin-offs to apply their discoveries in business-oriented contexts; in turn, profits from commercial activities are used to fund the labs projects. The main agenda is carried on, for the most part, by the departments of Artificial Intelligence and Psychoneurophysiology. However, iLabs relies on renowned experts to further widen the scope of the research program: professionals from mathematics, physics, logic, law, economics, medicine, biology have worked for the lab to address specific scientific challenges. The results of the projects are popularized through books, events, digital material, and spread in the academic community with peer-reviewed publications. iLabs partners include Humanity+, SENS Foundation, KurzweilAI, Science for Life Extension, Estropico. Four iLabs members are also in the Advisory Board of Lifeboat Foundation.

Semi-Immortality and the Call for Players “Semi-immortality” is the title of the iLabs volume detailing the first thirty years of research: since it is doubtful that full immortality can be truly achieved by physical entities, the term “semi-immortality” was preferred as the main tag over iLabs vision. There are two explicit assumptions underlying the lab's work: first, only a truly global perspective may lead mankind to a radical extension of the life-span. According to the founders, technology and science will play a major role, but without addressing serious challenges in ethics and social theory, all the attempts would be doomed to failure. Second, achieving the “semi-immortality” is a hard, articulated task requiring huge efforts and resources, as well as the finest minds. In 2008, iLabs published online the first version of their “Call for Players”, detailing the fields of study in their global agenda and explaining the labs’ structure and activities. The document’s explicit aim is to attract interested researchers to their projects. According to the document, the semi-immortality picture is declined in three core areas of study and intervention:

mathematics, physics, computer science biology, medicine, psychology philosophy, law, politics

Mathematics, physics, computer science iLabs projects in this area are based on the so-called Mathematics of the Models of Reference. The theory – created by Gabriele Rossi and developed with Francesco Berto and Jacopo Tagliabue – use cellular automata theory as the building block of computation and a perfect isomorphism between matter and information as the main “philosophical” assumption. iLabs digital universe satisfies universality (it is equivalent to a Turing Machine) and perfect reversibility (a desideratum if one wants to easily preserve various quantities and never lose information), and it comes embedded in a first-order theory allowing computable, qualitative statements on the universe evolution.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ILabs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ILabs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ILabs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ILabs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ILabs

In research: ILabs appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ILabs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ILabs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial intelligence associations, Singularitarianism, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ILabs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study ILabs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ILabs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ILabs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ILabs in simple terms?

iLabs is a non-profit Milan-based organization pursuing multidisciplinary research on radical extension of human life-span. It was founded in 1977 by Gabriele Rossi and Antonella Canonico, who advocate the scenario known as “Semi-Immortality”, an elaborate vision of an era of quasi-immortal individ…

Why does ILabs matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ILabs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ILabs.