Google introduced Calico, California Life Company, with a very ambitious target of solving death or more accurately, extending human life. With a huge sum of money like a $1.5 billion investment, the company became an interesting talk in today’s pandemic world where everything is disrupted by sickness and health concerns. On their website, the latest announcement that the company has made was AbbVie and Calico’s collaboration on aging and age-related diseases. But why was Google involved in this?
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Why is a tech giant like Google working on biotech?
Well, as far as we know, the company seems to be following a statistical approach that focuses on big data and analysis on current medical fields, which seems like a field that Google can easily get you very far. They seem to be working on a solution for aging from a general data-based approach that can affect many people if the researches produce passing results. As far as the information on their website goes, they are also working on an anti-aging drug that can be developed with the help of big data.
They seem to consider themselves “neither a biotech nor an academic institution” as the company says on the website, it seems to be a mix of both where an academic research type big data approach helps biotechnology to produce a well-rounded cure for aging. Especially with new developments and publications that include the use of “deep learning”, they seem to be taking incredible new steps in their field.
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Is it only Google?
Since the company was involved with names like Arthur D. Levinson, Chairman and former CEO of Genentech and Chairman of Apple and Larry Page, Google CEO; it is apparent that big tech companies or at least the minds that go to big tech are very interested in biotechnology and its promising future. Especially in an era where everything is linked to data and technology, this kind of research with a bold ambition would surely be beneficial to at least reveal some of the capabilities of our tech in the biological fields.
Not only for Apple and Google, but most tech companies like Amazon or Tesla are actually researching in different fields and this kind of investment seems to be one of those ambitious investments from Google.
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Point of Singularity?
It all seems to come down to the point of “singularity”, a fictional idea where the technological advancements get so far that humanity tries to transform its own existence and biology through technology. With the recent news about a genetically-edited pig heart transplant, fabricated tissues, and biomanufacturing, everything seems so possible. Even in our recent article (Read: Biomanufacturing in Zero Gravity Can Be the New-Age Medicine: Thrilling Report), I have talked about how space biomanufacturing can be the future. With the power of new technology, maybe the era of short lifespans and regrets will be gone. But who knows, maybe life’s feeble and temporary nature makes it worth living.
