Sonia Arrison
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Sonia Arrison (born September 8, 1972) is an American author of books and articles relating to the impact of
technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...
on human life,Silicon Valley launches another bid to 'hack' aging, cheat death
, ''
San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'' (September 14, 2014).
including national bestseller ''100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith'', a book on research into life extension.Ariana Eunjung Cha,
Tech Titans' Latest Project: Defy Death
, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' (Apr 4, 2015).
The Bookworm Sez: “100+: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith” by Sonia Arrison
, ''Health Care Report (Pittsburgh)'' (March 31, 2012).


Early life and career

Born in
Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territ ...
to a pharmacist mother and a chemical engineer father, Arrison studied political science at the
University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
in the mid-1990s.Julia Prodis Sulek,
For Sonia Arrison, longer living through science is inevitable, so we might as well prepare for it
, ''Bay Area Scene'' (April 8, 2011).
She became interested in the political impact of the internet, which eventually led to her becoming director of technology studies at the
Pacific Research Institute The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) is a California-based free-market think tank which promotes "the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility" through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiat ...
, a libertarian
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
headquartered in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, in the early 2000s.


Activism

In 2000, Arrison published a column in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' opposing San Francisco's adoption of an "open access" policy for cable operators. She also criticized San Francisco's 2006 decision to provide free wireless telecommunications access throughout the city, writing that " city administration that cannot fix our streets, run an effective public transport system, address the tragedy of the homeless and reduce taxes has no business monopolizing the Internet." In 2007, Arrison described the transparency in pledge and donation amounts to be an important open-source element of moneybomb success, stating that " ose revelations stand in direct contrast to traditional campaigns, which tend to be silent and proprietary about who is donating." Arrison was also Chairman of the Board of Governors of Lead21, through which she met her husband, Aydin Senkut, who was "one of Google's first employees".Ashlee Vacne,
Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday
, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' (June 12, 2010).
Singularity University Founders page


Longevity research and ''100 Plus''

Arrison was an Associate Founder of
Singularity University Singularity Education Group (using the public names Singularity Group, Singularity University or SingularityU) is an American company that offers executive educational programs, a business incubator, and business consultancy services. Although ...
. In a 2010 ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' interview, she described her motivation for writing ''100 Plus'', which was then a work in progress, and which was described along with Singularity University as "her attempts to ready people for the inevitable". "One day we will wake up and say, 'Wow, we can regenerate a new liver'", Ms. Arrison says. "It will happen so fast, and the role of Singularity University is to prepare people in advance". ''100 Plus'' "outlines changes that people can expect as life expectancies increase, like 20-year marriages with sunset clauses". ''100 Plus'' was published in 2011, with a foreword by
Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...
, a longtime friend whom Arrison had introduced to leading life extension researchers. Arrison was a speaker at the October 2011
Singularity Summit The Singularity Summit was the annual conference of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. It was started in 2006 at Stanford University by Ray Kurzweil, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Peter Thiel, and the subsequent summits in 2007, 2008, 2009, 20 ...
in New York, and appeared as a guest on '' Stossel'' on December 22, 2011. In a 2012 ''CBS News'' interview, Arrison stated that she was inspired to write ''100 Plus'' after viewing an episode of the U.S. reality TV series, ''
The Swan A swan is a bird of the genus ''Cygnus'' (true swans) or ''Coscoroba'' (coscoroba swans). Swan, swans, or The Swan may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film and television * ''The Swan'' (1925 film), a 1925 silent film * ''The Swa ...
'', in which participants were overjoyed to receive a makeover involving relatively minor
plastic surgery Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes cranio ...
procedures. Arrison stated that this got her to thinking about the possible societal changes accompanying the much more substantial changes becoming possible through new medical advances.Jeff Glor,
Could babies born today live to 150?
, '' CBS News'' (February 9, 2012).
Another interview noted that while critics worry that increased longevity will spur
overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scal ...
, "
Aubrey de Grey Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (; born 20 April 1963) is an English author and biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of ''The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging'' (1999) and co-author of ''Ending Aging'' (2007). He is known ...
and Sonia Arrison, two leading advocates of life extension and advisers to the Palo Alto Prize, brush these concerns aside". The piece continues, "Arrison notes that the rate of global population expansion is slowing", but "claims that increasing the healthy life span, by extending the sweet spot of adulthood that combines vigor with the wisdom of experience, will give the world's best minds more time to innovate solutions to humanity's problems".


Publications

* With Thomas Hazlett, ''Telecrisis: How Regulation Stifles High-Speed Internet Access'', San Francisco, Calif: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 2003. . * ''100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith'' (Basic Books, 2011), *
Will You Still Love Me When I’m 164?
, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' (September 18, 2013).


References


External links


Official website

Lifeboat Foundation biography of Sonia Arrison
* Nick Schulz,
Bioengineering Methuselah: Human beings living to be 150? And you thought Social Security and Medicare were in trouble now
, ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' (August 31, 2011) *
Sonia Arrison’s 100 Plus: Book Review
, ''h+ Magazine'' (October 26, 2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrison, Sonia American non-fiction writers Living people American libertarians Life extensionists 1972 births American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers