What's In The News?
Nanofactory or AGI — Which technology could cure humanity’s many problems?
by Natasha Vita-More
There are a number of supposed shifts on the horizon. The most publicly talked about shift is the impending Singularity when greater-than-human-intelligence will come to pass. However, in the nanotechnology communities are other ramblings singularities, such as when the personal, desktop nanofactory are will come about. In fact, some transhumanists are arguing not just about which will come first—molecular manufacturing or artificial general intelligence—but about which technology will ultimately prove to be the cure for human suffering worldwide.
More...Mercatornet: Ashley X and transhumanism
Mercatornet - For ever young: Ashley has “static encephalopathy of unknown aetiology”, a severe and permanent brain impairment. She will need intensive care for the rest of her life, which doctors say could be 60 years or more. When her parents consulted experts at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle they discovered that it was possible to radically retard her growth with high doses of the female hormone estrogen…
The solution, radical as it was, struck a chord with Americans. As the incredible popularity of cosmetic surgery shows, they regard the body as a kind of appliance to be reshaped at will. Worried about ageing? Get a Botox treatment. Hate your weight? Try liposuction. Boys don’t like you? Ask for breast augmentation. “You deserve to look as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside” is the slogan of cosmetic surgery clinics. It’s the first rung on the ladder of transhumanism, the wacky dream of transforming ordinary humans into X-Men.
More...Top Canadian science-fiction writers and futurists on transhumanism
Sun Media reporter Vivian Song speaks with top science-fiction writers, astrologists and futurists to explore what the next 50 years may hold for our newest Capricorns. Yes, Capricorns, and astrology - the article is very interested, but futurism is mixed with astrology. I suppose this is how they manage to sell newspapers these days. However, I think some horoscopes are a price worth paying for informing the public on what the future will bring.
More...My reply to WJ Smith’s “Give Me That New Transhumanist Religion”
I had the honor to be quoted by Wesley J. Smith in a blog post titled ”Give Me That New Transhumanist Religion”, where he comments my ”Considerations on the development of the transhumanist movement”. This is only fair, as I quoted him. However, he tries using my post in support of his view of transhumanism as “a branch of scientism, that is, a quasi religion that seeks to use science in ways for which the great method is not meant”. So I left the comment below on his blog.
More...Online magazine Jim Baen’s Universe teams with award-winning H+ podcast The Future And You
Press Release: Steven Euin Cobb’s Award winning transhumanist-friendly podcast, ”The Future and You” has become a regular feature of Jim Baen’s Universe magazine, and vice versa in an innovative partnering agreement between the unique online magazine and the highly listened-to podcast series.
More...Robot rights: Transhumanism on the March
In sober and matter-of-factly language, the Financial Times reports that “Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report which claims to be an extensive look into the future”.
More...Transhumanism on the Air (Wesley Smith)
From Wesley Smith’s blog: I was interviewed for an hour by Derek Gilbert yesterday on KSSZ about transhumanism, post humanity, and genetic enhancement of our progeny. We discuss transhumanism as religion, its obsession with control, and its threat to human exceptionalism. If you are interested, check it out. My comments below.
More...Transhumanists and “Human Dignity”, by Wesley Smith
Smith’s comments to Bostrom’s “In Defense of Post Human Dignity”, in which Bostrom argues that there is no need to fear the post human future if we all agree that all forms of post humanity have equal dignity.
More...Towards Immortality: The Economist’s World in 2007 on transhumanism
From The Economist, The World in 2007 print edition, ”Towards immortality”: Science can be a little scary. Its potential to transform life itself has led to predictions that we might re-write our own genetic make-up or merge our minds with machines. But 2007 will show that it is not these sci-fi possibilities that are of immediate concern. Real possibilities of changing our human nature are creeping up from a less obvious direction.
More...Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism
At its inaugural press conference on November 14, the newly established Washington, D.C. office of the Center for Inquiry released the text of a "Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism." The Declaration is endorsed by over 50 prominent scientists and scholars. This important document serves as a clarion call for improvements in scientific understanding, support of scientific inquiry and the use of secular principles in the formulation of public policy. The text of the Declaration is set forth here. We are concerned with the resurgence of fundamentalist religions across the nation, and their alliance with political-ideological movements to block science...New Scientist: What comes after humans? by James Hughes
The New Scientist has published a short article by James Hughes on " What comes after humans?" in its 50th anniversary edition, where they have decided to tackle the truly big questions, with the help of some of the leading lights in science. The article is a concise introduction to transhumanism from its origins in Diderot's D'Alembert's Dream to modern transhumanist thinking on human enhancement and current policy debates. Almost half a century after Julian Huxley, brother of Aldous, coined the term "transhumanism" for the idea that we should use technology to transcend the limitations of our bodies and brains, transhumanism has become a real possibility, pointing the way to an unbelievably transcendent future that would have been unimaginable even to Huxley. The choices we make today are deciding an answer to the question "What comes after human civilisation?". Read more...Transhumanism in Argentina’s Clarin (sp. lang.)
¿Vivir 1.000 años? Los científicos transhumanistas creen que es posible
Se llaman “transhumanistas” y argumentan que ya es hora de que los humanos se liberen de las “cadenas biológicas” y aprovechen los desarrollos tecnológicos para optimizar la mente y el cuerpo. Así se podrían “hacer” mejores humanos y vivir más. Voces a favor y en contra inician el debate.
More...BBC - Live Forever
Live forever
By Brendan O’Neill
A Harley St plastic surgeon plans to sell an anti-ageing drug. But do
you want to live forever, or perhaps to the ripe old age of 1,000? There
was a time when beating biology to become immortal was the stuff of
dreams.
Transvision & Bostrom covered in Nature
The modern make-over
Scientists and philosophers gathered in Helsinki last week for
TransVision, a conference about ‘enhancing’ humans. Kerri Smith talks to
Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at the
University of Oxford, UK, about what’s on the table.
Kerri Smith
More...Kirk seeks ‘superman’ technology watchdog to rein in scientists
SCIENTISTS of the future will have to be controlled by an ethics
watchdog to prevent a nightmare vision of nanotechnology becoming
reality, according to a Church of Scotland expert.
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