WTA NEWS March 30, 2005
NEWS OF THE WORLD TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
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Editor: Mike LaTorra
- mike99(at)lascruces.com
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WTA News is the e-newsletter of the World Transhumanist Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of and advocacy for the use of technology to overcome the limitations of the human body.
To submit news about your chapter or affiliate, or about transhumanism in general, please send it to Editor James Hughes
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News for WTA Members
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CONTENTS:
News of the WTA
• WTA Board adopts statement on Artificial Intelligence
• Citizen Cyborg and More Than Human recommended by Scientific American
• Member stats as of March 28, 2005
Chapter News
• Colombian Transhumanist Association formed
• Finnish Transhumanist Association continues rapid growth
• DeTrans (German Transhumanist Association) publishes book
• Italian Transhumanist Association featured in newspapers & magazine
• Russian Transhumanist Movement holds second seminar
• Latvian Transhumanist publishes magazine article
• WTA & New Jersey Transhumanist Association represented at science fiction convention
• Transhumanist Association of Kenya incorporates and begins meeting biweekly
Transhumanism in the News
• President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on transhumanism
• Vatican newspaper attacks transhumanism and humanism
• Right-wing Italian Magazine Panorama pans transhumanism, but left-wing La Repubblica gives it a good review
News of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
• Ramez Naam appointed IEET Technology Fellow
• Recent articles by IEET Fellows and Staff
Events
• Events of interest to transhumanists from April through July 2005
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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Thanks to the 580 of you who responded to the recent member survey I’m in data heaven. I’ll be releasing a full report on the survey soon, but I thought I’d share a bit now. One of the charges the Board gave itself in Spring 2004 was to come up with a brief self-diagnostic for people to determine if they were transhumanists or not. In last week’s survey we offered 19 statements that seemed to express transhumanist views, and 3 that expressed the opposite, and asked if you agreed. We are not all of one mind (surprise!) but there were thirteen questions on which 75% or more of the respondents agreed. Or, rather, 75%+ of those respondents who said they were comfortable calling themselves “transhumanists,” or were only a little uncomfortable. The three with the asterisks (intelligence enhancement, life extension and uploading) were the questions most closely tied to feeling comfortable calling oneself a transhumanist.
95% YES: Do you think that by being generally open and embracing of new technology we have a better chance of turning it to our advantage than if we try to ban or prohibit it?
94% YES: Do you believe that people have a right to use technology to extend their mental and physical (including reproductive) capacities and to improve their control over their own lives?
94% NO: Do you think human nanotechnology and genetic engineering will always be dangerous and should be banned?
*93% YES: Do you think it would be a good thing if people could become many times more intelligent than they currently are?
92% YES: Do you expect human progress to result from human accomplishment rather than divine intervention, grace, or redemption?
92% NO: Do you think human genetic engineering is wrong because it is “playing God”?
89% NO: Do you believe there are clear divinely-set limits on what humans should do?
85% YES: Is your concept of “the meaning of life” derived from human responsibility and opportunity rather than divine revelation?
84% YES: Do you believe women should have the right to terminate their pregnancies?
81% YES: Does your ethical code advocate the well-being of all sentient beings, whether in artificial intellects, humans, posthumans, or non-human animals?
*80% YES: Do you think it would be a good thing if people could live for hundreds of years or longer?
*77% YES: Would you consider having your mind uploaded to computers if it was the only way you could continue as a conscious person?
76% YES: Should parents be able to have children through cloning once the technology is safe?
We still have a lot of discussion to do about how to frame these questions so that they aren’t too exclusive, but at the same time give people a sense of what we believe and whether they share our central beliefs. Obviously you don’t have to agree with them all to be a transhumanist, but it would be hard to be a transhumanist if you only agreed with one or two.
If you have thoughts on how we should offer this self-diagnostic as a leaflet, online test or poster send them to me:
Director(at)transhumanism.org
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NEWS OF THE WTA
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WTA ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In response to the emerging debate over “robot ethics” the Board of Directors of the World Transhumanist Association unanimously adopted this statement on artificial intelligence on March 1, 2005:
“The WTA supports the development of more capable artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Any AI system that is powerful enough to pose a potential risk must be designed with adequate safeguards. Should future forms of artificial intelligence become sentient, they would be entitled to moral consideration. Nobody should be discriminated against on the basis of their morphology or the substrate of their implementation. Any person brought into existence, whether through “natural” or “artificial” means, has the right to a life worth living. Like biological parents, creators of AI-persons have a responsibility for their progeny’s welfare and might in some cases be held accountable for their actions. As the prospect of general machine intelligence draws closer, more thought needs to be devoted to working out the legal, ethical, social, and security implications, e.g. to determine under what conditions artificial intellects or copies of existing persons should be given property rights or voting rights, and whether new public policies will be needed to ameliorate structural unemployment. The development of advanced AI could be the most important event in history, and it should be approached carefully, with clear thinking and serious moral engagement.”
TRANSHUMANIST BOOKS
Two recent books on Transhumanism have been reviewed in Scientific American magazine.
WTA Executive Director James Hughes’ book CITIZEN CYBORG: WHY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES MUST RESPOND TO THE REDESIGNED HUMAN OF THE FUTURE (order http://tinyurl.com/5rcvc) was reviewed favorably in the current (April 2005) issue of Scientific American along with Ramez Namm’s book MORE THAN HUMAN: EMBRACING THE PROMISE OF BIOLOGICAL ENHANCEMENT (order http://tinyurl.com/3ufof). Read the SciAm reviews at http://tinyurl.com/4rzqc.
Read more about CITIZEN CYBORG at http://cyborgdemocracy.net/citizencyborg.htm
Read more about MORE THAN HUMAN at http://www.morethanhuman.org/
MEMBER STATS AS OF MARCH 28, 2005
1369 USA
588 Europe (not UK)
211 UK
191 Canada
179 Oceania, Australia, New Zealand
152 Mexico & S. America
89 S. Asia
64 Africa
55 Asia
47 Middle East
13 Caribbean
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CHAPTER NEWS
http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/membernews/
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COLUMBIAN TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
WTA Director and Chapter Coordinator Jose Cordeiro spent two weeks in Colombia promoting transhumanism. He gave many presentations to different groups in Bogota, Medellin and Bucaramanga. Mr. Cordeiro also met with government officials, business people, academics, students, scientists and social workers. The major presentation was in the main auditorium of the Colombian National University, where over 2,200 people heard transhumanist ideas. The audience included the organizers of the Colombian Association for the Advancement of Science. Afterwards, there was another smaller meeting at the Maloka Science Museum, where the Colombian Transhumanist Association was formally established, with prominent local members including Hernando Ramirez Llinas, Carlos Enrique Parra, Juan Arbelaez and Manuel Neira. Now the Colombians transhumanists are creating their own web page and starting other activities.
FINNISH TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
Update on the Finnish Transhumanist Association Growth in new enthusiastic members eager to get active is faster than ever, and this situation feels very encouraging. Growth has primarily taken place among young students, and is largely due to the somewhat high visibility of transhumanism in the Finnish parts of the internet. In addition to our main website, we run blogs and our IRC channel also tends to average around 20 participants.
There has been activity outside the internet as well. A paper by Ari Heljakka is about to be published in Futura, the journal of the Finnish Society for Future Studies. An article on transhumanism by Marko Naumanen was printed in Humanisti, the Finnish Humanist Association’s magazine. There have also been some speaking engagements, and a short letter published in Suomen Kuvalehti, the most prominent weekly magazine in Finland.
Currently we are working on a high-quality (graphically as well) introductory leaflet on transhumanism, and intend to distribute it to e.g. universities, libraries and schools when it is completed.
We have also discussed forming an Advisory Board, and inviting some prominent Finnish scientists and popular science writers to it. This project is in early stages of preparation. Several of the best-known popular science writers and similar figures in Finland have recently touched on transhumanism e.g. in their books, and some of them seem interested in the FTA.—Aleksei
DE:TRANS (GERMAN TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION)
New Book from De:Trans, the German Transhumanist Association
The German Transhumanist Association De:Trans has released its first publication, a Transhumanist reader. The reader was designed primarily for new members and others interested in transhumanism. It contains several introductory texts, articles on futurist technologies, as well as essays on the philosophical and political background of transhumanism. The appendix includes a recommend reading list, a glossary of terms and an index of transhumanist organizations and players. The reader has 132 pages and is published in German. New and current members of De:Trans receive the reader for free. Non-members may order the reader for 8 plus shipping (2 domestic/4 international) by email to vorstand@detrans.de. It will also be put up on the web page of De:Trans (www.detrans.de) as a free electronic version in the near future.—Torsten
ITALIAN TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
New WTA chapter: Italian Transhumanist Association The newly launched Italian Transhumanist Association has been covered in half a dozen major newspaper and magazine articles in the last month, and is now meeting in Rome, Mantua and Milan.
See the Italian Transhumanist Association at http://transumanisti.virtuale.org/
RUSSIAN TRANSHUMANIST MOVEMENT
Second transhumanism seminar lays foundation for practical work
On February 19, 2005 Russian Transhumanist Movement in co-operation with the Library-Museum of N. Fedorov organised the second interdisciplinary seminar on immortalism and transhumanism. About 20 participants attended the seminar.
The following presentations were given and discussed:
1. International transhumanist movement, D. Medvedev (St. Petersburg) 2. Future studies — goals, methods and current practice, D. Medvedev 3. Classification of approaches to life extension, I. Artyukhov
The discussion on the seminar primarily concerned the nature of transhumanist views. The philosophical movement of Russian cosmism was discussed and considered the precursor of transhumanism. Particularly interesting in this regard is the co-operation between Russian transhumanists and the followers of N. Fedorov. The seminar participants noted the inclusive nature of transhumanism, a worldview based on positive attitude towards new technologies, that encompasses many different movements within itself.
A filming crew from “Profession — reporter” programme was present at the seminar lead by the programme host Andrey Loshak. The seminar was briefly covered in the episode “A cure for death” about life extension and cryonics, aired at 19:40, on March 5, 2005 on Russian television channel NTV (http://tinyurl.com/5ban6).
Many possibilities for future co-operation were discussed at the seminar. During the following two days a number of meetings were held, were specific project ideas were discussed. Among these projects are:
- translation and publishing of a wide range of popular transhumanist books
- preparation of seminars and educational materials on life extension and transhumanism for schools and universities
- organisation of seminars
- organisation of a cryonics company in Russia
- collection and systematisation of information on ageing
The Russian Transhumanist Movement was organised in December 2003 with the goal of readying the society for the emergence of transhumanist technologies. Since then the members of the Movement has participated in several scientific conferences, presenting papers on different aspects of transhumanism. The Movement is promoted at related seminars with immortalist and transhumanist materials distributed.
Official site: http://www.transhumanism.ru Related site: http://www.bessmertie.ru (bessmértie means “immortality” in Russian) Mailing lists: http://subscribe.ru/catalog/rest.interesting.bessmertie
http://subscribe.ru/catalog/science.news.bessmertie
For additional information please contact: Danila Medvedev, danila.medvedev@mail.ru
LATVIA
Dr. Krzysztof Nawratek published an article on transhumanism and architecture in the “Cultural Forum” of the Latvian magazine TVNET (Riga), 20th of February 2005, titled “Post-human in post-natural environment.”
NEW JERSEY TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
Report on LunaCon (in NJ, USA): The WTA and NJTA were represented at LunaCon, a New Jersey science fiction convention, by WTA board member and NJTA organizer Joseph Bloch.
Last weekend, March 18th through the 20th, I attended LunaCon (http://www.lunacon.org) on behalf of the World Transhumanist Association and the New Jersey Transhumanist Association. It was a unique experience; although I have attended many such conventions in the past, this was the first time I was an exhibitor.
For those unfamiliar with such things, there are usually four kinds of participants at a science fiction convention. The fans, the exhibitors, the dealers, and the programming participants (the folks who are on the discussion panels and so forth). This time around, I was an exhibitor, meaning I sat behind a table and handed out literature, chatted up convention-goers about Transhumanism and the WTA, and so forth.
I came prepared with several hundred trifold flyers (available on the WTA website), which I had printed on different colored paper (one for each themed flyer; cloning was yellow, nanotech was salmon, etc.), as well as literature from some other Transhumanist-themed organizations such as Alcor and my own Center for Human Enhancement. A display of the Transhumanist Principles and a large sign bearing the WTA name, motto, and website were also present.
The convention itself was interesting (although I didn’t get to see much of it, as I was behind the table most of the time), but most promising was the fact that not only did I hand out literature to perhaps a hundred different people, but got into really excellent and in-depth discussions with a dozen or so folks during the course of the weekend. Many were involved not only in fandom, but in scientific areas applicable to Transhumanism (one was a researcher with a PhD in artificial intelligence, another worked for a biotech firm up in Massachusetts), and one fellow was even already signed up for cryonics. All in all, the reactions ran from exuberantly positive to cautiously neutral. No one seemed actively hostile to the >H ideas that were discussed.
All in all, while I am somewhat disappointed not to have gotten any sign-ups on the spot (perhaps, though, there’ll be a spike in online registrations in the wake of the convention), I am simply pleased to have gotten the word out.
I will be doing the same thing at Balticon (http://www.balticon.org) May 27-30, as well as hosting two panels as part of the science programming, along with fellow Transhumanist Jeff Medina.
Joseph Bloch,
President NJTA
TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION OF KENYA
The Transhumanist Association of Kenya has incorporated with the Kenyan government, and elected a Board of Directors. Jacob Muoga, secretary of TAK, reports that they are involving university students and lecturers in technical schools in the objectives of WTA. They are meeting fortnightly and plan to send half a dozen Kenyans to Caracas for Transvision 2005. They are also writing a factsheet on consumerism and technology. A generous grant of computer equipment from transhumanists in the United States and Iceland is helping them establish a library they are calling “Knowledge House” in Mombasa.
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TRANSHUMANISM IN THE NEWS
http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/inthenews/
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VATICAN NEWSPAPER ATTACKS TRANSHUMANISM AND HUMANISM
Avenire, the newspaper of the Vatican, attacked both transhumanism and humanism, mentioning in particular the chair of the Italian Transhumanist Association, sociologist Riccardo Campa, and biologist Richard Dawkins.
ITALIAN MAGAZINE “PANORAMA” PANS TRANSHUMANISM, BUT
LA REPUBBLICA MORE POSITIVE
An article critical of transhumanism was published in the leading, Berlusconi-owned, Italian weekly magazine Panorama. The article concludes with this sentence: “when someone will knock to your door to sell mind uploading, don’t say that we did not warn you”.
http://tinyurl.com/62xvg
La Repubblica, Italy’s left-leaning daily, was far more positive in its coverage:
http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/inthenews/italiannews/
PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ATTACKS TRANSHUMANISM
Albert Mohler, the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, attacked transhumanism in a syndicated article, and subsequent radio address, titled “The Revolt Against Human Nature”
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mohler/?adate=2/23/2005#1314279
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NEWS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHICS AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
http://ieet.org/
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NAAM APPOINTED TECH FELLOW
The IEET has appointed Ramez Naam, the author of More than Human: How Technology Will Transform Us and Why We Should Embrace It, as a 2005 Technology Fellow of the IEET.
RECENT ARTICLES BY IEET FELLOWS AND STAFF
“Morphological Freedom and the Conservatism of ‘Recovery,’” by Dale Carrico Amor Mundi March 28, 2005
“The unfortunate influence of the weather on the rate of ageing: why human caloric restriction or its emulation may only extend life expectancy by 2-3 years,” by Aubrey de Grey. Gerontology. 2005 Mar-Apr;51(2):73-82.
“Another Step Towards the Participatory Panopticon,” by Jamais Cascio WorldChanging March 21, 2005
“More Than Human? Or Simply More Humane?” by Dale Carrico Amor Mundi 3/17/2005
“Life Extension and Overpopulation,” An Excerpt From IEET Fellow Ramez Naam’s new book More Than Human
“The Future Starts Now: Technoprogressives Cannot Postpone the Redress of Poverty and Treatable Illness” by Dale Carrico Amor Mundi 3/15/2005
“Medicine May Soon Deliver Longer Lives, More Health, and Increasing Diversity to All - Bioconservatives Want to Know ‘Where’s the Outcry?’” by Dale Carrico Amor Mundi 3/14/2005
“Saving Lives with Nanotechnology,” by Mike Treder Responsible Nanotechnology 3/12/2005
“Interview with Ramez Naam,” Reprinted with permission from NuSapiens 3/11/2005
“You Own Your Own Genes. Now What?,” by Jamais Cascio WorldChanging 3/7/2005
“Cozying Up with Deep Blue: Computer-human teams can avoid obsolescence,” by George Dvorsky Betterhumans 3/2/2005
“Healthcare and Private Perfections,” by Dale Carrico Amor Mundi 2/26/2005.
“Conservative Wants to Enslave Women to Make More Gay Babies,” by Dale Carrico Cyborg Democracy 2/25/2005
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EVENTS
http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/events/
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TRANSVISION 2005
JULY 21-25, 2005
CARACAS, VENEZUELA
Mark your calendar!
http://www.transhumanismo.org/
The theme of TV05 will be the contributions of emerging technologies to sustainable development in the developing world, and in particular the impact of human enhancement technologies on global health and economic development.
TAICON2005 POSTPONED
Arlington Institute has canceled the TAICON2005 conference on “Tools for the Development of Humanity.” John L. Petersen, President of The Arlington Institute, announced that “because of serious logistical problems that we are not able to resolve in the time available, we have decided to postpone TAICON2005 to a later time this year. It will NOT be held on April 25-27 in Washington as originally planned. Please check back later for more information on the alternative date.”
http://www.arlingtoninstitute.org/taicon2005/
For more details on the events below, see:
http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/events/
MARCH 2005
• 31 - Exec Dir Hughes Speaks on Speciesism to the Hartford Ethics Group - Hartord, CT USA
APRIL 2005
• 7 - Exec Dir Hughes speaks on H+ at Drake University - Des Moines, Iowa, USA
• 7 - Transhumanist pioneer and WTA member Peter Houghton speaks on living with an artificial heart - NYC, USA
• 8-10 - Conf on Value Inquiry -Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA USA
• 11-15 - Social Intell & Interact in Animals, Robots & Agents - UK
• 12-14 - Genomics and Society Conf - Royal Society in London, UK
• 12 - NY Transhumanist Association - NYC, USA
• 13 - Exec Dir Hughes speaks on Citizen Cyborg - Albany, New York, USA
• 14-16 - Rights Based Approaches to Health - Emory U, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• 17-19 - Neuroethics conf - MIT (Boston)
• 21-22 - AAAS Forum on Sci & Tech Policy - Wash DC, USA
• 22-23 - Hughes and de Grey speak at Humanist Bioethics Conf - NYC, USA
• 24 - Hughes speaks on (trans)humanism at Humanism Conf - U of MN, Minneapolis, USA
• 29-30 - Conf on Religious Far Right in US - NYC, USA
• 30 - International Space Organizing Conference - New York City, USA
MAY 2005
• 6-7 - Trans Justice, Social Change, and Justice - New York City
• 27-30 - Medina & Bloch on H+ at Balticon - Baltimore, Maryland USA
• 27-29 - MIND STATES VI - San Francisco, USA
• 29-30 - Tech & Changing Face of Humanity Conf - London, Ontario Canada
• 29-Jun 02 - Science, Law and Ethics - Israel
JUNE 2005
• 2-4 - Rethinking “Development”: Global Democracy - Ont, Canada
• 4-6 - Hughes and Medina to speak at Ethical Issues in Biomed Eng Conf - Rochester, New York, USA
• 24-25 - Ethics & Technology Conf - St. Louis, Missouri, USA
JULY 2005
• 1-4 - Gaylaxicon - Boston
• 4-7 - Making Sense of Health, Illness and Disease - Oxford, UK
• 5-7 - International Humanist and Ethical Union World Congress - Paris, France
• 14-17 - Human Enhancement Tech and Drama - Cleveland State U, Ohio, USA
• 21-25 - TransVision 2005 - Caracas, Venezuela
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ABOUT THE WTA
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The World Transhumanist Association is a nonprofit membership organization, which works to promote discussion of the possibilities for radical improvement of human capacities using genetic, cybernetic and nanotechnologies. The WTA is growing quickly, and we invite you to join us in this important work. You may also enroll in one of our discussion lists and join one of our local WTA chapters, which can be found in countries and languages all over the world. The WTA speakers bureau can provide someone to answer questions on the transhumanist perspective to the media or to your group. Also, take a look at our Journal of Evolution and Technology and our ezine Transhumanity.
Join us in working for a brighter future!
http://transhumanism.org