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.
Bostrom and Pearce interviewed by Cronopis
Andres Lomena recently conducted an interview for the Spanish magazine Cronopis with Nick Bostrom and David Pearce about their co-founding of the World Transhumanist Association and related topics. They have kindly allowed us to reprint the interview here. (Spanish version here)
Natasha Vita-More interviewed by the New York Times
Natasha Vita-More was interviewed by Cintra Wilson of the New York Times about the future,
“Natasha Vita-More, the first female Transhumanist philosopher, has been pondering such questions for some time.”
Ray Kurzweil wins 2007 H.G. Wells Award for Outstanding Contributions to Transhumanism
Inventor, entrepreneur, author, and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been awarded the 2007 H.G. Wells Award for Outstanding Contributions to Transhumanism, in recognition of his numerous achievements furthering and popularizing transhumanist thought. A best-selling author, his books, from The Age of Intelligent Machines to The Singularity Is Near have been for countless people thorough the world their first, compelling point of contact with transhumanist ideas.
FTA opens a Transhumanist Library
The Finnish Transhumanist Association, having realized that transhumanist-themed books are somewhat poorly available in Finland, has opened up a library focusing specifically on transhumanist non-fiction and
fiction. The library works as a network, in that there is no centralized location for it (other than the home of the librarian, Ville Salmensuu) but rather the books are delivered from one borrower to the next directly. Ville merely keeps track of where each book is currently located.
The library currently holds 17 books (2 copies of Citizen Cyborg) but the FTA hopes to keep expanding it gradually, both through purchases and donations, until it is clearly the authoritative source of transhumanist literature in Finland. The library is available to all supporting members of FTA, making it the first membership benefit that FTA offers to its paying members that is not available to basic members. We hope that interest in the library will also increase the number of supporting members of FTA and thus the WTA (as FTA supporting members automatically become also WTA supporting members). The library can be found on FTA’s website (sorry, only in Finnish). If you are interested in knowing more about the library (to perhaps start your own in your local chapter), you can
contact Ville Salmensuu (kirjasto@transhumanismi.org).
Boston Museum of Science forum on Nanomedicine
The Boston Museum of Science is holding a forum on: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology in Health and Healing.
Monday, June 18, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Cost: Free.
Space is limited; please register by June 15.
Report on the 3rd Israeli Transhumanist Seminar
(A report from Ilia Stambler) On March 30, 2007, the 3d seminar on Immortalism/transhumanism took place in Bar Ilan University (the 4th general meeting of the Israeli transhumanist chapter).
1st International Summit of the Planetary Collegium
Disturbing, fascinating, poetical, provocative, the works and researches of the Planetary Collegium’s members reveal and explore the fundamental questions that are opened by the technological explosion on the topics of consciousness, life, humanity, knowledge, being-in-the-world, borders between natural and artificial, access to information. 65 researchers from 15 countries will share during 4 days the result of their research-creation works with their guests, their colleagues from Quebec, and with the general public.
Dr. Gavrilov on Longevity - Chicago
Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity
Dr. Leonid Gavrilov
Time:
Tuesday, March 13, 4:10 pm
Location:
Chicago downtown,
Building of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois,
300 East Randolph Street, CAL level, room for C2 session
NothEast corner of Randolph and Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
Everybody is cordially invited, but the admission requires a prior
registration at the Chicago Actuarial Association at:
http://chicagoactuarialassociation.org/
Giulio Prisco at the University of Lausanne
WTA Executive Director Giulio Prisco gave a seminar and participated in a public debate on transhumanism at the University of Lausanne on January 24, 2007, with an audience of about 300 people.
Report, some pictures and link to video here
The WTA Board of Directors page has been updated with the name of the two new Board members elected for the period 2007-2009: Anne Corwin and PJ Manney.
Congratulations to Anne and Patricia, and I look forward to working with them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
