A short report by Arjen Kamphuis

A short and very personal report on some of the things that happened at Transvision '98.

--- Weesp (The Netherlands). 5-06-1998, 18:00 hrs CET. ---

After a week of testing beta-code abroad I arrived somewhat late at our hotel in Weesp, near Amsterdam. I recognized Anders from a picture I once saw, lot's of other people that I must have talked with many times but had never seen. I don't think I'll quickly get used to 'knowing' people without having seen them ;-). I was immediatly having trouble connecting names to faces (were are those remembrance agents!).

After passing out the T-shirts to everybody (Gareth Smith - Alcor UK - was very happy with his shirt displaying Beavis & Butthead waist-deep in ice saying 'cryonics is cool') we all went next-door for dinner. All trough the three-courses (good thing they had these multi-lingual menu-cards) there was lively conversation about all things transhuman. Swapped SF-stories with Gareth and discussed state-of-the-art computer technology with Holger and Klaus (?). After dinner we took a short walk across the typical Dutch town of Weesp (canals, cute houses, fortress and al that), conversation never let up. A bunch of us found a pub were some Dutch and Belgian special beers could be tasted, a perfect place to have a discussion about media-attention and how to use it effectively.

The next morning most transhumanists seemed to be up & functioning again. One of the other hotelguests asked us whether we were a religious cult or something (might have been the T-shirts). Berrie and I explained that we were studing the future, the elderly lady agreed that this was 'most important'. Didn't ask her E-mail, darn!

Berrie Staring opened Transvision '98 officially and gave a presentation about how Transcedo came about, what we wanted to achieve and our ideas about global- and European cooperation between transhumanist organisations. Then Nick Bstrom started of his presentation about the WTA (http://www.transhumanist.com) with a rather 'cultish' visualisation exercise. "Now all close your eyes and think about how good you felt during the greatest moment of your life, now imagine a future that can be much better than this and that lasts forever...". Quite a compelling image. After this warm-up Nick talked about why he had founded the World Transhumanist Association, it's structure and relation to Transhumanist organisations everywhere. Nick's presentation ended in discussion and... Lunch! Bread and Dutch hot-meatsnacks known as 'kroketten'. Since the thunderstorm seemed to be taking an lunch-break also we went outside for some photo-opportunities by the canal.

Anders Sandberg talked & gestured about 'How to lead a transhuman life'. All the things one can do now with an emphasis on our motivational system. This presentation can best be described by Anders himself and he will do so at some time in the future on his website. So be patient ;-)

In spite of the very interesting speech Anders had given my sleep-shortage was feeling quite serious by now wich was bad since I was next in line as a speaker. A caffeine-injection got me going again and I played my role as devil's advocate trying to explain why I wasn't thinking about a cryo-contract. Using mountainclimbing as an example of pushing your limits 'till it kills you. Gareth Smith was looking physically affected after a while and since dead-bodies at a Transhumanst convention would make bad press a decided to call it quits and put forth my two other 'points for discussion'

- How to make new technology's acceptable?
Taking IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) as an example I proposed that finding a economical application was the shortest route. In the case of IVF that did the trick in about 10 years. Not everybody agreed and that was precisely my intention.

- More jokes!
We need more humor in our communication of Transhuman memes. The T-shirts with Beavis&Butthead 'cryonics is cool' are a big hit. If we are talking to people about heavy subject like (the prevention of)death and immortality and such it would be good to 'lighten up' things every now and then with a joke.

After this Berrie was wrapping-up the afternoon when I felt 'that sinking feeling' one has when suffering severe sleep deprivation. So I took the only real medicine: A long night of sleep. Regrettably this meant I missed the second dinner and many, undoubtedly facinating & fun discussions. Whilst my unconsious body was recouperating from the last week several participants visited Amsterdam or closerby night-life.

The next morning several people felt the consequences of cerebral de-hydration caused by the consumption of serious amounts of alcohol (this is to say, they had a hangover ;-). A bit later than planned Gareth Smith got started on his presentation about cryonics. After some introductory cryobiology he talked about how he made the desicion to sign up, and gave some practical examples of the problems one encounters when setting-up basic cryo-facility.

"You can win the lottery that gives immortality but it does require that you buy a lotteryticket". A cryo-contract as a small investment for a shot at immortality. There was much discussion about the practical implementation of a European cryo-network. Probably the various organisations wil share resources to make cryonics feasible in Europe (training&education, installations and equipement). Holland, with it's liberal laws on euthanasia could possibly be a very good place to have suspensions under controlled circumstances. We will be looking into legal loopholes that can be exloited, where neccesary.

During the follwing wrap-up some points were agreed on:

In spite of some minor technical difficulties the first European transhumanist gathering was a great succes. We had a number great discussions, informal talks and most important: a lot of fun! I feel confident that all participents feel strengthened and that these gatherings will become regular milestones on the road of growing transhumanism in Europe. Arjen Kamphuis

On a more personal note, I'd like to thank everyone who helped organizing this event, the speakers and everyone who made it great by attending and particiating. Thanks to you all!

Kind regards to all and looking forward to future meetings. European transhumanism is on the move!


Arjen Kamphuis