02.27.07
Posted in Texts about Transhumanism, Transhumanism at 6:33 am by rheil
(»In a letter to Max Born (source), Albert Einstein quoted ”the beautiful proverb: Junge Huren – alte Betschwestern (young whores – old bigots)”.
We have seen it happen so many times: once upon a time there was a wild teenager, sometimes naive but full of creativity and enthusiasm. Then (s)he has to learn some hard lessons, like that you are supposed to show at work at 8am in a formal suit. And then (s)he falls in the dullest mediocrity, forgets all wild and creative ideas of the past, and begins wearing formal suits even on Sunday mornings. (S)he may even, and this is really sad when it happens, become a boring, self-righteous, pompous and intolerant old bigot who hates teenagers for still having the aliveness that (s)he has lost. [...]«)
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02.24.07
Posted in Anti-Aging, Transhumanism at 6:35 am by rheil
from Changesurfer.com
James Hughes: The Death of Death
(»The current definitions of brain death are predicated on the prognostic observation that brain dead patients would quickly die even with intensive care. But this is now shown to be untrue. Neuroremediation technologies and advances in intensive care will make it increasingly possible to keep alive the bodies of patients who would currently be classified as brain dead, and recover much of the memories and capabilities that we currently consider irrecoverable.
The on-going redefinition of death is the result of the technological deconstruction of dying. Instead of a relatively instantaneous, binary process, death is now more like a “syndrome,” a cluster of related attributes, with a probabilistic diagnosis. This disaggregation requires that we decide how many of these attributes are required before we begin treating someone as “dead,” just as physicians must decide how many psychiatric traits are required before making a diagnosis of “schizophrenia.” Electroencephalograms can only determine if there is a cessation of electrical activity on the surface of the brain, not in the deeper structures, and cannot determine if the electrically quiescent brain tissue is irrecoverable. Many of those who are diagnosed as brain dead in fact have clear evidence of functioning midbrains and brainstems, and are not necessarily irreversible.A key argument in favor of whole brain death criteria over neo-cortical death, that the brain provides integrative functions that the body needs to survive, has also been shown to be fallacious since patients meeting the current clinical criteria for whole brain death have survived for years. [...]«)
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02.12.07
Posted in Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Transhumanism at 9:58 am by rheil
Dale Carrico
Link: http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2007/02/mass-mediated-hand-holding-depressive.html
(»”Over the past 100 years, films have simultaneously mistrusted and marveled in the possibility of genomic improvement,” comments David Kirby in an intriguing recent article in The Scientist.
Kirby begins his piece with the conjuration of a scene from one of my personal guilty pleasures, the truly (inspired?) kookoo bananas 1996 re-make of The Island of Dr. Moreau, starring Marlon Brando.
“The very essence of the devil is no more than a tiresome collection of genes.” Now imagine Marlon Brando’s voice saying this. Now imagine, as Kirby sketches the scene, in aptly purple prose: “With his white muumuu, rosemary-like beaded necklace and domed ‘Pope-mobile’… Brando’s Moreau suggests the image of a secular priest worshipping at a genetic alter [sic].” [...]«)
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02.10.07
Posted in AI / Singularity, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Transhumanism at 7:21 am by rheil
Nick Bostrom: Warum eine Matrix bauen? Und warum Sie sich in einer befinden könnten
[Telepolis 10.02.2007]
(»Zweck der Matrix
Warum die Matrix? Warum haben es die Maschinen getan? (Das menschliche Gehirn kann vieles sein, eine leistungsfähige Batterie ist es jedoch ganz sicher nicht.) Wie ließe sich eine Welt rechtfertigen, deren Bewohner systematisch über ihre fundamentale Realität getäuscht werden, die gar nicht wissen, warum sie existieren, und die all den Grausamkeiten und Leiden ausgesetzt sind, die wir in der Welt um uns herum erleben? Kinder sterben an AIDS. Liebespaare werden durch Krieg und Armut getrennt. Krebspatienten werden von unerträglichen Schmerzen gequält. Opfer eines Schlaganfalls verlieren Sprache und Denkvermögen… Man möchte meinen, nur ein Sadist könnte die Phantasie besitzen und sich solche Gräuel ausdenken oder sogar den Wunsch haben, eine Welt zu schaffen, in der all das in solchem Übermaß vorkommt. Aber die Maschinen haben es getan. Zumindest wird es so erzählt. [...]«)
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02.08.07
Posted in Evolution / Genetics, Transhumanism, Transhumanists at 12:08 pm by rheil
(»I interviewed Keith Henson for the [1] Henson’s recent arrest on charges related to his battle with Scientology, people would be interested in a broader view of Henson. In this interview, we talk about a range of topics, finally ending with a discussion on his thoughts about his problems with Scientology at that time. The interview appears below in full, including the title and introduction:
Exile On Meme Street: Keith Henson Interview
Keith Henson is sort of an ur-transhumanist. In the 1970s – ‘80s, he was one of the founders and leaders of [2] The L5 Society, an organization dedicated to building homes in high orbit using raw materials from the lunar surface. The L5 group attracted the interests of those seeking practical solutions to predicted resource scarcities, among them K. Eric Drexler. Henson formed a friendship with him, and was among his contacts as Drexler was conceiving nanotechnology [...]«)
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Posted in Politic, Transhumanism at 8:31 am by rheil
Democracy and Transhumanism
By Max More
(»Are transhumanists democrats? Should they be committed to and defined by democracy?
Let‛s go back to the seventeenth century. Monarchy is the prevailing system in the Western world. Suppose a group of progressive early humanists wanted to associate their views about the status of human beings – views radical for the time – with the best political orders of the time. They might declare that “modern 17th Century humanism is a constitutional monarchist philosophy”. Such a statement would show that they reject outdated forms of unlimited monarchy or theocracy.
We would find such a quickly-dated commitment amusing today. “What does humanism have to do, in essence, with constitutional monarchy?” we might ask. Humanism asserts the value of progress. Tying it to the political system of the time – even though the system was the best of the time – would confuse ends (human dignity, personal sovereignty, and so on) with a means.
Transhumanist organizations that declare themselves to be “democratic transhumanists” make an even bigger mistake. Transhumanist perspectives look further ahead, into much more drastic change to the human condition. To identify transhumanism with any current political system must appear short-sighted and blinkered to some. To others it may simply appear to be a transparent attempt at posturing – like telling Americans that transhumanism is all about “motherhood and apple pie” or telling Europeans that transhumanism is committed to universal, government-provided health care.
A transhumanist organization should no more describe its core commitments as “democratic” than it should describe itself as an “Internet organization” when in practice and in aspiration the organization interacts by means of any effective medium of communication. [...]«)
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Posted in Critics, Future, Human Enhancement, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:02 am by rheil
Dale Carrico: Technoprogressivism Beyond Technophilia and Technophobia
(»Technocentrism, Technophilia, and Technophobia
A technophile is a person to whom we attribute a naïve or uncritical enthusiasm for technology, while a technophobe is a person to whom we attribute a no less uncritical dread of or hostility to technology. But what does it tell us that there is no comparably familiar word simply to describe a person who is focused on the impact of technology in a critical way that is attentive both to its promises and its dangers?
Why is it that any technocentric perspective on cultural, historical, political, and social questions is always imagined to be either uncritically technophilic or technophobic? Is it really so impossible to conceive of a critical technocentrism equally alive to real promises and alert to real dangers? [...]«)
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Posted in Ethics, Future, Human Enhancement, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:48 am by rheil
James Hughes: Democratic Transhumanism 2.0
Abstract
(»Biopolitics is emerging as an axis of modern politics alongside economic politics and cultural politics. Transhumanists, people who embrace technologies that extend and enhance regardless of their effect on “natural” life spans, limitations or social institutions, are the progressive end of the new biopolitical continuum. BioLuddites, who call for bans on technologies that threaten the “natural,” are conservative end of the new biopolitics.
But biopolitics only complicates the preexisting political landscape, they doesn’t supplant it. There are Christian fundamentalists, centrists and socialist-feminists forming alliances to to oppose human genetic engineering and nanotechnology. But the transhumanists are, so far, much less diverse, mostly adhering to one or another flavor of libertarianism. Democratic transhumanists, pro-scitech social democrats or Left technoutopians are conspicuously absent from their theoretical niche in this new political landscape. This essay is an attempt to identify democratic transhumanists and urge their coalescence.
Read the rest of this entry »
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02.07.07
Posted in Critics, Technology, Texts about Transhumanism, Transhumanism, What is Transhumanism? at 9:52 am by rheil
Dale Carrico:The Trouble with “Transhumanism”: Part One
The term “transhumanist” may give people an identity at the cost of achieving their goals
By Dale Carrico (Betterhumans 12/17/2004)
(»I’m not a transhumanist, but I play one on Google.
It’s been happening more and more lately. A student or colleague or friend who does an online search for my name or stumbles upon some of my online writing asks, in a somewhat perplexed tone, “Are you one of these ‘transhumanists?’” And, “What is this whole ‘transhumanist’ thing about?” The more I think about these questions, the harder it is to answer them. And this is making me incredibly nervous. [....]«)
The Trouble with “Transhumanism”: Part Two (Betterhumans 12/22/2004)
To make real progress in discussions of radical technology, the first thing we need is new language
(»As I discussed in the first part of this series, I think that some supporters of radical technological outcomes overapply the term “transhumanist” to their strategic allies in ways that might needlessly alienate them, render them more vulnerable to rhetorical attack and, in so doing, frustrate the achievement of shared strategic ends. [...]«)
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02.05.07
Posted in Transhumanism, Transhumanists at 6:55 am by rheil
RU Sirius (10 ZenMonkeys):
“Scientology Fugitive” Arrested
(»On Friday, Arizona police arrested a 64-year-old man — a fugitive since 2001 in a bizarre war that mixes free speech, copyright law, and the Church of Scientology.
Keith Henson’s journey began seven years ago while innocuously watching another critic mock the group on an internet newsgroup. In a gonzo discussion about procuring a “Tom Cruise missile,” they’d joked about working with “Secret Agent 99, wearing a stunning black leather biker outfit.” Other posters joined in the internet discussion, asking whether Tom Cruise missiles are affected by wind.”No way,” Keith joked. “Modern weapons are accurate to a matter of a few tens of yards.”
The police were informed of his “threatening” posts, and Henson was arrested. [...]«)
‘Tom Cruise’ missile jokester arrested
Keith Henson, a fugitive since being convicted of interfering with Scientology, faces extradition to California from Arizona.
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 5, 2007, 7:20 PM PST
(»A Silicon Valley figure who fled the country after being convicted in part because of a Usenet joke about Tom Cruise and Scientology has been arrested in Arizona.
Keith Henson, an engineer, writer and futurist, was arrested Friday in Prescott, Ariz., where he has living for the past few years and now faces extradition to California. Henson originally fled to Canada after the 2001 conviction. [...]«)
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02.04.07
Posted in Transhumanism, Transhumanists at 6:58 am by rheil
(»Keith Henson, an outspoken anti-Scientology activist, was arrested last night and is currently being held at the Prescott Detention Center in Arizona. His wife, Arel Lucas, says he was taken into custody on a 6-year old bench warrant issued by a Riverside County judge.Henson’s troubles began in 2001 when he was convicted of “interfering with a religion”, a misdemeanor under California law, for picketing outside Scientology‘s facility in Hemet, CA. He eventually fled to Canada after receiving a number of death threats. He was deported in 2005 after his asylum bid was rejected.Lucas strongly suspects that the Church of Scientology is involved in Henson’s current incarceration and fears for both his life and her own. The death threats have been constant since 2001. Scientology’s power and reach has become considerable in recent years, leading to accusations that it is not so much a cult as it is an organized crime outfit that disguises itself as a religious organization.In addition to his anti-Scientology activism, Henson is a pioneer in the transhumanist and cryonics movements. After receiving word of Henson’s incarceration, the transhumanist community quickly mobilized. The Prescott Detention Center has been inundated with calls from concerned supporters. Various media outlets have been alerted (including BoingBoing), and a number of Websites have already been set up to raise awareness in support od Henson’s cause (including Free Keith Henson). The Extropy Institute has set up fund to help Henson with mounting costs.
Learn more about Keith Henson and his plight here, here, and here.«)
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