04.17.07

The REAL Evolution Debate

Posted in Evolution / Genetics, Transhumanism at 6:24 am by rheil

The REAL Evolution Debate

Everything you always wanted to know about evolution but the mass media wouldn’t tell you.

(»You’ve seen the papers. You’ve watched the TV reports. You know how the debate on evolution is always framed. Darwin vs. God. Science vs. religion. Evolution vs. creationism. Reason and rationality vs. belief and faith. That’s the evolution debate we hear about in the mass media these days, the one that is causing consternation everywhere from Kansas school boards to Pennsylvania courthouses. [...]«)

04.09.07

The Future Is For Everyone (Or At Least, It Should Be)

Posted in Ethics, Transhumanism at 6:06 am by rheil

Anne C.: The Future Is For Everyone (Or At Least, It Should Be)

(»Recently, a short informational article was posted to the IEET site entitled, Autism Bad For Siblings And Society in response to an autism-spectrum-themed issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. This article referenced two studies: one on social and communication “problems” in siblings of autistic children, and one on the expenses incurred by autistic individuals over the course of their lifetime.

The article about siblings seems to indicate mainly that siblings of autistics can have autistic traits (or perhaps even be autistic themselves), which of course makes sense when you consider that autism has a strong genetic component. The characterization of this phenomenon as autism being “bad for siblings” is more than a bit misleading — it’s not as if, somehow, if the autistic sibling hadn’t been born, the children being studied would not have exhibited the same social and communication patterns. If someone is going to be autistic, or perhaps broader autistic phenotype, they’re going to be that way regardless of whether they have siblings or not. [...]«)

04.02.07

10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers

Posted in AI / Singularity, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:59 am by rheil

Chris Chatham: 10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers

(»”A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on.” – G.C. Lichtenberg

Although the brain-computer metaphor has served cognitive psychology well, research in cognitive neuroscience has revealed many important differences between brains and computers. Appreciating these differences may be crucial to understanding the mechanisms of neural information processing, and ultimately for the creation of artificial intelligence. Below, I review the most important of these differences (and the consequences to cognitive psychology of failing to recognize them): similar ground is covered in this excellent (though lengthy) lecture. [...]«)

Prolegomena to any defence of human enhancement

Posted in Future, Human Enhancement, Nootropics, Transhumanism at 6:54 am by rheil

Russel Blackford: Prolegomena to any defence of human enhancement

(»Any full-scale defence of human enhancement technologies first needs to clear away a lot of misunderstandings. Here’s an attempt to do so.

INTRODUCTION

As a species, we have reached a point in our history where we’ve developed sophisticated, and increasingly powerful, forms of technological intervention in the functioning of our own bodies. Existing possibilities include not only the array of modern techniques for combating disability and disease, but also cosmetic surgery, performance-enhancing or consciousness-altering drugs, the contraceptive pill, and genetically-based methods for the sex selection of children. That list is obviously not exhaustive, and nor does it represent an end point of human inventiveness: for example, there is the much-discussed prospect that we might develop radical new reproductive technologies, such as the asexual creation of embryos through somatic cell nuclear transfer (i.e. reproductive cloning). [...]«)

The Compatibility of Religious and Transhumanist Views of Metaphysics, Suffering, Virtue and Transcendence in an Enhanced Future

Posted in Ethics, Future, Human Enhancement, Transhumanism at 5:58 am by rheil

James J. Hughes: The Compatibility of Religious and Transhumanist Views of Metaphysics, Suffering, Virtue and Transcendence in an Enhanced Future

(»Abstract

Transhumanism – the proposition that human beings should use technology to transcend the limitations of the body and brain – is a product of the Enlightenment humanist tradition. As a consequence most avowed transhumanists are secular, and many religious are skeptical or hostile towards the transhumanist project. However there are also many religious transhumanists who find the project of human enhancement at least consistent with, and sometimes a fulfillment of, their metaphysics, soteriologies and eschatologies. Transhumanism appears to be especially compatible with religious traditions that emphasize human agency and evolution to a transcendent state, such as Buddhism, or that have incorporated Enlightenment values, such as liberal Christianity. But elements of the transhumanist worldview and enhancement technologies are compatible with one element or another of most world faiths, even the most fundamentalist. We can thus expect that human enhancement technologies will be adopted creatively into the theologies of groups within all the world’s faiths, producing many flavors of “trans-spirituality.” [...]«)