01.01.09
Posted in biotech, Critics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:55 am by rheil
Cognitive enhancement
By Judith Warner (Herald Tribune), Published: December 30, 2008
„What if you could just take a pill and all of a sudden remember to pay your bills on time? What if, thanks to modern neuroscience, you could, simultaneously, make New Year’s Eve plans, pay the mortgage, call the pediatrician, consolidate credit card debt and do your job – well – without forgetting dentist appointments or neglecting to pick up your children at school?
Would you do it? Tune out the distractions of our online, on-call, too-fast ADD-ogenic world with focus and memory-enhancing medications like Ritalin or Adderall? Stay sharp as a knife – no matter how overworked and sleep-deprived – with a mental-alertness-boosting drug like the anti-narcolepsy medication Provigil?
I’ve always said no. Fantasy aside, I’ve always rejected the idea of using drugs meant for people with real neurological disorders to treat the pathologies of everyday life. [...]“
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12.25.08
Posted in Ethics, Evolution / Genetics, Future, Human Enhancement, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 10:55 am by rheil
Enhancing the species (Anjana Ahuja, Times online, May, 17.)
Our correspondent meets the controversial philosopher John Harris, who argues that we have a moral and ethical duty to improve the human race by biologically enhancing our children
The whiteboard in John Harris’s office declares: “John is cool.” Many hold a different opinion of one of the most controversial philosophers in Britain. Here are some of his views: abortion and euthanasia are both fine, desirable even; parents should be allowed to create designer or cloned babies; there’s nothing wrong with a drug-fuelled Olympics; scientists and medics should strive to make us immortal, even on a crowded planet; our bodies should be routinely plundered after death for organs, even if the dead and bereaved do not wish it; it is morally justified to compel people to participate in scientific trials, just as we compel them to do jury service. […]
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12.21.08
Posted in biotech, Evolution / Genetics, Future, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:45 am by rheil
Call for papers: Transhumanism? (Re-Public)
We invite contributions for our upcoming special issue entitled “Transhumanism?”. Is there a new challenge about to dominate our world? A challenge that appears more pressing than the fight against climate change, as demanding as the one against poverty, more complex than our current questions around bioethics.
Are we in a position to redefine, to drastically transform our very human nature?
This is a question formed in the last 20 years by an international movement, deriving from a scientific current, advocating that if the human is a result of an evolution process of millions of years time, nothing rationally preempts its conclusion. On the contrary, transhumanism proposes that the convergence of nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information and cognitive sciences provide us with a new opportunity, as well as, the responsibility to collectively participate and assume this evolution: it is, more than ever, possible to “form a better humanity” meaning better health for individuals, longer life expectancy, a more effective control of themselves, through enhanced skills, capacities and capabilities.
The special issue will attempt to investigate the influence of transhumanism and the new questions that its poses. […]
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Posted in AI / Singularity, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Technology at 7:39 am by rheil
Man kann eine Maschine nicht bestrafen – Interview mit Noel Sharkey
Matthias Gräbner 21.12.2008 (Telepolis)
Warum wir eine Roboter-Ethik brauchen
“Die Roboterentwicklung trägt nach langen Jahren endlich Früchte, in denen wir nur über die Zukunft gesprochen haben“: Dies behauptet Noel Sharkey, Professor für künstliche Intelligenz und Robotik an der Universität Sheffield. Die rasante Entwicklung, so Sharkey, verlangt neue Gesetze und eine gesellschaftliche Diskussion über die Ethik des Einsatzes von Robotern. Telepolis sprach mit ihm. […]
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12.19.08
Posted in biotech, Evolution / Genetics, Future, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:16 am by rheil
The Future of Man – How Will Evolution Change Humans? By Peter Ward (Scientific American)
Contrary to popular belief, humans continue to evolve. Our bodies and brains are not the same as our ancestors’ were—or as our descendants’ will be
People commonly assume that our species has evolved very little since prehistoric times. Yet new studies using genetic information from populations around the globe suggest that the pace of human evolution increased with the advent of agriculture and cities.
If we are still evolving, what might our species look like in a millennium should we survive whatever environmental and social surprises are in store for us? Speculation ranges from the hopeful to the dystopian. [...]
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12.18.08
Posted in biotech, Critics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 9:38 am by rheil
Better than human – Why is the world’s most prestigious science journal peddling the snake oil of cognition-enhancing drugs? (Michael Cook, Mercator Net)
Publication in the British journal Nature is the acme of academic achievement, a byword for quality and the touchstone of scientific opinion. So when its editor co-authors an article putting the case for a technology which has been called the world’s most dangerous idea, you’ve got to ask: what have these dudes been smoking? […]
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12.17.08
Posted in Critics, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Technology, Texts about Transhumanism, Transhumanism at 9:09 am by rheil
Oliver Krüger
Die Vervollkommnung des Menschen
Tod und Unsterblichkeit im Posthumanismus und Transhumanismus
Der Mensch ist unvollkommen. Neben den vielen kleinen körperlichen und geistigen Grenzen und den krankheitsbedingten Leiden haftet ihm vor allem ein Makel an: der Mensch ist sterblich. Seine Tage sind gezählt – herausragenden Exemplaren der Gattung Mensch gelingt es heutzutage immerhin, bis zu 38.000 mal das Werden und Vergehen eines Tages zu erleben, aber dann ist Schluss. Das wusste schon der mythische König Gilgamesh, der sich auf die Suche nach einem zauberhaften Unsterblichkeitskraut machte, und auch aus der Sicht des Soziologen Max Weber offenbarte sich im Faktum des Todes “die Sinnlosigkeit der rein innerweltlichen Selbstvervollkommnung zum Kulturmenschen”, die prägend sein sollte für eine sich säkular verstehende Moderne – denn trotz aller Sublimierungsversuche blieb der Tod. […]
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12.12.08
Posted in Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Transhumanism at 10:15 am by rheil
New Ways to Boost Memory – Enhancing neuron gene expression may improve memory.
By Emily Singer (Technology Review)
Scientists are developing new ways to selectively boost gene expression in the brain, in the hope of treating psychiatric and neurological disease. A growing pool of evidence shows that compounds that target this mechanism can improve learning and memory in rodents. But existing drugs, which were not developed for this purpose, are relatively weak and unselective, and their long-term safety is not yet clear. […]
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12.09.08
Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Ethics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:21 am by rheil
Ritalin für alle!
Laurin Rötzer 08.12.2008 (TP)
Medikamente können unsere geistige Leistungsfähigkeit steigern. Ist das Einnehmen dieser „kognitiven Enhancer“ ethisch korrekt, sollte es jeder tun können?
Diese Fragen stellen sich die Autoren eines in Nature vorab online veröffentlichten Essays: [extern] Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy Es gibt einige Medikamente, die die geistige Leistungsfähigkeit steigern können. Das bekannteste dürfte Methylphenidat (Ritalin) sein, welches vor allem für Kinder mit dem Aufmerksamkeitsdefizitsyndrom (ADHS) verschrieben wird. Andere sind Amphetamine und Modafinil. Sie haben gemeinsam, dass sie die Konzentration von bestimmten Neurotransmittern im Gehirn variieren und so längere und intensivere Aufmerksamkeitsspannen ermöglichen. […]
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Posted in Ethics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:17 am by rheil
Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy
Henry Greely, Barbara Sahakian, John Harris, Ronald C. Kessler, Michael Gazzaniga, Philip Campbell & Martha J. Farah
Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that ‘enhancement’ is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.
Today, on university campuses around the world, students are striking deals to buy and sell prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin — not to get high, but to get higher grades, to provide an edge over their fellow students or to increase in some measurable way their capacity for learning. These transactions are crimes in the United States, punishable by prison. […]
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12.07.08
Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:46 am by rheil
Never Say Die -Step aside, quacks. The search for longer life is a real science now.
By Anne Underwood | NEWSWEEK, Published Dec 6, 2008, From the magazine issue dated Dec 15, 2008
By the time it reaches the age of 18 days, the average roundworm is old, flabby, sluggish and wrinkled. By 20 days, the creature will likely be dead—unless, that is, it’s one of Cynthia Kenyon’s worms. Kenyon, director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of California, San Francisco, has tinkered with two genes that turn simple worms into mini-Methuselahs, with life spans of up to 144 days. “You can beat them up in ways that would kill a normal worm—exposing them to high heat, radiation and infectious microbes—and still they don’t die,” she says. “Instead, they’re moving and looking like young worms. It’s like a miracle—except it’s science.” [...]
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12.06.08
Posted in Nanotechnology, Technology, Transhumanism, Transhumanists at 12:18 pm by rheil
Metamodern.com (Eric Drexler)
In this blog, I’ll discuss current progress in science and technology, often with a specific perspective in mind: how current progress can contribute to the development of advanced nanosystems. This system-building perspective often highlights research opportunities and rewards that might otherwise be missed. As the topics come up, I’ll be suggesting research objectives that seem practical, valuable, and ready for serious pursuit.
However, like Engines of Creation, this blog isn’t intended to be “about nanotechnology”, but about broader issues involving technologies that will bring global change. Social software and the computational infrastructure of society are high on the list.
I hope that you will find enough of value here to repay your ongoing attention. [...]
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11.22.08
Posted in Anti-Aging, biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:15 am by rheil
Telomerase verlängert das Leben
Florian Rötzer 21.11.2008 (Telepolis)
Spanische Wissenschaftler konnten an krebsresistenten transgenen Mäusen zeigen, dass diese eine bis zu 50 Prozent längere Lebenszeit haben, wenn das mit Telomerase verbundene Krebsrisiko unterdrückt werden kann
Wissenschaftler haben nicht nur Supermäuse geschaffen, die wesentlich leistungsfähiger sind ([local] Genveränderte Supermäuse) sie haben nun auch gentechnisch veränderte Mäuse entwickelt, die krebsresistent sind und weitaus langsamer als gewöhnliche Mäuse altern. Würden Menschen ebenso verändert werden, dann könnten sie mit einer [extern] durchschnittlichen Lebenszeit von 120 Jahren rechnen. [...]
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11.21.08
Posted in biotech, Ethics, Future, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Nootropics, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 12:49 pm by rheil
Flux Magazine
Flux will give you a taste of the torrent of new technological developments advancing on us: from the energy issue to human enhancement, from information technology to nanotechnology. This magazine is compiled on the occasion of the conference ‘Inspiring Future Politics’ to be held by the EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) on Monday 27 October and Tuesday 28 October in The Hague, the Netherlands. The keynote speakers at this conference – chemist Michael Braungart, toxicologist Ellen Silbergeld, sociologist Nikolas Rose and climate expert Pier Vellinga – are interviewed in Flux. No one is more aware of the shifts taking place in our society. They have, furthermore, succeeded in formulating these issues aptly and getting them on to the (political) agenda. More information about the conference is available at www.eptaconference.eu. Because we want you to share in the speakers’ stories and the conference themes, you’ll find inspiring interviews, background stories and columns in ‘Flux’. […]
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11.19.08
Posted in biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:09 am by rheil
The medical miracle
Mother-of-two becomes first transplant patient to receive an organ grown to order in a laboratory
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor (The Independent)
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
A 30-year-old Spanish woman has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own cells.
Experts said the development opened a new era in surgery in which the repair of worn-out body parts would be carried out with personally customised replacements.
Claudia Castillo, who lives in Barcelona, underwent the operation to replace her windpipe after tuberculosis had left her with a collapsed lung and unable to breathe. [...]
Ärzte retten Patientin mit gezüchteter Luftröhre (spiegelonline)
Ein internationales Ärzteteam hat mit einer neuartigen Technik einer jungen Mutter das Leben gerettet. Die Mediziner züchteten ein Luftröhren-Implantat aus Stammzellen, die sie aus dem Rückenmark der Patientin gewonnen hatten, und setzten es der Frau ein. [...]
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11.07.08
Posted in Future, Human Enhancement, Technology, Transhumanism, Transhumanists at 10:35 am by rheil
Transhumanist Tech Is A Boner Pill That Sets Up a Firewall Against Billy Joel
Futurist, prankster, and one-time presidential candidate R.U. Sirius just launched his latest magazine, H+, which is devoted to a transhumanist vision of the future. Though a lot of futurism these days could easily be called dystopianism, the future that Sirius shows us in H+ is hopeful, full of cool futuristic gadgets and genetic cures for death. What exactly is transhumanism, anyway, and why do you keep hearing about it? Sirius dropped into the io9 lifepod from his space capsule to explain why you might already be a transhumanist — and what the ultimate transhumanist technology would be. [...]
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10.18.08
Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, biotech, Cryonic, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Nootropics, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 11:08 am by rheil
h+ transhumanist magazine launched
Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) has launched h+, a stylish, web-based quarterly magazine that focuses on transhumanism, covering the scientific, technological, and cultural developments that are challenging and overcoming human limitations.
Edited by the legendary RU Sirius, co-founder and editor of the seminal Mondo 2000 magazine, and beautifully designed by virtual worlds artist D.C. Spensley, the magazine’s first issue features cutting-edge ideas and interviews with leaders in longevity, neuroengineering, nanofabrication, open-source robotics, science fiction, and other breakthrough areas. [...]
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10.14.08
Posted in AI / Singularity, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:03 am by rheil
The Rise of the Machines
By RICHARD DOOLING
“BEWARE of geeks bearing formulas.” So saith Warren Buffett, the Wizard of Omaha. Words to bear in mind as we bail out banks and buy up mortgages and tweak interest rates and nothing, nothing seems to make any difference on Wall Street or Main Street. Years ago, Mr. Buffett called derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction” — an apt metaphor considering that the Manhattan Project’s math and physics geeks bearing formulas brought us the original weapon of mass destruction, at Trinity in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. [...]
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10.13.08
Posted in biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:22 am by rheil
Lebensmittel von geklonten Tieren? Nein, danke!
Florian Rötzer 12.10.2008 (Telepolis)
Europäer lehnen in der Mehrzahl der Klonen von Tieren für Lebensmittelprodukte ab und sehen für die Verbraucher keine Vorteile
Die Europäer wissen in aller Regel in etwa, was Klonen ist, nämlich die Herstellung “einer identischen Kopie eines bereits vorhandenen Lebewesens”. Das aber macht ihnen Fleisch und Milch von geklonten Tieren zum Verzehr nicht schmackhaft. Daher lehnen nach einer aktuellen [http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1478&format=HTML&aged=0&language=DE&guiLanguage=en Eurobarometer-Umfrage] 58 Prozent der EU-Bürger das Klonen von Tieren zur Herstellung von Lebensmitteln grundsätzlich ab, 28 Prozent würden es unter bestimmten Einschränkungen zulassen, gerade einmal 9 Prozent sprechen sich dafür aus. [...]
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Posted in biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:18 am by rheil
USA: Lebensmittel und Medikamente von genveränderten Tieren bald auf dem Markt
Florian Rötzer 08.10.2008 (telepolis)
Nachdem geklonten Tieren Unbedenklichkeit bescheinigt wurde, hat nun die zuständige US-Behörde FDA Richtlinien für die Zulassung von Produkten genveränderter Tiere ausgearbeitet
In den USA wurden bereits Produkte von geklonten Tieren von der zuständigen [extern] Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Anfang des Jahres für den menschlichen Verzehr als unbedenklich [extern] zugelassen. Milch oder Fleisch und daraus hergestellte Produkte müssen auch nicht gekennzeichnet werden. Geklonte Tieren seien praktisch in jeder Hinsicht mit herkömmlich gezüchteten Tieren identisch, weil ihre Gene nicht verändert wurden. Jetzt muss die FDA entscheiden, wie sie Lebensmittel beurteilt, die von genveränderten Tieren stammen. [...]
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06.04.08
Posted in Anti-Aging, Cryonic, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:06 am by rheil
Technology Makes Us Optimistic; They Want To Live (New York Times Magazine 1997)
Obviously I’m an optimist to some degree,” says Larry Wood, a hard-bodied 50-year-old who lives with his wife, Candy, and their two dogs in the mountains above Los Angeles, ”but I really believe we could be the first generation that lives forever. Either that, or we’ll be the last generation to die.’ [...]
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Posted in AI / Singularity, Future, Nanotechnology, Technology, Transhumanism at 5:50 am by rheil
The Future Is Now? Pretty Soon, at Least (New York Times)
Before we get to Ray Kurzweil’s plan for upgrading the “suboptimal software” in your brain, let me pass on some of the cheery news he brought to the World Science Festival last week in New York.
Do you have trouble sticking to a diet? Have patience. Within 10 years, Dr. Kurzweil explained, there will be a drug that lets you eat whatever you want without gaining weight. [...]
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05.26.08
Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology at 6:59 am by rheil
Die Diskussion um Cognitive Enhancer
Jörg Auf dem Hövel 26.05.2008 (Telepolis)
Neuer Wein in alten Schläuchen
Geistig auf der Höhe zu sein wünscht sich jeder. Um den eigenen und sozialen Ansprüchen gerecht zu werden, greifen verschiedene Personengruppen zu Arzneimitteln, die in dem Ruf stehen Konzentration und Merkfähigkeit zu fördern. Die wissenschaftliche Basis für einen solchen Einsatz ist aber dürftig. Auch die neuen Chemo-Kandidaten aus den Biotech-Schmieden der USA versprechen mehr als sie halten. [...]
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05.20.08
Posted in Neuro, Technology at 9:09 am by rheil
Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don’t Believe the Hype (Wired)
By Daniel Carla
“So here’s your brain,” the doctor says, as the center of my mental life pirouettes before me, rendered in electric blues and reds. Daniel Amen, MD, manipulates the screen image with a few taps on his keyboard.
“It looks good, pretty symmetrical. Red means more activity, blue means less.”
We’re peering at a Spect scan taken a half hour ago. He takes a closer look. Spect scans are a type of brain-imaging technology that measures neural activity by looking at blood flow. “The only question I’d ask you is whether you’ve ever had a brain injury, because there is low activity in your occipital cortex and your parietal lobe, all on the left side. [...]“
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