transhumanism

transhumanism

neofiles Singularitarianism episode # 018

listening to the neofiles Singularitarianism episode # 018 where RU Sirius talks with Eliezer Yudkowsky, director of the Singularity Institute, about the singularity. Yudkowsky's description of the singularity is "the technological creation of smarter than human intelligence, and the resulting jump or discontinuity in human history" ... "it is a particular point in time when we have the first AI, or the first enhanced human that's smarter than anyone in the human race up until then". he mentions, Vernor Vinge, who first coined the term "singularity", "coined it by analogy with the singularity at the centre of a black hole where our model of the laws of physics breaks down - not that physics itself, necessarily breaks down, but our model of the laws of physics breaks down".

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Philip K Dick - his 2 basic topics

Philip K Dick said in his paper "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" that "two certain matters absolutely fascinate me, and that I write about them all the time. The two basic topics that fascinate me are "What is reality?" and "What constitutes the authentic human being?" Over the twenty-seven years in which I have published novels and stories I have investigated those two interrelated topics over and over again. I consider them important topics. What are we? What is it that surrounds us, that we call the not-me, or the empirical or phenomenal world?"

great questions and ones which I'm sure many people have wondered.

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transhumanism

transhumanism is a huge field encompassing many topics and arguments. concsiousness, what does it mean to be human, bio ethics, genetic modifications, nanotechnology, science, future technologies, spirituality, information technology, biopolitics, medical improvements, body enhancements, human computer interaction ... the list goes on

the World Transhumanist Association defines transhumanism as :

Transhumanism is a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively early phase. We formally define it as follows:

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Technocalyps - transhumansism 3 part documentary

Technocalyps is a three-part documentary by Frank Theys on the idea of transhumanism

the documentary can be downloaded at greylodge.org, and they describe the parts as :

[quote]
Part 1: Transhuman
Part 1 gives an overview of recent technological developments (biogenetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, implants, nanotechnology,…) and prognoses made by leading scientists about the impact of these developments in the near future.

Part 2: Preparing for the Singularity
In this part advocates and opponents of a transhuman future are weighed against each other; prognoses are done when we can expect the transhuman revolution and how people are preparing for it already now.

Part 3: The Metaphysics of Technology

nettime archive finds : DJ Spooky interview by Erik Davis+ new science & new minds thoughts

whilst looking for the original posting and thread of Erik Davis' nettime-l posting on "Philip K. Dick's Divine Interference", I came across an interview by Erik with DJ Spooky from 2003. the closest I came to the PKD post was a later reply to the thread - I can't seem to find the original post though. maybe it had a different title. anyway, the DJ Spooky article is interesting - he speaks about some of his projects, the artist's relationship to working whilst on psychedelics (& how he doesn't do this), the culture he grew up with, his multi-faceted collection of projects : music and DJing, sound art, installation, sculpture, painting, video remixing and the mixology of images, but he mostly identifies as being a writer. he also speaks about his style of writing, creative commons, artificial scarcity amongst other things.

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Erik Davis : "You first got on the map doing music and DJing. You've done sound
art, installation, sculpture, painting. You've been working lately
with video remixing and getting into the mixology of images. But in
many ways you still define yourself primarily as a writer. Why is it
important for you to stay tied to the world of writing?"

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mondo 2000

Finding my old bookmark files has made me nostalgic for the early computing days when everything was new and exciting and full of possibilities. One of my favourite magazines back in the early 90s was Mondo 2000. It was hard to get - only a few places in Brisbane stocked it, actually only two that I recall and even then it was occasional. By the time I got round to subscribing to the magazine it had finished being published and I lost my subscription renewal to the cause so to speak. At the time, it was cutting edge and the full gloss images and interviews with leading thinkers made it a great read. R.U. Sirius who was the editor of the mag has a podcast these days and can be found around mondoglobo.net. Here's a collection of links to mondo 2000 stuff:

mondo articles from the well (link updated : original link broken 25/09/2008 : http://www.well.com:70/1/Publications/MONDO )

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cybernetics web dictionary

can't think of the right cybernetic term? check the cybernetics web dictionary..

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