What if?

Aaron Sims’ Film Archetype: Your Memories Are Just A Glitch!

by Socrates
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Achetype: Your Memories Are Just A Glitch is a short 7 min science fiction film directed by Aaron Sims, starring Robert Joy (Land of the Dead, CSI: NY) and David Anders (Heroes, 24). About the Film: RL7 is an eight-foot tall combat robot that goes on the run after malfunctioning with vivid memories of once being human. As its creators and the military close in, RL7 battles its way to uncovering the shocking truth behind its mysterious visions and past. About the Filmmaker: Aaron Sims is a prominent creature/conceptual designer who has helped bring filmmakers’ visions to life for the past 25 years.  During his illustrious career, Aaron has worked with visionary directors such as Steven Spielberg, Zack Snyder & Martin Campbell on such projects as War of the Worlds, Sucker Punch, Green Lantern and many more. With the help The [...]

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Sons of Chaos: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci Fi Film by Mathieu Turi

by Socrates
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Sons of Chaos is a short post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie written and directed by french director Mathieu Turi. The film is 15 min long and was shot for only $3000. Despite its super low budget it manages to not only grab but also keep the viewers’ attention with the help of some captivating scenes of wilderness and abandoned buildings, cool camera work with interesting perspective and a gripping original music score by Frederic Poirier. The film was presented at different internationnal Film Festivals across the globe and has been selected at the Sitges Film Fest in 2011. Thus, when Mathiu Turi sent me an email suggesting that I share his film on SingularityWeblog.com I was happy to oblige. Synopsis: Biological war has put an end to the world we used to know. The air is now toxic to mankind. And survivors are mere [...]

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Head-Transplantation: A Short Documentary about Dr. R. J. White’s Controversial Experiments

by Socrates
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Dr. R. J. White: “I predict that what has always been the stuff of science fiction – the Frankenstein legend, in which an entire human being is constructed by sewing various body parts together, will become a clinical reality in the 21st century. Our modern day version of the tale will include the transplantation of a human brain. The brain cannot function properly without the plumbing of the body and the wiring of the head. So brain transplantation, at least initially, will require head transplantation or body transplantation, depending on your perspective.” This 15 min documentary chronicles the first monkey head-transplantation and a series of other similarly controversial experiments that were performed in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1960s and 70s by world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. R. J. White. Dr. White narrates the chronicle of and the motivation behind his experiments in [...]

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Marcin Jakubowski on Open Source Ecology and Practical Post Scarcity

by Socrates
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We (still) live in a world of scarcity. Free entrepreneurship, free markets and the age-old principles of Economics are supposed to provide for the most efficient resource allocation and thereby defeat, or at least alleviate the problem. Yet, more than 2 centuries after Adam Smith and David Ricardo, this has not been accomplished. Consider a Big Idea: Reducing technology to the most simple yet sufficient modular lego-like people tech imaginable. A single DVD as the complete manual for your civilization-starter-kit. An open source DIY Global Village constructed with robust, sustainable, modular, highly efficient, low cost and self-made tools. Open Source Ecology refers to the integration of human and natural ecosystems along the lines of open-source principles such as open collaboration and sharing of information with the goal of creating real communities and achieving post scarcity. So, do you think that [...]

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Robots of Brixton (a short film by Kibwe Tavares)

by Socrates
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  This short, 5 min sci fi film by Kibwe Tavares raises questions about the future of AI/Robot rights and draws parallels to the civil rights movement in general and the 1981 Brixton riot in particular. Synopsis: Brixton has degenerated into a disregarded area inhabited by London’s new robot workforce – robots built and designed to carry out all of the tasks which humans are no longer inclined to do. The mechanical population of Brixton has rocketed, resulting in unplanned, cheap and quick additions to the skyline. The film follows the trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment. When the Police invade the one space which the robots can call their own, the fierce and strained relationship [...]

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Microsoft’s Vision for the Future Videos

by Socrates
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These visionary videos from Microsoft remind me of A Day Made of Glass: Corning’s Vision of the Future of Display Technology. Watch how future technology will help people make better use of their time, focus their attention, and strengthen relationships while getting things done at work, home, and on the go. (Release: 2011)   Microsoft’s long-term productivity vision explores how we will create and share content; collaborate across teams, organizations and networks; and how we will gain contextually relevant and anticipative insights based on preferences and intent. All these scenarios are showcasing real, emerging technologies explored with various Microsoft product and research teams as well as at Microsoft partners and across the industry.   The Microsoft Home Yes indeed the future look amazing. The only question is how much of it will run on Microsoft Windows? iOS or Android anyone? [...]

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Do We Need to Have a “Future Day”?

by Nikki Olson
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“In thinking about how to get people interested in and excited about Transhumanist ideas explicitly, one idea I thought about was to create a holiday for the future. You think about all these holidays we have they are all about past events, but what if there were a holiday specifically oriented towards future events. So you could have many of them, you could have a ‘Singularity Day’, an ‘Artilect War Day’ for the future war, or simply a ‘Future Day’, to try and bring people together around the idea of creating a better future” The remarks above were made by Ben Goertzel during the question and answer period of last week’s H+ Leadership Summit (see the full video at the end of the article), a discussion held in virtual world Second Life on leadership and the realization of Transhumanist goals. Author [...]

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Transhumanism for Children

by Nikki Olson
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It is often pointed out that Transhumanism shares many features with religion. It answers questions regarding the nature of the world and humanity’s place in it, it offers guidance on how to live, and inspires hope. However, there are a number of important things distinguishing it from a religion, such as the lack of belief in a Deity and its emphasis on the empirical method and reason. Another distinguishing feature relates to the obstacles associated with teaching Transhumanism to children. Although being religious as an adult entails contemplation of many of life’s more difficult questions, following a religion can and does occur at very young ages. Children are able to contemplate God to some extent, usually via the anthropomorphized metaphor of ‘the father’, they are able to associate simple moral behaviors with ideas of reward and punishment, and they become [...]

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