post human

Ramez Naam on Singularity 1 on 1: The World Needs Innovation. Don’t Be a Spectator, Participate!

by Socrates
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Yesterday I interviewed Ramez Naam for my singularity podcast. Ramez is the author of an award-winning, timely and easy to digest book on the ethical, political, economic and other implications of transhumanism titled More Than Human. Since I enjoyed reading the book very much I simply had to interview Naam and ask him to talk more about his ideas. During our conversation we discuss a variety of topics such as: Ramez’ early interest philosophy, physics and computer science; the motivation behind his work at Microsoft on projects such as MS Word, Outlook and the Bing search engine; the inspiration behind his book on transhumanism; human evolution and the way technology has become a crucial part of who we are; playing God in general and altering the human DNA in particular; life extension and the probability of overcoming death; artificial intelligence, the technological singularity and why he [...]

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Post-Human, Trans-Human and The God Killers: David Simpson on Singularity 1 on 1

by Socrates
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A couple of days ago I interviewed David Simpson for Singularity 1 on 1. David Simpson is a young up-and-coming science fiction writer from Vancouver. He is the author of the sci-fi novels Post-Human - his 2009 debut, as well as Trans-Human - the sequel. During our conversation we discuss issues such as: David’s early interest in writing; the motivation and goals behind his work; the relationship between science fiction and technology; his favorite science fiction authors; his current and future books as well as the meaning behind their titles. (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)   Who is David Simpson? David Simpson is the author of the sci-fi novel Post-Human, his 2009 debut, as well as Trans-Human – the sequel. He is also the author of The God Killers, which [...]

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The Methuselah Generation: The Science of Living Forever

by Jake Anderson
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Imagine a world in which there are no limits on the human lifespan, no restrictions on our capacity for intelligent thought and exponential technological advancement, no barriers to our saturating the universe with consciousness. Imagine all the people, living for forever. Indeed, John Lennon might have gotten a kick out of imagining himself casually interfacing with artificial intelligence, nano-engineering solar panels in space, breathing molecularly cleansed air through bionic lungs…but if this is a reality you want to see, you’ll have to “live long enough to live forever”, as Terry Grossman and Ray Kurzweil claim in their book of the same title. What Grossman – the main subject of the forthcoming documentary The Methuselah Generation: The Science of Living Forever - means by this is bolstering your longevity enough to be able to utilize the tools and treatments of the biotechnological revolution. From there you will need survive [...]

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Who are the Heroes of Transhumanism?

by Nikki Olson
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Transhumanists identify scientists and theorists that have been especially important to the development of the movement. Among these are Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Richard Feynman. But could we identify hero figures that have done the same? And, what is the relationship between Transhumanism and heroism? I came to this question after learning of Australia’s recognition of Julian Assange as a heroic figure, awarding him the Australian Peace Prize for “exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights.” Assange is a live, modern day Prometheus figure, thought to have ‘stolen fire from the Gods.’ By demonstrating computer security weaknesses in bureaucratic systems, he stole the presupposition of secrecy, and hence power, from government authorities; an act, most unanimously considered ‘heroic’ by hacking communities. Arguably, Assange’s goals are consistent with, but not a major component of Transhumanist goals more generally. Could there [...]

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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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