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Do We Need to Have a “Future Day”?

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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 and polymath Howard Bloom, who positively influenced the musical careers of Michael Jackson, Prince, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kiss, Queen, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Simon & Garfunkel, and many others, responded enthusiastically to Goertzel’s suggestion, calling the idea ‘fabulous’, and stating that in addition to being a source of excitement and means to raise awareness regarding Transhumanist ideas, an event of this nature could have broad reaching societal affect, potentially altering the prevailing mood of the time by turning over a new leaf of optimism. Bloom argues that in periods of economic collapse “we lose our sense of a future,” and “the thing that pulls us out of the trenches, and back up onto the landscape and charging toward the future is someone’s willingness to give us a vision of the future”. During the 1930s, the vision serving this function was the vision to electrify every home – which at the time, he points out, seemed “absolutely absurd.” And having a vision, in and of itself, can have a leveraging effect, he says, as a vision of the future “pulls us into the future.”

When it comes to optimism and moving forward, the Transhumanist outlook has a great deal to offer. Before us we see perpetual and accelerating progress, important breakthroughs occurring regularly, with radical predictions being met and exceeded, and knowledge exploding. And the Transhumanist vision more broadly is one of innovation and pushing beyond boundaries. But, as Bloom and others point out, in the interest of reaching as many people as possible, it’s best the holiday not be specifically Transhumanist, and instead be something more general so that everyone could readily understand and easily connect with. Natasha Vita-More adds that it should be something “beyond religion, beyond politics, and has the vision of expanding our horizons.”

The success of related events, such as Yuri’s Night:A World Space Party, an event celebrated annually in now more than 30 countries, indicates viability in the ‘Future Day’ idea. Yuri’s Night, in addition to honoring Yuri Garagin – the first human in space, who flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961, is meant to inspire interest in space exploration, and more generally, science. I attended the event this year in Edmonton Alberta, held at the Edmonton Space and Science Center, and found it did just that. But ‘Future Day’ could be much more expansive. Natasha Vita-More and others identify other successful future oriented events in the past, such as the ‘World’s Fair’ (which this year was held only in China) and Bruce Mau’s ‘Massive Change’ initiative, as examples of events with similar magnitude and/or spirit to what a ‘Future Day’ could strive to become. Bloom remarks “we need people to apply their minds to the future the way they applied their minds to the World’s Fairs in the past”, where projects just kept get “bigger, and bigger, and bigger.”

Holidays have many positive social functions. For one, they create connections across entire societies, and sometimes internationally. In celebrating, people develop parallel experiences, and forge subtle bonds. ‘Future Day’, then, could offer people a means to relate to one another regarding the future.  And as Goertzel points out, a holiday celebrating the future could serve to unify diverse groups already oriented around future building, by “giving them something to contribute to without making them feel as though it was diluting their mission.”

Holidays are traditionally backward looking in nature, and a means of cultural preservation rather than evolution. ‘Future Day’ could have the opposite effect, making people more enthusiastic about change, and offering a vision that makes us more inclined to reach toward the future, and less afraid to let go of past ideas that may be interfering with progress.

So what features might a holiday for the future have?

Festivals: Cutting edge technology exhibits, musical events, fanfare. I can imagine more digital versions of colorful international festivals like the Holi festival and future oriented large-scale art installations the scale of Burning Man.

Activities for Kids: A great way to introduce kids to Transhumanist ideas. Could include school projects in the way kids do Christmas projects – plays about the future, crafts about the future etc.

Parades: A good way to get corporate sponsorship, and a good way to get media attention. Another great way to get kids interested in futurist ideas.

Parties: All kinds of parties. Wild parties celebrating future social liberation, cognitive enhancement parties, costume parties, dress like your avatar parties.

Celebrity Endorsement: Leonardo DiCaprio endorsed official secular holiday Earth Day in year 2000, and celebrities endorse social causes all the time. Future Day could also have cutting edge, provocative appeal that would motivate celebrities to associate themselves with the event.

Peaceful Protests: My guess is that as more people become excited about the future and want to see certain technologies developed sooner rather than later, more will come to feel there are unnecessary obstacles standing in the way of future tech. To date there is not much activism going on related directly to achieving Transhumanist goals, although some have taken matters into their own hands, in the form of Singularity political letter writing. Using ‘Earth Day’ as an example – holidays offer an opportunity to raise awareness regarding political and social issues. There are many humanitarian aspects of Transhumanism worth campaigning for, and this could be one way in which university students are involved in ‘Future Day’.

The Second Life conversation on ‘Future Day’ concluded with agreement that the idea should be pursued, and that refining the vision and working out the details would occur between H+ board members over the next couple weeks. Board members also discussed the benefits such an event would have for Transhumanism more specifically, such as shifting the focus from risks and ethics to something with more vision and more ‘fun’, and creating a vehicle and franchise in which to deliver Transhumanist ideas to the public. It will be exciting to see what they come up with, and watch the idea evolve as others become involved in the planning.

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

Humanity+ community event in Second Life, September 15, 2011

[youtube]https://youtu.be/6TW6FnvUFcE[/youtube]

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What’s Next for the Internet?

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Photo courtesy of Cea.

To say that technology is evolving at a rapid pace would be a serious understatement when referring to the evolution of the Internet. In the 40 years since its creation, the Internet has evolved in a manner that would make Darwin blanch. From the primitive operating systems of 20 years ago we now live our entire lives plugged in and able to navigate the wild frontier called the Internet with the touch of a finger, literally. We share our lives; handle our financial affairs, read the paper or the latest novel and scores of other activities, all on this ever evolving creation called the Internet.

Now the astute student of history is asking, “What’s next?” Well, who knows, maybe the next big shift in the evolution will be Internet providers by zip code but basing my observations on current trends, I will attempt to make some predictions for the direction it will take.

Global Society

In evaluating the implications of future uses of the Internet, the goal needs to be examined as well. Access to information is the main purpose of the Internet and global access will enable every person on earth the same advantages – and knowledge – helping to integrate economies and societies. This will move our world in the direction of globalism rather than nationalism.

Tactile Interface Approach

To date, most applications used to access the Internet have relied on the use of a pointing device of some sort, limiting maneuverability of objects and the ability to complete only one task at a time. With new technologies that are developing, such as the touch screen, this is beginning to change. Imagine being able to navigate the web using not just a mouse or one finger on the screen to open a document or scroll through a page but to use all 10 fingers, manipulating several items on the screen all at once! This seems to be the direction things are taking and it’s a safe bet that it will become standard in Internet use at some point in the future.

Talk To Me

With recent improvements in voice recognition software it is completely feasible to believe that soon touch screens and pointing devices could become a thing of the past for the most part. Only a few years ago those annoying automated answering systems used by many businesses could barely get through recognizing a simple one word command such as ‘Operator.’ Now they can follow considerably longer phrases with minimal errors and usually get you to the correct department or even assist you with your problem. This will likely translate over to surfing the web, education and a nearly unlimited array of possibilities. It might even be able to help you locate internet providers by zip code that can meet your needs with solutions tailored to your particular situation.

Connectivity Everywhere

Gone are the days where the Internet is restricted to our computers. Smart phones were only the beginning. Refrigerators with touch screen shopping lists or access to the ingredients for our favorite recipes may soon become standard in all kitchens. There is no reason this cannot carry over to other parts of the home as well. Advertisers in their quest to reach an ever expanding audience will welcome the chance to spend quality time in the kitchen or workshop with those hard to reach technophobes who for whatever reason, prefer not to surf the web. Depending on what appliance is being used, content specific to that activity could be displayed such as shopping options, recipe ideas, how-to guides or any number of other types of activity related content. Some would view this as a great help although others might view this as an invasion of privacy. The jury is still out…

About the Author:

Ruben Corbo is a man of multiple interests and talents. He’s a freelance writer, music composer/producer, and a technology enthusiast. He obsesses over the latest entertainment smartphone apps and other great gadgets. He’s usually writing for the Broadband Expert where you can find the best internet provider by zip code for you. 

Visual Culture and Transhumanism

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‘Visual Culture’ has to do with the creation, transmission and perpetuation of ideas in culture by visual means. Imagery, including shapes, colors, logos, fonts, apparel, and more broadly, ‘styles’, become symbols acting to carry and transmit meaning in a particular culture, and communicate ideology. A culture’s symbols can originate in that culture, or be a combination of new and borrowed ideas and meaning from others. For instance ‘tie-dye’, although dating back to ~500 AD, in the West is seen primarily as a symbol of hippie culture, communicating a particular set of social, political, and lifestyle beliefs.

What can we identify in the Singularity and Transhumanist community as playing this particular role, and what ideology does some of the present visual culture communicate?

Transhumanist visual culture can be characterized broadly as forward looking imagery that captures Transhumanist concepts, such as augmented sensory experiences, redesigned bodies, indefinite lifespans, and so on. There is a long history of art in the Transhumanist movement, dating back to the late 1970s/early 1980s with the work of Natasha Vita-More, who named the Transhumanist art movement and wrote the Transhumanist Art Statement and Extropic Art Manifesto, as well as many other papers and presentations promoting and addressing this topic. Transhumanism, however, is now more an intellectual movement than anything else, being markedly less aesthetic than related movements such as the cyberpunk, psychedelic and industrial movements. And so unfortunately, the visual aspect of Transhumanist culture is not well known by many Transhumanists today, and at present does not hold a lot of significance for them. However, there are some rich visual elements abound, and from all corners of Transhumanist thought.

One prominent visual element of Transhumanist culture right now comes out of the work of Rachel Haywire, lead of Experiment Haywire, pioneer of machineKUNT records, founder of the multi-media arts and science festival Extreme Futurist Fest (EFF), and most recently, the Human 2.0 Council. Haywire is thought to be a major force contributing to cross pollination of Transhumanist and Industrial visual culture.

Haywire’s most explicitly Transhumanist projects, for instance, EFF and Human 2.0, deliberately incorporate industrial imagery. Why the crossover? Well for one, the ideology of the two movements in many ways coincides. For instance, Transhumanist’s share with industrial culture a belief in DIY biology/biohacking, which goes alongside tattoos and piercings for Industrialists. Pioneers in mixing Transhumanist and Industrial media are bands Front 242 and Front Line Assembly. Newer enthusiasts in this vein include Trimetrick, UCNX, Chris Coreline and Johan Ess. And industrial artists like Aunia Kahn readily incorporate Transhumanism into their art.

In discussing the motivations of the groups she leads and identifies with, Haywire writes “Transhumanism is not just a field of science for us. It is a lifestyle and an aesthetic. We are real life mutants and the soundtrack to our generation.” And the imagery for her projects is meant to express that. I would add that industrial imagery offers a different dimension from which to view Transhumanist concepts, often in a darker, more aggressive, more urgent, and in some ways more radical light – evoking a strong aesthetic response to the future.

Another source of visual culture in the Transhumanist movement comes from the logos of its institutions. One notable, although perhaps often over-looked logo, is that of the ‘Future of Humanity Institute’, which features the image of a black diamond.

The logo’s symbolism evokes thought on the existential risks faced by humanity via technology, in particular the possibility of a near future Great Filter. It is thought by some futurists that the greatest threats to human survival lay immediately ahead, as we approach the invention of technologies with the power to wipe out all of mankind.

The black diamond symbol is more widely associated with the ski and snowboard industry to mean ‘most difficult’, connoting ‘danger’. In search of a logo, Anders Sandberg explains how Nick Bostrom “saw the ski logo during a holiday and it clicked”. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, the Future of Humanity Institute also identifies with a lesser-known meaning behind the black diamond symbol related to logic. Sandberg writes: “The symbol also has a meaning in some branches of logic, representing “possibility”. Sandberg goes on to recount “I also liked it because it is a dynamic square: something solid, but potentially tipping over in one direction or another.”

The most original and arguably most optimistic visual culture elements associated with Transhumanism today are the work of Singularity Utopia. Her art is meant to affect, at times subconsciously, our views and behavior towards the future, as well as broaden the conceptual reach of Transhumanist ideas. She writes:

“My ‘Singularity ART’ is designed to open minds. Art is often recondite (esoteric) but hopefully the obscurity in my art is not excessive. Via my images I allude to intelligence exploding, thus upon this theme of explosiveness my images typically exhibit an overloaded celebratory aspect. My images represent a very exciting event. I want to capture the excessive abundance of supreme intelligence thus ‘excess’ is a feature of my images.

I want the explosiveness to be accessible to everyone, but for the vast majority of humans I realize extreme intelligence is currently inaccessible. Complexity and simplicity are the two balancing poles in my art. There is dichotomy between excess and minimalism. The concept of intelligence is simple but manifestations of intelligence appear complex for stupid people. Intelligence exploding is a simple concept, which people can theoretically imagine, but in practice many people simply do not have substantial imaginations thus they cannot visualize revolutionary new concepts.

I am influenced by Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Dada. My Singularity ART is an explanation of massive intelligence for stupid people, therefore due to the mainstream stupidity of humans I hint at Dadaism. Intelligence is conceptually very Anti-Establishment, thus you see the rationale for my Dadaistic hints. Principally I focus on the ‘concept’ in my images because I don’t want people to become sidetracked by surface details, thus via minimal rendering I artistically present my ideas. The Singularity is very strange and powerful but it’s also very simple. I simply want people to comprehend the awesome utopian power of the Singularity, thus via a jolt from my art I try to open human minds. The Singularity is bursting-out, breaking free. Dependent upon the level of intelligence in the viewer, my art will operate on subconscious or conscious levels.”

Just breaking onto the scene of mainstream Transhumanist consciousness has been the art work of Sniff Code, author of the science fiction book Clone. The work is highly provocative and imaginative, coupling imagery with short essays, creative works, and transhumanist poetry. And just announced, Sniff Code will be teaming up with Haywire in designing the website imagery for Extreme Futurist Fest.

So what’s next in this domain? As the popularity of Transhumanism increases we are sure to see it grow and fill out aesthetically—coming to have more of its own identifiable style perhaps, as well as more symbols in which memes can be communicated. Such an evolution is integral to the evolution of Transhumanists more generally, as Vita-More explains in the Transhumanism Art Statement:

As Transhumanist Arts come into focus
As more artists join our efforts
As more designs are produced
As more music is composed
As more stories are written
As the tools and ideas of our art continue to evolve,
So too shall we.

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

Irrational Certainty: Is Predicting the End of the World Different from Predicting the Singularity is Near?

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I have to admit that I was excited when I woke up this morning, after all, how many times do you get to wake up at the start of the end of the world?

It was May 21 2011, the day of Rapture, according to a Harold Camping; it was the day when true Christians would be whisked away to heaven while us heathens got 5 months to ourselves (admittedly it would be 6 months of ‘chaos’) before the world ended in October.

Harold Camping's Judgment Day Poster

I was pumped.

I checked the page on Facebook for “Post Rapture Looting” (“when everyone is gone and god’s not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we’re going to squat in”), an event that has over 2 million invited guests but unfortunately only about 800,000 attending. I then rocked out in the shower to “How Far We’ve Come”, by Matchbox Twenty. As the hours went by, I’ve realized that I’m less and less likely to be getting some sweet stereo equipment, and my prospects for mansion squatting are looking increasingly dim.

All kidding aside, I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering and a bit unnerved by how readily some people will advertise blatantly ridiculous predictions, and how easily others will believe it to be flawless gospel. Who would honestly believe they were going to be spirited away to heaven on May 21, 2011 just based off the words of an old man?

That’s when I drew some uncomfortable connections between this event and my own movement of Transhumanism.

Transhumanism and the concept of the Singularity have had a difficult time getting most people to accept them as rational and viable concepts, and this is a difficulty which has been heavily exacerbated by irrationality, and more specifically, the irrational certainty that many self-proclaimed Transhumanists ascribe to. Perhaps the most prominent example of this irrational certainty is the man who in many eyes epitomizes Transhumanism: Ray Kurzweil.

A few weeks ago I watched a TED talk featuring Kurzweil speaking “on how technology will transform us”, which is an idea that I completely agree with; towards the end of the talk, however, I began to feel uneasy by what he was saying. Why is that? Let me quote a bit:

“So let me just end with a couple of scenarios. By 2010 computers will disappear. They’ll be so small, they’ll be embedded in our clothing, in our environment. Images will be written directly to our retina, providing full-immersion virtual reality, augmented real reality. We’ll be interacting with virtual personalities.” (see video timeline starting at 19:50)

[youtube]https://youtu.be/IfbOyw3CT6A[/youtube]

If you’re like me, then at this point you were looking around in alarm, wondering “Where’s my computer clothing? Why don’t I have images written into my retina? Have I missed out on something?”

Ray Kurzweil made blatant predictions in 2006 about how the world would be in 2010; it’s 2011 and we can obviously see he was wrong. This wasn’t the first time Kurzweil has done this and it definitely wouldn’t be the last; and this is where I have a problem. Most ideas propagated by Ray Kurzweil, the most prominent Transhumanist and Singularitarian, are not prefaced with disclaimers; they are all thrown out as “this is how it is GOING to be, there WILL be this, this WILL happen at THIS time.” And then it doesn’t.

I was introduced to Mr. Kurzweil’s ideas in an article I read on Time magazine’s website entitled 2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal, and it is rife with these predictions. I’ve encountered Transhumanists and Singularitarians online who market their own personal opinions with religious zeal, shouting down all opposite viewpoints, reason, and logic in favor of their own predictions, and they often end up coming across as a bit unstable.

Now, there would be no problem with this if it was just an isolated individual, but it isn’t. These predictions are put forward by a host of bloggers and speakers, and for each one that doesn’t come true, Transhumanism and the Singularity lose credibility in the eyes of the world. After all, how different are Harold Camping foretelling the end of the world and a Singularitarian spouting the idea that complete global utopia – heaven on earth – is inevitable and just around the bend?

About the Author:

Hans Elde is going to be a freshman at the University of Washington in Fall, 2011 where he hopes to study bioengineering and mechanical engineering and eventually get involved in biomechatronics.

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Who are the Heroes of Transhumanism?

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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 be a heroic act that would be more authentically, and formally Transhumanist? And if so, what would it be?

In some ways, the need for a hero figure in the pursuit of Transhumanist goals does not seem pressing, given that many Transhumanist ends await further technological development. There is little sense of urgency in the present community to seek immediate legislative reform restricting Transhumanist pursuits; although some topics, like the banning of stem cell research, seem to strike an activist nerve in many Transhumanists. And, technology itself can be used to achieve many of the goals of Transhumanism, such as bringing about more efficient, limited and transparent governance, which would previously have required more radical forms of political advocacy, and perhaps heroism to achieve. Do all trends seem to be moving in the right direction? Can we foresee any major obstacles in our way that may require acts of heroism to move beyond?

It is worth noting that there are no real Transhumanist heroes in the fiction world, either. Kyle Munkittrick argues that superhero movies tend to play out in such a way that may actually make us more fearful of Transhumanism, rather than ellicit positive feelings about the movement. I argue that if fiction scenarios were to more accurately depict Transhumanism, in the way the protagonist in David Simpson’s novel Post-Human does, heroic figures could inspire and help transmit the doctrine of Transhumanism, and provoke relevant creative thought on the matter.

In real life, robots are acting as heroes in disaster relief scenarios, entering situations too dangerous for human rescuers. What does the lack of association between “heroism” and “Transhumanism” mean? Why does heroism not seem to apply to, or mix well with, Transhumanism? Could we be doing more to improve the human condition with technology now? Do we need to focus on advanced technology improving conditions further in developed nations, or, should we be advocating a more spirited use of technology now available to improve the human situation in developing nations? Probably so. But beyond that, I don’t think there is any deep meaning implied by the lack of connection with heroes here; Transhumanism is a unique worldview, and this is just another one of its unique characteristics.

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

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Enough Is Not Enough: The Integration of Transhumanism into Pop Culture

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“Hi, Silimary. I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you’d be at your feminist group. Don’t you guys meet on Saturday nights?”

“Oh hi, Thrust. I quit that group. Outgrew it. They’re determined to let outdated, defeatist mindsets rule their bodies and minds.”

“Really? That’s odd – for a group that claims to be about equality between the sexes.”

“Yes, it’s absolutely nonsensical. Would you believe everybody else in that group believes biotech a male-driven boogeyman? That’s the reason I quit.”

“Does this have something to do with the new Pink Viagra?”

“Yep. They say it’s not normal to artificially increase their libidos. I say if they want to fit into the norm, that’s their business, but they’ll be left behind. Real feminists will embrace biotechnology’s empowering benefits, because the future belongs to the empowered female. Check out this flyer I got at the Transhuman Institute of Technological Services. (T.I.T.S)”

Women – an enhanced body is a healthy body. Free cognitive enhancement with every mammary – posterior enhancement Type T or above. Get your womanly parts enhanced and reach your full potential today – don’t be a Luddite!

“So what do you think, Thrust? Pretty damn transhuman, eh?”

“Wow – that chick in the flyer – I mean that female in the flyer looks pretty damn enhanced. In a totally rational way, of course. I mean, it’s perfectly reasonable for women to make their breasts and bottoms that large. And their cognitions too, if they feel like it.”

“Yes, transhumanists support having exacting control over all bodily functions and cognitive processes. All empowered women should be enhancing themselves. Enhancement is just a natural extension of evolution. So rejecting Pink Viagra is reflexive misandry at its worst.”

“Yep. We don’t need any reflexive misandrists in the transhumanism movement.”

“I agree. That’s why I got the Pink Viagra patch. And when they come out with the Pink Viagra – producing brain implant, I’ll be the first one to have it drilled into my skull. I’ve already signed up.”

“Drilled?”

“Yes, drilled. They have to drill your skull to push the Pink Viagra-producing capsule into your brain.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit . . .extreme?”

“Of course not. As a transhumanist, I take great pride in having 100% control over my body and my libido. There’s no way I’m going to let society dictate what I should or shouldn’t be doing with my body. I claim full ownership and full responsibility.”

“Of course. But don’t you want to wait until there’s a less invasive way to insert the Viagra? For example, I bet in a few years we’ll figure out how to manipulate our genes into instructing our bodies to produce hormonal Viagra by the bucketful.”

“If I’m not going to let society dictate my life experience, why should I let the pace of technology dictate my life experience? That would be slavery!”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. And you would be a proponent of circumstantial slavery not to agree with me.”

“Well, I’m certainly against slavery of any kind.”

“Transhumanism is all about empowering individuals by giving them absolute choice and control. And T.I.T.S. is leading the new feminists by acknowledging and asserting the fact that women should be in complete control of their bodies and libidos.”

“Men too. Men should enhance their libidos to freakish – I mean ultra-healthy levels. If they want to, of course. And if I want to increase the size of my manhood to the size of my arm . . or leg, that’s my business.”

“Yes, of course. And soon libido-enhanced females – and males – will be the norm.”

“As well as males with gargantuan manparts – they’ll be the norm too, just like women with gargantuan breasts and bottoms.

“Absolutely. And if we transhumanists want to fit into the norm, that’s our business.”

About the Author:

CMStewart is a psychological horror novelist, a Singularity enthusiast, and a blogger. You can follow her on Twitter @CMStewartWrite or go check out her blog CMStewartWrite.

How Do Transhumanists Party?

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It’s difficult for humans to ‘live in the present’; we are wired to worry about the future, and to dwell upon the good things of the past. These instincts serve us well, since overestimating negative future possibilities better prepares us for them, and having nostalgia for the past suppresses memory of hardship, making life overall seem better and more worth investing in.

Futurist groups such as Transhumanists and Singularitarians tend to take a different approach, coming at things in almost the opposite way; focusing on the anticipated happiness of the future and all the wonderful things it will bring, and having little interest in life in the past.

And like the past, ‘the present’ in Transhumanist culture has become almost completely invisible.

Neuromancer inspired the Cyberpunk counter-culture of the 80's and the 90's

In a recent interview for H+ magazine, R. U. Sirius is asked to compare present day Transhumanists with those of the early 90s, sometimes referred to as the ‘Mondo 2000’ culture. He argues that in comparison with Transhumanists today, “the emphasis would have been on living more intensely, more aesthetically, more hilariously, more erotically, more intelligently, more communicatively, more spontaneously” and, “more psychedelically.”

Has something been lost?

As identified by R.U. Sirius, there is a greater focus on health and life extension on the part of Transhumanists today that wasn’t present in the early 90s. Interest in health and longevity has always been an important part of Transhumanist belief in self-improvement and human excellence, but in recent years, these interests have taken ‘center stage’, and are in direct conflict with cyberpunk and party lifestyles.

But I wonder: how much of the focus on health by Transhumanists today has to do with self-improvement and excellence, and how much to do with ‘making it to the future’?

Is healthy boring?!

In the mid to late 90s, when Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil started giving more concrete and reliable predictions for the Singularity, the orientation of the movement as a whole began to shift. Early Transhumanists didn’t have reliable graphs predicting the progress of technology, indicating what to expect in each coming decade, they didn’t have large scale, multi-disciplinary works, such as What Technology Wants and The Singularity Is Near, unifying and synthesizing ideas of technology, and they certainly didn’t have books like Transcend, outlining how to live long enough to benefit from life extension technologies underway, and see the Singularity.

The future is now predicted with great detail and certainty, and is understood as something that we at all costs do not want to miss; it has become the main thing that we think about, and we have become very focused on making sure that we, as individuals, get there.

There are analogies to be made here with religious groups seeking to gain immortality in heaven. Those of Christian faith, though for moral reasons rather than scientific reasons, limit themselves in this life for the chance at immortality. This behavior, because of the timeline we now have in front of us, has in a way, manifested itself in the scientific community looking to achieve immortality through technology.

Is mainstream boring?!

But has ‘making it to the Singularity’ become a major, subconscious, determinant of Transhumanist behavior, academic pursuit, and culture? Has an ‘eye on the prize’ behavior covertly ensued, devaluing the importance of ‘living in the present’?

I would say ‘yes’.

In the past ten years, age-specific worries of older Transhumanists have come to shape the movement as a whole; if this were not the case, interest in health for the average young person, even after learning of 2045, likely would not have become more than a minor interest in eating well and exercising. But as Sirius argues, it has become a defining attribute, and we “pay attention to every pulse.”

Perhaps this health centric behavior doesn’t seem radical because being health-conscious gets external validation from mainstream interest in weight loss, baby boomer interest in disease prevention, as well as current medical debates surrounding additives and organic food. Also, DIY biology is an associated part of the decentralization of knowledge and power that has always been a part of Transhumanism, so a growing interest in medicine is natural from that point of view, especially as our access to knowledge increases.

Important to point out also, Transhumanist culture, in comparison with cyberpunk culture, has been one with a greater focus on rationality and objectivity, which conflicts with experimentation and party culture in and of itself. Not to mention, being in good health helps us to think more clearly, which helps us to succeed at other Transhumanist pursuits. But it’s important to question whether or not health should be a dominant and defining focus for young Transhumanists, and whether or not we have deferred other Transhumanist pursuits to accommodate the focus on living to the Singularity?

In a way, interest in health, at least to the degree that longevity communities take it, is a one way street; once you learn about how bad habits affect health, and feel good from being healthy, you don’t want to go back.

How do Transhumanists party?

To that sentiment, I would add that whether or not one has an interest in health, with so much focus on the future in Transhumanist culture today, and the great things it will bring, perhaps the options for how to enjoy oneself in the present seem just too limited by comparison. Or, perhaps the relative certainty of 2045, and the argued ‘determinant’ nature of technology, has led to some apathy in the community, at least with regards to the role of individuals in shaping the future; how much, for instance, do we still believe, as Timothy Leary did, and R.U. Sirius still does, that expanding our minds in general, and consciousness in particular, is important to shaping the movement and maximizing the positive outcomes in our merging with machines?

In the spirit of Transhumanism, which regards humanity as a process, it’s probably not in our best interest to try and re-live Mondo, cyberpunk, or rave-party culture, as coherent as they seemed to some Transhumanists at the time; we moved beyond these frameworks for good reason. But an effort to live in the present and focus on other forms of transcendence (outside of health) may be beneficial, rather than lying in wait for future technologies that would provide it. We need to take age appropriate risks that suit the times we are living in, and take full advantage of the technology we have available, as this will help to move technology in general, and Transhumanism in particular, ahead.

*After publishing this article on Thursday April 21 it was pointed out to me that the viewpoints of R.U. Sirius were not represented as clearly as they could have been, causing some readers to believe that, according to Sirius, Mondo Transhumanists and Extroprian Transhumanists had the same health related objectives in the early 90s. As Sirius points out in his article, the Extropians were concerned with ‘nutrients’ in the 90s, and when he speaks of a shift in culture for Transhumanists, he is speaking about the shift between Mondo Transhumanists and Transhumanists of today, not Extropians and Transhumanists of today. Although both groups experienced a shift, both coming to care more about longevity over the past 20 years, and less about partying, it is important to note that Extropians were very much concerned with health in the early 90s, and so there is less to differentiate with regards to health between then and now as far as they are concerned.

 

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

 

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Under-predicting the Future

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The new movie, Source Code, contains lots of technology that people interested in the Singularity and Transhumanism would recognize: Consciousness uploading. Parallel universes. Immersive virtual reality. Time travel. And on.

There’s also some technology we might not expect. For instance, people are still traveling to work in trains.

Doesn’t that strike you as odd?

Obviously the writers will explain that this “source code” technology is a super-secret, government-eyes-only technology that has yet to be released (or unleashed) on the world at large. Obviously, Wikileaks has been closed in the near future.

But the writers of Source Code aren’t the only folks that have a difficult time grasping the pre-Singularity and post-Singularity world.

I recently read Damien Broderick’s 2001 book, The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed By Rapidly Advancing Technologies. It’s a fantastic book. I recommend it. However, I noticed in one section Broderick ponders what uploads will do for a living. I personally was hoping that once we create technology powerful enough to upload consciousness that I wouldn’t need to work schlepping digital hamburgers at some cyber version of McDonald’s to pay rent on my new virtual reality.

I don’t mean to pick on these folks. I include myself in the group that finds it difficult to conceive and articulate what exponential technological change will cause. We all have blind spots.

Here are a few blocks to understanding the Singularity:

Drama addiction. Let’s face it. Drama — challenges, threats, suspense — creates and moves myths. If Dorothy crushes both the witches at the start of the Wizard of Oz, it’s not much of a movie, is it? I’m sure the Source Code writers grappled with this. But, this may create unnecessarily negative outlooks on technological change.

Pieces versus Patterns. Humans are generalists who try desperately to specialize, especially in knowledge collection. So, we tend to have better grasp over specific pieces of information rather than whole patterns. The future, however, rarely arrives in a single-file fashion. Fore example, we might be able to predict satellite technology would change how we watch television. But could we see that this technology would create GPS systems or new warfighting powers? The ability to predict the future piecemeal often leads to the law of unintended consequences. When people talk about quantum computer today they often discuss super-secure communication, but that may only be the lowest of the lowest hanging fruit. How could a quantum computer affect virtual reality, for example?

Imagination (or the lack thereof). Most of us don’t have the imagination to conceive how the future will shape our lives in the next two weeks, let alone the next few years. The type of change we’re facing is also unprecedented. We can be excused for lacking the imagination to get our heads around the paradigm-changing technology that’s already on the horizon.

There are probably more, but I hope this offers some reasons why both predicting the future is always iffy, but not impossible and why writing good sci-fi is iffy (but not impossible). The first step to making better predictions and better fiction, though, is to recognize our blind spots.

About the Author:

Matt Swayne is a blogger and science writer. He is particularly interested in quantum computing and the development of businesses around new technologies. He writes at Quantum Quant.

The Charlie Sheen Guide to Predicting Our Transhuman Future

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As technology follows its Moore’s Law speedway toward exponentially increasing power and ubiquity, futurists are just as rapidly falling into two schools of thought on how humans will handle this new-found power.

Nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, immersive virtual reality, and dozens of other tools and technologies are poised to transform life in fundamental ways. Repetitive tasks and duties that most people think are odious could disappear. Robots will cook, clean, cut the grass, and perform dozens of other jobs that we — or at least, I — try to avoid. Virtual reality will become better than the real thing.

For those who have accepted this technocentric future, the real question is how humans will deal with this transformation. Not everyone thinks transhumanity is going to be better. In fact, some believe that the future will lead to lazy, over-indulged, shallow-thinking slugs who will probably end up starving themselves to death in a virtual reality environment.

And these are the optimistic ones. There’s always the chance that future technologies will destroy humanity entirely. Yay.

So what future will it be?

I think it’s possible to accurately model our future. We already have a group of people in society who have lots of time on their hands, employ robotic-like workers to satisfy every need, and can access incredible amounts of wealth. We call them celebrities.

 

Is this our guide to the future?!

For the future pessimists out there, they only have to point to, what I call, the Charlie Sheen guide to predicting the future. Once humanity encounters runaway abundance, effortless attainment and gobs of time on our hand, we’ll all end up in semi-lucid stupor spouting off about Tiger’s blood and trolls while dipping into softball-sized mounds of cocaine — or whatever nootropic we’ll have on hand in the near-future.

Case closed?!

Even though there is a seemingly exhaustless supply of celebrities to assure us we all face a Charlie Sheen future — this could have easily been called the Lindsay Lohan scenario — there are other members of the rich and famous set who point to another future. Some celebrities, who, granted, had more than their share of Charlie Sheen moments, grow bored with some of the baser human desires and struggle (without any pharmaceutical assistant) to achieve higher levels of consciousness. We could put the late George Harrison, of the Beatles, in this category. He grew more disillusioned with his celebrity status and devoted himself to pursuing Eastern religions and philosophy. Cat Stevens became Yusaf Islam, an Islamic fundamentalist.

Other celebrities — cushioned with time and money — devote themselves even more to their art, achieving higher forms of transcendence.

So, the answer to the question — “Will future technologies trap us or free us?” — appears, like all great questions, to be yes — and no.

Here’s the key: if human nature remains the same in the future, then the future will remain the same in human nature.

 

Strawberry Fields Forever Anyone?!

About the Author:

Matt Swayne is a blogger and science writer. He is particularly interested in quantum computing and the development of businesses around new technologies. He writes at Quantum Quant.

The Singularity and UFOs: Can ET Teach Us Anything about the Singularity?

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The connections between extraterrestrial life and future technology are numerous, and have been widely discussed in science fiction literature and by physicists such as Michio Kaku. There is basic logic to the connection: if life in other galaxies is able to travel to our galaxy, it is thought, then we should assume their technology is more advanced than our own and that they have already reached their ‘Singularity.’

Recently I attended the 20th Anniversary International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, AZ, which included 5 full days of presentations, special events, and films, attracting over 700 attendants. Various theorists, physicists, former military personnel, many of whom claim to have witnessed extraterrestrial life, presented ideas and stories on a wide range of topics.

I was surprised by the lack of discussion of the technological singularity at the conference. However many of the presentations provided useful insights into what a Singularity in other galaxies would entail, if the reports presented were valid.

One consistent observation coming from those claiming to have experienced UFOs was how quiet, and many say, silent, UFO spacecrafts are. At this event, the most well-respected, and in my opinion, most believable, alien abductee, Travis Walton (best known by the film based on his story Fire in the Sky), remarked on the experience of watching the spacecraft exit his vision (back in 1975), surprised that it was an experience with no sound, especially given how fast it appeared to be traveling.

Many people notice how quiet hybrid cars are compared to combustion engines. Transportation in civilizations with advanced technology appears to be almost completely silent.

Other consistent claims were the high level of design sophistication of spacecrafts, which were consistently portrayed being able to travel at very rapid speeds and maneuver with great agility.

Lloyd Pye, the man primarily associated with the infamous Starchild Skull presented recent genetic information indicating what he thinks shows that the Starchild skull is not of human origin. He bases this claim upon (reportedly) finding that the DNA of the Starchild has vastly different mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) from human mtDNA.  Since mtDNA in humans mutates very little, he argues, the likelihood of the Starchild being a mutation he thinks is very low.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/moEYqLdupIA[/youtube]

He suggests genetic engineering from an advanced civilization as possible explanation for the Starchild Skull. He wouldn’t name the geneticists working with him and is looking for funding of $7 million to finish the DNA sequencing and make two documentaries.

Needless to say, there were presentations at the conference that were quite obviously for the purpose of taking advantage of older, and less critical thinkers. These con artist presenters, some using very obviously Photoshopped images, combined messages of vague, new-age spirituality and abduction claims for the purpose, arguably, of media publicity, and making money through book revenues.

I myself, the band hired to entertain at the conference, and a handful of others were the only attendees under the age of 30, with the average age being around 60. The popularity of aliens was, after all, at its height between 1940-1980. The lack of technical and up to date scientific knowledge on the part of the older attendees definitely allowed con artists to get further and sway more minds than they would have in a younger crowd.

There seemed to be resentment, or at least an attempt to create resentment on the part of the crowd, by the speakers towards the scientific community. Those working in more mainstream science fields tend to reject the claims of alien encounters on rational or scientific grounds, and for that were referred to in a derogatory way by many speakers, referred to as simply ‘the scientists.’

One highlight of the conference was most certainly the presentations of James Penniston and John Burroughs regarding the Bentwaters Mystery, also known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident. It is one of the more well-known and respected UFO reports to date and many people find the case convincing.

Unfortunately, if one had knowledge of the Singularity, one was easily skeptical of the central message. They claim that their experience with aliens in 1980 was actually an experience with humans  (having perfected knowledge of physics) visiting us from 40,000 years in the future. The purpose they claim for the visit was to obtain human DNA for the sake of knowledge and other things.

Penniston spoke about the time travel message during hypnosis in 1994. So, these ideas were put forth prior to our mapping and banking the human genome. Had they foreseen our doing this they may have claimed something different perhaps. In their defense, since this information was produced through hypnosis, they may not be entirely to blame for the fiction of these claims.

Off the record, Penniston was questioned by a conference attendee regarding this discontinuity. He claimed, rather defensively, that he didn’t know how to explain the need for human DNA by these future beings since we have so much of it stored now.  “I don’t know, I don’t know” Penniston remarked nervously, trying to escape the questioners.

Having knowledge of future technology trends, and being able to understand what future technology would be required for another species able to travel all the way to our galaxy (nanotechnology, advanced computational abilities), allows one to be an effective skeptic, and makes one less susceptible to UFO con artists. One could also make up better stories about the intent of aliens as well.

But there are important things that Singularitarians can learn from discourse about aliens, even the fiction.

One interesting thing to ponder is the variety seen in the description of alien encounters cross culturally. As discussed in the “Cross Cultural Patterns in Abductions” sections of the MIT Discussions, there is very little coherence in descriptions of the experiences.

Cultural perceptions of advanced technology play a role in how alleged alien encounters play out, so we can look at the descriptions of these encounters for insight into how we as a culture perceive advanced technology.

It is well known that Japanese culture has a warmer regard for robots and futuristic technology, compared with the Western culture, which is typically more fearful of it.

Skeptics argue that science fiction since the 1930s has influenced and shaped expectations of alien encounters in the West.

A 1935 issue of Amazing Stories, which featured on its cover “an illustration of a being with large eyes and a large head who was restraining a human from entering a room where another human was reclined on a table with another large-eyed creature examining her,” for instance, is thought to have influenced and shaped expectations of what an encounter with extraterrestrials might entail.

It is a common experience for those enthusiastic about advanced technology to have their views met with pessimism by those steeped in science fiction literature and films.

Most Americans believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Many futurists agree that there is as well. Where futurists disagree is on whether or not another species has visited earth. Ray Kurzweil, for instance, in Time’s 10 Questions for Ray, argues that there is no evidence of intelligent life elsewhere that we have so far witnessed. For this reason he thinks we are likely to be the first species to reach a Singularity.

Many disagree with Ray on this. I for one find it difficult to dismiss the abduction case of Travis Walton, especially given the consistency in witness testimony, and especially after having met him and listened to him speak on the matter. Not to mention, the prevalence of alleged alien phenomenon, and famous  UFO cases witnessed by thousands such as the Phoenix Lights lead us to believe that something regarding aliens and advanced technology is in need of explanation.

The issue of extraterrestrial life raises interesting questions for those interested in the Singularity.

Should some of the stories be true, what does that tell us about our own future?  Will we very soon be doing what aliens are now doing, travelling to other galaxies to investigate more primitive civilizations?  And if alien encounters are indeed as negative as some abductees claim, will there be an intergalactic battle for mankind’s survival post Singularity as portrayed in science fiction?

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

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Forget Flying Cars, Brain Driven Cars are the Next Big Thing

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“Look Mom, no hands!” might not only be a phrase used for excited  young bicyclists but may also translate onto speedy and congested highways if a group of Artificial Intelligence German researchers perfect their latest project—brain-powered vehicles.

The team of researchers, who work for AutoNOMOS innovation labs in Freie Universitat Berlin, are in the midst of compromising a technological system called the BrainDriver that will make all of those pesky tasks like using hands and feet to steer and brake obsolete. Drivers will also be able to spark the ignition, turn left and right, and accelerate or decelerate simply using their brain waves.

Sounds like something ripped out the pages of a H.G. Wells novel right? Well if lead researcher Paul Rojas and his colleagues can work out all the kinks in their state-of-the-art technology, then the steering wheel might just well be on its way of turning into a relic of the past.

So how will these brain-driven cars work, exactly? As explained in the video below, drivers will be required to wear the Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset. This headset is equipped with 16 sensors that have the ability to decode electromagnetic signals—more specifically those that can understand brain patterns that are linked to comprehending the directional commands mentioned above. Granted (aside from the headset) the vehicle itself will have additional features—including laser and radar sensors and video cameras.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/iDV_62QoHjY[/youtube]

While a delayed response rate between the thinking and command action currently seems to be the biggest flaw, there are other major issues of concern that researchers have not addressed such as: what about all of the drivers with ADHD and those with road rage? Have these groups of people, including many others, been factored into the system? What are they suppose to say if an accident were to occur due to road rage for example? “I’m sorry officer; I didn’t really mean to ram my front end of the car into the back of that vehicle. I only ‘thought’ about accelerating.”

On the other hand, while surely there are still flaws that researchers need to work on, this brain driven car can do wonders for others—especially disabled people who many no longer have the use of limbs and legs.

While the concept of brain-driven cars is currently under development, researches warn that we will not be seeing them on the streets just yet.  “This is just proof of a concept,” researches state in the instructional video. “The task here was to show free driving by detecting brain patterns. There is still a long way to go until we can take full control of the machines with our brains.”

About the Author:

This guest post is contributed by Tara Miller, who has completed her Bachelors in Psychology. She particularly enjoys writing about psychology degree. Questions or comments can be sent to:  miller.tara23@gmail.com.

 

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Music in the Age of Spiritual Machines

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Ray Kurzweil’s 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines has a metallic, semi-reflective cover. One way to interpret this stylistic choice has been to think of the cover as a metaphor for the rest of the book in that it is meant to reflect the future of humanity; literally.

When looking at the cover, one sees a metallic version of oneself. Kurzweil predicts that we will merge with machines so that the human race becomes a hybridization of man and machine, of biological and non-biological.

The cover is a figurative mirror test for human-machine consciousness. When looking at the cover, one sees one’s future self.

When Kurzweil first proposed that machines would be spiritual, his view was met with strong criticism. Many academics and theologians rejected the idea altogether, claiming that Kurzweil really didn’t understand spirituality, or, that accepting his thesis required redefinition, a ‘devaluation’ of the word ‘spiritual.’

Since then it seems we have been gradually accepting his viewpoint on this.

One harbinger of ideological change in culture occurs with a shift in the artistic community. Art reflects social norms and beliefs, but it can also portend them.

There is a long list of artists whose work has been inspired directly by Kurzweil’s ideas and more and more, musical artists are addressing the Singularity. These include: Our Lady Peace; The Foals; Paul Dempsey; Yeasayer and Bright Eyes.

For example, Arc of Time, a 2006 song by Bright Eyes, alludes to the potential spiritual nature of ‘mind uploading.’ The lyrics discuss the spiritual epiphany of being ‘born again,’ making an analogy between being ‘born again’ as a Christian and being ‘born again’ on a circuit board. On a circuit board, Bright Eyes writes, spiritual epiphany might be limitless, as one can be ‘born again’ over and over:

“To the deepest part of the human heart

The fear of death expands

Until we crack the code we have always known

But could never understand

On a circuit board we will soon be born

***

Again and again and again and again…

[youtube]https://youtu.be/yj3B0dWrcTE[/youtube]

Paul Dempsey has written a song about Ray Kurzweil’s fictional avatar alter ego ‘Ramona,’ emphasizing the beauty and limitless nature of future beings with lines like:

“Eyes like crystal balls

That just won’t shut up

About the future of the future”

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5973226[/vimeo]

In addition to music being written about the spiritual aspects of the Singularity, there are machines producing music now that could be considered ‘spiritual.’

David Cope created Emily Howell in the 1990s. Emily can compose new pieces of music that sound as if written by Beethoven, Bach and others by finding patterns in the composer’s style and replicating those patterns in new compositions. Howell produced its own CD of ‘original’ work entitled From Darkness, Light, which was met with varied reviews.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/QEjdiE0AoCU[/youtube]

Human-machine interfaces used in making music have become more nuanced as of late, allowing us to better envision how the human spirit can be preserved in the ‘human-machine’ hybrid.

Accomplished artists such as Brian Eno have gone on record against human-machine interfaces when it comes to making really meaningful music. In an interview with Pitchfork last year, Eno gave a critique of electronic instrumentation for its inability to capture the subtle kinesthetic intelligence being exerted in musical expression.

But there is growing evidence that the limitations in this facet of human-machine interaction are temporary and perhaps very soon to be eliminated.

Steven Mann’s Hyradulophone gives a glimpse into the kinds of interfaces we can expect in the future, where ‘tactile’ information coming from us can be preserved in the interaction with devices. Mann is not on his own with these engineering goals, high precision ‘haptic’ interfaces are being developed in all realms of human-machine interaction.

Are we witnessing the early evidence of machines becoming spiritual? Are we beginning to think of the Singularity in a spiritual way as Kurzweil proposed in 1999?

It is true that there is more to human spirituality than is embodied in artistic expression. But the production of art is admittedly an important aspect of human spirituality.  The first evidence of human spirituality is thought by many anthropologists to correlate with the appearance of artifacts.

Ultimately, spiritual expression on the part of machines will be something we will know when we see it. Like consciousness, a Turing Test will only tell us so much about a machine’s status with regards to spirituality. We will know when machines stop imitating spirituality and actually start embodying it.

It seems we are well on track to the future that Kurzweil predicted in 1999, and many people outside the Singularity community itself are beginning to recognize the spiritual potential of machines.

The development of spiritual insight on the part of machines will create an intimate and profound connection between machines and us.

The mirror stage in human beings leads to a profound connection between body and self, between the ‘mechanistic’ and the mind.

Like the recognition of the mind as the operator of the body, recognizing a spiritual nature in a machine will lead to a unity between man and machine important to many tasks that humans and machines will face together in the future.

About the Author:

Nikki Olson is a writer/researcher working on an upcoming book about the Singularity with Dr. Kim Solez, as well as relevant educational material for the Lifeboat Foundation. She has a background in philosophy and sociology, and has been involved extensively in Singularity research for 3 years. You can reach Nikki via email at inikki3@gmail.com.

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