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Archive for the ‘transhumanism’ category: Page 104

Aug 31, 2016

What is Transhumanism?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, robotics/AI, transhumanism

A nice story out on transhumanism:


An idea that has frequently been used by science fiction is now starting to gain widespread attention by futurists, scientists, philosophers, and even the general public; the idea that the human species needs to use either artificial augmentations or gene manipulation to usher in the next stage of evolution. That idea is transhumanism.

Transhumanist ArtBut why would humans want to willingly accelerate or initiate the next step in evolution? The positives of transhumanism are lofty goals that mankind has sought after for years, goals such as a world without diseases, ignorance, or even death. The only question, and an extremely important one, is how much is humanity willing to modify itself to attain those goals, and could the end result still be considered human? Some sources even suggest that in order to discuss individuals who are radically different from modern-day humans, the term “posthuman” must be used. Transhumanists who alter or augment themselves would theoretically at some point become a posthuman.

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Aug 29, 2016

Westworld: New Trailer Teases HBO’s Violent Sci-Fi Western

Posted by in categories: entertainment, robotics/AI, transhumanism

This looks really fantastic and deals heavily with transhumanist themes, among others. It’s definitely worth giving it a shot. I know i will!


A new trailer for HBO’s highly anticipated drama series Westworld teases a brewing battle between humans and robots at a Western-themed theme park.

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Aug 28, 2016

Watch This Mind-Controlled Bionic Arm Touch and Feel

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, transhumanism

Melissa Loomis, an amputee, is pushing the sensory capabilities of the most advanced neuroprosthetic in the world.

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Aug 28, 2016

Bionics Consultant Will Rosellini Predicts ‘Deus Ex’-Style Human Augmentation in Our Lifetime

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism

I recently had the pleasure to speak with Eidos Montreal’s primary bionics consultant for the Deus Ex series, Will Rosellini.

Will has been involved with the franchise since the development of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and has had a major influence on the developer’s depiction of future human augmentation. It was a fascinating conversation, and likely not our last: Will is pushing a lot of new technology, both in and outside the world of Deus Ex.

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Aug 27, 2016

Cyborgs are already here, but the next steps will make you nauseous

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, transhumanism

From bionic limbs to sensors that let you “smell’ color, the body modifications of science fiction are finally coming to fruition, and not all of them are born in squeaky-clean hospital labs.

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Aug 26, 2016

​The Language of Aliens Will Always Be Indecipherable

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks, geopolitics, mathematics, singularity, transhumanism

My new Vice Motherboard story on the Fermi Paradox, Jethro’s Window, and why we’ll never discover intelligent aliens:


Here’s the sad solution to Fermi’s Paradox: We’ve never discovered other life forms because language and communication methods in the Singularity evolve so rapidly that even in one minute, an entire civilization can become transformed and totally unintelligible. In an expanding universe that is at least 13.6 billion years old, this transformation might never end. What this means is we will never have more than a few seconds to understand or even notice our millions of neighbors. The nature of the universe—the nature of communication in a universe where intelligence exponentially grows—is to keep us forever unaware and alone.

The only time we may discover other intelligent life forms is that 100 or so years during Jethro’s Window, and then it requires the miracle of another species in a similar evolutionary time table, right then, looking for us too. Given the universe is so gargantuan and many billions of years old, even with millions of alien species out there, we’ll never find them. We’ll never know them. It’s an unfortunate mathematical certainty.

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Aug 25, 2016

The Man Biohacking Encryption From His Garage

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, cyborgs, encryption, transhumanism

A pioneer in the biohacking scene since the mid-2000s, Amal Graafstra’s been experimenting with RFID implants for more than a decade. Now Graafstra is developing implants that go beyond RFIDs.

In episode 2 of Humans+, Motherboard travels to his company Dangerous Things’ garage headquarters to get an early look at UKI, a prototype implant focused on encryption that’s expected to be released in 2017. Amal hopes that this technology will bring us one step closer to merging our physical and digital identities, but how will society react to having these technologies implanted beneath our skin?

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Aug 25, 2016

Forget ‘great,’ presidential hopeful Zoltan Istvan wants to make America immortal

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, life extension, transhumanism

New feature story on transhumanism out on Digital Trends:


Zoltan Istvan is the Transhumanist party leader and independent candidate for the forthcoming U.S. elections. And he wants you to live forever.

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Aug 24, 2016

​The Jesus Singularity

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, life extension, mobile phones, robotics/AI, singularity, transhumanism

I’m super excited to share my first fiction since writing “The Transhumanist Wager” four years ago. Vice Motherboard has published this short story of mine on the challenge of AI becoming religious—and what that might mean for humanity. It’s a short read and the story takes place just a few years into the future. And yes, the happenings in this story could occur.


For the second installment of our series exploring the future of human augmentation, we bring you a story by the Transhumanist Party’s presidential candidate (and occasional Motherboard columnist), Zoltan Istvan. Though he’s spent most of the last year traveling the nation in a coffin-shaped bus, spreading the gospel of immortality and H+, he’s no stranger to fiction. His novel, The Transhumanist Wager, is about the impact of evolving beyond this mortal coil. This story is even bolder. Enjoy the always provocative, always entertaining, Zoltan Istvan. –the editor.

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Aug 24, 2016

Steve Fuller’s Review of Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

Posted by in categories: big data, bioengineering, biological, bionic, cyborgs, disruptive technology, energy, evolution, existential risks, futurism, homo sapiens, innovation, moore's law, neuroscience, philosophy, policy, posthumanism, robotics/AI, science, singularity, theory, transhumanism

My sociology of knowledge students read Yuval Harari’s bestselling first book, Sapiens, to think about the right frame of reference for understanding the overall trajectory of the human condition. Homo Deus follows the example of Sapiens, using contemporary events to launch into what nowadays is called ‘big history’ but has been also called ‘deep history’ and ‘long history’. Whatever you call it, the orientation sees the human condition as subject to multiple overlapping rhythms of change which generate the sorts of ‘events’ that are the stuff of history lessons. But Harari’s history is nothing like the version you half remember from school.

In school historical events were explained in terms more or less recognizable to the agents involved. In contrast, Harari reaches for accounts that scientifically update the idea of ‘perennial philosophy’. Aldous Huxley popularized this phrase in his quest to seek common patterns of thought in the great world religions which could be leveraged as a global ethic in the aftermath of the Second World War. Harari similarly leverages bits of genetics, ecology, neuroscience and cognitive science to advance a broadly evolutionary narrative. But unlike Darwin’s version, Harari’s points towards the incipient apotheosis of our species; hence, the book’s title.

This invariably means that events are treated as symptoms if not omens of the shape of things to come. Harari’s central thesis is that whereas in the past we cowered in the face of impersonal natural forces beyond our control, nowadays our biggest enemy is the one that faces us in the mirror, which may or may not be able within our control. Thus, the sort of deity into which we are evolving is one whose superhuman powers may well result in self-destruction. Harari’s attitude towards this prospect is one of slightly awestruck bemusement.

Here Harari equivocates where his predecessors dared to distinguish. Writing with the bracing clarity afforded by the Existentialist horizons of the Cold War, cybernetics founder Norbert Wiener declared that humanity’s survival depends on knowing whether what we don’t know is actually trying to hurt us. If so, then any apparent advance in knowledge will always be illusory. As for Harari, he does not seem to see humanity in some never-ending diabolical chess match against an implacable foe, as in The Seventh Seal. Instead he takes refuge in the so-called law of unintended consequences. So while the shape of our ignorance does indeed shift as our knowledge advances, it does so in ways that keep Harari at a comfortable distance from passing judgement on our long term prognosis.

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