How Do Transhumanists Party?
How Do Transhumanists Party?
How Do Transhumanists Party?
Posted 119 days ago
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How Do Transhumanists Party?
Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
Posted 125 days ago
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Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
Love and Sex with Robots: The Next Step of the Relationship between Man and Machine?
Love and Sex with Robots: The Next Step of the Relationship between Man and Machine?
Love and Sex with Robots: The Next Step of the Relationship between Man and Machine?
Posted 163 days ago
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Love and Sex with Robots: The Next Step of the Relationship between Man and Machine?
Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
Posted 181 days ago
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Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
A Transhumanist Manifesto
A Transhumanist Manifesto
A Transhumanist Manifesto
Posted 254 days ago
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A Transhumanist Manifesto
Hamlet's Transhumanist Dilemma: Will Technology Replace Biology?
Hamlet’s Transhumanist Dilemma: Will Technology Replace Biology?
Hamlet’s Transhumanist Dilemma: Will Technology Replace Biology?
Posted 334 days ago
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Hamlet’s Transhumanist Dilemma: Will Technology Replace Biology?
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A Turing Test Point of View: Will the Singularity be Biased?

by Nikki Olson

Computers, by their very nature, don’t need to have a point of view. However, for our purposes, it is often preferred that they do. In the days before natural language processing, this manifested as a bias towards other computers. For example, Macintosh hardware didn’t run Windows software until 2006, and printers weren’t recognized by PC hardware without deliberate driver installation until Windows 7 came out in 2010. But as of late, computers are capable of holding a new kind of ‘bias’, that being a ‘biased’ opinion about human beings, and about the world at large. This past year computers began working as journalists, writing articles about data-intensive topics such as weather and sports. For articles generated by the software program Statsheet, over 80% of the time, sports readers cannot tell whether a computer or human has written the article. Say [...]

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Question Everything: Max More on Singularity 1 on 1

by Socrates

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is transhumanist strategic philosopher Max More. (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.) As the CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation Dr. More has a full schedule. Never-the-less he generously managed to squeeze in two 30 min interview sessions in his busy day. During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Max’s early life and childhood heroes; his interest in economics, political science and philosophy; transhumanism and extropy; the proactinary and precautionary principles; cryonics and the Alcor Foundation; his Paleo diet and exercise regimen; why it is important to question everything (and especially yourself). To find more about Max More visit his web site here. My favorite quote from Max More: “No more gods, no more [...]

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The Charlie Sheen Guide to Predicting Our Transhuman Future

by Matt Swayne

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 [...]

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Activate the Future: A Four-Part Short Documentary by BMW

by Socrates
Thumbnail image for Activate the Future: A Four-Part Short Documentary by BMW

BMW recently released an interesting series of four short documentaries under the umbrella title Activate the Future. The films are about 6 minutes each and are well worth watching. To me, the cinematography style reminds me of Honda’s The Power of Dreams series, while the proactive title brings back memories of Peter Diamandis‘ inspirational video lecture at Singularity University appropriately titled The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create it Yourself. What BMW says about the film: “Wherever You Want To Go” is the first release under BMW Documentaries—a new franchise dedicated to crafting original, thought-provoking and entertaining content. The film aims to take audiences to a place they’ve truly never been: the future. From the minds of some of the most influential scientists, academics, pioneers, and entrepreneurs of our time, this four-part documentary paints a unique picture [...]

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A Blast from the Past: William Shatner’s “Microworld”

by Socrates
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In this 15 min 1976 film from AT&T’s Tech Channel, William Shatner walks us through a world of silica, transistors, and microprocessors. Even though the movie is 35 years old it is well worth watching for it presents us with a point of reference as to how far we have come for the past 35 years. Just consider the fact that today we are able to put well over a billion transistors within the same space that used to hold only 7,000 in 1976.

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Against Nature Deficit Disorder: Why All Roads Lead Us to Merge with Machines

by Nikki Olson
Thumbnail image for Against Nature Deficit Disorder: Why All Roads Lead Us to Merge with Machines

In his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv coined the phrase ‘nature deficit disorder,’ a condition meant to provide explanation for the declining health of today’s youth. Essentially, he argues, we are meant to spend time outdoors, moving around, splashing in puddles and playing with sand, and the decreasing frequency with which we do these things can be said to account for our declining physical and mental health in the industrialized world. Symptoms of ‘nature deficit disorder’ include; attention deficit disorder, obesity, depression, mood disorders, generalized anxiety, and systemic health conditions. Louv is part of a larger group of ‘preservationist’ thinkers, including Bill McKibbern and Kirkpartick Sale, who argue that the influence of technology disrupts our tendency and desire to engage in the things that are most healthy and beneficial to us, as individuals, and as groups. [...]

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Don’t Accept Me to Singularity University: My Top 10 Reasons Why I Should Not Be Accepted

by Socrates
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I am just about ready to submit my application to Singularity University. Without any doubt, this phenomenal institution offers a totally unique and absolutely bleeding edge, intensive learning program about the exponential growth in a whole spectrum of pioneering technologies and fields such as: AI & Robotics; Nanotechnology; Networks & Computing Systems; Biotechnology & Bioinformatics; Medicine & Neuroscience; Futures Studies & Forecasting; Policy, Law & Ethics; Finance & Entrepreneurship; Energy & Ecological Systems; Space & Physical Sciences. (For more download this brochure). It is no surprise that thousands of people are applying for it. Here are 2 minutes of video highlights from the 2010 Graduate Studies opening ceremony: As part of the application process, one has to submit a short video explaining why one wants to be accepted. However, being a Socrates, I decided to submit a video presenting My [...]

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You Can’t Spell Paranoia Without AI: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and to Love Evil Artificial Intelligence

by Matt Swayne

I have a theory: It wasn’t capitalism and democracy that won the Cold War. Popular Science won the Cold War. Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines — as well as other journals and magazines that took an awe-inspired, jaw-dropping look at science and technology — paid particular interest to military technology developed by Soviet block engineers in the 1950s and 1960s. The stories typically depicted Soviet military might as growing and unbeatable. Sort of like runaway artificial general intelligence (AGI). Soviet tanks had better armor. Soviet planes were faster and more maneuverable. Soviet subs dived deeper and plowed through the water more silently. Soviet nuclear ICBMs were poised to strike more accurately and more powerfully. (A great place to check out the above claims is the Popular Science Archive Search.) We can argue how the military industrial complex easily co-opts [...]

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