Lifeboat Foundation

A few days ago, transhumanist author and politician Zoltan Istvan had an article published on The Maven titled “Transhumanism is Under Siege from Socialism.” It was there that he stated, “Transhumanists must favor the free world and free market to make its movement as powerful and successful as possible,” and must equally “be on their guard against[socialism].” I disagree — at least when it comes to the free market.

In order to survive the impending trend of proliferated automation, transhumanists must prepare for a future that is post-capitalist by nature.

Continue reading “Why the Transhumanist Movement Needs Socialism” »

I’m excited to share I’ll be speaking/debating at the upcoming #Biohack the Planet 2018 conference in Oakland on Aug 31 & Sept 1. Many interesting biohackers will be there. Tickets are still available and very reasonably priced right now, but they will likely sell out. Hope to see you there! Here’s the speaker list: http://biohacktheplanet.com/2018-speakers/ #transhumanism #biohacker & ticket page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/biohack-the-planet-2018-ticket…

Bryan Johnson is the founder and CEO of Kernel, OS Fund and Braintree.

In 2016, Bryan invested $100M in Kernel to build advanced neural interfaces to treat disease and dysfunction, illuminate the mechanisms of intelligence, and extend cognition. Kernel is on a mission to dramatically increase our quality of life as healthy lifespans extend. He believes that the future of humanity will be defined by the combination of human and artificial intelligence (HI +AI). In 2014, Bryan invested $100M to start OS Fund which invests in entrepreneurs commercializing breakthrough discoveries in genomics, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, precision automation, and new materials development. Bryan founded Braintree in 2007, later acquiring Venmo, which he sold to Ebay in 2013 for $800M. He is an outdoor-adventure enthusiast, pilot, and author of a children’s book, Code 7.

Continue reading “2018 Speakers” »

“The Future: A Very Short Introduction” (OUP, 2017) by Dr. Jennifer M Gidley.

Oxford University Press has just released a wonderful little animation video centring on my book “The Future: A Very Short Introduction” published in 2017. In an entertaining way it shows how the concept of the future or futures is central to so many other concepts — many of which are the subject of other OUP Very Short Introductions. The VSI Series now has well over 500 titles, with ‘The Future’ being number 516.

To watch the video click here.

Continue reading “An Introduction to the Future with Oxford VSI” »

Transhumanist Declaration VirtualTranshumanism Virtual is the viewpoint that sapient society, corporeal, digital, and virtual should embrace, wisely, thoughtfully, and compassionately, the radical transformational potential of technology. The Transhumanist Party Virtual calls for: — Projects to take full advantage of accelerating technology. — Economic and personal liberation of all sapient beings — An inclusive new social contract for all sapient and sentient beings in the light of technological disruption — A evolutionary regulatory system to fast-track innovative breakthroughs — Reform of democratic processes with new tools — Education transformed in readiness for a radically different future — A transhumanist rights agenda for all sapient and sentient beings in the coming transhumanist age — An affirmative new perspective on existential risks.

Transhumanist Party Virtual

Transhumanists aim to do just that: to transcend the limits of the human body through the use of technology. Swiss photographer Matthieu Gafsou’s new book, H+ (Kehrer Verlag), documents Transhumanism through portraiture, still lifes and documentary photographs of Tranhumanist people, facilities, tools and technology. In photographing surgical procedures, laboratories, conferences and the like, Gafsou employed a hard flash to add a “clinical aspect” to his pictures. “This was important to me because I think [Transhumanism] is quite cold and [it] is about, not necessarily killing death but working on living longer,” he tells PDN. “But we are forgetting the body, we are forgetting the flesh, we are forgetting desire.”

In “H+,” Gafsou uses the visual language of science and technology to explore Transhumanism, the belief that the human body needs to be enhanced, perhaps even overcome.

Friends, I’m super excited to announce I’m launching a new #transhumanism column at The Maven, a new site out that features leaders in their field writing about their lives and activities. My column (or channel as The Maven editors call them) is titled: Transhumanist Wager. And I’ll be posting every day on it, often with original stories. Here’s my first one, just out! Give it a read!

Transhumanism—the social movement of merging people with machines & synthetic parts—is turning dangerously hard left.

What we need to do, to prevent global wealth inequality and advanced technology from adding up to produce global catastrophe, is increase equitability of opportunity. We need to enable everyone in the world to have the opportunity to really play the modern global economic-social game.

AI scientist BEN GOERTZEL believes that advanced technologies will change the world and transform our species in the process — unless tragedy strikes. Here’s how we ought to save the world if it does …

“Our main goal is to let patients control them as naturally as though they were their biological limbs,” says Professor Dario Farina from Imperial College.

A team of scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Göttingen have teamed up to create a ‘next generation’ bionic hand. This bionic hand is special because it uses artificial intelligence to improve its functionality.

Take this seriously and you can see how the idea of living for ever is incoherent. If your body could be kept going for a thousand years, in what sense would the you that exists now still be around then? It would be more like a descendant than it would a continuation of you. I sometimes find it hard to identify with my teenage self, and that was less than 40 years ago. If I change, I eventually become someone else. If I don’t, life becomes stagnant and loses its direction.

It’s great that more of us are living to 100, but the transhumanist dream of immortality would betray what it means to be human says philosopher Julian Baggini.