A new article out by Vicki Larson at the Marin Independent Journal that explores some #transhumanism.
I visited my parents’ grave on Mother’s Day, as I have every year since my mom died in 2010. I’ll be back on the 23rd, the fifth anniversary of my dad’s death.
I was fortunate to be able to tell them how much I loved them and appreciated everything they did for me before they died, so there are no regrets, nothing left unsaid. I miss them. A lot. But would I want to bring them back to life?
We all feel overwhelmed by the speed at which new computing technologies are being thrown at us, but we haven’t seen anything yet. With the upcoming breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence technology, today’s computers will look like prehistoric tools, within just a few years. Systems are likely to follow suit, bringing us closer to strong AI, a moment when machines will be as smart as any human being. The question many fear is what will happen if and when machines become much brighter than us? In “What’s on their mind?” system consultant Serge Van Themsche describes through an engaging discussion with his driverless car, the main AI issues any concerned citizen should know about. This conversation resorts to hard and soft disciplines to better explain AIn this book you will get to understand: — What are biological and artificial knowledge, intelligence, and self-consciousness? — Which new neuroscience evidence shows how our brain programs data coming from our senses? — How can simple formulas, such as 2 power of i −1, explain how our neurons connect? — Can emotions be computable? — Can machines already create knowledge without any human interference? — Why must the computer industry mimic as closely as possible the brain functionalities to develop intelligent androids? — Why will AI be based on a discrete world rather than a digital one? — Will humans become super beings? This book will enable every reader, with or without a scientific or philosophical background, to grasp the similarities and differences between brains and computers. By doing so, he or she will not only figure out the likely paths AI will follow but also how humans will use these new technologies to transform themselves into super beings. Even though not all readers might be looking forward to Transhumanism, the movement that apprehends these modifications, they can get prepared for this future co-existence with smart robots. In the meantime, they will at least, gain a clear understanding of how their own mind works and why they become knowledgeable, intelligent, and self-aware.
Not everyone is convinced. Critics point out that one of the points of exponential growth is that it cannot carry on forever. After a 50-year run, Moore’s Law is stuttering. Singularitarians retort that the laws of physics define a limit to how much computation you can cram into a given amount of matter, and that humans are nowhere near that limit. Even if Moore’s Law slows, that merely postpones the great day rather than preventing it. Others say the Singularity is just reli…gion in new clothes, reheated millenarianism with transistors and Wi-Fi instead of beards and thunderbolts. (One early proponent of Singularitarian and transhumanist ideas was Nikolai Federov, a Russian philosopher born in 1829 who was interested in resurrecting the dead through scientific means rather than divine ones.) And those virtual-reality utopias do look an awful lot like heaven. Perhaps the best way to summarise the Singularity comes from the title of a book published in 2012: the Rapture of the Nerds.
And will it lead to the extermination of all humans?
As humans, we are defined by, among other things, our desire to transcend our humanity. Mythology, religion, fiction and science offer different versions of this dream. Transhumanism – a social movement predicated on the belief that we can and should leave behind our biological condition by merging with technology – is a kind of feverish amalgamation of all four. Though it’s oriented toward the future, and is fuelled by excitable speculation about the implications of the latest science and technology, its roots can be glimpsed in ancient stories like that of the Sumerian king Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality.
Will humans ever conquer mortality by merging with technology? The 2018 Wellcome prize winner shares his favourite books on transhumanism, from a cyborg manifesto to a Don DeLillo novel.
Continue reading “Mark O’Connell: five books to understand transhumanism” »
This week RT en Español aired a half hour show on life extension and #transhumanism on TV to millions of its #Spanish viewers. My #ImmortalityBus and work was covered. Various Lifeboat Foundation members in this video: Give it a watch:
La longevidad, la inmortalidad… Temas que nunca han dejado a nadie indiferente. Ahora algunos científicos aseguran que la inmortalidad es técnicamente alcanzable en un futuro cercano. Pero al mismo tiempo surgen preguntas de carácter moral e incluso filosófico: ¿qué significa alcanzar la inmortalidad para cada uno de nosotros? Además, en una sociedad consumista y de empresas transnacionales como la nuestra, suena poco convincente que la inmortalidad pueda llegar a ser accesible para todos.
In this special edition we are going on a tour of the Foundation’s ‘Transhuman House’.
Set in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, let’s fly in and take a look…
Continue reading “Touring the Transhuman House, Sustainable Technologies and our Future” »
