Transumanar

4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology by Terasem, in Second Life

Terasem’s 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology was held on Sunday, July 20, 2008. The workshop took place at the Terasem Amphitheater in Second Life and explored what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness. Click here for detailed information. In the picture above, Terasem’s founder Martine Rothblatt gives the opening address. She also gave the final presentation on Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves. In the picture below Doug Mulhall, nanotechnology author & journalist, gives his presentation on What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats?

The event really should be considered a double success. From the transhumanist perspective, the workshop gave an organic introduction to some of our ideas, also to people not previously familiar with them. Of the about 45 persons who came, a good half were previously unknown to us and not self-identified transhumanists. They listened to public policy oriented presentations of technology development and deployment (Martine and Doug), a pragmatic evaluation of cryonics technology and practice (Catherine) and a grand transhumanist vision and communication plan (Philippe). From the perspective of VR, it demonstrated that VR worlds are fast becoming a suitable venue for high profile cultural and scientific events like the GN4 workshop. Everyone in the audience behaved as professionally as it is expected from participants in a scientific conference (for example all participants muted their microphone when it was requested to leave the audio channel to the speakers), and the high quality of the many questions asked matched the high quality of the presentations.

In the picture above Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and one of the founding members of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, gives his presentation on Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers. See the full text of this presentation and a streaming video with audio. In the picture below Catherine Baldwin, General Manager of Suspended Animation, gives her presentation on Lawyers, Guns and Money: Lessons for Cryonics from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution.

All Power Point presentations are archived at the GN4 website, and at the Terasem Island (SLURL). Clicking on this SLURL with the Second Life client running will provide a teleport to the entrance of the Terasem Island Amphitheater. The Power Point presentations are currently archived on the beach at the opposite exit of the Amphitheater.

New editor: Eschatoon

My newest multimetaversal avatar, Eschatoon, takes over as main editor of this blog. From our introduction at the Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - June 4, 5, 2008:

A personal note. I am Giulio Prisco, also known as Giulio Perhaps in Second Life. I do not keep my RL and SL identities separate, and I am more of an “augmentationist” than an “immersionist”. SL is still a very primitive VR world compared to future VR worlds, and I cannot take seriously this PC screen with toons as an alternate reality. Yet.

This is the first public appearance of Eschatoon Magic, and I could not have chosen a better audience. My other avatar looks more or less like Giulio Prisco: old, fat and plain. But _I_ look like Giulio would like to look. Future technologies may give us options to choose our physical bodies, or migrate to VR and live in virtual bodies as conscious software. Future generations may roam the universe as immortal uploads, or “souls”, and perhaps _create and become_ “gods”.

Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop, Terasem Island, Second Life, July 20

Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop to explore: 
What Geoethical Management, if any, is Appropriate for the Nanotechnology Necessary for Cryonic Revival and/or Downloaded Cyberconsciousness?

Public Invited to Lunar Landing Anniversary Event on July 20th
1pm—4PM est

Monday, July 14, 2008, Melbourne Beach, FL—Terasem Movement, Inc. announced today its Fourth Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology will be held Sunday, July 20, 2008 to honor the 39th anniversary of the first human lunar landing. The Workshop, accessible to the general public via virtual meeting at the Terasem Island Amphitheatre in Second Life at: http://secondlife.com, will explore nanotechnologies thought to be essential for cryonic revival. Geoethical Nanotechnology is atom-by-atom assembly techniques that are subject to a consensual review, approval and audit process.

The Workshop proceedings as well as question and answer sessions are open to the public via Second Life and will be subsequently archived online for free public access. The public is invited to watch, listen, and ask questions from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST. 

Each Workshop presentation is designed for a 15-20 minute delivery, followed by a 20 minute formal question and answer period, during which time questions from the worldwide audience will be invited. Presentations will also be available on the Workshop’s website at http://www.geonano2008.com/.

This year’s non-affiliated speakers by order of presentation are: Nanotechnology Author & Journalist, Douglas Mulhall; Executive Director, European Foresight Institute, Philippe Van Nedervelde; and General Manager, Suspended Animation, Inc., Catherine Baldwin.

For additional information, please contact: Loraine Rhodes at 321-676-3690, ext 100, or . 

About the Terasem Movement

Terasem Movement, Inc. is a 501c3 not-for-profit charity endowed for the purpose of educating the public on the practicality and necessity of greatly extending human life, consistent with diversity and unity, via geoethical nanotechnology and personal cyberconsciousness; concentrating in particular on facilitating revivals from biostasis. Terasem focuses on preserving, evoking, reviving and downloading human consciousness.

Terasem accomplishes its objectives by convening publicly accessible symposia, publishing explanatory analyses, conducting demonstration projects, issuing grants and encouraging public belief in a positive technologically-based future.

For more information, please visit http://www.terasemcentral.org.

PROGRAM

TERASEM MOVEMENT, INC.

Fourth Annual Virtual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology

Terasem Island, Second Life
Sunday, July 20, 2008
July 20, 2008 1PM—4PM EST

What Geoethical Management, if any, Is Appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for Cryonic Revival and/or Downloaded Cyberconsciousness?

1:00—1:10pm—Welcome by Conference Convener

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.
President, Terasem Movement, Inc.

1:10—1:30pm—“What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats”

Doug Mulhall
Nanotechnology Author & Journalist
Canada

1:30—1:50pm—Formal Interaction

1:50—2:10pm—“Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers”

Philippe Van Nedervelde
Executive Director, European Foresight Institute
Belgium

2:10—2:30pm—Formal Interaction

2:30—2:50pm—“Lawyers, Guns and Money:  Lessons for Cryonics, from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution”

Catherine Baldwin
General Manager, Suspended Animation, Inc.
Florida

2:50—3:10pm—Formal Interaction

3:10—3:30pm—“Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves”

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.
Founder & President, Terasem Movement, Inc.,
Florida

3:30—3:50pm—Formal Interaction

3:50—4:00pm—Conclusion

Awaken The Universe - Presentation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in Second Life, GN4 workshop

On July 20 Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and a Founding Member and Architect of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, will give a talk in Second Life on “Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers” at the Terasem 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology.

The workshop will explore what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness.

Reconstitution of human consciousness through cryonic revival or downloading cyber-consciousness into bio-nano bodies and similar vessels comes with its technological issues and problems. In addition to these technological issues, there are legal and oversight concerns related to the use of these yet-to-be defined technologies. The level of management and oversight required for these technologies are the focus of these sessions.

This virtual workshop will be held July 20th on Terasem Island in Second Life, an on-line virtual community, beginning at 1:00 PM and concluding at 4:00 PM EST. All workshop proceedings are open to the public via real-time webcasting and are subsequently archived online for free public access. The public is invited to attend. Click here for the Second Life teleport location. In the picture above, the 4 statues representing the 4 NBIC convergence pillars and the golden infinity sign on the Terasem island.

Speakers: Doug Mulhall - What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats?; Philippe Van Nedervelde - Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers; Catherine Baldwin - Lawyers, Guns and Money: Lessons for Cryonics from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution; Martine Rothblatt - Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves. Each workshop presentation will last 15-20 minutes followed by a 20 minute formal question and answer period during which questions from the worldwide audience will be addressed.

Transhumanist talk in Bilbao, VR talk in Ibiza

I will give a talk on transhumanism in the Auditorium of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on Tuesday 17, and a talk on VR worlds and technology / business trends in Ibiza on Saturday 21. In the image, I am in a Qwaq Forum showing a slide that I will use in both talks. I will also discuss the Order of Cosmic Engineers at both talks. Then I will stay a few days on the beach reading books of Bill Bainbridge, Charlie Stross and Richard Morgan that I just received. I will be thinking of the future of this blog, perhaps I will merge my transhumanist blog and my VR and IT blog in a new blog named Eschatoon at eschatoon.com.

Silvermoon Meeting: Launch of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in World of Warcraft

The Order of Cosmic Engineers, pre- announced at The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future conference in Second Life on June 5, 2008, was launched yesterday June 14, 2008, at the Silvermoon Meeting in World of Warcraft. Read the Prospectus of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, collaboratively authored by the Order’s founding members. See also Bainbridge’s Cosmic Engineers wiki. A picture of the event is above, there are more picture and a chatlog here.

I am very pleased to see that the first top blogger to comment on the launch of the Order has been one of my favorite writers. In an article about the Singularity, Charlie Stross writes:

Now the rapture-nerds have indeed begun to codify their beliefs. Allow me to introduce you to the Order of Cosmic Engineers. It is their intention to “joyfully set out to permeate our universe with benign intelligence, building and spreading it from inner space to outer space and beyond.” And they explain:

There’s a lot more where this came from — indeed there’s a whole huge prospectus, awaiting release next Sunday (which will be accessible here); Their formal launch event will be hosted by the Science Guild in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST. I’ve seen an early draft of the prospectus, and it is indeed something special. Let’s just say for now that I await its publication with interest: it’s bad manners to critique an early draft of divine scripture before it’s launched.

See also the very interesting comments thread. Note that Charlie’s own comments are not so positive at this moment.

Order of Cosmic Engineers - Launch event in World of Warcraft, June 14,

The foundation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers was announced at The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future conference in Second Life on June 5, 2008. There will be a launch event in World of Warcraft on June 14, 2008, at noon EST, hosted by Bainbridge’s WoW Science Guild. The Prospectus of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, collaboratively authored by the Order’s founding members, and other parts of the Order’s website, will be online on June 15, 2008.

See Bainbridge’s convergentsystems wiki for information on the Order’s launch at the Silvermoon Meeting, Saturday, June 14 noon server time. Please see the Earthen Ring US page for information on how to set up your WoW character to attend the event. In summary: you must choose the the North American server, Earthen Ring US, and your character must belong to the Horde. Europeans see here.

Max More in Second Life on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism”

Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism
Sunday June 8, 2008, SL-Transhumanists @ Extropia Core

Max More‘s talk was a key milestone, not only for transhumanism in VR worlds, but for transhumanism in general. We want to see much More of Max, and I hope this has been only the first of many appearances of Max in SL and other VR worlds, webcasts etc. I and other SL-Transhumanists are honored to have contributed to the organization of this event. As always, Max is a really excellent public speaker able to convey his message simply, clearly and effectively.

In his first public appearance in Second Life, the founder of contemporary transhumanism gave to his audience of more than 50 avatars a monster talk of two hours and discussed unsolved problems within the movement:
- Communication Strategy: How can we communicate ideas most effectively and rationally, overcoming the typical tension between the two? How does this relate to constrained and unconstrained visions of transhumanism (in Thomas Sowell’s terms)?
- Visionary Horizon: How far should we focus on offering solutions to current problems vs. envisioning longer-term solutions and visions?
- Visionary vs. Practical: To what extent should transhumanists try to be a movement that is organized, integrated, and directed? Should the movement or transhumanist activity concern itself primarily with ideas or practice or both, and should it include a major component that is a practical guide to self-transformation?
- Bridging the Knowing-doing Gap: Both as movement and as individuals, how can be do better to practice what we espouse?
- Organizing: How can we better organize and converse, using the best available knowledge to do so?
- Historical Accuracy and Continuing Honesty: Establishing and maintaining an accurate history of transhumanism; combating Orwellian rewriting of the past.

Max took questions after each point, which is a good technique that certainly helps reducing the questions clutter in a SL event and ensuring that each question is answered or at least noticed. A short videoclip with sound track is available here. Unfortunately both official volunteers could not record the full audio track as planned due to technical problems. The punishment, which will consist of encrypting their upload mindfiles with a one-time-pad that will be immediately thrown away, will be administered in due time. I hope someone recorded the audio of this great talk, please get in touch with us if you did. Breaking news: thanks to Danila (see the comment thread below) we have the

Full (well, almost) audio recording of the talk - right click to download.

On the last point, Max expressed a certain disappointment due to his impression that his work, and the work of other Extropians, is not acknowledged as it deserves. Without commenting on the infighting between different transhumanist factions that, I hope, is a thing of the past, I wish to ensure Max that I, and as far as I am aware a vast majority of transhumanists, do consider him as the founder of modern transhumanism. Max’ writings were my first introduction to transhumanism, and they immediately put my mind on fire. Of course the Web is open to everyone and nobody can, or should, be prevented from publishing her or his own account of the history of the transhumanist movement, but I hope Max himself, who has been sort of MIA in the last few years, will resume his level of activity and public writing of ten years ago to make his points loud and clear. If this Second Life event will mark the beginning of the full return of Max to the transhumanist scene, I and all other transhumanist organizers in virtual realities will think that our time has been _very_ well spent and rewarded.

The unedited text chat log follows. See above for the voice recording.

More...

Conference Report: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - Second Life, June 4, 5

The Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - June 4, 5, 2008 has been a two-day conference examining how two of the 21st Century’s driving forces, religion and technology, will continue to re-shape each other and, in the process, re-cast our understanding of “humanity” in the Third Millennium. Centered on, but not limited to, virtual worlds and social networking technologies, speakers and panelists also examined changes precipitated by the biotechnology revolution, cognitive science, information technologies and robotics. Speakers included William Sims Bainbridge, James Hughes, Giulio Prisco, Lincoln Cannon and Robert Geraci.

The “Extropia” and “Al-Andalus Caliphate Project” communities have masterfully organized of this great event dedicated to very important issues. I had this strange feeling that we were watching history in the making, and I don’t mean only history of VR worlds. The first day of the conference was held in my favorite place in Second Life: the Extropia Core sim, which among many other things is the main meeting place of of SL-Transhumanists. The second day was held in the Al-Andalus Caliphate sim, a Second Life attempt to reconstruct 13th Century Moor Alhambra and build around this virtual space a community of individuals willing to explore the modalities of interaction between different languages, nationalities, religions and cultures shaped by authentic Islamic principles. See this page on the conference website for more info. I have been many times to the Alhambra in Granada, and the look&feel is very similar. The Al-Andalus Caliphate will also become one of my favorite sims in SL. Before starting the conference on the second day I have purchased in Al-Andalus some appropriate attire for my new avatar Eschatoon Magic.

I will not write a very detailed report, as I am sure many blogs and of course the main conference website will provide one, but focus on my main impressions. On the first day, after the introduction by Michel Manen and Sophrosyne Stenvaag, William Sims Bainbridge gave a very creative presentation with a magic hat producing random quotes from his 2007 books, Across the Secular Abyss and Nanoconvergence, and a magic belt producing random quotes from babylon 5. These random sentences, taken together, formed a very coherent and fascinating presentation on Immortality of Avatars: Deciding between the Paths of Science or Religion. My favorite part of Bill’s presentation: “John Cage is dead… perhaps”. Lincoln Cannon gave once again a superlative (double sense that most readers will understand) presentation of Mormonism, Transhumanism, and the positive synergy between them embodied in the Mormon Transhumanist Association of which I, though not a Mormon, am _very_ proud of being a member. Lincoln also outlined some features of Mormonism which make it more open to transhumanist thinking. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the last three very interesting presentations of the first day. I definitely looked forward to listening to Robert Geraci’s talk.

Andrew Wallace started the second day with a thought provoking presentation of possible entangled evolutions of religion and society. Then I gave my talk on Transhumanist Religions. The full text of my talk is available here. I announced a new project that has been in the works for a few weeks: the Order of Cosmic Engineers (I will write _much_ more about this):

On behalf of its founding team, a few members of which are virtually attending this conference, I have the honor and the pleasure to announce the foundation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, humanity’s First “UNreligion of Science”, and warmly invite you to join its cosmic quest. Adopting an engineering approach and attitude, the Order aims to turn this universe into a “magical” realm in the sense of Clarke’s Third Law: a realm where sufficiently advanced technology turns daily reality into what would be considered by most today as a seemingly supernatural ‘magical’ realm.

Whatever our formal training and professional affiliations, in a very profound sense we are all scientists and engineers. We develop technical skills and design principles that will enable us to create and explore new realities. Therefore, the Order will undertake various projects, selected because they are both revolutionary and feasible at the current cutting edge of science and technology. The Order’s website can be found at http://cosmeng.org/. Its first event will be hosted by the Science Guild in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST.

James Hughes, always an excellent speaker even when he uses text chat (all speakers with the exception of Edward Lee Lamoreux used text chat), explored the impact of the coming wave of neurotechnology developments, including neural interfaces, on future developments of religious beliefs and practices in our changing society. I am grateful to the last speaker Ed Lamoreux who used voice, so I could listen to his great talk on the presence of religions online, and the sociology of online religions, while taking care of minor annoying things such as urgent business email. In summary, this was a great event, by far the best event I have attended in Second Life, with a professional organization comparable to the best events in brickspace and first rate content.

My talk at the Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future

This is the full text of my talk at the Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - June 4, 5, 2008. The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future has been a two-day conference examining how two of the 21st Century’s driving forces, religion and technology, will continue to re-shape each other and, in the process, re-cast our understanding of “humanity” in the Third Millennium. Centered on, but not limited to, virtual worlds and social networking technologies, speakers and panelists also examined changes precipitated by the biotechnology revolution, cognitive science, information technologies and robotics. Speakers included William Sims Bainbridge, James Hughes, Giulio Prisco, Lincoln Cannon and Robert Geraci.

Abstract of my talk: Transhumanist Religions
Description and analysis of new spiritual and “religious” (brackets required) movements that can be broadly described as outlines of “transhumanist religions” compatible with, and based on, the scientific worldview. Key issues: May sentient life evolve toward Godhead? May future technologies resurrect the dead? May we someday create VR universes that contain sentient life? May we _be_ sentient life in such a VR universe? Can complements or alternatives to traditional religions be based on these wild scientific speculations? What can be the impact of “transhumanist religions” on traditional religions, culture, society and politics? And the most important question: Why should this matter to you?

First, I wish to thank the “Extropia” and “Al-Andalus Caliphate Project” communities for the masterful organization of this great event dedicated to very important issues. Today I have this strange feeling that we are watching history in the making, and I don’t mean only history of VR worlds.

A personal note. I am Giulio Prisco, also known as Giulio Perhaps in Second Life. I do not keep my RL and SL identities separate, and I am more of an “augmentationist” than an “immersionist”. SL is still a very primitive VR world compared to future VR worlds, and I cannot take seriously this PC screen with toons as an alternate reality. Yet.

But I see that different identities and personas can inhabit the same skull and should be given more elbow room and more freedom from each other. I think transhumanism is about offering more options to choose from, and have decided to take advantage of the option of having multiple avatars in SL and separate my mainstream business identity from my creative and “exotic” identity. This avatar will get all the fun. I wish to ask all those who have my other avatar in their friends list to add also this one.

This is the first public appearance of Eschatoon Magic, and I could not have chosen a better audience. My other avatar looks more or less like Giulio Prisco: old, fat and plain. But _I_ look like Giulio would like to look. Future technologies may give us options to choose our physical bodies, or migrate to VR and live in virtual bodies as conscious software. Future generations may roam the universe as immortal uploads, or “souls”, and perhaps _create and become_ “gods”. This brings me to…

Transhumanist Religions

Science and religion are occasionally seen as enemies of each other, but I think this is mainly due to communication problems between the two communities. I don’t think science and religion are born enemies. On the contrary I believe _good_ religion without bigotry and dogmatic irrational fundamentalism, and _good_ science without bigotry and dogmatic ultra-rationalist fundamentalism, can not only coexist peacefully but also mutually reinforce.

Lincoln Cannon of the Mormon Transhumanist Association said at last year’s Seminar on H+ and Religion in SL: “We believe that scientific knowledge and technological power are among the means ordained of God to enable such exaltation, including realization of diverse prophetic visions of transfiguration, immortality, resurrection, renewal of this world, and the discovery and creation of worlds without end”.

This is, I believe, a perfect explanation of why, despite what fundamentalists may say, transhumanism is not at all incompatible with religion but, on the contrary, each of the two sets of sensibilities can boost the other in a positive feedback loop.

I have started using the label “Cosmic Transhumanism” to indicate a broad strand of transhumanism inspired by (among others) Ray Kurzweil‘s radically optimist “the fate of the Universe is a decision yet to be made, one which we will intelligently consider when the time is right”, the cosmic visions of Frank Tipler and James Gardner, Sir Arthur C. Clarke‘s “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and, of course, Shakespeare’s “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

I am persuaded that Cosmic Transhumanism, the idea that consciousness and intelligent life may become key factors in the future evolution of the physical universe (transcending biology, filling the universe, steering spacetime topology, spawning baby universes, “becoming gods” etc.), once developed and communicated as a strong memetic package, can provide an alternative to religion suitable for the forthcoming phase of our evolution as a species.

Good religion provides beautiful visions of the universe and our place in it, a sense of meaning, purpose and connectedness, the feeling of being part of a community with a cosmic destiny, and happiness. Good science can provide the same benefits and _may_ also provide _some degree of_ hope, grounded in the scientific method, in some of the promises of traditional religions. Including, perhaps, the possibility that some future civilization may resurrect the dead by “copying them to the future”. But without the irrational faith, rigid dogmatism and intolerance that have plagued traditional religions.

Of course I am perfectly aware that mixing science and religion may sound like a dangerous heresy to many believers in both conventional religion and the new religion of atheism and scientific ultra-rationalism. It may also disturb some politically correct intellectuals of the new left, who condemn imaginative thinking as a distraction from serious social work.

They condemn transhumanism because to them it sounds like a religion. But if religion is defined as “seeking to find transcendence and truth, meaning and purpose”, then I am ready and willing to accept the label “religious”. And I want to find what I seek through scientific means, or at least through means compatible with the scientific method and worldview. If I don’t _find_ them, I want to _build_ them by following the best methods developed by our civilization. Science and engineering have taken us from caves to where we are now, and there is no reason to think that this process should stop here.

While religion has led to sad extremes, it has also fueled many worth initiatives and provided peace of mind and sense of wonder to countless believers. The key question if how to keep the good things of religion (sense of community, happiness, and a hopeful vision of our place and purpose in the universe) without the bad things (bigotry, fundamentalism, intolerance, holy wars, burning heretics and infidels).

Here I think transhumanism, and especially its “cosmic” face aimed at achieving superhumanity and spreading to the stars and beyond, may provide a modern, energizing but tolerant alternative to religion rooted in the scientific worldview.

It is through science and practical engineering, by rolling up our sleeves and tightening one screw at a time in the fabric of reality, that our descendants will achieve superhumanity and godhead. Religions could only address our aspiration to transcendence by resorting to a mystical worldview based on supernatural concepts. But the scientific and engineering approach, based on a materialist worldview with no place for supernatural entities, will ultimately turn many promises of religion into reality. Science and engineering are not the enemies of transcendence, but the very tools that will permit achieving it.

I am assuming that everything under and beyond the stars is a physical object that must obey the laws of physics, however weird they may prove to be, and can in principle be reverse-engineered and improved upon once we have mastered the engineering applications of these laws.

In the next few decades or couple of centuries, we will apply this principle to the human body and the human mind: we will reverse-engineer them, and build better ones. As Sir Arthur C. Clarke would say, “as soon as our machines will better than our bodies, it will be time to move. First our brains, and then our thoughts alone, we will transfer into shining new homes of metal and of plastic”.

Sir Arthur wrote similar words (referred to the ETs who built the monolith on the Moon) in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, using the terminology of modern science fiction, we would probably say something like “computronium” instead of “metal and plastic”, but the concept is the same. We would also be kinder to poor HAL: in the same timeframe (a few decades to a couple of centuries) we will build artificial intelligences that will first equal, then outperform, and then partly merge with our human intelligences. As uploaded minds with indefinite lifespans, humans will spread to the stars.

Note: I am using “will” to indicate a possibility and an intention, not a certainty of a future that might also not happen (it certainly will not happen, for example, if the human species destroys itself before - not a big deal from a cosmic point of view as the same dreams will be also pursued by other intelligences in the universe, but a very big deal from our point of view). I am using “will” to say that I hope this future will happen, that I think it will happen, that it should happen, that I intend to contribute to make it happen, and that you should also contribute to make it happen.

We are attending this conference in the virtual reality world of Second Life, which must be seen as a first baby step in VR and is _very_ primitive compared to the VR worlds that we will see in only a few years. Video-realism, accurate simulated physics and high bandwidth neural interfacing technology will permit fully immersive VR worlds, with total sensorial stimulation indistinguishable from physical reality, in a few decades.

Mind uploading technology may at some point permit us migrating to our VR worlds and living there as software beings. These synthetic will also contain very advanced, sentient artificial intelligences. The ability to create synthetic worlds populated by sentient beings will mark a very important milestone in our evolution as cosmic makers. Could we _be_ conscious beings in a synthetic world simulated in and by a higher order reality? This possibility has been proposed and discussed by Nick Bostrom and others. There is no way to even estimate its plausibility at the moment. The scientific method says: have an open mind, and let future theories and experiments decide.

The Society for Universal Immortalism is a progressive religion that holds rationality, reason, and the scientific method as central tenets of its faith. I am a member if the Society, and wish to thank the other members for many stimulating ideas and discussions. In particular, I am indebted to R. Michael Perry for the beautiful declaration in his book ”Forever for All”: “To that end, we dedicate ourselves to finding a way one day to bring back all persons who have ever lived, so they can join in our eternal adventure”.

This is a very strong idea, which may permit a full reconciliation between the scientific and religious worldviews. Universal immortalists do not propose any specific engineering approach to resurrection, but consider it as an objective that future technology may be able to achieve, someday, based on future scientific advances.

I see Universal Immortalism as Transhumanism “plus something”. This “something” is the resurrection idea: finding a way one day to bring back all persons who have ever lived. Even if Universal Immortalism is scientific speculation (we hope to resurrect the dead using “future magic” based on science and engineering), the resurrection idea is very hard to swallow even for many transhumanists. But in my view, Universal Immortalism is perfectly compatible with transhumanism, and constitutes its logical endpoint. The engineering challenge will be huge of course, but so it was for the development of agriculture.

Let’s move on to the stars toward our cosmic destiny, and then we will see. President Kennedy said: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too”. A few years later, watching the first men walking on the moon, it was easy to believe in humanity’s destiny in space.

Too bad space “did not happen”. Today’s world is a complex, interconnected and difficult place on its way to becoming even more so. We need grand visions for all humanity, that can energize all persons on our little blue planet and provide the drive to move onward as a whole. Cosmic transhumanist visions will not lead to holy wars against infidels, but rather to a Holy War against the limitations of being humans 1.0: disease, mortality, stupidity, unhappiness, lack of empathy and understanding, and being confined on our little planet.

Then, perhaps as uploaded minds with indefinite lifespans, humans will spread to the stars. What next? Borrowing again from Sir Arthur: “But the age of the Machine-entities will swiftly pass. In our ceaseless experimenting, we will learn to store knowledge in the structure of space itself, and to preserve our thoughts for eternity in frozen lattices of light. We will become creatures of radiation, free at last from the tyranny of matter”.

As William Sims Bainbridge noted in a 1981 article titled ”Religions for a Galactic Civilization”, we need a sense of transcendent purpose at both personal and societal levels to embark in the grand journey to the universe. In Bainbridge’s words: “We need a new spaceflight social movement capable of giving a sense of transcendent purpose to dominant sectors of the society. It also should be capable of holding the society in an expansionist phase for the longest possible time, without permitting divergence from its great plan. In short, we need a galactic religion, a Church of God Galactic…”.

Let me make an announcement now.

DRAMATIC PAUSE…

On behalf of its founding team, a few members of which are virtually attending this conference, I have the honor and the pleasure to announce the foundation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, humanity’s First “UNreligion of Science”, and warmly invite you to join its cosmic quest.

Adopting an engineering approach and attitude, the Order aims to turn this universe into a “magical” realm in the sense of Clarke’s Third Law: a realm where sufficiently advanced technology turns daily reality into what would be considered by most today as a seemingly supernatural ‘magical’ realm.

We are, at the same time, a transhumanist association, a spiritual movement, a space advocacy group, a literary salon, a technology observatory, an idea factory, a virtual worlds development group, and a global community of persons willing to take an active role in building, in realizing a sunny future.

We will discuss the future of humanity during World of Warcraft quests, plan the future of technology in Second Life, and build futuristic virtual worlds in our labs. But most importantly, we will assist you -yes, we do mean you- in finding meaning and hope in your existence in this, your reality, your universe.

Whatever our formal training and professional affiliations, in a very profound sense we are all scientists and engineers. We develop technical skills and design principles that will enable us to create and explore new realities. Therefore, the Order will undertake various projects, selected because they are both revolutionary and feasible at the current cutting edge of science and technology.

The Order’s website can be found at http://cosmeng.org/. Its first event will be hosted by the Science Guild in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST.

Read more for the full SL chatlog (Thanks Bill!)

More...

Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - Second Life, June 4, 5

Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - June 4, 5. The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future is a two-day conference examining how two of the 21st Century’s driving forces, religion and technology, will continue to re-shape each other and, in the process, re-cast our understanding of “humanity” in the Third Millennium. Centered on, but not limited to, virtual worlds and social networking technologies, speakers and panelists will also examine changes precipitated by the biotechnology revolution, cognitive science, information technologies and robotics. Speakers include William Sims Bainbridge, James Hughes, Giulio Prisco, Lincoln Cannon and Robert Geraci.

Abstract of my talk: Transhumanist Religions
Description and analysis of new spiritual and “religious” (brackets required) movements that can be broadly described as outlines of “transhumanist religions” compatible with, and based on, the scientific worldview. Key issues: May sentient life evolve toward Godhead? May future technologies resurrect the dead? May we someday create VR universes that contain sentient life? May we _be_ sentient life in such a VR universe? Can complements or alternatives to traditional religions be based on these wild scientific speculations? What can be the impact of “transhumanist religions” on traditional religions, culture, society and politics? And the most important question: Why should this matter to you?

The full text will be available on this page.

Transhumanist event in World of Warcraft, June 14 noon EST

Prepare for a transhumanist event in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST (6pm Continental Europe, 9am PST). It will be announced at the Future of Religions/Religions of the Future event in Second Life, June 4 and 5. The WoW event will be hosted by Bill Bainbridge’s Science Guild in the beautiful Silvermoon (picture) and require the Burning Crusade expansion pack.

4th ANNUAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON GEOETHICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

4th ANNUAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON GEOETHICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY

TERASEM MOVEMENT, INC.
TERASEM ISLAND, SECOND LIFE
www.GeoNano2008.com

JULY 20, 2008
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

WHO: All professionals with an interest in nanotechnology, cryonic revival, and cyber-consciousness.

WHAT: The Virtual Workshop offers a forum to exchange of scholarly views regarding what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and/or embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness.

WHEN:  July 20, 2008 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST – the 39th Anniversary of the first lunar launch.

WHERE:  Terasem Island in SecondLife at http://www.secondlife.com (Teleport to one of the following coordinates: 121.155.30)

WHY:  To develop an optimal body of policy in advance of the immediate need for such when scientists and entrepreneurs present society with immortalizing nanotechnology.

HOW:  Submit a title and 100-word abstract for a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation to no later than June 20, 2008.  Accepted presenters will be notified by July 1, 2008.  Each presenter will be provided with 20 minutes to make their PowerPoint presentation to the workshop attendees (all of whom are presenters), as well as to the general public via webcasting.  In between each presentation a further 20 minute period is provided for discussion.  All presentations and discussions will be transcribed and submitted to each presenter for his/her approval.  Once a presenter approves his/her transcript, it will be posted on the workshop website and may also be published in the Online Journal of Geoethical Nanotechnology.

For further information contact: 

Lori Rhodes at: 321-676-3690 ext. 100

Or

Max More is back! Talk on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism” in Second Life, June 8

Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism
10:00am 12:00 PST - 12:00 2:00pm CST - 1:00pm 3:00pm EST - 6:00pm 8:00pm UK - 7:00pm 9:00pm Continental Europe
Sunday June 8, 2008, SL-Transhumanists @ Extropia Core

Max More is back. In his first public Second Life appearance, the founder of contemporary transhumanism will discuss unsolved problems within the movement:

- Communication Strategy: How can we communicate ideas most effectively and rationally, overcoming the typical tension between the two? How does this relate to constrained and unconstrained visions of transhumanism (in Thomas Sowell’s terms)?

- Visionary Horizon: How far should we focus on offering solutions to current problems vs. envisioning longer-term solutions and visions?

- Visionary vs. Practical: To what extent should transhumanists try to be a movement that is organized, integrated, and directed? Should the movement or transhumanist activity concern itself primarily with ideas or practice or both, and should it include a major component that is a practical guide to self-transformation?

- Bridging the Knowing-doing Gap: Both as movement and as individuals, how can be do better to practice what we espouse?

- Organizing: How can we better organize and converse, using the best available knowledge to do so?

- Historical Accuracy and Continuing Honesty: Establishing and maintaining an accurate history of transhumanism; combating Orwellian rewriting of the past.

As always, Dr. More welcomes feedback on his thinking.

Join us in Second Life on Sunday, June 8, at 10:00am 12:00 PST - 12:00 2:00pm CST - 1:00pm 3:00pm EST - 6:00pm 8:00pm UK - 7:00pm 9:00pm Continental Europe. The talk will be hosted by SL-Transhumanists @ Extropia Core. SLURL

First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft

William Sims Bainbridge has co-organized Convergence of the Real and the Virtual - The First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft. The conference was held May 9-11, 2008, inside World of Warcraft, devoted to research on WoW and on virtual worlds in general. It was proposed by John Bohannon, who creates the Gonzo Scientist feature for the AAAS journal Science. A VERY interesting event. See my reports:

First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft

Preparing for the First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft

Members:
Login | Register | Member List

Home

About

Order of Cosmic Engineers

Associazione Italiana Transumanisti

Transumanar is a transhumanist blog - online magazine on science, technology, politics and culture, edited by Eschatoon. See About (English) and Introduzione (Italiano).

Transumanar e' un blog - rivista online transumanista di scienza, tecnologia, politica e cultura, curato da Eschatoon. Vedi Introduzione (Italiano) e About (English).

Español (Tendencias 21)

SL-Transhumanists, a group for transhumanists in Second Life

metaXLR8 - acceleration in the metaverse

Most recent entries

• 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology by Terasem, in Second Life
• New editor: Eschatoon
• Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop, Terasem Island, Second Life, July 20
• Awaken The Universe - Presentation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in Second Life, GN4 workshop
• Transhumanist talk in Bilbao, VR talk in Ibiza
• Silvermoon Meeting: Launch of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in World of Warcraft
• Order of Cosmic Engineers - Launch event in World of Warcraft, June 14,
• Max More in Second Life on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism”
• Conference Report: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - Second Life, June 4, 5
• My talk at the Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future
• Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - Second Life, June 4, 5
• Transhumanist event in World of Warcraft, June 14 noon EST
• 4th ANNUAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON GEOETHICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY
• Max More is back! Talk on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism” in Second Life, June 8
• First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft

Categories

• Person
• English
  • News
  • Views
• hplus
• Italiano
  • Notizie
  • Opinioni
• Blog
• Meta
• VR

Monthly Archives

• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• Complete Archives
• Category Archives

Syndicate

• RSS 2.0
• RSS 2.0 (English)
• RSS 2.0 (Italiano)

Join our Mailing List

Print view