Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds (Apr 14, 2016)Woody Evans has published an article on Posthuman rights in the Spanish journal, Teknokultura. Below is the abstract of the paper. You can click on the journal title to find the full article online.
IEET Bids Farewell to Hank Pellissier and Welcomes New Managing Director. (Apr 12, 2016)Dear IEET members,
Following years of dedicated professional leadership and management, Hank Pellissier has decided to move his career in another direction and has resigned his position as Managing Director at IEET. We are pleased to announce that Steven Umbrello will be assuming the vacancy as the new Managing Director. Mr. Umbrello is past Assistant Managing Director of IEET. I trust you will all join me in wishing Hank the best of luck and in welcoming Steven to his new position.
As per usual business if you would like to send an article or other work to be published on IEET, please email Steven directly at steve@ieet.org
Sincerely,
IEET Staff
Vita-More, Swan at NY Posthuman Research Group Symposium (Apr 3, 2016)
John Messerly publishes a New Book (Mar 31, 2016)
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Why Do Ethics Classes Fantasize About Murder So Much?
by David Swanson
Apr 17, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkAt a post-screening discussion where I questioned the director of Eye in the Sky about the disconnect between his drone-kill movie and reality, he launched into a bunch of thought-experiment stuff of the sort I’ve tried to avoid since finishing my master’s in philosophy. Mostly I’ve avoided hanging out with torture supporters.
Predictability and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS)
by Wendell Wallach
Apr 16, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkDoes predictability provide an overriding concept and perhaps a metric for evaluating when LAWS are acceptable or when they might be unacceptable under international humanitarian law? Arguably, if the behavior of an autonomous weapon is predictable, deploying it might be considered no different from, for example, launching a ballistic missile. This, of course, presumes that we can know how predictable the behavior of a specific autonomous weapon will be.
Breakthrough Starshot: The First Steps to the Stars
by Giulio Prisco
Apr 15, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkOn on the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight, Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner and physicist Stephen Hawking announced a plan for our firsts steps to the stars: Breakthrough Starshot.
How Augmented and Virtual Realities Might Change Productivity Forever in the Next 10 Years
by Daniel Faggella
Apr 14, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkIn the last 10 years, we’ve seen some amazing leaps and bounds in human productivity. Our phones are smaller, our internet is faster, and software and hardware automates much of what we used to do manually.
The Future of Gender
by Jules Hamilton
Apr 13, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkUrsula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, a classic sci-fi, and Nebula Award winner for best novel, is about descendants of the human race that, due to evolution, periodically alternate their genetic sex. Sometimes they’re male and sometimes they’re female; it’s an intriguing exploration on the role of culture and gender. The story’s protagonist is like you and me, a visiting alien trying to understand the customs of this other world. What is gender? And why is everyone talking about it so much right now?
Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble
by Didier Coeurnelle
Apr 12, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkVertiges et perspectives d’une vie en bonne santé beaucoup plus longue.
Chaque jour, la mort, la grande faucheuse, fait son travail avec un peu plus de difficulté. En effet, chaque jour nous gagnons environ 6 heures d’espérance de vie. Ces progrès ne sont pas également répartis. Contrairement à ce que beaucoup pensent, c’est dans la plupart des pays du Sud et non pas dans les pays du Nord que les progrès sont les plus rapides.
Blockchains and the Emergence of a Lex Cryptographia
by John Danaher
Apr 11, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkHere’s an interesting idea. It’s taken from Aaron Wright and Primavera de Filippi’s article ‘Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia’. The article provides an excellent overview of blockchain technology and its potential impact on the law. It ends with an interesting historical reflection. It suggests that the growth of blockchain technology may give rise to a new type of legal order: a lex cryptographia. This is similar to how the growth in international trading networks gave rise to a lex mercatoria and how the growth in the internet gave rise to a lex informatica.
Christianity and Transhumanism Are Much Closer Than You Think
by Giulio Prisco
Apr 10, 2016 • (44) Comments • PermalinkI have long been persuaded that there are strong parallels between transhumanism and religion, not only “new” religions but the traditional religions of our grandfathers as well. There are, of course, differences, but I prefer to emphasize the parallels. After some deep reading and thinking, I realize that Christianity and Transhumanism are closer than I thought, and much closer than you probably think.
Abortion Care as a Spiritual Ministry—An Interview with Dr. Willie Parker
by Valerie Tarico
Apr 9, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkWhat kind of person becomes a full time abortion provider, traveling across state lines to end unhealthy or unwanted pregnancy despite screaming protesters threatening death and damnation? Whatever image you may have in mind, Dr. Willie Parker probably doesn’t fit it.
Posthumanism and Contemporary Art
by Kevin LaGrandeur
Apr 8, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkThe art in MOCA’s Winter/Spring exhibition Stranger, is art of the posthuman era. The idea of the posthuman is a big new philosophical and scientific concept, and big new philosophical or scientific concepts often cause paradigm shifts in the way we think about our world, about ourselves, and about our relation to the universe. And that, in turn, changes art. Which changes us, because art reflects and anticipates our struggles to absorb and assimilate new ideas and how they relate to us.
The Problem with Utopian Engineering
by Jules Hamilton
Apr 7, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkTo present a frame, there are two ways to go about engineering a society through government. One is through utopian engineering. This means the government has an ideal “perfect” state it wants to achieve, and so does whatever necessary to reach the goal. In this example, one may say the ends justify the means.
Atheism Reduces Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
by Leo Igwe
Apr 7, 2016 • (13) Comments • PermalinkIf you are one of those who think that atheism is of no benefit to Africa and Africans, that disbelieving in god has no social value or significance for this people then you may rethink your position after reading this.
Bruce Sterling urges us not to panic, just yet
by Rick Searle
Apr 6, 2016 • (4) Comments • PermalinkMy favorite part about the SXSW festival comes at the end. For three decades now the science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling has been giving some of the most insightful (and funny) speeches on the state of technology and society. In some sense this year’s closing remarks were no different, and in others they represented something very new.
Moral Bioenhancement: Thinking Synergistically - interview with Harris Wiseman
by Hank Pellissier
Apr 6, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkHarris Wiseman gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, and is author of the book The Myth of the Moral Brain – The Limits of Moral Enhancement, published by MIT Press.
I emailed him the interview questions below:
Intelligence Squared Debate: Are Lifespans Long Enough?
by Jules Hamilton
Apr 5, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkI attended the intelligence squared debate for aging. The motion was “Are Lifespans Long Enough?” Honestly, it almost seems like a rigged question.
However, its framing does challenge a common philosophy language trap. “Are Lifespans Long Enough?” What is “enough?” Is it what we have? Is it the minimum to expect? Is it always more?
Nuclear Waste Pollution is an Existential Risk that Threatens Global Health
by Margaret Morris
Apr 5, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkDeadly environmental pollution has become an existential risk that threatens the prospect for the long-term survival of our species and a great many others. Here we will focus on the nuclear waste aspect of the problem and ways to mitigate it before there is a critical tipping point in our global ecosystem.
As philosopher Nick Bostrom said in his 2001 paper titled “Existential Risks,” published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, “Our future, and whether we will have a future at all, may well be determined by how we deal with these challenges.”1
“Tracking and Hacking - Values and Happiness with AI” - interview with John C. Havens
by Hank Pellissier
Apr 4, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkJohn C. Havens is the author of Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity To Maximize Machines and Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World. He is the founder of The Happathon Project, a non-profit utilizing emerging technology and positive psychology to increase human wellbeing. John has spoken at TEDx, and is a contributor to Mashable, The Guardian, HuffPo and TechCrunch.
I interviewed him recently via email on his technoprogressive ideas.
Transhumanismes & religion
by Marc Roux
Apr 4, 2016 • (0) Comments • PermalinkRégulièrement, la question est posée de savoir si le transhumanisme est une religion. Ma réponse personnelle, comme celle des membres de l’Association Française Transhumaniste : Technoprog!, est résolument négative. Ce mouvement de pensée ne rentre décidément pas dans cette définition. Pour autant, je pense que d’une part le transhumanisme a quelque chose à dire aux religions et que d’autre part, il n’est pas du tout impossible d’envisager le transhumanisme d’un point de vue religieux ou au moins spiritualiste.
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