According to a little more than half of you internet addiction is for real, even if a little overblown.
Roll +3 vs the Future
by Jamais CascioDungeons & Dragons made me a professional futurist.
Latest from JET
is a peer-reviewed electronic journal published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and edited by IEET Fellow Dr. Russell Blackford. The first two articles of Volume 17 have been published.
Promoting BioFuturist Policy Brainstorming Among the Young
by J. HughesWhen I was twelve my Dad gave me a subscription to The Futurist. Mainstream futurology kind of paled for me next to the science fiction I was reading, but at least I knew early on that there were people trying to anticipate and prepare for a radically different future. Imagine my surprise thirty five years later, after a decade of bio-futurist work, to discover that in 1974, one year after I started reading The Futurist, a program for junior futurists was started which today includes more than 250,000 kids in grades 4-12 worldwide.
Join the IEET Facebook Group
Thanks to intrepid IEET intern Jonathan Pfeiffer we now have an IEET Facebook group. Check it out!
Two Disappointing Novels
by Mike TrederTwo recent attempts at near-term speculation could have benefited from stronger story-telling skills.
The dark side of the Simulation Argument
by George DvorskyKudos to the IEET’s Nick Bostrom for having his Simulation Argument (SA) featured in the New York Times.
Life 2.0: Augmentationists in Second Life and beyond
by Giulio PriscoI have been reading posts in the blogosphere about the new system for integrated voice in Second Life. As I thought, comments are split in two main camps: those who think the new option is a good thing, and those who are afraid that it will change the nature of Second Life as they know it.
Metaverse Roadmap Report
by Jamais CascioAfter months of work, the Metaverse Roadmap Overview is now available for download; get it here as a PDF. Written by Jerry Paffendorf, John Smart and me, the Overview is the end-result of the first Metaverse Roadmap project meeting, in May of 2006. It’s not simply a summary of the meeting, however—rather, it’s the first attempt to synthesize current and emerging social, economic and technological trends around virtual worlds, immersive networks, and ubiquitous information.
The Cyborg comes to Second Life
by V.R. ManojOn April 23,2007 Prof. Kevin Warwick, author of I, Cyborg addressed the World Transhumanist Association’s Second Life chapter on “Upgrading Humans: Why not?”
SimCanada, Googlopticon and the Singularity
by Jamais Cascio• Sim Eh?: Canada: The New World (aka, HistoriCanada) is exactly the kind of simulation-history mashup I’ve wanted to see for awhile. Sponsored by Canada’s National History Society and the Historica Society, HistoriCanada uses the Civilization III (with Conquest expansion) engine to play out the 16th-17th Century competition between the French, English, Ojibwe, Huron, Mohawk, Algonquin, Montagnais, Mi’kmaq, and Abenaki for the control of the Canadian territory.
The Surface of the Metaverse
by Jamais CascioMicrosoft just announced its new ”Surface” multi-touch interface and hardware system.
Christology and the Human Body
by J. HughesOn March 5th I was invited to discuss transhumanism with Dr. Brent Waters of Garrett Theological Seminary and the students and faculty of the East Texas Baptist University. I’d like to thank the very kind hospitality of ETBU. These are an edited version of the short prepared remarks from that morning (view video here) in which Dr. Waters and I were asked to address whether it was important to have a body to be human.
Second Life’s in-world terrorism and the struggle for digital rights
by George DvorskySecond Life, the immensely popular 3-dimensional virtual world, is really starting to take on a life of its own. There are things going on in there that have undoubtedly gone beyond the wildest expectations of its developers.
The latest issue to grab my attention is the phenomenon of in-world terrorism and the rise of self-professed freedom fighters. These folks aren’t your run-of-the-mill hackers or griefers looking to cause mischief. Rather, these are ‘activists’ who are working subversively within Second Life (SL) to achieve political ends.
The perils of a digital life
by George DvorskyI’ve written about potential inhibitors to consciousness uploading in the past, but I believe I’ve come up with another possible problem for those wishing to live a purely digital life.
Joining the Radical Cyborgs on Orkut, Facebook
In addition to the IEET networks we’re building on LinkedIn and XING, some of us in the IEET have been exploring the social networking sites of Orkut and Facebook for the last couple of years. For instance there are the Radical Cyborgs groups on Orkut and Tribe.net that spun off of the Cyborg Democracy blog, the Technoliberation site and Technoliberation list.
Now on Facebook one of our interns Ben Hyink has started the Society for the Cyborg Revolution, “founded upon the premise that all forms of personhood, or beings with self- awareness, including humans, upgraded animals, cyborgs, intelligent robots, and post-humans, have a fundamental, democratic right to govern their own bodies. We advocate the right of all beings to have access to cognitive and physical enhancement, life-extension technologies and similar upgrades. Furthermore, we support the democratic use of stem-cell research, bio-technology, nano-technology and other promising lines of research to improve the quality of life for all.”
These aren’t IEET projects, and they are more playful than the staid thinktankery we’re pursuing at the IEET, but some of us are linked up through these groups and if you think they are fun I’d encourage you to add yourself.
Toward the open distributed Metaverse
by Giulio PriscoThings are moving fast three weeks after the release of the Second Life client as open source code.
Life and Love in the Uncanny Valley
by Jamais CascioThere’s a story I’ve seen about a philosopher who bet an engineer that he could make a robot that the engineer couldn’t destroy. What the philosopher produced was a tiny little thing, covered in fur, that would squeak when touched—and when threatened, would roll onto its back and look at the attacker with its big, glistening eyes. When the engineer lifted his hammer to smash the robot, he found that he couldn’t. He paid the wager.
The Future of Sex
by J. HughesWhat will happen when we can transcend erotic desire, romantic love and the human body?
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