Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes we will soon eliminate most disease, pain, and forgetfulness; “If you live well for the next 20 years,” Kurzweil says, “you may be able to live in perfect health for as long as you wish.”
If there is a Holy Grail in the technological search for longevity and immortality it is uploading. Unfortunately, while uploading will work (in a way), it won’t work for you.
In a recent Huffington Post article, author George Young asks if we really want to be immortal. He tells the readers about Igor Vishev, a Russian philosopher, who believes that the first people to become immortal are likely to be already born today.
Radical Life Extension / Immortalism is a primary goal of the vast majority of transhumanists. But what, specifically, do we want to do with the extra time? (Terasem Survey, Part 2)
The human brain is a big, complicated system, with different parts doing different things. No one fully understands how it works, yet. But like many other researchers, I think I have a fairly good idea, at a high level.
The anticipation is rising for Oscar Pistorious’ race at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Pistorius, nicknamed “Blade Runner” and “The Fastest Man On No Legs”, is the first ever amputee to compete in the World Olympics, with his first race scheduled to take place August 4th.
If anti-aging guru Aubrey de Grey’s prediction of a 1,000-year lifespan is correct, then one may wonder what life might be like living for such a long time. The following timeline looks briefly at today’s world, and then offers a positive glimpse at how the future might unfold as we trek through the next millennium:
On July 19, we made the first step towards the creation of the Longevity Party. The initiative group of 10 people gathered together in Moscow to establish the first political party aimed at extending human lifespan using technological advances.
Technologies with the greatest promise to provide humans with this treasured dream of extended health, youth, and longer lifespan include stem cell therapies, genetic engineering, and nanomedicine.
1) Toronto researcher Steve Mann, who was one of the earliest pioneers of wearable computing and augmented reality (AR), and who co-coined the term “sousveillance,” was physically assaulted by employees of a Paris McDonald’s restaurant during a recent family vacation, for the crime of wearing AR visual aids akin to Google’s Project Glass. We are indeed in an era of rough transition.
France must apologize; McDonald’s should be boycotted… “vloggers” are valuable, they exposed the BART execution…
“Sousveillance” provided by emerging technology enables citizens to monitor the government and other repressive forces…
Oscar Pistorius has made history by becoming the first athlete with a prosthetic device to take part in the Olympic Games. What does this mean for the future of sport and society? Will Olympics and Paralympics soon merge?
Of course, no one can predict the future this far in advance with 100% accuracy, but if technologies continue to advance exponentially, which most experts predict they will; and we blend in a few scenarios that push the envelope, an amazing future begins to take form.
When I go shopping for transhumanist enhancements, these items will be on the top of my list. As more futuristic innovations arrive, I’ll add additional enhancements.
Here’s a list of enhancements I would appreciate having, and I expect they’ll all be available in my lifetime. I begin with my 10th choice, and conclude with the #1 upgrade that I desire the most. What super-enhancement would you like to have? Do you want what I want, or something even more incredible?
Right now, nearly 114,000 people in the United States are waiting for organ transplants to save their lives. Tens of thousands more are in need of tissue, bone and cornea transplants to restore their mobility or sight. Facebook has decided to do something about the constant shortage of donors.
“The Succubus assimilates the hyper-sexualized feminine, and the hyper-empowered predatory state… she’s in high demand, and needs a firm dose of sexual intercourse to sustain herself… Many Succubi fit the niche of solitary hunters.”An interview with Khannea Suntzu, infamous ‘Nymian’ resident in the virtual environment of Second Life.
Transhumanism and Transgenderism enjoy a close relationship due to mutual interest in enhancement technology. Multiple transgenders are valuable spokespeople in H+, such as IEET fellow Martine Rothblatt, IEET contributor and KurzweilAI editor Amara Angelica, and the brilliant tech writer for Acceler8or and hplusmagazine that I interviewed for this article: Valkyrie Ice.
Gazing at the ravishing photos of Andrej Pejic, I’m stirred with envious confusion. Why does this tall skinny XY like me get to be so much prettier? Does his effeminate success - inflaming catwalks in both men and women’s high fashion - predict a fusion of two polarized genders, or a third construct? What does the androgynous Bosnian represent in post-genderism?
Today I’m going to focus on medical technologies that are available or being researched now that can be implanted into (or onto) humans. Specifically, I am going to talk about tech that promises to restore (and one day replace) faulty biological systems. We will start at the top:
IEET Fellow Ayesha Khanna was interviewed recently by the New York Times technology section, on the topic of “human-technology co-evolution in the Hybrid Age.” The article can be viewed HERE
Let’s be real. The majority of transhumanists, scientists, astronomers, computer specialists, etc. became interested in their fields of study through their interest in science-fiction. We know the story of how cellphones were designed with Star Trek‘s communicators in mind, as were tablet computers, ebooks, and other new technologies. That has all been well-documented and I’m relatively certain that it is not news to most of us. Star Trek has been very influential in my life, guiding my thought processes in many areas, like physics, astronomy, quantum mechanics - even politics and economics. Part 2 of the Casual Transhuman.
Immaculate doll-face, globulous breasts, teeny waist, slender limbs, vacant ice-blue eyes, long platinum hair - Valeria Lukyanova of Odessa, Ukraine, has re-designed her physical form to resemble Barbie, the plastic Mattel toy. Is the result “beautiful”? Critics screech that she’s “creepy” and “lifeless” with an “uncanny valley” absence of sexuality, but… let’s not kid ourselves here.
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