Are you skeptical of the ideas proposed by Transhumanists? Perhaps you have something in common with the folks quoted below:
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Complete entry
Posted by
SHaGGGz on 08/07 at 06:16 AM
Seeing this headline, I was hoping for a substantive engagement with the ideas of transhumanism. A long list of failed past predictions doesn’t automatically imply that ones pertaining to transhumanist technology will soon be joining the list.
Posted by
Pastor_Alex on 08/07 at 11:05 AM
People have been making wrong arguments for centuries. That doesn’t mean that every body on the other side is automatically right. I’m still waiting for my flying car.
On the more serious side what this collection of error does show is the danger of making definitive announcements. Our knowledge is limited enough that we really don’t know what is possible or impossible. Whenever we absolutely know for certain that something is wrong or will never happen; we are probably wrong. Unfortunately that works the other way too. We have to keep open minds and be prepared to adjust our world view to fit the facts.
Posted by
Konfu on 08/07 at 12:20 PM
this post is a waste of time.
critical thinking and a balanced discussion is really hard when you are surrounded by believers.
why dont you start with tackling the phyical constraints of exponential *place-transhumanisitc-buzzword-here*.
ive read this article (ok, half of it) and i am still sceptical about prophets that use a vague projetory surface for everybodys imagination/dreams/fears.
be honest. you believe, you dont know. the probabilistic nature of forecasts prohibits distinct predictions especially the farther you set the timescale.
but the mandatory picture was really informative, nice work there.
Posted by
Lincoln Cannon on 08/07 at 03:13 PM
The point of the list is to demonstrate that appeals to eye-rolling (common among critics of Transhumanism) are irrelevant. Clearly, reasoned criticism, empirical investigation, and experimentation should be valued as we seek to understand better the contours of the possible.
Posted by
Cognosium on 08/10 at 01:35 AM
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” brings back nostalgic memories of fiery discussions between myself. a humble chemist, and various computer professionals in the seventies.
He who laughs last laughs longest, for sure!
What is wrong with transhumanism, however, is not specific aspects of technological possibilities and scientific surprises of the future.
Rather, it is the anthropocentric mindset which blinds both those of the transhumanist cult to the autonomous evolution of a new phase of the overall life process which is occurring right under our noses.
One which is set to culminate in a transition corresponding to the inappropriately named “Singularity”.
The construction of a “brain” that will soon equal and then surpass that typical of our species has for long been a work in progress. Not as a result of any deliberate human “design” but rather as the result of an autonomous evolutionary process that can be seen to have run its exponential course since humankind acquired the ability to share imagination, which we know as language.
Very real evidence indicates the rather imminent implementation of the next, (non-biological) phase of the on-going evolutionary “life” process from what we at present call the Internet.It is effectively evolving by a process of self-assembly. You may have noticed that we are increasingly, in a sense, “enslaved” by our PCs, mobile phones, their apps and many other trappings of the net.
We are already largely dependent upon it for our commerce and industry and there is no turning back. What we perceive as a tool is well on its way to becoming an agent.
Consider this:
There are at present an estimated 2 Billion internet users. There are an estimated 13 Billion neurons in the human brain. On this basis for approximation the Internet is even now only one order of magnitude below the human brain and its growth is exponential.
That is a simplification, of course. For example: Not all users have their own computer. So perhaps we could reduce that, say, tenfold. The number of switching units, transistors, if you wish, contained by all the computers connecting to the Internet and which are more analogous to individual neurons is many orders of magnitude greater than 2 Billion.
Then again, this is compensated for to some extent by the fact that neurons do not appear to be binary switching devices but can adopt multiple states.
Without even crunching the numbers for these approximations, we see that we must take seriously the possibility that even the present Internet may well be comparable to a human brain in processing power.
And, of course, the degree of interconnection and cross-linking of networks within networks is also growing rapidly.The culmination of this exponential growth corresponds to the event that transhumanists inappropriately call “The Singularity” but is more properly regarded as a phase transition of the on-going “life” process.
An evolutionary continuum that can be traced back at least as far as the formation of the chemical elements in stars.
The broad evolutionary model that supports this contention is outlined very informally in “The Goldilocks Effect: What Has Serendipity Ever Done For Us?” , a free download in e-book formats from the “Unusual Perspectives” website
Posted by
dobermanmac on 08/10 at 04:44 PM
How about cold fusion (LENR)? A US Presidential Commission dismissed it as fiction despite overwhelming evidence, and we are still trying to overcome that error now, despite further overwhelming evidence:
“A volume about the size of a #2 pencil eraser of water provides as much energy as two 48-gallon drums of gasoline. That is 355,000 times the amount of energy per volume – five orders of magnitude.” ( http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/New-LENR-Machine-is-the-Best-Yet.html ).
This phenomenon (LENR) has been confirmed in hundreds of published scientific papers: http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJtallyofcol.pdf
“Over 2 decades with over 100 experiments worldwide indicate LENR is real, much greater than chemical…”—Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
“Total replacement of fossil fuels for everything but synthetic organic chemistry.”—Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny, NASA
By the way, here is a survey of all the companies that are bringing LENR to commercialization: http://www.cleantechblog.com/2011/08/the-new-breed-of-energy-catalyzers-ready-for-commercialization.html
For those who still aren’t convinced, here is a paper I wrote that contains some pretty convincing evidence: http://coldfusionnow.org/the-evidence-for-lenr/
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