Transhumanism 101

During our conversation Natasha covers a wide variety of topics such as: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the effect it had on transhumanism, science fiction and science in general; the negative perception and fear of transhumanism stemming from some more recent publications such as Bill Joy’s Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us and Francis Fukuyama’s Post-Human Future; Natasha’s definition of transhumanism; similarities and differences between transhuman, posthuman and cyborg; critical thinking as one of the basic tenets of transhumanism; important writings such as Max More’s Towards a Futurist Philosophy, Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation and Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World; her PhD dissertation on human enhancement and life expansion; some of the reasons that people fear transhumanism and how to turn that around; some of her upcoming projects such as The Transhumanist Reader and H+TV as well as artistic events and conferences that she supports.

One of my favorite quotes that I will take away from this interview with Natasha is her call to “Get creative about the future!”

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Complete entry

Posted by Christian Corralejo  on  09/20  at  11:18 AM

Since this video is talking about transhumanism, cyborgs and all that stuff, this excerpt from Discovery news written by George Dvorsky should interest you guys. the whole thing is about the 9 technologies that could transform the world.

Organic Electronics

Traditionally, our visions of cybernetics and the cyborg is one in which natural, organic parts have been replaced with mechanical devices or prostheses. The notion of a half-human, half-machine has very much become ingrained in our thinking -- but it's likely wrong. Thanks to the rise of the nascent field of organic electronics, it's more likely that we'll rework the body's biological systems and introduce new organic components altogether.

Already today, scientists have engineered cyborg tissue that can sense its environment. Other researchers have invented chemical circuits that can channel neurotransmitters instead of electric voltages.

And as Mark Changizi has suggested, future humans will continue to harness the powers of their biological constitutions and engage in what Stanislas Dehaene calls neuronal recycling.

Here's a link to the rest of the article (http://news.discovery.com/tech/world-transforming-technologies-120919.html).

Posted by Intomorrow  on  09/20  at  06:44 PM

Living in the Midwest, the most obvious factor in rejecting/ignoring transhumanism has always appeared to me to be nostalgia: the Little House On the Prairie sentiment.
Nostalgia combined with the rugged individualist's inchoate rejection/ignorance of that which delinks him too much from the past.
"If living to age 70 was good enough for self-reliant Gramps and Granny, it is good enough for me."

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