IEET Executive Director James Hughes - a former Buddhist monk and attenuated Buddho-Unitarian - is writing a book tentatively titled Cyborg Buddha: Using Neurotechnology to Become Better People.
IEET Board member Mike LaTorra - a Zen priest and author of A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao - runs the Trans-Spirit list promoting discussion of neurotheology, neuroethics, techno-spirituality and altered states of consciousness.
IEET Board member George Dvorsky - a practicing Buddhist - writes and podcasts frequently from a rationalist, transhumanist, and Buddhist point of view, winning him an award this year as one of the best Buddhist blogs.
The three of us are launching the IEET Cyborg Buddha Project to combine our efforts and promote discussion of the impact that neuroscience and emerging neurotechnologies will have on happiness, spirituality, cognitive liberty, moral behavior and the exploration of meditational and ecstatic states of mind.
Patterns are relationships of a particular sort: a relationship between one entity and a set of others, where the first is judged to represent and simplify the others.
Adam Ford of Singularity Soup interviewed Russell Blackford in October 2009 on his book 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, atheism and secularism, indigenous spirituality, radical life extension, and technological change, including the Technological Singularity foreseen by Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil.
It’s divided into six parts, accessible from here:
Dr. J. chats with Jamie Hubbard, a professor of Buddhist Studies at Smith College, and organizer of a conference on the use of neurotechnology to enhance Buddhist practice, April 10, 2010 at Smith College.
Dr. J. chats with Andrew Fenton who is a part of the Novel Tech Ethics Group at Dalhousie University and the author of “Buddhism and Neuroethics: The Ethics of Pharmaceutical Cognitive Enhancement.” Part 2 of 2. (Part 1)
What properties of consciousness and mind will remain the same in a posthuman world? Will enhanced minds look at themselves and reality like we do? What can we learn from cognitive science and consciousness studies to help answer these questions? What are some ethical consequences of enhancing the brain/mind?
Pretty early on in my philosophical journey I decided that I was a pantheist, of the naturalist sort. Pantheism is all about the one-ness and unity of everything… and I do mean everything.
The dominant trajectory of Enlightenment thought over the last three hundred years has been towards atheism. Most transhumanists are atheists. But some transhumanists, like many of the original Enlightenment thinkers, are attempting to reconcile naturalism and their religious traditions. Some transhumanists even believe that the transcendent potentials of intelligence argue for a new form of scientific theology.
Good Magazine Asks Jamais about the Pace of Modern Life
GOOD magazine asked “some of the world’s most prominent futurists”—including Esther Dyson, Bruce Sterling, and Jamais Cascio—“to explain why slowness might be as important to the future as speed.”
Neuroethics Society scholars, scientists and clinicians who share an interest in the social, legal, ethical and policy implications of advances in neuroscience.
Neuroethics at UPenn a source of information on neuroethics, provided by Martha Farah of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
The Hedonistic Imperative Advocates the development of neurotechnology to permit the elimination of all suffering
Abolitionist SocietyPromotes eliminating involuntary suffering and increasing lifelong individual happiness through science
Altered States of Consciousness and Transcendence
Trans-Spirit list a transhumanist research program into religion and spirituality. It seeks to understand religion and spirituality in terms of cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, and to project the future of religion and spirituality in the dawning transhuman era.
IEET Blog |
email list |
newsletter |
The IEET is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization registered in the State of Connecticut in the United States.
Contact: Executive Director, Dr. James J. Hughes,
Williams 229B, Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford CT
06106 USA
Email: director @ ieet.org phone:
860-297-2376
Cyborg Buddha Blog
DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW
IEET Blog