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Buddhism and Cognitive Enhancement pt 2


CyBuddha Events


Hughes @ Technologies of Awareness: Buddhism and the New Mind Sciences

2010-04-10
Northampton, MA


Consciousness 2010
2010-04-13 - 17
Tucson, Arizona


Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century
2010-04-15 - 18
San Jose, CA


Toward a Science of Consciousness
2010-04-22 - 23









Cyborg Buddha Project

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.


Jan 6, 2010

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.”

Full Story...


Nov 14, 2009

Buddhism and Cognitive Enhancement pt 1

Changesurfer Radio

Andrew Fenton 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 1 of 2.

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Oct 31, 2009

Neuroengineering the Future

Changesurfer Radio

Dr. J. chats with Bruce Katz, author of Neuroengineering the Future: Virtual Minds And The Creation Of Immortality. They discuss augmented cognition, induced bliss, and the elusiveness nature of personal identity. (MP3)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Oct 21, 2009

Symphony of Science (Sagan, Feynman, Tyson, Nye mashup)

Symphony of Science

“We Are All Connected” was made by John Boswell from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Check out “A Glorious Dawn” by Carl Sagan, another Symphony of Science project!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXG…

MP3 available at http://www.symphonyofscience.com.

And John’s website for more original music:
http://www.colorpulsemusic.com

Lyrics:

[deGrasse Tyson]
We are all connected;
To each other, biologically
To the earth, chemically
To the rest of the universe atomically

[Feynman]
I think nature’s imagination
Is so much greater than man’s
She’s never going to let us relax

[Sagan]
We live in an in-between universe
Where things change all right
But according to patterns, rules,
Or as we call them, laws of nature

[Nye]
I’m this guy standing on a planet
Really I’m just a speck
Compared with a star, the planet is just another speck
To think about all of this
To think about the vast emptiness of space
There’s billions and billions of stars
Billions and billions of specks

[Sagan]
The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it
But the way those atoms are put together
The cosmos is also within us
We’re made of star stuff
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Across the sea of space
The stars are other suns
We have traveled this way before
And there is much to be learned

I find it elevating and exhilarating
To discover that we live in a universe
Which permits the evolution of molecular machines
As intricate and subtle as we

[deGrasse Tyson]
I know that the molecules in my body are traceable
To phenomena in the cosmos
That makes me want to grab people in the street
And say, have you heard this??

(Richard Feynman on hand drums and chanting)

[Feynman]
There’s this tremendous mess
Of waves all over in space
Which is the light bouncing around the room
And going from one thing to the other

And it’s all really there
But you gotta stop and think about it
About the complexity to really get the pleasure
And it’s all really there
The inconceivable nature of nature

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Sep 24, 2009

Cyborg Buddha: Science and Spirit

by Mike LaTorra

Science and spirituality in Western civilization began to go their separate ways centuries ago, when astronomy, biology and other observational and experimental disciplines showed in no uncertain terms that the religious world-view inherited from the Bronze Age religions of the Middle East did not correspond to the world that could be measured. The Earth most definitely revolves around the Sun, and not the other way round.

Full Story...


Sep 19, 2009

The Neuro Revolution pt 2

Changesurfer Radio

Dr. J. chats with Zack Lynch, author of The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World, and founder of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization. They discuss the coming “neurosociety,” in which every part of life - work, commerce, law, relationships, recreation, religion, war - will be reshaped by neurotechnologies. Part 2 of 2. (First half here.)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Sep 19, 2009

The Neuro Revolution pt 1

Changesurfer Radio

Dr. J. chats with Zack Lynch, author of The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World, and founder of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization. They discuss the coming “neurosociety,” in which every part of life - work, commerce, law, relationships, recreation, religion, war - will be reshaped by neurotechnologies. Part 1 of 2. (Second half here.)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Sep 14, 2009

IEET folks in latest h+ magazine

Lots of great stuff in the Fall 2009 issue of h+ magazine, including an interview with Martine Rothblatt, and these pieces from IEET folks.

Full Story...


Sep 12, 2009

Better Public Policy Via Brain Reading

Changesurfer Radio

Dr. J. chats with California Institute of Technology economist Antonio Rangel about the paper from his neuroeconomics research group published in Science, “Using neural measures of economic value to solve the public goods free-rider problem.” They talk about the deconstruction of the idea of rational choices in politics and economics by neurological and behavioral research. (MP3)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEW


Sep 10, 2009

An Epistle on H+ to the Italian Catholics

by J. Hughes

This essay will be translated and made part of the materials at this meeting of Italian Catholics considering radical life extension and human enhancement.

Full Story...


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Cyborg Buddha Resources


Scientific Study of Consciousness and Neurotechnology
  • Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
  • NeuroInsights a neurotechnology consulting firm directed by Zack Lynch
  • Mind and Life Institute Works on establishing research partnerships between modern science and Buddhism, especially the Dalai Lama.
  • Wisebrain.org The "neurodharma" project of psychologist Rick Hanson and neurologist Rick Mendius, both of whom are Buddhist meditators. They teach a "Train the Brain Course" and have a many talks, slides, and articles at the site.

  • Neuroethics and Cognitive Liberty

  • Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics
  • Wikipedia on Cognitive Liberty
  • 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

  • Happiness, Positive Psychology and The Virtues

  • Positive Psychology Center at UPenn, directed by Martin Seligman
  • Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman.
  • Wikipedia on Positive Psychology
  • Ethics of Mood Enhancement NY Academy of Sciences
  • 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.
  • "Trans-Spirit: Religion, Spirituality and Transhumanism," Michael LaTorra, Journal of Evolution and Technology 14(1) August 2005: 39-53.
  • Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Promoting clinical research on psychedelics
  • Council on Spiritual Practices


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