IEET Life News http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/life Promoting life extension, the longevity dividend, technological enablement, artificial organs, stem cells and the right to choose when and if you die. http://ieet.org/images/ieet.jpg Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/life Promoting the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities en director@ieet.org Copyright 2010 2010-03-21T20:30:32+00:00 Ben Goertzel offering accredited summer course on The Singularity through Rutgers University http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzelsingcrs/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzelsingcrs/#When:19:56:07Z This summer IEET Fellow Ben Goertzel will teach the distance learning course “Special Topics in Sociology: Singularity Studies, the first accredited college course on the Singularity and associated technologies, through Rutgers University. The three-credit summer course will feature online lectures and discussions every Monday and Wednesday evening throughout the summer and is available to students internationally. The IEET’s J. Hughes, Natasha Vita-More and Aubrey de Grey will be among the guest lecturers.

]]> Security > Life > Vision > Futurism > Fellows > Aubrey de Grey > Ben Goertzel > Natasha Vita-More > Staff > J. Hughes]]> The textbook will be The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil, supplemented by online articles appropriate to individual lectures. The catalog course description is here.  To register for the course go to:  http://summer.camden.rutgers.edu/. If you have any questions, please email goertzel@camden.rutgers.edu.

The course will feature online interviews with leading futurists and technologists around the world exploring the social implications of these anticipated developments. Topics include future studies and forecasting, finance and entrepreneurship, networks and computing systems, biotechnology and informatics, nanotechnology, neuroscience and human enhancement, artificial intelligence and robotics, energy and ecological systems, and space and physical sciences.

The course will be taught by a father-son team, Ben and Ted Goertzel. Ben is the Director of Applied Research for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and an External Research Professor at Xiamen University in China. He also heads up two startup companies, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC, has written several books on artificial intelligence and related topics, and is an advisor to the AI & Robotics Track at Singularity University.

Ted, Ben’s father, is a sociology professor at Rutgers who regularly teaches a Cyberspace and Society course and is author or co-author of numerous books on sociology and science.

Students and guest speakers will be recruited internationally. The sessions will be recorded and available for viewing during the semester via the Elluminate system.

More info: Singularity Studies: The Future of Humanity in the Age of Superhuman Artificial Intelligence

]]> 2010-03-21T19:56:07+00:00 Russell Blackford Morality, With Limits http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/blackford20100320/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/blackford20100320/#When:15:25:30Z We can’t expect people to be either as self-denying as conservatives or as altruistic as liberals seem to want.

]]> Rights > Life > Vision > CyborgBuddha > Fellows > Russell Blackford]]> ]]> 2010-03-21T15:25:30+00:00 Is Earth past the tipping point? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/is_earth_past_the_tipping_point/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/is_earth_past_the_tipping_point/#When:13:38:42Z Biodiversity loss. Land use. Freshwater use. Nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. Stratospheric ozone. Ocean acidification. Climate change. Chemical Pollution. Aerosol loading in the atmosphere.

A team of 30 scientists across the globe have determined that the nine environmental processes named above must remain within specific limits, otherwise the “safe operating space” within which humankind can exist on Earth will be threatened.

]]> Security > Eco-gov > Life > Health > Vision > Technoprogressivism]]> http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=is-earth-past-the-tipping-point-2010-03-18]]> 2010-03-21T13:38:42+00:00 Philippe Verdoux If Only We Were Smarter! http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/verdoux20100320/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/verdoux20100320/#When:17:41:45Z The history of our belief in progress is a complicated one. This belief first arose during the eighteenth century Enlightenment and became a central feature of the Western worldview until circa the mid-twentieth century, when the first anthropogenic “existential risk” was introduced. Although progressionism suffered a serious blow with the inauguration of the Atomic Age, a renewed belief in the goodness and historical reality of techno-progress has reemerged within the transhumanist movement.

]]> Security > Eco-gov > SciTech > Life > Enablement > Innovation > Vision > Technoprogressivism > Contributors > Philippe Verdoux]]> ]]> 2010-03-20T17:41:45+00:00 Kristi Scott The Baroque Body: The Role of Body Modification in Scott Westerfeld´s Uglies http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/scott20100320/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/scott20100320/#When:15:34:42Z (with co-author M. Heather Dragoo)  Abstract: As a genre, science fiction provides a uniquely fertile medium from which we can extrapolate the defining characteristics of personhood, explore our future potentials, and project our current selves onto tomorrow. One such example is the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld.

]]> Rights > Disability > Life > Enablement > Vision > Bioculture > Interns > Kristi Scott]]> ]]> 2010-03-20T15:34:42+00:00 Tech Pace Fast, Opposition Uncertain: IEET Readers http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/poll20100319/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/poll20100319/#When:15:51:19Z By an overwhelming majority, respondents to a recently concluded poll said they expect the pace of development in emerging technologies to remain swift over the next two decades, but they are divided over how strong the opposition will be to human enhancements.

]]> Security > SciTech > Life > Access > Innovation > Vision > Futurism > Technoprogressivism]]> Which of these four scenarios for the future of transhumanism over the next 15 or 20 years do you think is most likely?

image

Here is how the question was originally defined...

Opposition to Transhumanism: Will it be strong, perhaps even getting stronger as transformative new technologies emerge? Or will it weaken, either due to slower than expected tech development or because a large majority of people simply accept transhumanist concepts without much argument?

Emerging Technology Development Pace: How fast will nanotechnology, bio-engineering, machine intelligence, and robotics—among other technologies—continue to develop? Is the pace likely to quicken, or might things slow down a bit, perhaps due to a sluggish global economy or because the work itself is so extremely difficult?

]]> 2010-03-19T15:51:19+00:00 Andrea Kuszewski Autism And Vaccines: Why People Still Believe The Hype http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/kuszewski20100319/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/kuszewski20100319/#When:14:41:37Z Early last month, the now-famous paper by Dr Andrew Wakefield that supposedly linked vaccines to the onset of autism, was formally retracted by the Lancet, the journal that published it back in 1998. This was a monumental decision, considering it was the conclusions drawn from this paper that launched the firestorm of debate around the safety of vaccines, and likely the cause of the current vaccine crisis.

]]> Security > SciTech > Rights > Disability > Life > Health > Contributors > Andrea Kuszewski]]> ]]> 2010-03-19T14:41:37+00:00 Ben Goertzel Compassion http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzel20100317/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzel20100317/#When:12:06:40Z We tend think about compassion on the level of individual selves and minds: Bob feels compassionate toward Jim because Jim lost his wife, or his wallet, etc. Bob sympathizes with Jim because he can internally, to a certain extent, “feel what Jim feels.”

]]> Rights > Neuroethics > Personhood > Life > Enablement > Vision > Futurism > Virtuality > Fellows > Ben Goertzel]]> ]]> 2010-03-17T12:06:40+00:00 Rocky Rawstern What Would You Say? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/rawstern20100316/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/rawstern20100316/#When:18:22:55Z After a yearlong hiatus, I thought it was about time that I got back on the nano-horse and giddy-upped into some new thoughts and understandings regarding that tiny little thing we call “nanotechnology.”

]]> Security > SciTech > Life > Innovation > Health > Vision > Futurism > Contributors > Rocky Rawstern]]> ]]> 2010-03-16T18:22:55+00:00 What’s Wrong With Transhumanism? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/wrong20100313/ http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/wrong20100313/#When:02:35:57Z IEET Managing Director Mike Treder and CUNY Professor Massimo Pigliucci debate the pros and cons of the transhumanist agenda.


Is transhumanism fatally optimistic? (06:10)
Massimo’s ethical qualms with life extension (12:21)
The dangers of rapid technological advance (03:21)
Massimo vs. Mike on whether it’s possible to upload your mind (10:44)
Is the Turing Test a behaviorist blunder? (15:44)
Pesky limitations imposed by human biology (07:15)

]]> Security > SciTech > Rights > Economic > Life > Enablement > Innovation > Health > Vision > Futurism > Technoprogressivism > Virtuality > Staff > Mike Treder]]> http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/26683?in=00:00&out=59:34]]> 2010-03-14T02:35:57+00:00