IEET Fora

Trans movies poll

2008-05-09T19:37:54-05:00

Which of the following movies do you consider the best of transhumanist film: 2001, The Matrix Trilogy, AI or Videodrome? For me, I think 2001, only because it explores how biological evolution is so greatly connected to technology (i.e. Hal and the ape man’s bone).

Dragon’s Blood

2008-05-03T15:44:10-05:00

The Roman empire was built on the backs of slaves. Without predation of one class of humans upon another, the empire would never have accomplished anything of note, for there was simply too much work to be done. If all the work was distributed equitably, the maintenance of the infrastructure of the state alone would devour every available man hour. Slavery has not fueled the creation of modern western society, oil has. Just as Rome overused, depleted, and abused the very foundations of its society, so too has our modern world.

I should probably clarify my metaphor (to give credit where it’s due, I’m actually borrowing it from Paul Herrick at Northern Illinois University--Anthropology). Oil, in the work it has done, in the technology it has fostered, has done more work, in terms of Joules alone, than humans could ever manage without it. Oil is the blood of dragons--it has the power to grant wishes. And our wishes have been granted. Travel above the speed of sound, buildings thousands of feet high, central air conditioning, electric lights, computers, space travel. We carry fire in our pockets, and think nothing of it.

Our technology is incredibly sophisticated. When Galileo timed the relative speeds of falling light and heavy objects, he sung a song and counted the upbeats. We track time by evaluating the decay rate of Cesium atoms. All of this is wonderful, and we are all wholly dependent on it. With peak oil looming, we must be aware of the fragility of our way of life.

Very often, discussions of X-risks involve possible catastrophes--major events that destroy enormous amounts of essential infrastructure. These are worth considering, but it must be realized that no event is needed to cause a societal collapse. Our infrastructure requires an incredible amount of energy every day just to maintain the status quo. That energy will become more and more expensive, and more and more scarce. In a world where food is hard to get for billions already, what will the drastically rising cost of petroleum based fertilizers do? And the increased cost of gasoline makes food delivery over long distances many times more expensive? When one major oil exporter realizes its power and greatly increases the markup on oil to protect itself from the global depression? When another country decides to invade that one to secure the oil fields for itself?

I’m not imagining a situation that might happen, or that could happen given a few stipulated circumstances. This is what will happen if the infrastructure of modern society does not change. Maybe not this year, and maybe not the next, but it will happen. All by itself. When no war is enough to provide the resources needed by a country, when transportation infrastructure breaks down completely and no one can even afford to drive, when centralized governments lose their ability to govern large areas of land entirely out of sheer impotence, when global depression forces major pharmaceutical companies to cease manufacturing antidepressants and stimulants, when depletion based industrial farming no longer receives the fertilizers needed...billions of people are going to die. Let me repeat--Billions.

Personally, I think we should avoid this. Let’s start talking about how.

IEET logo

2008-04-15T09:47:34-05:00

Shouldn’t we standardize on one version of the logo?

The version I prefer is the one used on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Institute-for-Ethics-and-Emerging-Technologies/6211041607

Post-genderism Critique

2008-04-18T09:10:25-05:00

Eloi contributed a critique of our piece over at Betterhumans:

http://www.betterhumans.com/blogs/eloi/archive/2008/04/16/Postgenderism-_2600_-Egalitarianism.aspx

“Postgenderism & Egalitarianism”

Thanks, and suggestions from Second Life

2008-04-07T15:11:19-05:00

*Thank you, * Dr. Hughes, for this positive and important step in democratizing the conversation.

I’d like to invite you all to join an ongoing and robust discussion forum in Second Life, the community of Extropia. We’re home to the headquarters for the Second Life Transhumanists, a group founded by Giulio Prisco and others, but beyond that, we’re host to a broad, cross-cultural ongoing dialog about the nature of humanity and technology in the coming century.

The “Images...of Popular Culture” project would make a terrific gallery show in Second Life, and we’d love to discuss hosting it with you. That could be an opportunity to bring transhumanist messages to a general, global audience in a welcoming and engaging way.

Please consider joining us this Saturday, April 12 for Yuri’s Night, a celebration of human spaceflight. We’re beginning with a Book Group tribute to Sir Arthur C. Clarke, discussing The Fountains Of Paradise, his space elevator novel, then hosting an open discussion with David Brin, and much more, along with a dance party that will be broadcast live around the world.

For details on our activities and instructions on how to reach us in Second Life, please see <a href=http://extropiacore.net>our website</a>.

Thank you, and I hope to talk with you all about IEET/Extropia collaborations!

For a truly liberal society

2008-04-13T08:43:58-05:00

Well, I sometimes describe myself as an anti-anti-transhumanist. I do support obtaining benefits from enhancement technologies, but above all I oppose any sweeping use of the coercive power of the state to forbid these technologies. That’s a slightly different point. I distinguish between initiatives that I actually support, initiatives that I don’t necessarily support but think should be legal, and initiatives that IMHO should (to some extent or another) be illegal on grounds that relate to secular harm. I apply my own adaptation of Feinberg’s adaptation of Mill’s harm principle when I look at the issue of legality. In addition to that, I want to see all the possible initiatives debated rationally and with intellectual rigour - however I classify them personally.

Some of my IEET colleagues feel a much stronger ethical imperative to do certain H+ things than I do. My aim is to defend a range of possible H+ initiatives at the same time as I defend many other things that are not specifically about enhancement (e.g. gay rights, abortion rights, liberalisation of drug laws). The kind of position I take is an aggressively secular liberal one, partly motivated by my sympathy for transhumanism and partly motivating it.

I produced a manifesto recently, so if anyone wants to read what I think in more detail, and to see whether it resonates with your thinking, it’s over here: http://metamagician3000.blogspot.com/2008/04/do-we-want-truly-liberal-society.html

Re Cyborg Buddha

2008-04-07T19:18:54-05:00

Friends. What exactly does the phrase “cyborg Buddha” mean? Is there a history?

Peace,
Tom

Good initiative!

2008-04-07T13:39:00-05:00

The forums vs. mailing lists issue is still unclear to me, but let’s give this a try. My daughter tells me that only old folks like me still use email, and I am one of those who think young people are right almost by definition.