1. A Note From Dr. J
2. IEET News
3. Articles
4. Multimedia
5. TechEthx News
- Existential Risks List Posts
- Trans-Spirit List Posts
6. Events
- with IEET Speakers
- all events
A NOTE FROM DR. J.
Ah, Fall. Me, I’m a Summer person. Fall is harbinger of dread Winter. At least I now have the consolation that I will no longer need to figure out what to do with all those zucchini, most which went to the soup kitchen.
News items of note:
1. Catch me tonight (Sept 2) at 10pm on the National Geographic Channel in a documentary on the moment of death.
2. Help out the IEET by contributing what you can to our Fall fund drive. We do a lot on our $500 a month budget. We’re hoping to raise $2000 by the end of the year.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ieet20080901/
3. If you can join us in California on November 14 for the IEET-CRN seminar on Catastrophic Global Risks, register now and order a copy of the book:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ieet20081114/
4. The HETHR conference papers are all edited and will be up in JET very shortly. Thanks to Russell, Marcelo and all the authors for their hard work.
Congratulations are due to:
- Nick Bostrom, who has been appointed a full professor at Oxford
- Russell Blackford, who has turned in his PhD dissertation
- Andy Miah, who spent a successful week at the Olympics competing in the gene-doping pundit events
- Doug Rushkoff, who has completed his Testament series
- Aubrey de Grey and the Methuselah Foundation which secured some funding from American Express for the “Undergrads Against Age Related Disease” project
- Martine Rothblatt, who will shortly publish “From Transgender to Transhuman”
Stay tuned for details on the conference we’re planning in Scotland next summer on images of enhancement in popular culture, and on a Cyborg Buddha meeting in Sometown USA.
More soon, if we survive the Hadron collider launch next week, which I expect we will.
- J.
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IEET NEWS
Support the IEET Fund Drive
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ieet20080901/
We need $500 a month to keep running, so we’re aiming to raise $2000 by the end of the year. Help out with whatever you can afford to give.
Doug Rushkoff’s Testament series is complete http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/rushkoff20080901/
Testament CoversThe complete Testament series, with annotation, is now available in four trade volumes from Vertigo/DC Comics.
Russell turns in his dissertation
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/blackford20080901/
Congrats to Russell Blackford, who just turned in his PhD dissertation.
Andy featured on gene doping at Olympics http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/miah20080805/
Bostrom appointed full professor at Oxford http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/bostrom20080805/
Nick Bostrom has been awarded the title of (full) Professor of Applied Ethics at Oxford University, effective October first, 2008, in recognition of research “of outstanding quality” and his “significant international reputation.”
Hughes and de Grey featured in Hartford Advocate http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20080805/
Thanks to writer Adam Bulger for a thoughtful piece on life extension and transhumanism.
SciFi asks Jamais how to save the world
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080805/
SciFi channel has tapped Jamais, among a very illustrious group of bloggers, to write for its new How You Can Save the World blog.
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ARTICLES
Jamais Cascio: Making the Visible Invisible (Aug 19, 2008) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080818/
The Metaverse Roadmap Overview, an exploration of imminent 3D technologies, posited a number of different scenarios of what a future “metaverse” could look like. The four scenarios-augmented reality, life-logging, virtual worlds, and mirror worlds-each offered a different manifestation of an immersive 3D world. Of the four, I suspect that augmented reality is most likely to be widespread soon; moreover, when it hits, it’s going to have a surprisingly big impact. Not just in terms of “making the invisible visible”-showing us flows and information that we otherwise wouldn’t recognize-but also in terms of the opposite: making the visible invisible.
George Dvorsky: Michael Phelps: ‘Naturally’ transhuman (Aug 19, 2008) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorsky20080818/
Watching Michael Phelps swim you quickly realize that he’s not like the others. He’s clearly in a league of his own.
Michael Anissimov: Interview with Dr. Steel (Aug 16, 2008) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/anissimov20080816/
Dr. Phineas Waldolf Steel is a mentally twisted but awe-inspiring figure whose interests span the production of propaganda, the construction of chronically malfunctioning robots, puppet shows, and an ongoing attempt to become World Emperor for the purpose of turning this planet into a Utopian Playland.
Mike Treder: Vinge’s Singularity (Aug 10, 2008) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/treder20080810/
Vernor Vinge, science fiction author, computer scientist, and retired mathematics professor, is the inventor of the term ‘singularity’ as applied to a future point of unprecedented technological progress, caused in part by the ability of machines to improve themselves using artificial intelligence.
Andy Miah: Enhanced Athletes? It’s Only Natural (Aug 2, 2008) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/miah20080803/
We want athletes to break world records. We want them to remain extraordinary. So the increased use of human-enhancement technologies will become a necessity, perhaps even an obligation.
________________________________
MULTIMEDIA
Problems with Utopias (08/30)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080830/
Fred Baumann, a professor of political science at Kenyon College, gave fourteen lectures, distributed by Recorded Books, on Plato’s Republic, More’s Utopia, Bacon’s New Atlantis, Rousseau, Marx, BF Skinner and transhumanism. We talk about his lectures and ideas about utopias.
Nine Years to a Positive Singularity (08/24) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzel20080823/
How do you create an AGI? Goertzel considers one possible path.
Faulty Brains, War Brains, Olympic Brains (08/24) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080823/
The brain wasn’t evolved to work right. The US military is working to fix it. Is Michael Phelps’ Ipod an illegal doping device?
Human Dignity? (08/16)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080816/
Dr. J. and Dr. Anne Hiskes discuss the utility of the idea of “human dignity.” Dr. Hiskes is in the Philosophy Dept of the University of Connecticut and is Director of the Program on Science and Human Rights and Director of Research Ethics and Education for Stem Cell Research.
Enhancing Morality (08/15)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/csr20080812/
On Changesurfer Radio, a bit of an essay by Julian Savulescu on the need to enhance morality, and then an episode of Buddhist Geeks podcast that interviews Dr. J. about the Cyborg Buddha project. (MP3)
Intelligence and Empathy (08/13)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/gortzel20080814/
Ben Goertzel on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the singularity, transhumanism, human immortality and how long he expects to live.
Using Biomedicine To Enhance Ourselves (08/13) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/caplan20080814/
Arthur Caplan discusses Is it Immoral to Want to Live Longer, Be Smarter and Look Better? The Ethics of Using Biomedicine to Enhance Ourselves and Our Children as a part of The Ethical Frontiers of Science during the 2008 Chautauqua Institution morning lecture series.
Green Tomorrows (08/03)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20080803/
During his talk Jamais Cascio introduced 4 possible scenarios where our world is heading regarding climate change: Jamais: The four boxes represent a variety of “response” scenarios, each embracing elements of the prevention, mitigation, and remediation approaches to solving the climate crisis. Certain approaches may receive greater emphasis in a given scenario, but all three types of responses can be seen in each world.
Stronger, Smarter, Nicer Humans (08/01)
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/savulescu20070819/
Julian Savulescu’s ‘Sydney Ideas Lecture’ on Human Enhancement was originally broadcast on ABC Radio National in Australia, August 19 2007.
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FROM EXISTENTIAL RISKS LIST
Cyber, climate, bioterror highlighted at annual global risks conference http://www.mailbucket.org/existential-8151060.html
Reducing Vulnerability to Climate-Sensitive Risks is the Best Insurance Policy http://www.mailbucket.org/existential-8025864.html
Nova: Extinction Happens
http://www.mailbucket.org/existential-7902219.html
The spread of survivalism in the USA
http://www.mailbucket.org/existential-7609736.html
FROM TRANS-SPIRIT LIST
BJP: Can pharmacology help enhance human morality?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1386
Can illegal drugs help depression?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1383
Internal locus of control increases personal moral behavior
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1377
You’ve Got To Have Hope
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1376
The Brain’s Haphazard Evolution Left Us with Self-Destructive Instin
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1375
‘Erasing’ Drug-associated Memories May Stop Drug Addiction Relapses
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1374
Conservatives happier because they aren’t mad at inequality
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1373
Fixing society by fixing ‘character’
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trans-Spirit/message/1372
________________________________
IEET SPEAKER EVENTS
Hughes on The Future of Death
National Geographic Channel
2008 Sep 2
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20080902/
Treder @ Basque Country Program on Globalization San Sebastian, Spain
2008 Sep 3-5
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/treder20080903/
Goertzel on “OpenCog Prime: Design for an Open-Source Thinking Machine”
Menlo Park, CA
2008 Sep 7
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzel20080907/
Creating Ethically Sensitive Machines for Medical Use Hartford, CT USA
2008 Sep 18
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/htfd20080918/
Dvorsky on “Should science shape the modern athlete?”
Toronto Canada
2008 Sep 26
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorsky20080926/
Hughes on “Gene Therapy and Neurotechnologies to Enhance Human Virtues”
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ USA
2008 Oct 10
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081010/
Hughes @ Science, Christianity & the New Frontiers of Human Life Blackstone, Virginia USA
2008 Oct 20-21
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081020/
Brain, Goertzel @ Singularity Summit 2008 San Jose, CA, USA
2008 Oct 25
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/singsum08/
IEET-CRN SEMINAR: Catastrophic Global Risks: Building a Resilient Civilization Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
2008 Nov 14
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ieet20081114/
Hughes, Bostrom, Cascio, Treder @ Convergence 08 Mountain View, California
2008 Nov 15-16
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/conv08/
Hughes on Using Neurotech to Become Better People Houston, TX
2008 Dec 2-2
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081202/
Goertzel @ Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-09.org) Arlington, Virginia
2009 Mar 6-9
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/agi09/
ALL EVENTS
Building Resilience
Oxford University, Oxford, UK
2008 Sep 1-3
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/building_resilience/
Hughes on The Future of Death
National Geographic Channel
2008 Sep 2-2
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20080902/
Treder @ Basque Country Program on Globalization San Sebastian, Spain
2008 Sep 3-5
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/treder20080903/
9th World Congress of Bioethics
Rijeka and Opatija, Croatia
2008 Sep 3-8
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/9wcbioethics/
Goertzel on “OpenCog Prime: Design for an Open-Source Thinking Machine”
Menlo Park, CA
2008 Sep 7-7
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/goertzel20080907/
Science in the 21st Century
Waterloo, Ontario Canada
2008 Sep 8-12
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/sci21c08/
Creating Ethically Sensitive Machines for Medical Use Hartford, CT USA
2008 Sep 18-18
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/htfd20080918/
Psychedelics Forum
NYC, NY USA
2008 Sep 19-21
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/psych08/
Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil Oxford, UK
2008 Sep 22-25
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/mmmmee/
International Congress of AI & Nano
Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Sep 25-26
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/incainano08/
Psychiatry and Freedom
Dallas, Texas USA
2008 Oct 6-8
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/psychfree08/
Hughes on “Gene Therapy and Neurotechnologies to Enhance Human Virtues”
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ USA
2008 Oct 10-10
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081010/
World Academy of Art And Science
Hyderbad, India
2008 Oct 16-20
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/waas2008/
Hughes @ Science, Christianity & the New Frontiers of Human Life Blackstone, Virginia USA
2008 Oct 20-21
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081020/
Bioethics Futurism - Am Soc for Bioethics and Humanities Cleveland, OH, USA
2008 Oct 23-26
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/asbh2008/
Brain, Goertzel @ Singularity Summit 2008 San Jose, CA, USA
2008 Oct 25-25
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/singsum08/
Singularity Summit 2008
San Jose, CA
2008 Oct 25-25
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/singsum2008/
Society for Utopian Studies
Portland, Maine
2008 Oct 29-2
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/sus08/
H+ & Religion session at American Academy of Religion
Chicago, IL USA
2008 Nov 1-3
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/aarh08/
Happiness and The Meaning of Life
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Nov 5-5
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hmol08/
Philosophy and Engineering
London, England.
2008 Nov 10-12
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/philosophy_and_engineering/
11th Annual Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference for Education, Boulder, Colorado, USA
2008 Nov 11-14
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/200811ahg/
Neuroethics Society meeting
Washington, DC
2008 Nov 13-14
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ns2008/
Disorders and Coherence of the Embodied Self Heidelberg, Germany
2008 Nov 13-15
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dces08/
IEET-CRN SEMINAR: Catastrophic Global Risks: Building a Resilient Civilization Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
2008 Nov 14-14
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ieet20081114/
Hughes, Bostrom, Cascio, Treder @ Convergence 08 Mountain View, California
2008 Nov 15-16
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/conv08/
Our Brains, Our Selves - Aarhus Mirror Workshop Aarhus, Denmark
2008 Nov 30-1
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/obosamw08/
Hughes on Using Neurotech to Become Better People Houston, TX
2008 Dec 2-2
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20081202/
World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress Washington, DC
2008 Dec 8-10
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/whitc2008/
International Conference on Human Rights and Biomedicine Rotterdam, Netherlands
2008 Dec 10-12
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/ichrb08/
Human Rights & Biomedicine
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2008 Dec 10-12
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hrb2008/
Goertzel @ Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-09.org) Arlington, Virginia
2009 Mar 6-9
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/agi09/
Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness Portland, Oregon
2009 Apr 1-5
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/anthcon09/
Somatechnics: The Technologisation of Bodies and Selves New South Wales, Australia
2009 Apr 16-18
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/stbs09/
First World Congress on Positive Psychology Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
2009 Jun 18-21
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pospsycon2009/
Metaphysics of Science
Melbourne, Australia
2009 Jul 3-5
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/mos09/
Politics of the Life Sciences in an ‘Age of Biological Control’
London, UK
2009 Sep 16-18
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/lse2009/
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Contact:
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies http://ieet.org/ Executive Director, Dr. James J. Hughes Williams 229B, Trinity College 300 Summit St.
Hartford CT 06106 USA
Email: director @ ieet.org
Phone: 860-428-1837
________________________________
Emergence is published weekly. Emergence encourages submissions for publication. Please send submissions to: director@ieet.org. Submissions will be reviewed by the IEET staff, and final determinations regarding publication are at the sole discretion of the IEET.