Giulio Prisco reports on the 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology, organized by the Terasem Movement, in Second Life.

Terasem’s 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology was held on Sunday, July 20, 2008. The workshop took place at the Terasem Amphitheater in Second Life and explored what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness. Click here for detailed information. In the picture above, Terasem’s founder Martine Rothblatt gives the opening address. She also gave the final presentation on Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves. In the picture below Doug Mulhall, nanotechnology author & journalist, gives his presentation on What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats?

The event really should be considered a double success. From the transhumanist perspective, the workshop gave an organic introduction to some of our ideas, also to people not previously familiar with them. Of the about 45 persons who came, a good half were previously unknown to us and not self-identified transhumanists. They listened to public policy oriented presentations of technology development and deployment (Martine and Doug), a pragmatic evaluation of cryonics technology and practice (Catherine) and a grand transhumanist vision and communication plan (Philippe). From the perspective of VR, it demonstrated that VR worlds are fast becoming a suitable venue for high profile cultural and scientific events like the GN4 workshop. Everyone in the audience behaved as professionally as it is expected from participants in a scientific conference (for example all participants muted their microphone when it was requested to leave the audio channel to the speakers), and the high quality of the many questions asked matched the high quality of the presentations.

In the picture above Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and one of the founding members of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, gives his presentation on Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers. See the full text of this presentation and a streaming video with audio. In the picture below Catherine Baldwin, General Manager of Suspended Animation, gives her presentation on Lawyers, Guns and Money: Lessons for Cryonics from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution.

All Power Point presentations are archived at the GN4 website, and at the Terasem Island (SLURL). Clicking on this SLURL with the Second Life client running will provide a teleport to the entrance of the Terasem Island Amphitheater. The Power Point presentations are currently archived on the beach at the opposite exit of the Amphitheater.