Transhumanism
From our current human state of being to the transhuman future and the many species of posthuman our children may become.
Folksonomies: transhumanism posthumanism
Memes
10 MAR 2017
Argonauts: Magna Cortica
THE MAGNA CORTICA
ORIGINAL TENETS
(DATE UNKNOWN BUT BEFORE BF 80)
I. Self knowledge. Sapient beings have the right to know whether they’ve been mentally modified.
II. Self-modification. Sapient beings have the right to pursue self-modification.
III. Refusing modification. They also have the right to refuse it.
IV. Modification (or not) of progeny. Sapient beings have the right to modify—or not—their own progeny.
V. Knowledge of who has been modified or selfupgraded. Polities and ...
1 
03 APR 2015
Prejudice Against Transhumanism in Star Trek
Star Trek’s greatest villains are, almost without exception, the products of human (or whatever-the-original-species-was) enhancement. For example Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, universally regarded as the best Trek movie, has as its villain Khan Noonien Singh.
[...]
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, of course, we get the Borg, cyborgs from the other side of the galaxy who exist as part of a single collective consciousness which they continually seek to forcibly add other species to. And ...A reoccurring theme of bioism in the series.
19 MAR 2015
Whole Brain Emulation
We consider a strategy of straightforward duplication of the activity, and look at the numbers of some of the components. The human brain has up to one hundred billion (10^11) neurons and between one hundred trillion (10^14) and one quadrillion (10^15) synapses. But we have reached a point where for purposes of data acquisition these objects are now considered fairly large (e.g. 200 nm to 2,000 nm for synaptic spines and 4,000 nm to 100,000 nm for the neural soma), at least by the standards o...From Randal A. Koene's "Uploading to Substrate-Independent Minds"
22 FEB 2015
What is Transhumanism
Transhumanism is a term used synonymously to
mean “human enhancement.” It is an international
cultural and intellectual movement that endorses
the use of science and technology to enhance the
human condition, both mentally and physically.
In support of this, transhumanism also embraces
using emerging technologies to eliminate the
undesirable elements of the human condition
such as aging, disabilities, diseases, and involuntary
death. Many transhumanists believe these
technologies will be ...Folksonomies: transhumanism
Folksonomies: transhumanism
13 FEB 2015
Nietzsche's Ubermensch as a Precursor to Transhumanism
...over a century ago, Nietzsche wrote, in Also Sprach Zarathustra, that the ultimate purpose of humankind was to create a being transcending human abilities, an ubermensch. While ubermensch is often translated into English as “super man”, it is actually much closer to the concept of H . The ubermensch was a person above all weaker beings, an empiricist who gained knowledge from his senses just as H will gain knowledge from trillions of sensors. The ubermensch would not be constrained by...Feels like this is pulling more from the philosophy than is supported by the text.
13 FEB 2015
Factions in the Artilect War
I predict that humanity will split into three major philosophical, ideological, political groups, which I label as follows.
–The Cosmists (based on the word “cosmos”) will be in favor of building these godlike machines (the artilects), who would be immortal, think a million times faster than humans, have unlimited memory, go anywhere, do anything and take any shape. The Cosmists would take a quasi-religious view that they are god builders. Privately, I am a Cosmist, but publicly, I hav...06 FEB 2015
Extropian Principles
Boundless Expansion:
Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness, an unlimited lifespan, and the removal of political, cultural, biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and self-realization. Perpetually overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities. Expanding into the universe and advancing without end.
Self-Transformation:
Affirming continual moral, intellectual, and physical self-improvement, through reason and critical thinking, personal responsibili...06 FEB 2015
Extropist Philosophy
Endless eXtension - Extropists seek perpetual growth and progress in all aspects of human endeavor. We are, as a species and as a culture, never finished or in any essential way complete. Instead, we continually pursue knowledge, we constantly experiment, we forever continue to develop techniques that improve our minds, our bodies, our culture and our environment. Extropists affirm this belief and take it to its logical conclusion.
We desire the technology and understanding that allows us to...Folksonomies: transhumanism extropianism
Folksonomies: transhumanism extropianism
06 FEB 2015
The Proactionary Principle
People’s freedom to innovate technologically is valuable to humanity. The burden of proof therefore belongs to those who propose restrictive measures. All proposed measures should be closely scrutinized.
Evaluate risk according to available science, not popular perception, and allow for common reasoning biases.
Give precedence to ameliorating known and proven threats to human health and environmental quality over acting against hypothetical risks.
Treat technological risks on the sa...Folksonomies: transhumanism extropian
Folksonomies: transhumanism extropian
Alternative to the precautionary principle.
25 JAN 2015
Mormonism as Transhumanism
Most Mormon Transhumanists consider our
religion to be remarkably compatible with transhumanism. We consider Mormonism to be a
religious transhumanism. Eternal progression is a central doctrine of Mormonism. Basically, the
idea is that we have all existed in some form or another into the indefinite past; that we have been
and are progressing toward becoming like God in a creative and benevolent capacity; and that we
should each help others do the same into the indefinite future. Mormon script...25 JAN 2015
NBIC: Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno
There's no one silver bullet technology that's going to make us all into superbeings. The trick is in the
mix of different technologies. NBIC stands for nanotechnology, biotechnology, information
technology, and cognitive science.
Look at it this way: with nanotechnology and biotechnology, we stand to gain control over
inorganic and organic matter. With advanced information technology, we get not just the horrendous
data glut that's now tormenting us (and our National Security Agency), but d...24 JAN 2015
Technology is Preserving Our Ghosts
Our technology is giving us progressively greater power to keep alive our ancestors' ghosts. First the invention of writing allowed us to preserve their words. Painting and photography allowed us to preserve their faces. The phonograph preserves their voices and the videotape recorder preserves their movement and gestures. But this is only the beginning. Soon we shall acquire the technology to preserve a permanent record of the sequence of bases in the DNA of their cells. This means that we s...24 JAN 2015
The Dilemma of Human Diversity Across the Cosmos
When life spreads out and diversifies in the universe, adapting itself to a spectrum of environments far wider than any one planet can encompass, the human species will one day find itself faced with the most momentous choice that we have had to make since the days when our ancestors came down from the trees in Africa and left their cousins the chimpanzees behind. We will have to choose, either to remain one species united by a common bodily shape as well as by a common history, or to let our...16 JAN 2015
When Politics Gives Way to Physics
People who take pride in the same object can form a knightly order but not a brotherhood of loving sons. However, as soon as pride in the exploits of the fathers is replaced by grief over their death, we will begin to perceive the Earth as a graveyard and nature as a death-bearing force. Then politics will yield to physics, which cannot be separated from astronomy. Then the Earth will be seen as a heavenly body and the stars as so many earths. The convergence of all sciences in astronomy is a...Folksonomies: cosmism transhumanism
Folksonomies: cosmism transhumanism
The "object" here is pride in culture, nations, and states. The "resurrected generations" refers to the transhuman belief that we will resurrect our dead to join us one day.
01 DEC 2014
Fractal Minds Inside Stories
I cover my ears when Tawaddud shouts the Name. By now I have a fairly good idea about how it works. Extreme fractal compression of some kind, a self-referential loop inside a story, forcing the target brain to iterate it all over again, bootstrapping a new mind inside it into existence. How it is possible, I do not know. Even encoding pictures in such dynamical maps takes a lot of computational power, and doing the same for a human mind seems like something that is firmly in the realm of the ...Folksonomies: transhumanism
Folksonomies: transhumanism
07 NOV 2014
Borganism in Nature
he most common example used is the hives of social insects, where all individuals work for the common good with little regard for themselves. Although it has been argued that hives lack collective minds (Nicholls 1982) it should be noted that all such species communicate with chemical signals, and at least in the case of ants chemical trails can be seen as collective cognitive maps distributed in the environment (Chiavlo & Millonas 1995). There may exist degrees of borganisation, and they are...Folksonomies: collectivism transhumanism
Folksonomies: collectivism transhumanism
27 NOV 2013
Science is the "Crucible" for Extending Life
People are living longer and societies are getting grayer. You hear about it all the time. You read about it in your newspapers. You hear about it on your television sets. Sometimes I'm concerned that we hear about it so much that we've come to accept longer lives with a kind of a complacency, even ease. But make no mistake, longer lives can and, I believe, will improve quality of life at all ages.
Now to put this in perspective, let me just zoom out for a minute. More years were added to av...Our culture, our memes account for our extended lifespans.
28 MAY 2013
Longevity Leads to "Balkanized" Relationships
this culture’s structure of feeling could also be called balkanized. Gender therapy and speciation were both parts of the longevity project, and the combination of the three created a new structure of feeling that is often characterized as fractured, compartmentalized, bulkheaded, firewalled. Usually longevity itself is identified as the primary force driving this; until now, no one has had to integrate a personality in its second century (or more), and often it is experienced as an existen...Folksonomies: transhumanism relationships
Folksonomies: transhumanism relationships
So many experiences and knowing so many people leads to feelings of alienation.
19 APR 2013
Death is Not Assured
The organic perfectibility or deterioration of the classes of the vegetable, or species of the animal kingdom, may be regarded as one of the general laws of nature.
This law extends itself to the human race; and it cannot be doubted that the progress of the sanative art, that the use of more wholesome food and more comfortable habitations, that a mode of life which shall develope the physical powers by exercise, without at the same time impairing them by excess; in fine, that the destruction...
1 Through perpetual improvement through the sciences, humans may not ever attain immortality, but we may extend our lives indefinitely.
15 APR 2013
Eclipse Phase References List
FICTION
Ian Banks: The “Culture” Series, Consider Phlebas, The Use of Weapons, The Player of Games, The State of the Art, Inversions, Excession, Look to Windward, Matter
Greg Bear: Moving Mars, Queen of Angels, Slant
David Brin: Earth, The “Earthclan” series, Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Sundiver
Paul Di Filippo: Ribofunk
Cory Doctorow: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Eastern Standard Tribe
Greg Egan: Axiomatic, Diaspora, Distress, Permutation City, Quarantine
Warren Ellis: Cro...A fantastic collection ficition, non-fiction, comics, and movies for anyone looking to learn about transhumanism and futurist thought.
02 MAR 2011
Carl Sagan's Vision of the Human Race's Future
We were hunters and foragers. The frontier was everywhere. We were bounded only by the Earth and the ocean and the sky. The open road still softly calls. Our little terraqueous globe as the madhouse of those hundred thousand millions of worlds. We who cannot even put our own planetary home in order, riven with rivalries and hatreds, are we to venture out into space?
By the time we're ready to settle even the nearest other planetary systems, we will have changed. The simple passage of so many...Inspiring.
References
10 MAR 2017
Argonauts: Science for the Greater Good (Eclipse Phase)
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Graham, Jack (2017-02-16), Argonauts: Science for the Greater Good (Eclipse Phase), Retrieved on 2017-03-10
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03 APR 2015
Star Trek’s reactionary take on human enhancement
Electronic/World Wide Web>Blog: Hallquist, Chris (May 16, 2013), Star Trek’s reactionary take on human enhancement, Retrieved on 2015-04-03Source Material [www.patheos.com]
Folksonomies: transhumanism
Folksonomies: transhumanism
1
19 MAR 2015
The Transhumanist Reader
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: More, Max and Vita-More, Natasha (2013-03-05), The Transhumanist Reader, John Wiley & Sons, Retrieved on 2015-03-19Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: medical transhumanism
Folksonomies: medical transhumanism
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13 FEB 2015
The Coming Artilect War
Periodicals>Newspaper Article: de Garis, Hugo (6/22/2009), The Coming Artilect War, Forbes, Retrieved on 2015-02-13Source Material [www.forbes.com]
Folksonomies: futurism speciesism
Folksonomies: futurism speciesism
1
13 FEB 2015
Humanity and the Upcoming Battle between Good and Evil
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Dietsch, Jeanne (February 10, 2015), Humanity and the Upcoming Battle between Good and Evil, h Magazine, Retrieved on 2015-02-13Source Material [hplusmagazine.com]
Folksonomies: transhumanism ubermensch
Folksonomies: transhumanism ubermensch
1
06 FEB 2015
The Proactionary Principle
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: institute, Extropy , The Proactionary Principle, Retrieved on 2015-02-06Source Material [www.extropy.org]
Folksonomies: transhumanism
Folksonomies: transhumanism
1
06 FEB 2015
The Extropist Manifesto
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Unknown, (1998), The Extropist Manifesto, Retrieved on 2015-02-06Source Material [extropism.tumblr.com]
Folksonomies: transhumanism extropia
Folksonomies: transhumanism extropia
1
06 FEB 2015
The Extropian Principles 2.5
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: More, Max (July 1993), The Extropian Principles 2.5, Retrieved on 2015-02-06Source Material [www.aleph.se]
Folksonomies: extropia
Folksonomies: extropia
1
25 JAN 2015
Transcendence
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Sirius, R.U. and Cornell, Jay (2015-01-01), Transcendence, Red Wheel Weiser, Retrieved on 2015-01-25Source Material [books.google.com]
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15 JAN 2015
What was man created for?
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Fedorov, Nikolaĭ Fedorovich (1990-12), What was man created for?, Hyperion Books, Retrieved on 2015-01-15Source Material [www.regels.org]
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01 DEC 2014
The Fractal Prince
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Rajaniemi, Hannu (2014-01-21), The Fractal Prince, Tor Books, Retrieved on 2014-12-01Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: fiction
Folksonomies: fiction
2
07 NOV 2014
We, Borg
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Sandberg, Anders (Unknown), We, Borg, Retrieved on 2014-11-07Source Material [www.aleph.se]
Folksonomies: speculation collectivism
Folksonomies: speculation collectivism
3
27 NOV 2013
Older people are happier
Proceedings of Meetings and Symposia>Speech: Carstensen, Laura (Dec 2011), Older people are happier, Ted Talks, Retrieved on 2013-11-27Source Material [www.ted.com]
1
25 MAY 2013
2312
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Robinson, Kim Stanley (2012-05-22), 2312, Orbit, Retrieved on 2013-05-25Source Material [books.google.com]
14
23 MAR 2013
Eclipse Phase Core Rulebook
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Boyle , Rob (2010-06-11), Eclipse Phase Core Rulebook, Catalyst Game Labs, Retrieved on 2013-03-23Source Material [books.google.com]
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06 AUG 2012
Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Hum...
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Condorcet, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat (1795), Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind, Retrieved on 2012-08-06Source Material [oll.libertyfund.org]
Folksonomies: philosophy
Folksonomies: philosophy
34
25 APR 2012
Infinite in All Directions
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Dyson , Freeman J. (2004-07-22), Infinite in All Directions, Harper Perennial, Retrieved on 2012-04-25Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: religion
Folksonomies: religion
50
03 MAR 2011
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Sagan , Carl (1997-09-08), Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Ballantine Books, Retrieved on 2011-03-03Source Material [books.google.com]
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