Transhumanist Values - Nick Bostrom 1. What is Transhumanism? Transhumanism is a loosely defined movement that has developed gradually over the past two decades.[1] It promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology. Attention is given to both present technologies, like genetic engineering and information technology, and anticipated future ones, such as molecular nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. The enhancement options being discussed include radical extension of human health-span, eradication of disease, elimination of unnecessary suffering, and augmentation of human intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Transhumanism does not entail technological optimism. 2. Lifespan. Human character development is also cut short by aging and death.
Barrett Brown He has spent over a year in FCI Seagoville federal prison and at one time faced over a hundred more as he awaited trial on an assortment of seventeen charges filed in three indictments that include sharing an HTTP link to information publicly released during the 2012 Stratfor email leak, and several counts of conspiring to publicize restricted information about an FBI agent.[3][4][5][6] Between September 2013 and April 2014 he was held under an agreed gag order prohibiting him from discussing his case with the media.[3][7] Early life and education[edit] He attended the private Episcopal School of Dallas for high school but dropped out after his sophomore year. That summer, in 1998, he interned at the Met, an alternative weekly, and spent his would-be junior year unschooling in Tanzania with his father, who was trying to start a hardwood-harvesting business. While there Brown completed high school online through Texas Tech, earning college credit. Journalism[edit] Arrest and trial[edit]
Aprueban uso de implante electrónico que inhibe la sensación de hambre - FayerWayer La Agencia de Alimentos y Medicamentos (FDA) de Estados Unidos acaba de aprobar el uso de un dispositivo tecnológico que sirve para controlar el apetito, lo que reduce la sensación de hambre y permite controlar casos severos de obesidad, así como también contribuye a la mejora de enfermedades, como la diabetes tipo dos. El aparato llamado Maestro, de la compañía EnteroMedics Inc. emplea una tecnología llamada VBLOC, la cual bloquea las señales en los nervios que conectan al cerebro con el estómago. Así, el paciente debe someterse a una operación quirúrgica para implantar el dispositivo bajo la piel, específicamente sobre el área entre el esófago y el estómago. En palabras del doctor Scott Shikora, de EnteroMedics, esta solución es segura y a diferencia de otras alternativas contribuye a mantener la pérdida de peso conforme pasa el tiempo:
Transhumanism [W] Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.[1] Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the ethics of developing and using such technologies. They speculate that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".[1] History[edit] According to Nick Bostrom,[1] transcendentalist impulses have been expressed at least as far back as in the quest for immortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as historical quests for the Fountain of Youth, Elixir of Life, and other efforts to stave off aging and death. First transhumanist proposals[edit]
Aaron Swartz Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer and Internet hacktivist who was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS[3] and the Markdown publishing format,[4] the organization Creative Commons,[5] the website framework web.py[6] and the social news site, Reddit, in which he became a partner after its merger with his company, Infogami.[i] He committed suicide while under federal indictment for data-theft, a prosecution that was characterized by his family as being "the product of a criminal-justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach".[7] Swartz's work also focused on sociology, civic awareness and activism.[8][9] He helped launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009 to learn more about effective online activism. Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison. Life and works[edit] W3C[edit] Markdown[edit]
Democratic transhumanism Philosophy[edit] According to Hughes, the terms techno-progressivism and democratic transhumanism both refer to the same set of Enlightenment values and principles; however, the term technoprogressive has replaced the use of the word democratic transhumanism.[9][10] Trends[edit] Hughes has identified 15 "left futurist" or "left techno-utopian" trends and projects that could be incorporated into democratic transhumanism:[1] List of democratic transhumanists[edit] This section contains an alphabetically ordered list of notable individuals who have identified themselves or been identified by Hughes as advocates of democratic transhumanism:[11] Criticism[edit] Critical theorist Dale Carrico defended democratic transhumanism from Bailey's criticism.[14] However, he would later criticize democratic transhumanism himself on technoprogressive grounds.[15] References[edit] External links[edit]
How to Become Virtually Immortal It’s not enough that Internet companies have entered every corner of human existence—now, some are starting to cater to non-existence. In recent years, Google and Facebook have created systems to deal with death, such as suspending inactive accounts and allowing people to bequeath their data to a surviving friend or relative. The newest entry in the e-death industry is a small start-up called Eterni.me, which is taking end-of-life services to Asimovian extremes. Never has the cryonics movement, with its promise of reviving frozen bodies in the future, seemed so old-school. The company plans to store data from Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, photos, video, location information, and even Google Glass and Fitbit devices. The service’s defining feature is a 3-D digital avatar, designed to look and sound like you, whose job will be to emulate your personality and dish out bits of information to friends and family taken from a database of stored information. Illustration by Dadu Shin.
5 Mind-Boggling Predictions for the Next 25 Years – Live Learn Evolve Bill Gates calls Ray, “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence.” Ray is also amazing at predicting a lot more beyond just AI. This post looks at his very incredible predictions for the next 20+ years. So who is Ray Kurzweil? He has received 20 honorary doctorates, has been awarded honors from three U.S. presidents, and has authored 7 books (5 of which have been national bestsellers). He is the principal inventor of many technologies ranging from the first CCD flatbed scanner to the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. In short, Ray’s pretty smart… and his predictions are amazing, mind-boggling, and important reminders that we are living in the most exciting time in human history. But, first let’s look back at some of the predictions Ray got right. Predictions Ray has gotten right over the last 25 years In 1990 (twenty-five years ago), he predicted… … that a computer would defeat a world chess champion by 1998. In 1999, he predicted…
Murder in virtual reality should be illegal | Aeon Ideas You start by picking up the knife, or reaching for the neck of a broken-off bottle. Then comes the lunge and wrestle, the physical strain as your victim fights back, the desire to overpower him. You feel the density of his body against yours, the warmth of his blood. Now the victim is looking up at you, making eye contact in his final moments. Science-fiction writers have fantasised about virtual reality (VR) for decades. But this new form of entertainment is dangerous. Get Aeon straight to your inbox This is not the argument of a killjoy. So I understand the appeal of VR, and its potential to make a story all the more real for the viewer. The effects of all this gore are not clear-cut. The problem of what entertainment does to us isn’t new. Humans are embodied beings, which means that the way we think, feel, perceive and behave is bound up with the fact that we exist as part of and within our bodies. It’s a small step from here to truly inhabiting the body of another person in VR.
40 Cool Inventions and Gadgets That Will Change Your Life | 2016 2016 has been an awesome year for new and innovative inventions that we are all sure to love, need, or simply must have. Some have been designed to save us time, some to save money, and some just do allow us to have more fun. The only question left for the world to answer is which one should be gotten first. Most of the innovative gadgets have been funded successfully on Indiegogo, Kickstarter and have been made available for public to buy. When I started researching for this post, I found several cool gadgets with the aim to transform your life in a number of ways but I found the following interesting and hopefully will add more in the future. 1. Last year, Tesla Motors released a new firmware update for the Model S which is freaking awesome. According to the studies, more advance technology will help to reduce accidents on roads. You can learn more about the Autopilot features on the official blog. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.
Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality Image copyright Getty Images The story of a 14-year-old girl who won a landmark legal battle to be preserved cryogenically has many people wondering how such technology actually works - for many of us, it seems like something straight out of science fiction. But sci-fi has a long history of becoming science fact, as outlandish creations inspire real research. Remarkable realities Tractor beams In Star Wars, the unfortunate heroes are caught in a "tractor beam" that freezes their ship and pulls them towards the enemy. An Australian university can do the same thing - although its experiments with lasers could only manage to move a tiny object (one fifth of a millimetre) along about 20cm. Image copyright Asier Marzo/Bruce Drinkwater/Sriram Subramanian British researchers, meanwhile, have been experimenting with sound waves to shift objects through the air - and can just about manage objects the size of a pea at about 40cm away. The moon landing Image copyright Science Photo Library Energy weapons
Rise of the human exoskeletons On the outskirts of Pisa in a back room of a modern block, a machine is waiting for its operator. The device has arms and legs and is suspended by ropes from a metal frame. Its only other tether is a thick umbilical cable plugged into its back. After a few final checks, research engineer Gianluca approaches the machine, turns, and puts his feet on its feet and buckles them in. He straps himself in across his chest and puts his arms into its arms. With a finger he then presses a button, and the machine jolts into life, lights flashing and joints whirring as he cautiously steers his body suit across the floor. The machine is called the "Body Extender" and has been developed at the Perceptual Robotics Laboratory (Percro), part of the Pisa's Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. It can lift 50kg (7st 12lb) in each extended hand, can exert 10 times the force the user applies to an object, and its makers claim it is the most complex exoskeleton yet built. "There are several possible applications.