Da: A: Oggetto: [posthuman] Fwd: [wta-ann] WTA NEWS September 17, 2005 Data: sabato 17 settembre 2005 16.45 ----- Forwarded message from james.hughes@trincoll.edu ----- Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:29:26 -0400 From: "Hughes, James J." Reply-To: "Hughes, James J." Subject: [wta-ann] WTA NEWS September 17, 2005 To: wta-announce@transhumanism.org WTA NEWS September 17, 2005 News of the World Transhumanist Association -------------------------------------------------- Editor: Mike LaTorra - mike99(at)lascruces.com -------------------------------------------------- WTA News is the newsletter of the World Transhumanist Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the ethical use of technology to overcome the limitations of the human body. To submit news about your WTA chapter or affiliate or about transhumanism in general, please send it to Editor Mike LaTorra or Executive Director James Hughes -------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE TO THE WTA RSS news feeds: WTA News, Transhumanism in the News, Program News http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/rss_2.0/ News for WTA Members http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/memberrss_2.0/ -------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS: News from the Front: A Message from the Executive Director News of the WTA * Bostrom appointed to direct Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford * IEET and WTA hire joint Assistant Director, Marcelo Rinesi * TransVision05 in Caracas a huge success * TransVision06 in Helsinki, Finland, Aug 24-27, 2006 * Ramez Naam wins 2005 HG Wells Award * Brian Fritz wins 2005 Haldane Award * WTA Directors attend H+ summit/workshop * Membership report * WTA opens discussion forum Chapter News * Montreal, Québec, Canada * Santa Cruz, CA, USA * China * Czech Republic * Moscow, Russia * New York City, USA Transhumanism in the News * Hartford Courant article on H+ appears in two dozen newspapers * John Horgan reviews Citizen Cyborg in Chronicle of Higher Ed * Financial Times reviews books on transhumanism * Wesley J. Smith wrings hands on H+ in National Review IEET and JET News * Appointment of the 2005-2006 IEET Fellows * Special Issue of Journal of Evolution and Technology * Gift from World Against Racism Foundation * JET Editorial Board joined by Hugo de Garis Events of H+ Interest * October through December 2005 =================================== NEWS FROM THE FRONT A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR =================================== Recently, at the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) meetings in Washington D.C. I overheard two academics chatting about Ron Bailey's Liberation Biology. One told the other "Bailey is no way near as radical as the transhumanists, but he attends their conferences and says radical things there." I think the man was a little startled when, in the next panel, titled "Transhumanism," Bailey was asked to defend transhumanism and gamely stepped up to the plate. How difficult is it really, he asked, to defend the idea that people should have happier, healthier and longer lives? Sometimes it does seem like our job is so easy, so obvious, that there is no real point. Everybody will be on board when they are finally offered health and long life. But then I remember the enormous amount of cruelty, suffering and ignorance that our world tolerates, and I turn back to my laptop. Yes, most people will eventually accept life extension. But will they want to build a truly tolerant world, that allows each of us to find the fullest flowering of our potential personalities, even if our explorations make others uncomfortable? How many people will have to live stunted lives and die unnecessarily as we push back bioconservative resistance? How can we ensure that human enhancement tehnologies are developed rapidly and safely, and made widely accessible? We have much work to do, but we are being recognized as a legitimate voice in the emerging public debate. On the lecture circuit this summer I was convinced we are on the cusp of a major breakout in the public's awareness of transhumanist issues. Leaving at midnight from a transhumanist summit meeting, called by Martine Rothblatt at the Terasem conference center in Vermont (http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/ts05), to fly down to Transvision 2005 in Caracas to meet with transhumanist activists from Argentina to India to Finland, I knew we were finally cooking with hydrogen. The next week I was speaking to the secular student activists in Columbus Ohio, and then it was on to Washington D.C. for the APLS meeting and dinner with the DC transhumanists. The APLS featured two panels of transhumanism (Ron Bailey held the flag in the first, and I held it in the second) as well as two panels on human genetic engineering and enhancement that also addressed transhumanism. Meanwhile, WTA Chair Nick Bostrom spent the summer setting up his new Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University (http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/), underwritten by the philanthropist James Martin, and part of the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford. The WTA and Betterhumans entered into a joint membership and recruitment arrangement (http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/BHmemberjoinnow/). Mike Treder has been traveling the world building support for policies that anticipate the effects of nanotechnology, instead of trying to catch up with them. IEET Fellow and WTA friend Aubrey de Grey has been waking up the public the imminent possibility of anti-aging therapies. Our little network is becoming a movement. On October 5 I fly off to Madrid to speak alongside Nick Bostrom at the Conference on European Technological Sovereignty. On November 5 it's off to the first Immortality Institute conference in Atlanta and then to a speaking tour of middle Europe (Zagreb, Krakow and Budapest) attendant to my (and Ramez Naam's) inauguration as a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. Given all this activity, and the work of maintaining two non-profit organizations (WTA and IEET) imagine my relief and delight at our having received a major gift from the War Against Racism Foundation which has allowed the WTA and IEET to hire a joint Assistant Director, Marcelo Rinesi. The first full-time employee for either organization, Marcelo, a writer and hacker who lives in Buenos Aires, will be merging with me to form a new transhumanist borganism, communicating hourly with Skype, email and chat. We expect the work of both the IEET and WTA to take quantum leaps with Marcelo's help. (For instance we may actually start getting this newsletter out on a regular monthly schedule!) Near the top of Marcelo and my agendas is the organizing of a major conference on Human Enhancement and Human Rights, set for San Francisco in the Spring of 2006, and chaired by technoprogressive writer Dale Carrico. The conference will be sponsored by the IEET, and will aim to put introduce the transhumanist concepts of technologically-facilitated morphological and cognitive liberty to a diverse range of human rights activists, from supporters of reproductive rights to the disabled to drug law reformers. I know some of you probably think it is still too early for transhumanists to be taken seriously in debates over human rights and public policy. If so, please read law scholar Jeffrey Rosen's piece in the New York Times on August 28 (www.law.umich.edu/library/news/topics/roberts/nyt2/future.pdf) suggesting that the US Senate use hearings confirming Judge Roberts as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court to ask about the really important issues sure to come his way in the next decades: human genetic engineering, the citizenship of enhanced chimps, and the future of drug prohibition when a nation of 100 year-olds are all taking buckets of cognitive enhancement pills. Ray Kurzweil will have to add a chart to the next issue of The Singularity is Near on the exponential rise in the number of transhumanist ideas discussed in the "mainstream media." I think we are at the knee of that exponential curve. Fasten your seatbelts and make sure your tray is in an upright and locked position. J. Hughes Executive Director, World Transhumanist Association and Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ============================== NEWS OF THE WTA Bostrom to Head New Oxford Future of Humanity Institute Nick Bostrom, the Chair of the WTA and IEET, has been named to head the new The Oxford Future of Humanity Institute (OXFHI), part of Oxford's new James Martin 21st Century School. OXFHI will assess technologies that have the potential to radically transform the human condition, such as human enhancement medicine, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. OXFHI will also study threats to human survival and global catastrophic risk. Using multi-disciplinary scientific research and ethical analysis, the Institute will seek to identify high-leverage points where a moderate investment could bring enormous benefits for humanity. By confronting big picture issues, the OXFHI will supply an essential background that is missing from contemporary bioethical and biopolitical discussions. The OXFHI will take a multi-disciplinary approach, using scientific research methods, philosophical techniques, and ethical analysis. It will focus on big picture issues for humanity, put them in per! spective, and identify potential policy implications. The 21st Century School also includes the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization; the Environmental Change Institute; the e-Horizons Institute; the Oxford Institute of Ageing; the International Migration Institute; the Programme on Ethics of the New Biosciences; the Institute for Emergent Infections of Humans; and the Institute for the Future of the Mind. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/ ---------------------------------------- IEET and WTA hire joint Assistant Director, Marcelo Rinesi The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and the World Transhumanist Association have hired Argentinean Marcelo Rinesi as a joint Assistant Director. Mr. Rinesi is the first full-time employee of either organization. Mr. Rinesi is an IT consultant and writer based in Buenos Aires. He works with the Future Technologies Advisory Group and the Buenos Aires transhumanist group. Mr. Rinesi has published articles related to technology, business and culture in Wired, Computer Bits, The Straits Times, Canada's Your Workplace and Student Traveler. Mr. Rinesi is a student of mathematics at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where he also teaches and tutors in math. -------------------------------------------- Report on TransVision 2005 Caracas, Venezuela, July 22 - 24, 2005 See TV05 Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/transhumanism/sets/637334/ Video and audio to follow - stay tuned. TransVision 2005, the seventh International Transhumanist Conference, was held in Caracas, Venezuela from July 22 to 24, 2005. It was the first such event held in South America and in the developing world. TransVision 2005 was jointly hosted by the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association (the VTA is the first and most active Latin American transhumanist organization) and the World Future Society Venezuela (WFSV). Almost 300 people (293) participated in TransVision 2005. There were 120 students coming from six major cities in Venezuela: Barquisimeto, Caracas, Maracaibo, Maracay, Merida and Valencia. These students were selected based on their scientific and transhumanist interests, even though they pursued different careers, and they all received scholarships to freely participate in TransVision 2005. Support for these scholarships was greatly appreciated and acknowledged, since the young people would have not been able to participate without this additional funding. Guido Nunez and Alan Rodriguez were behind the monumental effort to introduce transhumanism to the Venezuelan universities. While the first four TransVision conferences were mainly European, and the following two were mostly North American, TransVision 2005 had a much broader world participation. There were also 98 professional participants from Venezuela, mostly from Caracas and nearby cities, including some who could not participate continuously in the event. The rest of the attendees, a total of 75, came from 26 countries around the world, roughly divided in three major geographical groups: Latin America, North America and Asia/Europe. Unfortunately some scheduled African participants were stranded in the middle of their trip when they were denied transit visas. Most sessions were held in English, but there was simultaneous translation into Spanish. There was also one full day of pre-conference courses that had simultaneous translation because the audience was more local. TransVision 2005 has also been the most accredited transhumanist conference in history. The Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology collaborated in the event: they managed the teleconferences and provided five computers with free and continuous Internet access for the public via a special antenna directly linked to the Ministry main building. The Venezuelan National Academy of Sciences and the Venezuelan National Engineering Academy were also actively involved in TransVision 2005. In fact, the presidents of both the Science and Engineering Academies declared themselves to be transhumanists during the conference. This is a major achievement for the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association, since it is crucial to spread the transhumanist ideas in such important institutions. There were talks from many different perspectives and points of view, a total of 45 presentations with a great diversity of topics. Dr. Greg Stock, from UCLA, gave the keynote opening speech about genetic engineering and redesigning humans. Philosophers Nick Bostrom and Max More spoke about their fascinating recent work on ethics and the proactionary principle, respectively. Furthermore, there were many respected academics from Venezuela and several prestigious universities from all over Latin America. TransVision 2005 was the first transhumanist conference to be broadcast via Internet. In fact, there was continuous webcasting of the event, even if the server sometimes got saturated when over 100 people accessed the system simultaneously. Furthermore, there were two teleconferences, the first one with Jerry Glenn, Director of the Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University (with simultaneous video from Washington, DC, USA), and the second one with Sir Arthur C. Clarke (from Colombo, Sri Lanka). The teleconference with Sir Arthur C. Clarke was wonderful, even if there were compatibility problems for the video signal since the Apple and PC equipments on both extremes of the transmission would not synchronize. With a fainted voice due to his age and health problems, Sir Arthur C. Clarke responded several questions from the participants, and he said that if he could only transmit one message to the whole world it should be "Don't panic." He lat! er explained that we always have to be optimistic about the future, since many of our visions tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies, for the better or for the worse. Interviews were conducted with conference speakers and participants, and a DVD was made with some of the best interviews. Carlos Bernal coordinated the filming on the Venezuelan side, and produced the DVD the day after the conference ended. The formal opening was followed by a welcome party with a local musical band and dancing group. The Venezuelan Transhumanist Association also sponsored a private reception cocktail for those participants who arrived one day early. There was also music by one of our members, together with another international guest who sang and played the piano. There was a special Banquet Dinner on which the WTA prizes were awarded. This was a climactic event, with the official announcements for the winners of the JBS Haldane Award for Best Undergraduate Paper (to Brian Fritz, who is completing his BA in Anthropology and a BS in Geology at Clarion University of Pennsylvania) and the HG Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism (to Ramez Naam for his fantastic book "More than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement"). We also had a minute of silence and the disclosure of the pictures of Alexey Korobkoff, a very dear Venezuelan transhumanist who had died two months earlier due to a brain tumor complication. After the Banquet Dinner, there was a Transhumanist Auction, and some of the items included "kissed" books by Natasha Vita-More, James Hughes and Jose Cordeiro, the original manuscript of "More than Human" by Ramez Naam, the master copy of the TransVision 2005 anthem by Charlie Kam, a blood signed book by Greg Stock, an unknown Spanish "cheese" by Giulio Prisco and two bottles of 200-year old Venezuelan premium rum. This special night continued with a complete film and music festival. Natasha Vita-More coordinated the movie selection, which included some of her own material plus some classics like "Immortality on Ice" and the preview of the new film by Bruce Klein at the Immortality Institute. On the musical side, Charlie Kam composed an anthem for the TransVision 2005 conference and some other special transhumanist songs like "Cryonic World", while Dan Barker played life his own "Beware of DogMa" and his adaptation of "Imagine" by John Lennon. Their songs, together with books by many transhumanist authors were also available for sale during the whole conference. After TransVision 2005, there were many tours available to visit Venezuela. Most international participants just decided to scuba dive or rest, but there were a few intrepids, like some Finns and Germans, who actually traveled throughout the country. And they managed quite well seeing some of the most beautiful spots in Venezuela and the world. Finally, again, the goals of TransVision 2005 "Towards a New World: Better, Longer and Healthier Lives for Everyone" were very well fulfilled in Venezuela and the transhumanists ideas were spread among the Academy and the youth. Many participants later wrote to express their joy about the conference and their growing interest in helping transhumanism be known around the whole planet. Now we are all looking forward to going to Helsinki, Finland, for TransVision 2006. Jose Cordeiro (www.cordeiro.org) Chair, TransVision 2005 Organizing Committee (www.TransHumanismO.org) ----------------------------------- Transvision 2006: August 24-27, 2006, Helsinki Finland The Board of Directors of the World Transhumanist Association has voted to accept a bid from the WTA Finland chapter to host the 2006 TransVision Conference. With 125 WTA/FTA members and 5 million population, Finland has the highest per capita concentration of WTA members in the world (at least outside of the Caribbean islands of San Marino, Andorra, St. Kitts which have 4 members and a population of 140,000.) The Finnish TV06 Conference Committee writes: We look forward to welcoming you to TV06! The TV06 conference theme is TRANSHUMANISTIC SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY; the emphasis will be on technological developments that are really happening right now. Finland is the superpower of communications (the home of Nokia), and the state of science & technology in Finland ranks internationally close to the top, hence we are at the forefront of rapid advancements in ICT. At TransVision 2006, you will get to share our front seat to the astonishing image of how the world we used to know no longer exists, and how advancements of unprecedented magnitude are taking over. The organization of the conference will reflect this, by maximal use of the available technology to enhance your conference experience! In recent years, Finland has been classified by international studies as #1 in Growth Competitiveness Index (2002-2004, WEF report) #1 in state of environment (2001, WEF report) #1 in student knowledge and skills (2004, PISA report) #3 in Networked Readiness Index (2005, WEF report) And who are we to argue? Finnish transhumanists are notorious for their seriousness and perfectionism - we are satisfied by nothing but the ultra cool. As a case in point, the coldest temperature ever produced was in the Helsinki University of Technology's Low Temperature Lab (100 pK during an experiment on nuclear magnetic ordering). Start planning - this one you don't want to miss! ----------------------------------- 2005 HG Wells Award given to Ramez Naam for Contributions to Transhumanism On July 23, 2005, at the annual awards banquet at the WTA's Transvision conference in Caracas Venezuela, the WTA Board of Directors announced that Ramez Naam had won the 2005 HG Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism. "Mez" was acknowledged for the accomplishment of his wonderful book, More than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. His is an exceptionally thoughtful and well-written review of and argument for human enhancement technology. Ramez is a professional technologist who helped create two of the most widely used pieces of software in the world: Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook. His book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement offers a comprehensive tour of new biotechnologies, taking readers inside the labs to meet the researchers and understand the science behind these advances. The book also makes a careful yet provocative case for embracing human enhancement, showing readers that these technologies are powerful new tools in humanity's age-long quest to improve ourselves, our offspring, and our world. The Los Angeles Times says "More Than Human is a terrific survey of current work and future possibilities in gene therapy, neurotechnology and other fields. Naam doesn't shy away from technical detail, but his enthusiasm keeps the science from becoming intimidating." BusinessWeek says "this well-researched treatise provides a compelling glimpse of what life could be like if biotech treatments become as common as vitamins" and calls it "a fascinating tour... provocative-and edifying." Publishers Weekly cites the book as "an excellent and comprehensive survey," and Kirkus Reviews says Ramez "shows a knack for plain and clear explanations of highly complex and technical concepts without condensation or pedantry." The LA Times said "More Than Human" is a terrific survey of current work and future possibilities in gene therapy, neurotechnology and other fields." Kirkus Reviews said "An intriguing presentation by an unabashed advocate of the technological tricking and co-opting of! mother nature." Ramez speaks regularly at a wide range of software and nanotechnology conferences, including Transvision USA, the annual World Futures Conference and others. He recently debated William Hurlbut of the President's Council on Bioethics at a recent conference of the Foresight Institute on the topic "Human Performance Enhancement: Inevitable Progress or Immoral Selfishness?" He is a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He serves on the advisory board of the Institute for Accelerating Change, and he is a Senior Associate of the Foresight Institute and a member of the World Future Society, the Extropy Institute, and the World Transhumanist Association. ------------------------------- 2005 Haldane Award given to Brian Fritz for "Genes, Memes, and Gender" On July 23, 2005, at the annual awards banquet at the WTA's Transvision conference in Caracas Venezuela, the WTA Board of Directors announced that Brian Fritz had won the 2005 JBS Haldane Award for Best Undergraduate Paper for his paper "Genes, Memes, and Gender" available at: http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/haldane2005/ Brian Fritz accepted his award with the following message: I am deeply honored by the World Transhumanist Association to be chosen to receive the JBS Haldane Award. My first encounter with Transhumanism occurred in the years preceding the formation of the WTA. By chanced I wondered upon Anders Sandberg's Transhumanist web pages and found my way onto the Extropian discussion group. The depth of knowledge and foresight expressed by some of the members of the Extropian group left a lasting impression. This was no small matter for a farm boy who grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania where academic role models are far and few. As generations before me, I chose to stay on the family farm rather than seek out a college education. Adverse events eventually brought the family farm to closure. Our misfortunes were modestly reversed through the establishment of a small coal mining company. While serving as president of our mining company, I found opportunities to rekindle my childhood passions for archaeology and geology. Active participation as a volunteer in archaeological associations lead to my appointment as a Field Associate to the Section of Man at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and a position as member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. The experience of managing a small business inspired the needed confidence for my return to school. In 2003, I earned an Associate degree in General Studies, graduating as valedictorian at Allegany College of Maryland. Presently, I am pursuing a BA in Anthropology and a BS in Geology at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. My research focus combines archaeology and geology through the study of how mineral resources have been extracted and used through prehistoric times to the present. I am presently 39 years old and have a wonderful wife who is also a professional archaeologist. ------------------------------- WTA Directors attend workshop and informal transhumanist summit with Nobel laureate and others On July 20 2005, WTA Director/IEET Fellow Mike Treder and WTA/IEET Executive Director James Hughes were among the speakers at a workshop on geoethical nanotechnology at a beautiful mountain retreat in Vermont. (http://terasemfoundation.org/workshop.htm) The meeting was sponsored by the Terasem Movement, directed by Martine Rothblatt, with support from Ray Kurzweil's team of AV-web personnel. Video and transcripts of the talks from the meeting will soon available online, including those of WTA Exec Director Hughes and Board member Treder. To view PowerPoint presentations from workshop speakers, go to: http://www.terasemfoundation.org/program.htm ) Speakers included: - Ray Kurzweil, President of Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. and author, most recently, of The Singularity is Near. - Barry Blumberg Ph.D., a Nobel Prize-winner in medicine, and Founding Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute - Max More, Ph.D., WTA Honorary Vice Chair, chairman of the Extropy Institute, and Director of Content Solutions at ManyWorlds Inc. - Walter Truett Anderson, Ph.D., President of the World Academy of Art and Science - Wrye Sententia, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics and Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - Natasha Vita-More, President of the Extropy Institute and WTA Honorary Vice Chair - Frank Tipler Ph.D., author of The Physics of Immortality - Douglas Mulhall, author of Our Molecular Future - James Hughes, Ph.D., author of Citizen Cyborg, and Executive Director of the World Transhumanist Association and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - Mike Treder, WTA Board member, Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies The final speaker was our host, Martine Rothblatt, CEO of United Therapeutics Corporation and founder of the Terasem foundation, who talked about opportunities for nanotechnology to aid women in developing countries. In addition, she presented a critique of the Foresight Guidelines, and offered a proposal for a new global regulatory structure to develop and oversee molecular manufacturing. We finished with a nice dinner over which many more ideas were exchanged. All in all, it was a remarkable assembly and program, and we are grateful to the Terasem Movement Foundation for making it possible. (Adapted from a report at Responsible Nanotechnology) -------------------------------------- WTA MEMBER STATS AS OF SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 3040 Total By member status: 2872 Basic Members 146 Supporters 10 Sustainers 12 Lifetime Members By country and region: 1393 USA 488 Europe, minus UK and Finland 216 UK 205 Canada 160 Oceania (Australia, NZ, Indonesia, etc.) 125 Finland 118 S. America 100 Africa 89 S. Asia 53 Asia 52 Middle East 9 Caribbean ----------------------------- WTA Opens Web-Based Discussion Forum >From 2002-2004 the WTA tried to operate a discussion forum parallel to the email lists and website, but it didn't work very well. Fortunately ExpressionEngine, which is the software our website is based in, now have integrated discussion boards into the website. Let's give it a try: http://transhumanism.org/index.php/forums/ =============================================== CHAPTER NEWS http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/membernews/ =============================================== UNITED KINGDOM The next ExtroBritannia event is scheduled for Saturday the 1st of October 2005 starting at 10am at Conway Hall, Holborn, London. Everyone welcome. Entrance is free. This month's event is organised around the UK Transhumanist Association's Annual General Meeting. The event will be open to UKTA members, sympathizers, and the simply curious. For more information: http://www.extrobritannia.blogspot.com The ExtroBritannia mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/extrobritannia ExtroBritannia is part of the UK Transhumanist Association: http://www.transhumanist.org.uk --------------------- SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, USA Six Santa Cruz transhumanists met in August and talked about a variety of topics related to transhumanism. Sophia reports: "We decided to choose a single topic for the following month and all do research on it so that we can have more focused discussion. We figured we would do it on a Saturday next month to allow for more people to come down from the bay area if they were so inclined." For more information: babalon93/at/yahoo.com ------------------------ MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA Quebec Transhumanist Association News The last meeting of the Quebec Transhumanist Association was an important event. Paul Meillon, who represented us very well at TransVision 2005 , has been chosen to be the new QTA vice-president until the next elections. We also had the pleasure of again having among us a special guest, Ben Grosscup, a student of anthropology and philosophy at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, who visited Montreal twice this summer as part of his research on the transhumanist movement. A good time was had by all. The monthly QTA meetings are being arranged through meetup.com. All QTA members are encouraged to register for free with this service to ensure that the choice of the date and location of the next meetup suits the greatest number of people. Conducted in both English and French, regular QTA meetings are open to the public so do not hesitate inviting your family, friends, co-workers, teachers or students to come, watch and hopefully join us as we build QTA into a resonating voice for a sexy, high-tech yet radically democratic vision of Quebec's future. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the QTA director by emailing him at dethezier/at/hotmail.com -------------------------- CHINA Shengwei Lee, an Instructor at the Beijing Zhongxin College, has founded Tao Te Transhumanism (http://www.taote.org) and is a Charter Member of WTA-China (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wta-china ). Shengwei NOTES "The long Chinese tradition of seeking to extend human life and increase human abilities is a natural fit for transhumanist ideas." ------------------------------- CZECH REPUBLIC The second quarter of 2005 was quite an exciting time for the Czech transhumanist movement represented now for two years by Czech Transhumanist Association (Ceska asociace transhumanistu - CAT - please note the acronym is derived from the Czech name). http://www.transhumanismus.cz/ We spread the meme Our mailing list has over 80 subscribers and the number is steadily growing. Several hundred visitors regularly return to our web pages. They are mostly attracted by our future-oriented sci-tech blog which brings the overview of latest discoveries in biotechnology, nanotechnology, cognitive sciences or space exploration and also explains and popularizes fundamental transhumanist ideas. We also succeeded in presenting transhumanism in a couple of printed publications. A brief article concerning transhumanist visions was published in a popular sci-tech magazine "21. stoleti" ("21st Century"). A longer introductory article is about to be published in a SF fandom magazine "Interkom". We consider SF fans to be a natural source of transhumanism sympathizers. Ondrej Nekola from CAT therefore prepared a series of talks for the biggest Czech SF con taking place in the first week of July. Finally, an interview with CAT member Dalibor Sramek about future use of science and technology to improve human condition makes a nice epilogue to a book of interviews with fourteen Czech scientists. The book "Nez prijde vakovlk" (meaning "before the thylacine comes" which points to potential cloning of the extinct animal) was published on 27th July. We help the future to happen CAT supporters donated 175 USD to Methuselah Mouse Foundation. Last year CAT founded a team to take a part in Folding@Home project. The team "Transhumanismus CZ" has currently more than 60 members and ranks just bellow 500th place from nearly 39000 competing groups. Report submitted by Dalibor Sramek -------------------------- MOSCOW, RUSSIA Muscovite Danila Medvedev was able to attend TV05 in Caracas, and his presentation on the pitfalls in future studies was very provocative and warmly received. In other good news, the Interdisciplinary Seminar on Transhumanism and Scientific Immortalism (ISTSI) has been registered as a primary unit of the Russian Philosophical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RPhS RAS). Thus ISTSI has become the first transhumanist organization in Russia officially registered in the structure of RAS. ISTSI now includes 22 members, mainly from Moscow; several others are supposed to enlist soon. There are many professionals in the areas such as gerontology, cryobiology, computer sciences etc. Chairman: Igor Artyuhov Secretary: Igor Kiriluk http://eternalmind.ru http://www.transhumanism-russia.ru/ (site to go on-line shortly) --------------------------- NEW YORK CITY, USA The New York City chapter web page now features a book list of recommended readings: http://www.incipientposthuman.com/nyta.htm We'd like to encourage other chapters to make their own reading recommendations, too. The NYTA meets monthly: http://transhumanism.meetup.com/14/ Join the NYTA discussion list for more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nytranshuman =================================================== TRANSHUMANISM IN THE NEWS http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/inthenews/ =================================================== * Hartford Courant article on transhumanism that appeared in two dozen newspapers around the world "More than Human" - Bill Weir - Hartford Courant - June 26, 2005 "At no point in the interview does Hughes peel off his face to reveal a set of wires and blinking lights. Nor does he roll up his sleeves to expose super-strong mechanical limbs. Bearded and bespectacled, he looks pretty much the way you might expect a professor of health policy to look. But as executive director of the World Transhumanist Association, he's one of the leaders in a movement that sees, in the next 50 years, a world where flesh fuses with mechanics and brains with circuitry. He recently published "Citizen Cyborg" (Westview Press, $26.95), a book that has made waves in academic circles and urges the need to prepare for this future." -------------------------------- * CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION publishes John (The End of Science) Horgan's comments of J. Hughes' CITIZEN CYBORG "Brain Chips and Other Dreams of the Cyber-Evangelists" by John Horgan, CHE, June 3, 2005 "James Hughes, a bioethicist at Trinity College, in Hartford, nonetheless contends that the benefits of neurobionics far outweigh the risks....Hughes is executive director of the World Transhumanist Association, whose members favor transcendence of our biological limits. Transhumanists enjoy debating issues like cryonic preservation: After you die, should you have your whole body frozen for revival after science has solved the problem of death-or will your head alone suffice? Hughes also proposes equipping dolphins and monkeys with brain chips so that we can communicate with them." --------------------------------- * FINANCIAL TIMES reviews books on transhumanism "The most dangerous idea on earth?" by Stephen & F.T. Cave, FT.com "They think it will soon be within our reach to become something more than human - healthier, stronger, cleverer. All we have to do is live long enough to be around when science makes these advances. If we are, then we may just live forever. This idea, known as transhumanism, is steadily spreading from a handful of cranks and Star Trek fans into the mainstream and across the Atlantic. But it is an idea that Francis Fukuyama, famed for proclaiming the end of history when US-style liberal democracy triumphed in the cold war, has described as the most dangerous in the world." ------------------------------------ * NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE fears the future "Attack of the Clones? This is no movie. Welcome to the Brave New World" National Review, 5/24/2005 "Wesley J. Smith: Apparently the South Korean researcher Wu Suk Hwang has learned how to reliably create human cloned embryos. Human cloning is the essential step toward biotechnologists learning how to genetically engineer progeny, a new eugenics project that enjoys great support among futurists, bioethicists, and some within the science establishment. For example, James Watson, the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, is a big booster of creating designer babies who have been enhanced for intelligence, health, looks, etc. There is even a nascent social movement that has formed around creating a posthuman species known as transhumanism...." ===================================================== NEWS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHICS AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES http://ieet.org/ AND THE JOURNAL OF EVOLUTION AND TECHNOLOGY http://jetpress.org ===================================================== The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) was founded in 2004 by philosopher Nick Bostrom and bioethicist James J. Hughes to support and promote thinkers examining the social implications of scientific and technological advances, especially human enhancement technologies. The IEET publishes the Journal of Evolution and Technology. 2005-2006 IEET FELLOWHIPS The IEET Board is pleased to announce its new and reappointed Fellows. New 2005-2006 Fellow: Andy Miah, author of Genetically Modified Athletes http://andymiah.net Marshall Brain, author of The Day You Discard Your Body and founder of HowStuffWorks.com http://marshallbrain.com Douglas Rushkoff, author of Open Source Democracy and Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out http://www.rushkoff.com Wrye Sententia, director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/pressroom/wrye_sententia.htm 2005-2006 Reappointments: - Ramez Naam - author of More Than Human - Mike Treder - director of the Center for Reponsible Nanotechnology - Aubrey de Grey - biogerontologist and director of the Millennium Mouse Project - Jamais Cascio - co-director of the WorldChanging blog/website - Russell Blackford - attorney, philosopher and SF author - Dale Carrico - instructor at University of California Berkeley, founder of the Technoprogressive list and AmorMundi blog - Jeff Medina - philosopher, technology consultant and writer ---------------------- SPECIAL ISSUE OF JET ON "RELIGION AND TRANSHUMANISM" http://jetpress.org/ This issue is the culmination of the discussions that began at Transvision 2004's seminar on religion and transhumanism. Journal of Evolution and Technology Religion & Transhumanism Issue (Vol. 14, Issue 2 - August 2005) http://www.jetpress.org/contents.htm Mark Walker and Heidi Campbell "Introduction to Special Issue on Transhumanism and Religion" John Hedley Brooke "Visions of Perfectibility" Patrick D. Hopkins "Transcending the Animal: How Transhumanism and Religion Are and Are Not Alike" Stephen Garner "Transhumanism and Christian Social Concern" Michael LaTorra "Trans-Spirit: Religion, Spirituality and Transhumanism" Todd Daly "Life-Extension in Transhumanist and Christian perspectives: Consonance and Conflict" Oliver Krueger "Gnosis in Cyberspace? Body, Mind and Progress in Posthumanism" William Sims Bainbridge "The Transhuman Heresy" ------------------ Hugo de Garis joins JET's Editorial Board The IEET and JET are excited to welcome Professor Hugo de Garis as a member of the JET editorial board. Hugo (www.cs.usu.edu/~degaris/) is associate professor of computer science and adjunct professor of theoretical physics at Utah State University, Utah, USA, teaching the world's first Ph.D. course on "artificial brain building" and "frontiers of computing" (quantum computing, nanotechnology, quantum dots, molecular computing, reversible computing, membrane computing, cellular computing, etc). Prof de Garis is the father of the research field "evolvable hardware," which he got off the ground, starting in 1992. He evolves neural net circuits directly in hardware at hardware speeds to build artificial brains, then aims to assemble 10,000s of these evolved circuit modules into 100 million neuron artificial brain architectures. Prof. de Garis intends to organize the planet's first international conference on "Species Dominance" and is author of the book The Artilect War. ============================================== EVENTS http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/events/ ============================================== * Oct 20-23 American Society for Bioethics and Humanities - Washington DC, USA * Oct 22-27 Advancing Beneficial Nanotechnology (Foresight) - San Francisco, California USA * Nov 3-6 AAAI Fall Symposium on Machine Ethics - Arlington VA USA * Nov 5 - Immortality Institute's Life Extension Conference. Atlanta, Georgia, USA Theme: Enhance and Protect the Brain for Life Extension. Hosted at GA Tech's modern Conference Center in downtown Atlanta, this full day event will focus on the human brain and life extension. Speakers will present advanced ideas and methods in anti-aging, artificial intelligence, cryonics, brain-computer interfacing and more. Awards for the Immortality Institute's Essay Contest, The Oblivion Question, will be presented. Screening of the Immortality Institute film, Exploring Life Extension, will take place at the conference. For more information, go to: http://www.imminst.org/conference/ =============== ABOUT THE WTA =============== The World Transhumanist Association is a nonprofit membership organization, which works to promote discussion of the possibilities for radical improvement of human capacities using genetic, cybernetic and nanotechnologies. The WTA is growing quickly, and we invite you to join us in this important work. You may also enroll in one of our discussion lists and join one of our local WTA chapters, which can be found in countries and languages all over the world. The WTA speakers bureau can provide someone to answer questions on the transhumanist perspective to the media or to your group. Join us in working for a brighter future! http://transhumanism.org _______________________________________________ wta-announce mailing list wta-announce@transhumanism.org http://www.transhumanism.org/mailman/listinfo/wta-announce ----- End forwarded message ----- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/pyIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> The Posthuman List (www.post-human.com) E-mail steve@multisell.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/posthuman/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: posthuman-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/