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The study of natural science is religious – "hermetic" "magic" pushing scientific transhumanism – – Video

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The study of natural science is religious - "hermetic" "magic" pushing scientific transhumanism -
I believe the pope of Rome is Antichrist (Daniel 7:7-27,2Thessalonians 2:1-12,2Peter 2:1-22,1John 2:18-25, Revelation 13:1-9) and Rome #39;Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and Abominati...

By: DanalYek

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The study of natural science is religious - "hermetic" "magic" pushing scientific transhumanism - - Video

Next Civilization game abandons Earth for the stars

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Civilization made a strategy game of humanity's past. Now it's looking to humanity's future.

Everyone who has played a game in the Civilization series remembers seeing their country nuked by Mahatma Ghandi. In this historical strategy series, players attempt to guide a nation through the ages from its humble beginning to its role as a globe-spanning superpower. Anything can happen along the way, including being irradiated by one of history's greatest peacemakers.

After five instalments in a series that attempts to capture the spirit of humanity's ascent from darkness, developer Firaxis has announced an unexpected follow-up. Instead of beginning in the dirt and building to the heavens, Civilization: Beyond Earth begins with a voyage in the sky, one that will send colonists to begin anew in another star system. Slated for release on PC, Mac and Linux this fall, Beyond Earth surely will remind fans of Firaxis' 1999 classic space exploration game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, although the developer seems eager to distance itself from that comparison.

While the gameplay mechanics will be similar to the previous Civilization games, this time you're not a human in a predictable human world. You're an alien on an alien planet. You don't know this place, nor do you belong here.

"You start out and you're all alone," said Dennis Shirk, a producer of the series. "So you've got to learn everything all over again."

Interstellar Oregon Trail In the game's fiction, humanity has endured some rough times on Earth due to an ambiguous event known as The Great Mistake. We survived but were greatly hobbled, and Earth just wasn't the same anymore. As civilisation recovered, we sent our best and brightest to create a new home.

This is where you come in.

The game begins with something Firaxis likens to "interstellar Oregon Trail." Ordinarily in a Civilization game, you select your leader from a series of historically-based archetypes like Genghis Khan or Hiawatha. But since Beyond Earth takes place in the future, the player is given more freedom to affect how events play out.

That begins as you select not only a leader whose disposition will affect your Civilization forever, but also which culture your ship will launch from, what types of colonists you'll bring, and what type of ship you'll launch. From that point on, how the future plays out is up to you.

"A lot of our pre-production was spent looking at futurist writers, and looking into transhumanism and post-humanism," said Anton Springer, one of the designers. "Not just science fiction writers, but scientists talking about where humanity is going. We're leaving that answer in the hands of the players."

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Next Civilization game abandons Earth for the stars

Thoughts on Transhumanism and Religion from Natasha Vita-More – Video

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Thoughts on Transhumanism and Religion from Natasha Vita-More
At the 2014 Conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, speakers addressed the themes of Mormonism, Transhumanism and Transfigurism, with particular attention to topics at the intersection...

By: Mormon Transhumanist Association

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Thoughts on Transhumanism and Religion from Natasha Vita-More - Video

Conspiracy Theorists Believe Jeffrey Epstein, Who Died in 2019, Is Alive at His New Mexico Ranch. He Is Not. – Inside Edition

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Convicted sex offender and multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell more than a year ago, but according to conspiracy theorists he is alive and well and at his ranch in New Mexico, the New York Post reported.

The YouTube channel ABQ Raw told viewers that Epstein could be seen in a red truck, near the fence line of the property of his ranch. The driver of the truck is said to have had a striking resemblance to the recently deceased Jeffrey Epstein. The poster says Epstein must have rode off into the sunset after faking his death, the New York Post reported.

Epstein, 66, did not fake his own death, but instead took his own life after beingcharged in July 2019 with the sexual trafficking of girls as young as 14.

Epstein conned people about his wealth, his financial stature and personal accomplishments, and deceived people in his pursuit to form valuable relationships with political and global leaders, scientists and other titans ofindustry, officials said. Epstein also hada fascination with transhumanism, the science of improving the human population through genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, The New York Times reported. Before hisdeath, Epstein hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating womenat his New Mexico ranch, the Times reported.

On Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of Manhattan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan around 6:30 a.m. Jail staff tried to revive him, and then called for an ambulance.

He was taken to New York Downtown Hospital around 7:30 a.m. anddeclared dead a short time later. The city Medical Examiners office took Epsteins body from the hospital to the city morgue at Bellevue Medical Center Saturday afternoon to determine the cause of death, the Post reported.

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Conspiracy Theorists Believe Jeffrey Epstein, Who Died in 2019, Is Alive at His New Mexico Ranch. He Is Not. - Inside Edition

Why Arca lit up London on the most depressing day of the year – Dazed

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The third Monday of January is often referred to as Blue Monday, also known as the most depressing day of the year. So, what better way to remedy the post-holiday season gloom than a 10-minute group meditation courtesy of Arca.

The musician teamed up with digital arts platform CIRCA yesterday (January 17) for the group meditation, which was broadcast online and on Londons Piccadilly Circus. A series of AI-generated images made using 31 images of her paintings accompanied the meditation, allowing these material, real-world artworks to transcend the physical realm.

Transhumanism (is) the idea of seeing neural networks and trained GANs as collaborators of the psyche that integrate source material to produce something new. They produce new data that resembles the material the network was trained on, Arca told Dazed.

Both my paintings and imagery produced by generative adversarial networks (GAN) are heavy on a focus of variation in texture within each frame/image produced, she added. I think the images are very beautiful and provide a strange, uncanny sense of watching organic phenomena, like rot or decay only instead of disintegrating over time, the image recomposes itself, ever-morphing. The hypnosis I hope this induces is one that produces a feeling of solace and tenderness.

Kicking off the #CIRCA2022 programme, the project aimed to light up the iconic landmark on the most depressing day of the year and guide audiences to combat the anxiety and stress experienced by the pandemic. To be allowed by Circa to share the works in so many different physical spaces with many travellers in transit was an honour and responsibility I did not take lightly. So, I decided to try to share imagery that would be soothing and convey beauty through abstraction and texture, Arca explained.

The evening also marked the launch of the #CIRCAECONOMY Scholarship Programme, which will see two scholarships worth a total of 30,000 awarded to students to complete the MA Art & Ecology and MFA Curating degree programmes at Londons Goldsmiths.

Our new scholarship programme defines everything that CIRCA set out to achieve as a platform with purpose. Were grateful to all of our previous artists for supporting the #CIRCAECONOMY and everyone who purchased a print. This ongoing partnership with Goldsmiths will support the next generation at this difficult time and were especially grateful to Richard Noble and Andrew Renton for supporting our mission in making the arts more accessible to everyone, said Josef OConnor, CIRCAs artistic director.

As well as ushering in the 2022 Circa programme, Arca has also created five prints in support of the #CIRCAECONOMY that are available to purchase exclusively on the CIRCA.ART website. Proceeds from the sales will support the #CIRCAECONOMY a circular model that funds the platforms free public art programme.

Find out more about the #CIRCAECONOMY Scholarship Programme on the Circa website. Watch Arcas 10-minute meditation below.

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Why Arca lit up London on the most depressing day of the year - Dazed

Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? – Reason.com

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"What ideas, if embraced, would pose the greatest threat to the welfare of humanity?" That question was posed to eight prominent policy intellectuals by the editors of Foreign Policy in its September/October issue (not yet available online). One of the eight savants consulted was Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, author of Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, and a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. His choice for the world's most dangerous idea? Transhumanism.

In his Foreign Policy article, Fukuyama identifies transhumanism as "a strange liberation movement" that wants "nothing less than to liberate the human race from its biological constraints." Sounds ominous, no? But wait a minute, isn't human history (and prehistory) all about liberating more and more people from their biological constraints? After all, it's not as though most of us still live in our species' "natural state" as Pleistocene hunter-gatherers.

Human liberation from our biological constraints began when an ancestor first sharpened a stick and used it to kill an animal for food. Further liberation from biological constraints followed with fire, the wheel, domesticating animals, agriculture, metallurgy, city building, textiles, information storage by means of writing, the internal combustion engine, electric power generation, antibiotics, vaccines, transplants, and contraception. In a sense, the goal toward which humanity has been striving for millennia has been to liberate ourselves from more and more of our ancestors' biological constraints.

What is a human capacity anyway? Biologist Richard Dawkins has propounded the notion of an extended phenotype. Genes not only mold the bodies of organisms but also shape their behaviors. Some of those behaviors result in the creation of inanimate objects that help organisms to survive and reproduce, such as beaver dams and bird nests.

Our ancestors had no wings; now we fly. Our ancient forebears could not hear one another over 1,000 miles; now we phone. And our Stone Age progenitors averaged 25 years of life; now we live 75. Thanks to our knack for technological innovation, humanity has by far the largest extended phenotype of all creatures on planet Earth. Nothing could be more natural to human beings than striving to liberate ourselves from biological constraints.

But Fukuyama would undoubtedly respond that Pleistocene hunter-gatherers are still recognizably human, no different in their innate capacities than people living today. What transhumanists seek is very different. They want to go beyond current innate human capacities. They want to change human bodies and brains.

Of course, humans have been deliberately changing their bodies through athletic training and their brains through schooling. Nevertheless, Fukuyama has a point. Can one be so transformed by technology as to be no longer human? "Our good characteristics are intimately connected to our bad ones: If we weren't violent and aggressive, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves; if we didn't have feelings of exclusivity, we wouldn't be loyal to those close to us; if we never felt jealousy, we would also never feel love," asserts Fukuyama. He seems to be arguing that to be a human being one must possess all of the emotional capacities characteristic of our species. If biotechnological manipulations removed our ability to feel emotions like anger, hate, or violence, we would in some sense not be human beings any more.

Let's say that future genetic engineers discover a gene for suicidal depression, and learn how to suppress the gene, or adjust it. Would fixing it make subsequent generations non-human beings? After all, most people today do not fall into suicidal depressions, and those happy people are no less human than, say, Sylvia Plath.

Depression can already be fixed for many people by means of Prozac or Paxil. Surely, taking serotonin re-uptake inhibitors does not make people other or less than human. Sufferers of depression will tell you that the drugs restore them to their true selves. It seems unreasonable to claim that in order to qualify as human beings, we all must have the capacity to succumb to berserker rage or religious ecstasy.

"The first victim of transhumanism might be equality," writes Fukuyama. "If we start transforming ourselves into something superior, what rights will these enhanced creatures claim, and what rights will they possess when compared to those left behind?" Fukuyama seems to be entertaining an X-Men-like fantasy in which enhanced posthumans seek to destroy unenhanced naturals. But where Fukuyama is a bit coy, left-leaning bioethicists George Annas, Lori Andrews, and Rosario Isasi are brutally blunt:

The new species, or "posthuman," will likely view the old "normal" humans as inferior, even savages, and fit for slavery or slaughter. The normals, on the other hand, may see the posthumans as a threat and if they can, may engage in a preemptive strike by killing the posthumans before they themselves are killed or enslaved by them. It is ultimately this predictable potential for genocide that makes species-altering experiments potential weapons of mass destruction, and makes the unaccountable genetic engineer a potential bioterrorist.

Let's take their over-the-top scenario down a notch or two. The enhancements that are likely to be available in the relatively near term to people now living will be pharmacologicalpills and shots to increase strength, lighten moods, and improve memory. Consequently, such interventions could be distributed to nearly everybody who wanted them. Later in this century, when safe genetic engineering becomes possible, it will enable parents to give their children beneficial genes for improved health and intelligence that other children already get naturally. Thus, safe genetic engineering in the long run is more likely to ameliorate than to exacerbate human inequality.

In any case, political equality has never rested on the facts of human biology. In prior centuries, when humans were all "naturals," tyranny, slavery, and purdah were common social and political arrangements. In fact, political liberalism is already the answer to Fukuyama's question about human and posthuman rights. In liberal societies the law is meant to apply equally to all, no matter how rich or poor, powerful or powerless, brilliant or stupid, enhanced or unenhanced.

The crowning achievement of the Enlightenment is the principle of tolerance, of putting up with people who look differently, talk differently, worship differently, and live differently than we do. In the future, our descendants may not all be natural homo sapiens, but they will still be moral beings who can be held accountable for their actions. There is no reason to think that the same liberal political and moral principles that apply to diverse human beings today wouldn't apply to relations among future humans and posthumans.

But what if enhanced posthumans took the Nietzschean superman option? What if they really did see unenhanced people "as inferior, even savages, and fit for slavery or slaughter"?

Let's face it, plenty of unenhanced humans have been quite capable of believing that millions of their fellow unenhanced humans were inferiors who needed to be eradicated. However, as liberal political institutions have spread and strengthened, they have increasingly restrained technologically superior groups from automatically wiping out less advanced peoples (which was usual throughout most of history). I suspect that this dynamic will continue in the future as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and computational technologies progressively increase people's capabilities and widen their choices.

In his famous book The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama declared that we are witnessing "the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." Fair enough. But for Fukuyama, the end of history is a "sad time" because "daring, courage, imagination, and idealism will be replaced by economic calculation." Also, he claims, "in the post-historical period there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history." How ironic that Fukuyama now spends his time demonizing transhumanism, a nascent philosophical and political movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity.

"The environmental movement has taught us humility and respect for the integrity of nonhuman nature. We need a similar humility concerning our human nature. If we do not develop it soon, we may unwittingly invite the transhumanists to deface humanity with their genetic bulldozers and psychotropic shopping malls," concludes Fukuyama. I say, bring on those genetic bulldozers and psychotropic shopping malls that help people to live healthier, smarter, and happier lives.

I have my own nomination for an "idea [that], if embraced, would pose the greatest threat to the welfare of humanity": Banning technological progress in the name of "humility."

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Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? - Reason.com

Sleeve Into Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game – Nerdist

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Based on the 2002 novel Altered Carbon, the self-proclaimed neo-noir cyberpunk series is expanding into a tabletop roleplaying game. The Netflix show just launched its second season. Combining a healthy mix of Bladerunner, Total Recall, and Transhumanismthe setting rocks as an RPG. Apparently, the Kickstarter did too, raising over 1000% of their funding goal and hitting over 3,900 backers by the end of its run. Hunters Entertainment (Outbreak: Undead) headed up the design with an amazing team of people, so its no surprise that this Kickstarter slew expectations.

The Kickstarter page contains the vital information any prospective player could need. We still wanted to take a moment to highlight some things that are unique to a world in which you cant die. Imagine the prospects for a moment. Villains can be killed only to return later, potentially wearing the face of the partys friends. A full TPK can happen, and the adventure continues with the consequences of that folly. Or bar fights suddenly become far more bone-breaking. Not only does this concept present interesting ideas for storytelling but Altered Carbon RPG is also flipping our dice on us.

Using the Hazard system, the game encourages you to roll natural 1s. Which is frankly, glorious blasphemy. I think this gameplay difference is important to differentiate the setting and game for long term roleplaying game players. If youve been rolling D20s for a while, changing the dice mechanics on your table does work as a tangible reminder of the new world.

For as long as Ive been a storyteller; Ive often been running Cyberpunk, Transhumanism, or modern settings as long-term campaigns. I love high-tension, cheeky, dystopian conspiracy games so naturally Altered Carbon stole my interest. But every group needs one person to take up the mantle of Gamemaster. Lets take a look at how two major aspects of storytelling in a Transhuman or Cyberpunk setting in order to inspire other storytellers!

In this transhumanist world, the human mind is Digital Human Freight. Stored in a small, diamond-hard device at the base of the skull, everyone calls a cortical stack it. Some people have their brains sliced and scanned in layer-by-layer while others take a more digital approach. The end result is the same: you can re-sleeve your entire consciousness into a new body. With remote digital back-ups, needle casting your mind to other planets, or having a variety of custom bodies on handyou can become an immortal god. The ability to change bodies or sculpt your frame like an automobile is a dream for many.

Permanent death is possible for anyone whose stack is destroyed, but namely, you focus on an uplifting style of storytelling. Re: The characters backstories. Create elaborate backstories with wonderfully fleshed-out characters with full narratives by spending time with your players. The concept of a session zero is infinitely more important in settings like AC. Once created, weave those delicious backstories together into one yarn-ball of a plot. Since characters can be hundreds of years old, its okay to hop a few decades. Long-term gameplay in a transhumanist setting isnt going to be about TPKs, rather, about the parties choices around that ball of yarn. Some threads will get tugged, others will get knotted, and at least one will be hacked with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, villains at the beginning of the game can become allies later on. Only to swap sides again later. Embrace this fluidity as a storyteller.

Since the characters and NPCs will remain under the campaign spotlight for a long time, time invested into them is well spent. This also opens several new tactical options for both sides of that storyteller screen. For example, if the party knows they will resleeve they might consider one-way-ticket missions with no extraction. Nothing says a salty faction cant strike at the partys prized bar in the same way.

Cyberpunk worlds are both storytelling gold and a daunting task of finding where to start. Altered Carbon gives us a major campaign focal point called Bay City. Focused into three, easy to identify, and easy to dabble in factions: The Ground, the Twilight, and the Aerium. Poor, middle, and methuselah godlike rich respectively. Narrowing down a multi-planet cyberpunk setting to former San Francisco is exactly what gamemasters need to focus on a campaign. I couldnt be happier with the QuickStart guide for doing exactly that, and I really want to give a special shout out to the designers for making that call.

Well done chaps.

To prevent getting lost, shine a spotlight on local beats. Basically, in a setting with billions of people teeming on top of each other location bloat can be a major design problem. Its easy to fall into the pit of infinite information, and your players suffer from the noise. Cities are nearly infinite in story, filled with vast sprawling segments, and can make the PCs feel tiny. Unlike fantasy campaigns, the pulse of an urban fantasy or cyberpunk campaign beats inherently different. Less territory control or nation wars, and more investigation and fights containedjust out of sight.

Keeping everything setting wise sorted into factions or companies creates instant bonding with players. The Meths and the Grounders are easy factions to grasp onto and weave into a story. For added flair, toss in some company products and branding on your player characters weapons and youve seeded your immersion. Instead of having named NPCs, simply use faction representatives. If a pair or duo of them keeps recurring, feel free to start fleshing them out a little more. By keeping motives and goals orientated around the faction or company, you can brand it, and use that branding in the world. Plus your party will naturally start to separate the employees, from the company. Pelican Corp is an evil weapons manufacturer, but Debbie in shipping is a heckin saint.

Have you tried the Altered Carbon RPG yet? Try the Quickstart Guide here and let us know your adventure in the comments!

Featured Image: Altered Carbon The Role-Playing Game

Image Credits: Altered Carbon

Rick Heinz is a storyteller with a focus on D&D For Kids, and an overdose of LARPs, and the author of The Seventh Age: Dawn. You can follow RPG or urban fantasy related thingies on Twitter or reach out for writing at [emailprotected]

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Sleeve Into Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game - Nerdist

Transhumanism And The Future Of Humanity: 7 Ways The World …

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Companies today are strategizing about future investments and technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, or growth around new business models. While many of these trends will make for solid investments for the next 5-10 years, fewer companies are considering the revolutionary convergence of disparate trends pulled from technology, behavioral and societal changes, and medical advances to understand how they will converge to transform society. This transformation will be messy, complex, and sometimes scary, but signals already point to a future of humanity that will blur our identities into transhumanism.

Transhumanism and the Future of Humanity

To understand this topic, our Visionary Innovation Group looked at three fundamental pillars of humanity and how they will evolve over the coming 10-15 years: our bodies, our thought, and our behavior. After identifying the driving forces that will transform these fundamental pillars, we extracted key themes emerging from their convergence. Ultimately our goal was to determine the ways in which the changing nature of humanity and transhumanism would affect individuals, society, businesses, and government.

A few of the trends that emerged from this study include the following seven trends. We hope they will spark discussion and innovation at your organizations.

The coming years will usher in a number of body augmentation capabilities that will enable humans to be smarter, stronger, and more capable than we are today. Wearables will be one form of body augmentation, but they will far surpass the fitness trackers of today. In the future, we can expect the arrival of contact lenses that can take pictures or video, universal language translator earbuds that allow us to communicate anywhere in the world, and exosuits that increase physical strength. We will also see increased use of implants ranging from brain microchips and neural lace to mind-controlled prosthesis and subdermal RFID chips that allow users to unlock doors or computer passwords with the wave of a hand. However, the most powerful body augmentation will come from biological augmentation as a result of increased insight into our genomes, advances in IVF technology that may allow us to select the most intelligent embryos, and powerful CRISPR gene-editing technology which may one day give us the ability to eliminate all heritable diseases. [i]

These body augmentation capabilities will give rise to humans that are more resilient, optimized and continually monitored. They will also lead to implications around which job opportunities are available to those with and without augmented abilities, as well as impacting sports competition with hierarchies based on body augmentation. We already see the early days of this with questions around leg prosthesis and whether they provide runners with increased speed compared to that of an average human. At the same time, augmented bodies will usher in risks such as espionage potential via contact lens camera hacks, or even more worryingly, risk of a stratified human race based on those who can afford augmentations and those who cannot.

Both wearable and implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are in development from organizations that include Elon Musks Neuralink, Facebook, and DARPA. These devices will dramatically alter the ways in which we communicate with each other, as well as digital devices. Today, when I speak with others, I am limited by the speed with which I can speak and the words on the tip of my tongue. When I interface with a computer, I am limited by the speed that I can type. BMIs will change all of this to enabling communication at the speed of thought in its full, unfiltered state. Mark Zuckerberg has described the following scenario: Today, when we share our vacation experiences, we upload photos and videos. With BMIs, I can share my full sensory and emotional vacation experience with my friends and family. [ii]

Early innovators such as UBER are already harnessing the incredible combined power of behavioral science, gamification, and AI. Ubers behavioral science techniques include cueing up the next drive as the default option, not revealing the profitability of that ride (which is an uncertainty technique that is most often used in gambling), and giving drivers awards such as Above and Beyond that spur dopamine release. Gamification techniques used by the company include a graphical interface that brings a video-game like quality to the drive, as well as prompting goals that are always just out of reach to encourage continued pursuit.[iii]

Even governments have taken up these tactics with behavioral science units in both the UK and US. While these groups are focused on socially beneficial programs, they must be monitored to ensure they do not drift into more controlling engagements. In addition to applying these techniques to employees and citizens, it is easy to see how they will be increasingly be applied to consumers to drive more frequent and volume-driven purchases. By 2030 we can expect that behavioral scientists will be in demand in corporate HR, strategy, and consulting departments.

The adoption of virtual reality can play an influential role in our ability to understand perspectives other than our own at the current moment. For example, VR could be used to understand the plight of refugees, giving us the opportunity to step into their shoes, which may make us more likely to take action or donate money.[iv] Other examples may include stepping into the shoes of our future selves, and looking at the lives we will live 40-50 years down the road if we save $200 a month vs. $2000. This application can bring home the need to save over the short term desire to spend. BMIs may also advance our ability to empathize if we are able to understand someone elses full perspective straight from their own brain, rather than if they are trying to communicate it and misspeak or their intention is misinterpreted by the listener.

We already see an advanced degree of personalization in marketing practices, but this will be extended in the future to touch virtually all aspects of our lives. For example, in addition to location and past purchase history data, marketers may be able to use emotional filters based on our activity to change the tone of their message on the spot in response to our current mood. Personalization will also extend to our homes, as we are currently seeing with smart home devices that can set moods with lighting and music. Eventually, we may see AI personalization affect our career trajectory, playing a guiding role in the positions we are offered based on our personal strengths. It is inevitable that our diets and medical treatment will be far more personalized based on the information that our genome reveals about us. Personalisation will eventually give way to customisation at mass scale where products and services will be completely configured to personal needs and preferences.

We will see the rise of AI in our career settings as described in much work focused on smart factories, industrial IOT, and related topics. Most employees will have an AI counterpart with which they collaborate or through which their work is amplified. Some futurists predict that by 2026 companies will have an AI machine as a member of their board of directors[v]. Integration of BMI into workplaces will usher in heightened cybersecurity concerns, and we may see eventual scenarios in which companies are sponsoring nootropic supplements and neurostimulation devices to improve employee focus and increase the speed of new skills acquisition.

As these widespread and revolutionary technologies come at us from every angle and affect our bodies, thought processes, and behaviors, society will engage in growing philosophical debate around what our values are as individuals, as a country, and as a species. What do we value most? Is it intelligence, self-fulfillment, success, happiness, quality of life for all, or something else? As we increasingly have the tools to engineer any of these outcomes, some will have to take priority over others. For example, if one country decides that they want to create a nation of super-intelligent and physically augmented citizens, will other countries decide they have no choice but to follow suit? These and related questions that get at the heart of who we are as humans and what we value in our society will have tremendous ramifications.

Are you ready to be augmented into a super human? Frost & Sullivan explores these themes and many others in detail in a recently published study, Transhumanism: How humans will think, behave, experience, and perform in the future, and the implications to businesses. If you would like to explore this topic in more detail, you can access the study here.

This article was written with contributions from Lauren Taylor, Principal Consultant in Frost & Sullivans Visionary Innovation Group.

[i] National Geographic. April 2017. How Humans Are Shaping Our Own Evolution. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/evolution-genetics-medicine-brain-technology-cyborg/

[ii] MIT Technology Review. March 2017. The entrepreneur with the $100 million plan to link brains to computers. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603771/the-entrepreneur-with-the-100-million-plan-to-link-brains-to-computers/

[iii]The New York Times. April 2017. How Uber uses psychological tricks to push its drivers buttons. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html

[iv] City Lab. October 2016. What if virtual reality can make us better citizens? https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/10/virtual-reality-empathy-natural-world/502694/

[v] The World Economic Forum. January 2016. The 10 skills you need to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

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The Futurists Redefining What it Means to be Human – PHmuseum

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Art director Gem Fletcher attended a few meetings in London called the futurists meetup, where people discuss what the future holds for humanity. Fascinated by the subject, she involved photographer David Vintiner, and they started to investigate people who decide on their own evolution.

David Vintiner, from the series Futurists

Transhumanists are a group of individuals harnessing the power of tech to transcend our human biology, photographer David Vintiner and art director Gem Fletcher introduce their project, Futurists. Their 5-year long research covers a broad range of such engineering, from people designing news senses such as an implant that allows its color-blind receiver to hear colors, to those who are on a quest to extending life expectancy.

We should not be afraid of becoming something else, says Moon Ribas, who has developed a sensor which is implanted in her elbow and vibrates whenever there is an earthquake, allowing her to feel global seismic activity in real time. Her portrait by Vintiner is extremely expressive contortioned on the floor, she seems to prolong Earths movements despite the concrete screed that separates them.

David Vintiner, from the series Futurists

What is true for this portrait applies to all of them. Vintiner isnt announcing the end of the world nor making the apology of unlimited bio-science. He simply doesnt judge. We are just trying to explore and explain the movement to other people, he confirms. It took me about a year to get an understanding of what transhumanism is. These people seem really eccentric at first but the more I learned, the less crazy and wacky they seemed. They are just purely thinking about the technology and ignore fuzzy ideas such as what is the soul.

His approach translates into a neutral aesthetics. In most cases, his portraits are shot in mundane locations - a teenagers bedroom, an empty garage, an office, a classroom or a living room featuring basic technology such as a TV or a music player. This is happening now, it's not the future; they're all real people. As much as possible, we photographed them in their homes or in all the places where they do their experiments, he explains. No cold light either.

David Vintiner, from the series Futurists

Some devices might remind of super-heroes, but Vintiner doesnt amplify that aspect. Transhumanists may seem to transcend the barriers of both senses and ethics, but in most cases, they just happen to be thinking in a very pragmatic, scientific way. I dont really feel like I have transcended the barriers of traditional sense, I just feel like I am an asshole who is missing an eye and got an eye camera, one of his subject says.

Yet, a portrait of Nick Bostrom, the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University, raises a question, if not a warning. The co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association, Bostrom also warns about the dangers of artificial intelligence being unregulated. He further reasoned that the creation of a superintelligent being represents a possible means to the extinction of mankind. Even though transhumanism is based on science, it has that religious idea of immortality to it, of playing God with biology, Vintiner concludes. Till where?

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David Vintiner is a British photographer based in London focusing mainly on portraiture. You can support his first book's I Want To Believe kickstarter campaign here.

Laurence Cornet is a writer and curator based in Paris focusing on cultural and environmental issues. She is also the editorial director of Dysturb.

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This article is part of our feature series Photo Kernel, which aims to give space to the best contemporary practitioners in our community. The word Kernel means the core, centre, or essence of an object, but it also refers to image processing.

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The Futurists Redefining What it Means to be Human - PHmuseum

cyborgs, robots, and biohackers: the first-ever survey of transhumanism – Designboom

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london-based photographers david vintiner and gem fletcher document individuals who form part of the transhumanism culture throughout europe, russia and the united states in their latest collaborative photo series, I want to believe an exploration of transhumanism. the five-year-long project explores the core idea behind transhumanism the belief that human beings are destined to transcend their mortal flesh through technology.

neil harbisson hears color neil harbisson was born with achromatism, a rare disease that renders him colourblind. rather than overcome achromatism, harbisson created a new sense to go beyond the human visual spectrumin 2004 he had an antenna implanted into his skull. the antenna allows him to perceive visible and invisible colours as audible vibrations, including infrareds and ultraviolets.

the photo series by vintinerand fletcher illustrates three gradual stages of transhumanism from testing ground, patient zero to humanity 2.0. at the lowest tier, testing ground looks into individuals who have created wearable technology to expand their human abilities, improving everything from concentration to mental health.patient zero studies those who have taken permanent action to become half human and half robot. in the final chapter, humanity 2.0, the transhumanist subjects focus on life extension and immortality.

the work of the individuals in this book demonstrates how optimizing our brains and bodies could revolutionize and redefine humanity. as human architects, we are only limited by our imagination, explains vintiner and fletcher.

kevin warrick widely considered as one of the first cyborgs.kevin warrick is a pioneering professor in cybernetics and considered by many as the worlds first cyborg. kevin instigated a series of experiments involving the neuro-surgical implantation of a device into the nerves of his left arm in order to link his nervous system directly to a computer. this enabled him to have a symbiotic connection with a robotic hand. he could control the hand using his own brain signals from anywhere in the world, as well as sense what the robot hand was feeling.

humans are now gods. we are now able to create and design humans, but do humans have the foresight to do it in the right way? questions the photographers.

cyborg arm

for many transhumanists, life extension and immortality is the goal. transhumanism started as early as 1923 and has developed over recent years through the rise of sci-fi themed books, movies and the democratization of technology. as studies on experimental genetic engineering, tissue regeneration and stem cell treatments are also becoming more apparent in todays world, transhumanists hope to extend the life of the human body anywhere from twenty to 500 years longer than the average lifespan.

vintiner and fletcher are working together on releasing the photo series as a book, which can be funded on crowd-funding platform kickstarter, here.

moon ribas sensing earthquakesmoon ribas is connected to online seismographs allowing her to perceive the seismic activity of the planet through vibrations in her body. the vibration she feels depends on the intensity of the earthquake. if she is standing in newcastle, she can sense earthquakes happening everywhere from japan to greece. she describes the sensation as having two heartbeats, her biological heartbeat and the earthbeat, which has its own rhythm inside her body.

dr natasha vita-more a leading expert on human enhancement and emerging technologies

dr. aubrey de grey biomedical gerontologist and the chief science 0fficer of SENS research foundation

liz parrish founder of bioviva

dr max more president and CEO of the alcor life extension foundation

patient zero - james young after an accident that left him a double amputee, james young turned to bionics to redesign his body. obsessed with the metal gear solid, he worked with gaming giant konami and prosthetic sculptor sophie de oliveira barata to develop an advanced bionic arm inspired by the computer game.

carbon fibre bionic limb

patient zero - rob spence known as the eyeborg, rob spence lost an eye as a child while playing with his grandfather's shotgun. inspired by a love of the bionic man and his interest in documentary filmmaking, spence created an eye with a wireless video camera inside. the camera is not connected to his optic nerve but sends footage to a remote receiver. over the years, he has created several different aesthetics for the eye, from a realistic 'hidden camera' version to a terminator inspired glowing red version.

patient zero - neil harbisson neil harbisson was born with achromatism, a rare disease that renders him colourblind. rather than overcome achromatism, harbisson created a new sense to go beyond the human visual spectrumin 2004 he had an antenna implanted into his skull. the antenna allows him to perceive visible and invisible colours as audible vibrations, including infrareds and ultraviolets.

image out of rob spence's eyes

new ways of seeing - EYEsect the experimental device aims to recreate the experience of seeing the world like a chameleon, with two single steerable eyes. in changing the way we perceive the world around us, eyesect alters our version of reality enabling new ways to sense and experience our environment.

new ways of seeing - north sense created by liviu babitz and scott cohen, north sense is a small matchbox-sized artificial sense organ that delivers a short vibration every time the user faces north, similar to the biological abilities of migratory birds, extending the human perception of orientation.

new ways of seeing - aisen caro chacin / echolocation the echolocation headphones are a pair of goggles that aid human echolocation. it is designed to substitute the users vision augmenting our spatial awareness with sound, similar to the abilities of bats and whales. the device has both the potential to aid the visually impaired and provide sighted individuals with a new sense.

project info:

title:I want to believe an exploration of transhumanism

artistic director: gem fletcher

photographer: david vintiner

kick starter page: I want to believe

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cyborgs, robots, and biohackers: the first-ever survey of transhumanism - Designboom

The Transhumanist and Police State Agenda in Pop Music

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Todays pop music is filled with symbols and messages aimed to shape and mold todays youth. Apart from the occult symbolism discussed in other articles, other parts of the elites agenda are communicated through music videos. Two of those parts are transhumanism and the introduction of a police state. Well look at the way those agendas are part of the acts of Rihanna, Beyonce, Daddy Yankee and the Black Eyed Peas.

As seen in previous articles on this site, the worlds biggest stars exploit common themes in their work, permeating popular culture with a set of symbols and values. The cohesiveness of the message that is communicated to the masses, regardless of the artists musical genre, attests to the influence of a higher power over the industry. Other articles on this site have explored the way Illuminati symbolism, based on secret society occultism, has been reflected in popular videos. Exposing and desensitizing the world to the elites sacred symbols is, however, only one aspect of their agenda. Other aspects of Illuminati control are reflected in todays popular music as well, including: mass mind control, transhumanism (the robotization of the human body) and the gradual introduction of a virtual police state. Through the news, movies and the music industry, this agenda is being insidiously presented to the masses, using various techniques. If the news scares people into accepting measures diminishing their personal freedoms and ushering in a new era, the music business accomplishes the same job by making it seem sexy, cool and trendy. This angle is mainly aimed at the younger crowd, which is much more susceptible to take in the industrys message.

If youve never heard of transhumanism or martial law, I suggest you visit the Educate Yourself section first, as I will only provide a very summary explanation of each concept here.

Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities. The movement regards aspects of the human condition, such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death as unnecessary and undesirable. Transhumanists look to biotechnologies and other emerging technologies for these purposes. Dangers, as well as benefits, are also of concern to the transhumanist movement.

The term transhumanism is symbolized by H+ or h+ and is often used as a synonym for human enhancement. Although the first known use of the term dates from 1957, the contemporary meaning is a product of the 1980s when futurists in the United States began to organize what has since grown into the transhumanist movement. Transhumanist thinkers predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label posthuman. Transhumanism is therefore sometimes referred to as posthumanism or a form of transformational activism influenced by posthumanist ideals.

The transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives. Transhumanism has been described by one critic, Francis Fukuyama, as the worlds most dangerous idea,while one proponent, Ronald Bailey, counters that it is the movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity.

What is almost never mentioned is the fact that those technological improvements will be out of reach for the average man. The huge price tags of those scientific discoveries will render them only accessible to a select elite. While the common man is forced to seek nourishment in genetically modified, chemically altered and even poisonous foods, the elite is trying to achieve immortality through science. Even if the masses cannot have access to those discoveries, mass media makes transhumanism cool, desirable and, ultimately, acceptable.

George W. Bushs Patriot Act has enabled the American government to expand surveillance of its citizens, whether it be phone calls, e-mails and physical movements. It also gave the government almost unlimited powers of arrest, detention, search and seizure. Donald E. Wilkes, Professor of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law describes this last concept:

I want to examine here a single section of the USA Patriot Actsection 213, definitely one of the most sinister provisions of this monstrous statute.

In euphemistic language that conceals the provisions momentous significance, section 213 states that with regard to federal search warrants any notice required to be given may be delayed if [1]the court finds reasonable cause to believe that providing immediate notification of the execution of the warrant may have an adverse result ; [2] the warrant prohibits the seizure of any tangible property except where the court finds reasonable necessity for the seizure; and [3] the warrant provides for the giving of such notice within a reasonable period of its execution, which period may thereafter be extended by the court for good cause shown.

Section 213 may be couched in Orwellian terminology, but there is no doubt about what it does.

Section 213 is the first statute ever enacted in the history of American criminal procedure to specifically authorize an entirely new form of search warrant-what legal scholars call the sneak and peek warrant (also dubbed the covert entry warrant or the surreptitious entry warrant). A sneak and peek search warrant authorizes police to effect physical entry into private premises without the owners or the occupants permission or knowledge to conduct a search; generally, such entry requires a breaking and entering. Donald E. Wilkes, Flagpole Magazine Sept 2002.

Subsequent acts have further diminished civil liberties of citizens by enabling the government to declare any American a terrorist with little to no proof. The government can also declare martial law with little or no valid reason.

The John W. Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2006, named for the longtime Armed Services Committee chairman from Virginia, was signed October 17, 2006, by President George W. Bush. The Act has a provocative provision called Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies, the thrust of which seems to be about giving the federal government a far stronger hand in coordinating responses to [Hurricane] Katrina-like disasters, Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor wrote December 1, 2006.

But on closer inspection, its language also alters the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act, which Congress passed in 1807 to limit the presidents power to deploy troops within the United States to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, Stein wrote.

But the amended law takes the cuffs off and critics say its a formula for executive branch mischief, Stein wrote, as the new language adds natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident to the list of conditions permitting the President to take over local authority particularly if domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.'

One of the few to complain, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., warned that the measure virtually invites the White House to declare federal martial law. It subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the militarys involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law, he said in remarks submitted to the Congressional Record on Sept. 29. Source

Well see how those concepts are cleverly inserted into pop music in order to create specific climate in the collective consciousness.

Previous articles on this site looked at the occult or mind-control related symbolism found in Umbrella, Disturbia and Russian Roulette. Fully embodying Illuminati agenda, Rihannas Hard incorporates the military/police state element.

In hip-hop slang, the term hard usually refers to someone who is street-savvy, gritty, rebellious and who is decisively not down with police. Hard transposes this term to a military context. Her militaristic video features a gang of uniformed men dancing under the orders of General Rihanna. Weve come a long way from Public Enemys Fight the Powerit is now Submit to the Power. All of this military/dictatorial imagery is mixed with Rihannas sexy moves and outfits, appealing to the masses basest instinct: sex. This generates in the viewer an unconscious positive response to this otherwise terrible backdrop. I mean, who likes to be in a war zone? Not people who have experienced it, thats for damn sure.

How come guns were always censored from music videos (especially rap) until very recently? Is it only acceptable when they are used to promote war and a police state?

Her performance in the 2009 American Music Awards also contains a great deal of noteworthy elements. The intro video is a disturbing display of dehumanization and Mind Control lead by a shadow government. Rihanna is a cyborg being programmed by the insertion of a microchip inside of her (RFID anyone?). Notice the shadowy appearance of those performing the surgery.

During her performance she is surrounded by dancers wearing riot gear helmets and totting shotguns around.

At the end of the song Hard, Rihanna chants Where the bloggers at? Where the bloggers at?

Im right here.

Beyonce walks on stage with a bunch of men dressed in riot gear the type of unit a police state would use to repress opposition during popular turmoil. What are they doing in Beyonces performance? Contributing to permeate popular culture with police-state imagery.

Is the American public being mentally prepared for martial law? But thats impossible, Beyonce is such a good girl oh wait.

Reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee has likely been chosen to promote the Agenda to the Latino community. His performance at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in Miami is simply a perfect Illuminati fit. At the beginning the performance, a picture of Daddy Yankee standing under a Masonic compass is displayed.

Daddy Yankees is surrounded by dancers looking like robotic cyber-police/soldiers. The name of his new single is Descontrol, which means lose control. Interesting.

By the way, here is the logo of Premios Lo Nuestro awards.

This long video is all about the merger of humans and robots, which is, as seen above, the ultimate goal of transhumanism. It starts with Fergie saying we are not robots! only to see her become a half-robot shooting a gun that causes an irresistible need to breakdance.

Will.I.Am starts his verse by saying Imma be the upgraded new negro, which pretty much sums up the transhumanist philosophy.

At the end of the video, Fergie wakes up from her dream. It sure was cool when she was a robot, wasnt it?

Articles on this site have mainly focused on the occult symbols found in music videos. There are, however, other aspects of the Illuminati agenda that are present in popular culture. Transhumanism and the establishment of a virtual police state are two objectives that are slowly but surely being implemented with little to no public debate. Movies, video games and the music industry are doing the job of leading the masses collective consciousness towards a new era by saturating the airwaves with those concepts. The robot agenda, as some observers call it, has been an intricate part of the music industry for years now and examples of it are way too many to enumerate. The theme of the upgraded human due to his robotization has been exploited by most of todays international stars. There is a difference between a trend and an agenda.

The police state element found in video and performances is relatively new but equally, if not more, disturbing. Music has always been a healing, liberating and emancipating medium. Looking at the music industrys products of the last years, is there a possibility of it being hijacked by an ever-intrusive elite? Think about who owns the record companies.

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The Transhumanist and Police State Agenda in Pop Music

The Times And Seasons We’re Living In (Transhumanism, No Love And Iniquity Abounding) – Video

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The Times And Seasons We #39;re Living In (Transhumanism, No Love And Iniquity Abounding)
The love of many is waxing cold and transhumanism H+ is upon us. This is a re-upload from 2013 ==== There is a spiritual darkness, a spiritual deception, swe...

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The Times And Seasons We're Living In (Transhumanism, No Love And Iniquity Abounding) - Video

Healing Convergence Part 3 Smart Grid, Transhumanism, Borg Society – Video

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Healing Convergence Part 3 Smart Grid, Transhumanism, Borg Society
More information: http://www.magpiehouse.com.au . The opposing view of Life Beyond Life states "Transhumanists believe that what we experience as consciousness has nothing to do with a soul,...

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Healing Convergence Part 3 Smart Grid, Transhumanism, Borg Society - Video


  1. Transhumanism