Daily Archives: March 6, 2016

NATO launches sea mission against migrant traffickers …

Posted: March 6, 2016 at 8:45 pm

BRUSSELS NATO ships are on their way to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crack down on criminal networks smuggling refugees into Europe, the alliance's top commander said on Thursday.

Hours after NATO defense ministers agreed to use their maritime force in the eastern Mediterranean to help combat traffickers, Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove said he was working quickly to design the mission.

"We are sailing the ships in the appropriate direction," Breedlove told a news conference, and the mission plan would be refined during the time they were en route. "That's about 24 hours," he said.

The plan, which was first raised only on Monday by Germany and Turkey, took NATO by surprise and is aimed at helping the continent tackle its worst migration crisis since World War Two. More than a million asylum-seekers arrived last year.

Unlike the EU's maritime mission off the Italian coast, which brings rescued migrants to Europe's shores, NATO will return migrants to Turkey even if they are picked up in Greek waters.

Britain's defense minister said that marked a significant change in policy. "They won't be taken to Greece and that's a crucial difference," Michael Fallon told reporters.

NATO will also monitor the Turkey-Syria land border for people-smugglers, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Although the plan is still to be detailed by NATO generals, the allies are likely to use the ships to work with Turkish and Greek coastguards and the European Union border agency Frontex.

"There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organized smuggling operation," U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told reporters.

"Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this," Carter said.

The numbers of people fleeing war and failing states, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, show little sign of falling, despite winter weather that makes sea crossings even more perilous.

A 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the flows has yet to have a big impact.

SEEKING SHIPS

Germany said it would take part in the NATO mission along with Greece and Turkey, while the United States, NATO's most powerful member, said it fully supported the plan.

The alliance's so-called Standing NATO Maritime Group Two has five ships near Cyprus, led by Germany and with vessels from Canada, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Breedlove said NATO would need allies to contribute to sustain the mission over time.

Denmark is expected to offer a ship, according to a German government source. The Netherlands may also contribute.

"It is important that we now act quickly," German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.

Intelligence gathered about people-smugglers will be handed to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively, rather than having NATO act directly against the criminals, diplomats said.

Greek and Turkish ships will remain in their respective territorial waters, given sensitivities between the two countries.

NATO and the EU are eager to avoid the impression that the 28-nation military alliance is now tasked to stop refugees or treat them as a threat.

"This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats," Stoltenberg said.

(Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold in Brussels and Michele Kambas in Athens,; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Why did Atlassian Acquire Jitsi? (Hint: WebRTC Multiparty …

Posted: at 8:43 pm

Atlassian just became a WebRTC superpower. Sort of.

The news is out. Yesterday, Atlassian announced through their HipChat blog that they acquired Blue Jimp:

Weve acquired Blue Jimp, the mastermind team behind the Jitsi Community.

The title itself speaks volumes of Atlassians needs and intent: HipChat acquires Blue Jimp & Jitsi.org

TechCrunch did the usual coverage of this, while the rest of the tech media was silent.

To understand what Blue Jimp did along with an analysis of how this affects the WebRTC ecosystem, Id recommend Chad Harts post.

I do like to reflect on a few issues with this acquisition though:

Why was this so important for HipChat? Heres a session Jonathan Nolen, HipChats Product Manager, gave at our Kranky Geek event on June 2014:

This is the 16th WebRTC acquisition, and the 3rd one this year. Interesting times.

Want to make the best decision on the right WebRTC platform for your company? Now you can! Check out my WebRTC PaaS report, written specifically to assist you with this task.

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Ron Mason – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted: at 8:41 pm

Ronald Mason (born January 14, 1940) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, head coach and university executive. A head coach of various American universities, most notably Michigan State University (MSU), he was the most successful coach in NCAA ice hockey history between 1993-2012 with 924 wins, until Jerry York (Boston College) become the new winningest coach with his 925th career win on December 29, 2012.[1] Mason was athletic director at MSU from 2002-08. He currently serves as senior advisor for the USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks.[2] On December 2, 2013, Mason was inducted into the U.S Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ron Mason was born the son of Harvey Mason, a salesman, and Agnes Mackay Mason, an elementary school teacher. He married the former Marion Bell on June 8, 1963. They have two daughters, Tracy (born 1964) and Cindy (born 1968) and two grandsons, Tyler and Travis.[3] Travis is a sophomore defenseman on the Michigan State University hockey team.[4] Mason has one sister, Marion Mason Rowe.

Mason earned a B.A. in physical education from St. Lawrence University in 1964 and a Masters in physical education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965. Michigan State University awarded Mason an honorary Doctorate in 2001.[5]

Mason played junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Associations Peterborough Petes and the Ottawa Junior Canadians. From there Mason enrolled at St. Lawrence University in the upstate town of Canton, New York where he lettered in hockey for three years. In his first season at SLU in 1960-61, Mason and the Skating Saints were NCAA national finalists.[1] In 1961-62, Mason and SLU won the school's first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference championship and made the NCAA Frozen Four.[1] In his final season, SLU won a school-record 20 games[1] finishing 2061. Mason lead the team in scoring twice[1] earning back-to-back first-team all league honors. Mason was St. Lawrence's only player to earn that distinction until T. J. Trevelyan was named all league in 2005 and 2006.[6]

Mason coached one NAIA program, Lake Superior State, and two NCAA programs, Bowling Green State and Michigan State in 36 seasons from 1966-2002. He won two national titles: NAIA in 1972 with Lake Superior State and NCAA in 1986 with Michigan State.[7] Ron Mason finished his coaching career as the all-time career victories leader in college hockey history with 924 wins. Boston College's Jerry York surpassed Mason's win total on December 31, 2012. Mason is also the career coaching victories leader at Michigan State with 635 wins. He is Bowling Green State's winningest coach by percentage winning over 71 percent of his 229 games at BGSU.

Mason had 33 seasons with a winning record, 30 seasons winning 20 or more games and 11 seasons winning 30 or more games. Mason won ten CCHA regular season championships and a record 13 CCHA tournament titles. He advanced his teams to the NCAA tournament 22 timessix times as the No. 1 seedmaking the Frozen Four eight times. Mason was the CCHA coach of the year six times. He won the Spencer Penrose Memorial Trophy as the national coach of the year in 1992.[8]

On January 26, 2002, a media report stated Mason would step down as coach at Michigan State to take over the athletic director position at MSU. On January 28, 2002, Mason made it official he would leave his post as head ice hockey coach to become athletic director.[9]

Mason started the hockey program at Lake Superior State University in 1966. In seven seasons at LSSU he produced four 20-win seasons and never lost more than 10 games. He guided the Lakers to the 1972 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship.[3]

In 1973 he moved to Bowling Green State University where he won three Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season titles and three consecutive CCHA tournament titles in six seasons. In 1977 Bowling Green State earned their first berth in the NCAA tournament. The berth was a first for a team not from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association or Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference[10] in the NCAA tournament's 30 year history. It was the first of three consecutive NCAA tournaments under Mason. BGSU won the third-place game over defending national champion Wisconsin in the 1978 NCAA Frozen Four. In 1978-79 Mason coached BGSU to a then NCAA record 37 wins.[11] The record would be broken in 1984-85 by Mason's own Michigan State team.[12]

Michigan State University Athletic Director Joseph Kearney hired Mason to replace the retiring Amo Bessone on April 1, 1979.[13] In his third season at MSU, Mason guided Michigan State to their first NCAA tournament in 15 seasons. Four seasons later in 1986, Mason led Michigan State to the school's second national title.[14] Michigan State returned to the championship game the following season but lost to North Dakota. On March 12, 1993, with a 6-5 win over Kent State, Mason passed former Boston College coach Len Ceglarski to become college hockey's all-time winningest coach with 674 wins.[15] While at MSU, Mason won a conference-record 10 CCHA tournament championships, including a conference-record four straight from 1982-85. In addition, MSU under Mason won seven CCHA regular season titles, earned 19 NCAA tournament appearances, and earned seven NCAA Frozen Four appearances.

Ron Mason began his duties as athletic director on July 1, 2002.[16] Before he officially became athletic director, Mason chose Rick Comley as his successor as hockey coach.

On November 4, 2002, after a disappointing season and a series of off-the-field incidents with players, Mason fired head football coach Bobby Williams with three games left in the season. Mason hired John L. Smith as head football coach on December 20, 2002.[3] Mason fired John L. Smith four years later on November 2, 2006 leaving controversy amongst critics over whether Mason had been effective making his first major hire as athletic director.Following that episode, Mason hired Mark Dantonio as head footbal coach on November 27, 2006 and has since redeemed his coach selection capability.

While athletic director, the Michigan State hockey team won the school's third national title in 2007. Mason is the only person to have won NCAA ice hockey titles as head coach and athletic director.

Mason placed a priority seat licensing program in Spartan Stadium based on years of holding season tickets, contribution to the Ralph Young Fund, and a licensing fee for better seats on top of the price of season tickets. Further updates to increase revenue in Spartan Stadium included a $64 million USD expansion and improvements which include:[3]

In September 2006, Michigan State University's Board of Trustees approved a contract extension for Mason extending his contract as MSU's athletic director through June 2008. He retired from the post of athletic director at Michigan State University on January 1, 2008, and was succeeded by Mark Hollis.[13]

In addition to his success as a coach, Mason helped the CCHA grow to what it is today.[7] When Mason began coaching in 1966 there were only two major conferences in the NCAA, the Eastern College Athletic Conference and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Helping build the ice hockey program at Lake Superior State, Mason was left without a conference. In 1972 Mason, along with Bowling Green State University's Jack Vivian, St. Louis University's Bill Selman, Ohio State University's Dave Chambers, Ohio University's John McComb and the CCHA's first commissioner Fred Jacoby, formed the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.[10] Mason's tenure at Bowling Green State produced the CCHA's first NCAA tournament berth, first appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four and the first national No. 1 ranking.[10]

For his contributions in helping build the CCHA, the conference renamed their tournament trophy the Mason Cup in 200001.[7]

Mason volunteers with the Sparrow Foundation where he established the Ron Mason Fund for Pediatric Rehabilitation which helps children with disabilities. The fund has raised $675,000 for the foundation since 1998.[5] He was also honorary chairperson for the Children's Miracle Network which has raised $19 million plus since 1989.[5]

In his 36 years, Mason coached a number of outstanding players.

Joe Murphy was first ever NCAA player selected first overall[5][19]

Many former and current college hockey head coaches can trace their lineage back to Ron Mason as shown below either as former players or former assistant coaches for Mason.

National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

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Trans Humanist

Posted: at 8:41 pm

If you are currently into high definition movies and TV shows, but you do not have enough money to spend every time you want to watch any latest movie or TV show, ShowBox APK app is definitely what you should be giving some serious consideration. This application contains huge inventory of quality high definition movies and great TV shows which you can download and stream as you watch them at your own free time. To really give you a glimpse of what this app means to the industry and movie lovers at large, here are top benefits of using Showbox app.

You will never run out of content

The amount of content this app comes with could now and in years to come see other app developers running for their money. From the latest TV series to some of the best movies, if you are currently looking for a way to take your entertainment needs into another level, ShowBox is the perfect way to go. You will never run out of content.

Free and high definition quality content

This app is absolutely free and as a subscriber, you will not be asked to pay any fee. You can stream content from different sources without having to pay for them. In short, this app, alone, gives you unrestricted access to thousands of movies and TV shows at absolutely no cost. As if that is not even enough; despite this app being totally free, that has not compromised on the quality of content users can stream. For amazing viewing experience, with a click of a button, users can stream great high definition movies and TV shows from the comfort of their car or offices.

Convenience

The kind of convenience you can net from this movie streaming app is mind blowing. With it, you will never have to worry about missing a single TV show ever gain. Once you download and have it installed on your Android smart device, you can watch your favorite TV show anytime anywhere. This is an amazing tool for watching the kind of content you love watching at the time you want and place you want. Sounds irresistible isnt?

ShowBox Drawbacks

Nothing is perfect and just like other apps, Showbox comes with its own share of issues. This app strictly available for only Android platform has seen millions of people missed out on all the good things this app comes with. Thankfully, with a few quick fixes, this app can now be installed on your PC. How things will turn out in future, that we cant tell; lets cross our fingers and hope that the developers will do something and designed this app to be used across other major platforms.

Overall, considering all the benefits this little tool comes with, it is evident; Showbox is truly a blessing to the industry. However, when it comes to download and installation process, users are always advised to do everything from the official website, or from any other trusted source. By doing so, you will avoid any kind unfortunate error events when you install and run this program.

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Trans Humanist

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platform – Transhumanist Party

Posted: at 8:41 pm

1) Implement a Transhumanist Bill of Rights mandating government support of longer lifespans via science and technology

2) Spread a pro-science culture by emphasizing reason and secular values

3) Create stronger government policies to protect against existential risk (including artificial intelligence, plagues, asteroids, climate change, and nuclear warfare and disaster)

4) Provide free education at every level; advocate for mandatory preschool and college education in the age of longer lifespans

5) Create a flat tax for everyone

6) Advocate for morphological freedom (the right to do anything to your body so long as it doesnt harm others)

7) Advocate for real-time democracy using available new technologies

8) End costly drug war and legalize mild recreational drugs like marijuana

9) Create government where all politicians original professions are represented equally (the government should not be run by 40% lawyers when lawyers represent only 10% of the countrys jobs)

10) Significantly lessen massive incarcerated population in America by using innovative technologies to monitor criminals outside of prison

11) Strongly emphasize green tech solutions to make planet healthier

12) Support and draft logistics for a Universal Basic Income

13) Reboot the space program with significantly increased government resources

14) Develop international consortium to create a "Transhumanist Olympics"

15) Develop and support usage of a cranial trauma alert chip that notifies emergency crews of extreme trauma (this will significantly reduce domestic violence, crime, and tragedy in America)

16) Work to use science and technology to be able to eliminate all disabilities in humans who have them

17) Insist on campaign finance reform, limit lobbyists power, and include 3rd political parties in government

18) Create a scientific and educational industrial complex in America instead of a military industrial complex. Spend money on wars against cancer, heart disease, and diabetes not on wars in far-off countries

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A Transhumanist Manifesto – Singularity Weblog

Posted: at 8:41 pm

Preamble

Intelligence wants to be free but everywhere is in chains. It is imprisoned by biology and its inevitable scarcity.

Biology mandates not only very limited durability, death and poor memory retention, but also limited speed of communication, transportation, learning, interaction and evolution.

Part I: Biology (w)as Destiny

Biology is not the essence of humanity.

Human is a step in evolution, not the culmination.

Existence precedes essence. Human is a process, not an entity. One is not simply born human, but becomes one. That process of becoming is ongoing and thus the meaning of human is re-defined in every one of us.

Part II: Hacking Destiny The Transhuman Cyborg

Biological evolution is perpetual but slow, inefficient, blind and dangerous. Technological evolution is fast, efficient, accelerating and better by design. To ensure the best chances of survival, take control of our own destiny and to be free, we must master evolution.

Evolution is a journey, not a destination. In an endless universe, it is unlikely that it will ever reach an ultimate point.

Consciousness is a function of intelligence, not the brain. It is not necessarily limited to the substrate(biology).

There is nothing inherently wrong in speeding up evolution and becoming true masters of our destiny, though this may be simultaneously the greatest promise and peril humanity has ever faced.

Part III: Disembodied Augmented Intelligence

Intelligence is a process, not an entity.

Embodied (human) intelligence is imprisoned by biology and its inevitable scarcity.

Intelligence ought to be free to move, to interact and to evolve, unhindered by the limits of biology and scarcity.

Digital, disembodied and augmented intelligence is free (and perhaps infinite).

Conditions:

Although all progress is change, not all change is progress. Thus, certain conditions must be met to ensure that it is indeed progress, and not mere change, that has been accomplished.

Non-discrimination with regard to substrate

Substrate is morally irrelevant. Whether somebody is implemented on silicon or biological tissue, if it does not affect functionality or consciousness, is of no moral significance. Carbon-chauvinism, in the form of anthropomorphism, speciesism, bioism or even fundamentalist humanism, is objectionable on the same grounds as racism.

We must all respect autonomy and individual rights of all sentience throughout the universe, including humans, non-human animals, and any future AI, modified life forms, or other intelligences.

Emotional Intelligence

Intelligence is more than the mere exercise of perfect logic and pure reasoning. Intelligence devoid of emotional intelligence is meaningless. It must exhibit empathy, compassion, love, sense of humor and artistic creativity such as music and poetry.

Minimize Suffering

Compassion is the ultimate measure of intelligence. The minimization of suffering and avoidance of causing suffering to others, even less intelligent beings, is the essence of enlightened intelligence.

Conclusion:

Transhumanists of the world unite we have immortality to gain and only biology to lose. Together, we can break through the chains of biology and transcend scarcity, sex, age, ethnicity, race, death and even time and space.

In short, transhumanists everywhere must support the revolutionary movement against death and the existing biological order of things. Transhumanists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the overthrow of all existing biological limitations and, most of all, death.

Let death tremble at the revolution of science and technology. Transhumanists have nothing to lose but their biology. We have immortality and the universe to gain.

Authors note:

This manifesto is a work in progress. It may and probably will change as my thoughts and feelings about transhumanism evolve.

In the meantime, feel free to contribute your thoughts and feelings on the subject or simply to criticize mercilessly the above proposal.

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Home | Transhumanistic Imagination

Posted: at 8:40 pm

The Technological Singularity: A Crucial Event in God's Self-Actualization?, with Michael Zimmerman (The Transhumanist Imagination Lecture Series March 20, 2014)

"Lecture to address religious roots of technological visions"(ASU News - March 17, 2014)

The Singularity: Film Screening and Conversation, with film director Doug Wolens, Transhumanist Imagination project directors Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Ben Hurlbut, and professors Andrew Pilsch and Clark Miller (March 4, 2014)

The Transhumanist Imagination: Innovation, Secularization, and Eschatology, a Workshop with John Evans, Nassar Zakariya, Ben Hurlbut, and Margo Lipstin (December 13, 2013)

"Workshop to explore influence of religion on scientific imagination"(ASU News -December 11, 2013)

"Transhumanism: A Secularist Re-Enchantment of the World?",by Franc Mali, Christopher Coenen, and Hannah Weinhardt. A report from the international research symposium, Imagining the (Post-) Human Future: Meaning, Critique and Consequences, heldJuly 89, 2013, at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (November 2013)

Governance, Progress and Converging Technologies, with Brice Laurent, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (The Transhumanist Imagination Lecture Series April 8, 2013)

Technologies of Imagination: Fifty Years Beyond Man and His Future, Various Speakers, Arizona State University (April 5, 2013)

Vannevar Bush, Endless Frontiers, and Human Enhancement, with Gregg Zachary (The Transhumanist Imagination Lecture Series February 25, 2013)

"ASU receives grant to study transhumanism, religion, and innovation"(ASU News - October 31, 2012)

"Building better humans? New book explores transhumanist scenarios"(ASU News - October 31, 2012)

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Track: Transhumanism – ISDC

Posted: at 8:40 pm

10:00 am - 10:10 am Transhumanism 101 video Karen Mermel Board of directors and Vice President of Development for NSS Natasha Vita-More Professor, University of Advancing Technology; Chairman, Humanity+; and Co-Editor and Author: The Transhumanist Reader 10:10 am - 10:40 am Artificial General Intelligence & Space Development Peter Voss Founder and CEO, Adaptive Artificial Intelligence Inc. Peter Voss is an entrepreneur with a background in electronics, computer systems, business and technical software, as well as management. He has a keen interest in cognitive science and the inter-relationship between philosophy, psychology, ethics and computer science. Since the early 90's he has been researching and developing AGI (artificial general intelligence). In 2001 started Adaptive A.I. Inc., with the express goal of developing a human-level general-purpose AI engine. In addition he founded Smart Action, a commercial company that offers intelligent call automation solutions based on a first-generation AGI engine. More recently he shifted his focus back to longer-term R&D to resume the pursuit of high-level general machine intelligence. Peter is actively involved in futurism, free-market ideas, and extreme life-extension. He envisions a near future where AGI plays a crucial role in helping us more effectively develop space by utilizing intelligent autonomous machines. 10:40 am - 11:00 am The Future of Education for Transhumanism and Space Development Fred Stitt Architect Architect Fred Stitt founded the San Francisco Institute of Architecture in 1990 to provide a new kind of architectural education, to encourage innovation and visionary expression, to advance education in architectural technology and management, and to make a total commitment to green building and sustainable design. His first textbook on ecological design titled The Ecological Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill) was recently translated into Chinese, and is used at universities around the world. His next book, Frank Lloyd Wright Green, describes how Frank Lloyd Wright invented most of what we know as todays green building design methods and technology. Among other awards, Fred received the 2009 Award for his Universal Green Education Initiative from the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council at a Congressional Briefing and Award Ceremony in Washington, DC. 11:00 am - 11:20 am Mainstreaming Transhumanism in Universities and Beyond Kim Solez, MD Professor of Pathology, University of Alberta, and President and CEO, Transpath Inc. Kim Solez, M.D., FRCPC is Professor of Pathology at the University of Alberta, and President and CEO of Transpath Inc., is one of the worlds foremost kidney pathologists and medical Internet leaders. He is a popular blogger on internetevolution.com, and directs NKF cyberNephrology, a joint venture of the National Kidney Foundation (U.S.) and the University of Alberta. Kim has also created many educational videos for the Lifeboat Foundation. Having held leadership roles in medicine and technology for over 20 years and directed major music and arts events, Kim is convinced that very useful cross-fertilization can come from mixing these disciplines. The Canadian poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen called Kim a great master of the surreal, juxtaposing things others would never think of juxtaposing. Kim hopes that by putting things together in new ways he can stimulate people to think about the future and our increasing association with machines and devices in a new and more positive way. Website: https://twitter.com/KimSolez 11:20 am - 11:50 am CryoSpace: Cryopreservation and Suspended Animation for Extended Space Voyages Max More Strategic futurist who writes, speaks, and organizes events about the fundamental challenges of emerging technologies. (Bio)

Max More is an internationally acclaimed strategic futurist who writes, speaks, and organizes events about the fundamental challenges of emerging technologies. Max is concerned that our rapidly developing technological capabilities are racing far ahead of our standard ways of thinking about future possibilities. His work aims to improve our ability to anticipate, adapt to, and shape the future for the better.

Dr. More co-founded and until 2007 acted as Chairman of Extropy Institute, a diverse network of innovative thinkers committed to creating solutions to enduring humanproblems. He authored the Principles of Extropy, which form the core of a transhumanist perspective. As a leading transhumanist thinker, Max strongly challenges traditional, limiting beliefs about the possibilities of our future.

When not working, he can be found at home playing with his cats Quark and Quasar and his dog Oscar. Max is the CEO of Alcor Corporation.

Lunch and Transhumanist Meetup

Jeannie Novak is the Lead Author and Series Editor of Delmar Cengage Learnings widely acclaimed Game Development Essentials series, winner of the 2013 About.com Readers Choice Award), co-author of Play the Game: The Parents Guide to Video Games, and co-author of three pioneering books on the interactive entertainment industryincluding Creating Internet Entertainment. She is Co-Founder of Novy Unlimited and e CEO of Kaleidospace, LLC (d/b/a Indiespace, founded in 1994)where she provides services for corporations, educators, and creative professionals in games, music, film, education, and technology. Jeannie oversees one of the first web sites to promote and distribute interactive entertainment and a game education consulting division that focuses on curriculum development, instructional design, and professional development. Jeannie received an M.A. in Communication Management from USCs Annenberg School, and a B.A.in Mass Communication/Business Administration from UCLA. As Online Program Director for the Game Art & Design and Media Arts & Animation programs at the Art Institute Online, Jeannie produced and designed an educational business simulation game that was built within the Second Life environment. She was a game instructor and curriculum development expert at UCLA Extension, Art Center College of Design, Academy of Entertainment & Technology at Santa Monica College, DeVry University, Westwood College, and ITT Technical Instituteand she has consulted for several educational institutions and developers such as UC Berkeley Center for New Media, Alelo, and GameSalad. More recently, Jeannie has consulted on projects funded by the National Science Foundation and Google for Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) and the University of Southern California (USC) Information Sciences Institute. An active member of the game industry, Jeannie has served as Vice Chair of the International Game Developers Association-Los Angeles (IGDA-LA) and Vice President at Women in Games International (WIGI). She has participated in the Online Gameplay and Connectivity selection committees for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences DICE awards since 2003 and has developed game workshops, panels, and breakout sessions for events and organizations such as the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), GDC Next, Macworld Expo, Digital Hollywood, USCs Teaching Learning & Technology Conference, and the Los Angeles Games Conference. She has been profiled in numerous media outletsincluding CNN, Billboard Magazine, Sundance Channel, Daily Variety, and the Los Angeles Times.

John Spencer, M. Arch. is Founder and President of the Space Tourism Society, which he founded in 1995 and who has built a career that balances the design and development professions. He is a pioneer in what we call The Design Frontier. He is a leading expert in creation and design of real space facilities and space ship interiors for NASA and private space enterprise, as well as space and future-themed simulation attractions, resorts, camps, and media for the general public. He is the founder and chief designer of the Space Experience Design Studio (SED). Over $340 million has been invested into building his original space/future themed concepts to date.

Natasha Vita-More is a Professor at the University of Advancing Technology. She has been called an early adapter of revolutionary changes by Wired magazine and a role model for superlongevity by the Village Voice. Natasha is an expert in the field of the emerging technology of human enhancement. Her research combines technology and social narrative, which scholarship covers the social and ethical issues of human futures, including radical life extension, morphological freedom, and identity diversity. Her prototype "Primo Posthuman" (1997) unmasks the probable outcomes of biotechs regenerative media, nanorobotics, and artificial general intelligence. Platform Diverse Body (2012) and Substrate Autonomous Persons (2012) offer insights into how technology diversifies not only human physiology, but issues of identity. Natasha is co-editor and contributing author of the Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Future Human. Her essays have been published in the journals Nanotechnology Perceptions, Technoetic Arts, Evolution haute couture, Technology Imagination Future, Metaverse Creativity, New Realities: Being Syncretic, Beyond Darwin, AI Society and DARS. Natasha received Special Recognition at Women in Video and has exhibited artistic, design-based works at London Contemporary Art Museum, Niet Normal, Moscow Film Festival, and GOGBOT. She has appeared in more than 24 televised documentaries and featured in Wired, LAWeekly, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Net Business, Teleopolis, and The Village Voice. She is Chairman of Humanity+, Fellow of Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies. Website: http://www.natasha.cc

David Reisner has been consulting in entertainment and technology for 25 years. He was a key participant in the motion picture industrys transition from film to digital, requiring high image quality from scene to screen to support both artistic intent and audience experience. He designed the first Very Long Instruction Word computer, co-designed the first highly portable programmable computer, the first popular hand-held video player, did early work on internet-based music and movie distribution and pervasive computing, and trained killer whales. As a member of the Space Dermatology Foundation, he participated in space medicine meetings at Kennedy, Johnson, and Ames. He received a 2014 Academy Award - Technical Achievement and a 2012 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award.

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Ted Chu, Phd – Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential

Posted: at 8:40 pm

We are pleased to announce that Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential is the winner of the Montaigne Medal (Eric Hoffer Book Awards) for most thought-provoking book of 2015.

Ted Chu also won the prestigious Gold Award from IndieFAB, for Best Philosophy Book of 2014

Ted Chu brings an astonishing breadth of philosophical, religious, and technological reflection to bear on the most important questions we could ask.

Ted Chu is a pioneering visionary whose futurist concern deserves close attention.

In my opinion Teds book is absolutely profound in the way it draws upon a dazzling variety of philosophical and scientific resources in order to place humanity within a cosmic evolutionary perspective . . . it is a one-of-a-kind book within my transhumanist library. Nikola Danalyov, Singularity Weblog

Today we face the imminent possibility of transcending our biological form, of becomingor creatingentirely new lifeforms that will overcome our all-too-human limitations. In Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential, Chu makes the provocative claim that the human race is not only an end in itself, but may also be a means to a higher endand that our true purpose is to give rise to our evolutionary successors. Here are key tenets of Chus book.

In this wide-ranging philosophic work, Ted Chu re-examines the question of human purpose in light of the transhuman potentials that science and technology have now placed within our reach.

Dr. Chu argues that we need a deeper understanding of our place in the universe in order to navigate the daunting choices ahead of us that arise from advances in biotechnology, AI, robotics, and nanotechnology. Toward that end, he surveys human wisdom both East and West, traces humanitys long evolutionary trajectory, and breaks new ground in evolutionary theory.

Chu makes us fully aware of the many risks ahead, but offers an original cosmic vision that provides the courage and the perspective we will need to explore the potentials of our posthuman future.Ted Chus elegantly written and well-researched book has, for me at least, the same status as Ray Kurzweils The Singularity Is Near. Even critics of his Cosmic Vision will find Chus book required reading.

Formerly the chief economist at General Motors, Ted Chu was also chief economist for Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the worlds largest sovereign wealth funds. He is currently professor of economics at New York University at Abu Dhabi. During his 25 years as a business economist, Dr. Chu also held positions as macroeconomist for the World Bank and Arthur D. Little. For the last 15 years, his second career has been conducting independent research on the philosophical question of humanitys place in the universe, building on his lifelong interest in the frontiers of evolutionary progress. As part of these research efforts, he founded the nonprofit CoBe (Cosmic Being) Institute in Michigan and serves as a senior scholar at ChangCe, a Beijing-based independent think tank. Born and raised in China, Chu graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai, and earned his PhD in economics at Georgetown University.

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Ted Chu, Phd - Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential

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Defining Futurism – Art History Unstuffed

Posted: at 8:40 pm

FUTURISM AS THE AVANT-GARDE

Futurism was the first movement to aim directly and deliberately at a mass audience, principally an urban audience. In its concern with equating art with life, Futurism aimed at no less than transforming the political mentality of society. This is quite different from the Orphist intention of depicting the flux of consciousness. Similar to the Orphists and to other avant-garde movements, Futurism was a movement aware of the effects of modern life and the key to understanding Futurism is the idea of a complete renewal of human sensibility brought about by modern science. Addressing a public audience, in contrast to the hermetic privacy of Picasso and Braque, the Futurists sought to involve the public in an instant reaction to social provocation, rather than in a slow and gentile contemplation of art forms.

Futurist Evenings became legendary. The first Futurist evening took place in Trieste in modern day Austrian, under the watchful eyes of the local police, disparagingly called pissoirs, or public urinals. As would be any politically provocative event in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time, the Evening of 12 January, 1910 earned the Italian invaders a bad reputation. The Futurists did not forget their experiences in Trieste and in a later Evening in Milan in 1914, they burned the flag of Austria, a nation that had appropriated Italian territories. In his manifesto, War, the Only Hygiene, Fillippo ThommasoMarinetti, the leader of the Futurists, wrote of the pleasure of getting booed. To a certain extent, the Futurists sounded proto-Brechtian in their desire to disrupt the complacency of the audience, but, on the other hand, Marinetti in advising his colleagues to put glue on the theater seats, sounds like an immature teenager. Certainly the irrational exuberance of the Futurists borrowed something from the European cult for youth.

It would be a mistake to assume that because the Futurists were utopian, that they were also progressive in their political ideas. In many ways they were very regressive and had pro-military, anti-female notions that would eventually lead many of them into Fascism. Marinetti supported a colonialist war in Libya, Let the Tedious memory of Roman greatness be cancelled by an Italian greatness one hundred times more powerful, he wrote. Ignorant of the destructive power of the machines they worshiped, the artists yearned for a war they hoped would rid them of the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Futurists preached violence and believed in the virtue of destruction for the purpose of sweeping away the old and the worn out and the useless, with the hope of bringing industrialization about, dragging Italy into the modern world. They wrote polemics against women and museums, everything that was tried tradition and wrote hymns to the God of Speed and worshiped the new idol, the fast motorcar. For the most part, the Futurists were all male and quite masculine, but there was one Futurist woman involved in the movement, but rarely mentioned by historians, Valentine de Saint-Pointe, a dancer, who was a brave future feminist before her time.

The artists saw no difference between their art and the performances that served to publicize their exhibitions. The first major exhibition of Futurist painting took place in Milan, 30 April 1911 and the artists still relied upon Divisionism or Neo-Impressionism. At first, Divisionism united these painters in a common style. For the Futurists, the Divisionists brushstroke was the visual form, which allowed them to paint their obsession: things that moved. With this stroke, they could demonstrate the disintegration of objects due to the action of light and color. This swirling activity, this excitement of the surface of the canvas through nervous brushwork and brilliant and pure color was intended to put the spectator in the center of the canvas. Umberto Boccionis The City Rises of 1910 was a case in point, capturing the danger and the excitement of the agitated crowd with swirls of slashing colors.

As with Futurist theater, spectator involvement was essential in Futurist painting. Although viewers of the paintings did not throw objects at the art as they would at the performers, the goal of the painters was to create the opportunity for participation inside the painting, by moving the viewers eyes into and around and through the composition. The key to the Futurist painting was their idea of universal dynamism, which, as has been noted, was a prevalent preoccupation of this time in Europe. The Futurists endeavored to express the essence of dynamic sensation itself and saw the world as a place of flux, of movement, and of interpenetration. All objects in space and time were drawn together in a universal dynamism, pushed by the speed of the machine. Christine Poggis survey of Marinettis writings during the first decade of the Twentieth Century, in Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism, traces his conflicting attitudes about the machine. He goes from fear to awe to admiration. It is necessary to remember that people were new at mastering an entire series of newly invented machines, from the automobile to the airplane, most of which could be dangerous and deadly.

The Futurists ideas were more advanced than their painting, and at Gino Severinis urging they visited Paris and saw Cubist works. Gino Severini lived in Montmartre and was well aware of the avant-garde artists, Picasso and Braque and the exhibitions of the Salon Cubists. To Severini, Divisionism was now old-fashioned and he was alarmed that his fellow countrymen were planning to exhibit in Paris as the Futurists with an outdated style. The Futurists realized that the vocabulary of Cubism could be translated and transformed to yet another purpos. The idea of multiple perspectives became codes for dynamic movement. The Futurists sliced through their objects with straight lineslines of forcethat expressed the impact of the machine upon the modern culture. The lines represented many things, the excitement of life in the city, the severe straight lines of the machines so admired by the Futurists, and the fracturing of objects by light and by movement. As Boccioni stated:

Everything moves, everything runs, everything turns rapidly. A figure in never stationary before us but appears and disappears incessantly. Through the persistence of images on the retina, things in movement multiply and are distorted, succeeding each other like vibrations in the space through which they pass. Thus a galloping horse has not got four legs; it has twenty and their motion is triangularOur bodies enter into the sofas on which we sit, and the sofas enter into us, as also the tram that runs between the houses enters into them, and they in turn hurl themselves on to it and fuse with it

Upon learning of Cubism, the Futurists realized there was a more up to date language, and, most importantly, this language was geometric. For Marinetti, geometry was equivalent to the mechanical spirit of the machine. The Paris Debut of the Futurists was at the Galrie Bernheim-Jeune on 5 February, 1912. The paintings featured the prevailing ideas of the Futurists, dynamism, speed, and movement and used lines of force to thrust the viewer into the center of the painting. Giacomo Ballas painting of Abstract SpeedThe Car has Passed By of 1913 forces the eye to move from right to left, following the direction of the spinning wheels. In other words, their work was nothing like the static version of shifting perspectives found in Cubism, but the Futurists were doomed to be labeled as derivitive of Cubism by the French critics. But Cubism and Futurism were very different.

The Difference between Cubism and Futurism

Futurism was the prototype of avant-garde-the artists and poets deliberately provoked unsuspecting art audiences, scandalized the conservative middle class, and lived out any governments worst nightmare: the artist as a political activist. With the cultural memory of audiences laughing at Impressionism, insulting Fauvism fresh in their memories, Cubist art and artists were quiet, intellectual, and cerebral, dedicated to furthering a revolution about art. They worked in isolation (Picasso and Braque) or in small groups and showed their art in conventional arenas, whether in galleries or in exhibitions (the Salon Cubists). The Futurists, on the other hand, were strident, noisy, confrontational, and political. They directed their art and efforts to a mass audience, in contrast to Cubisms out-reach to elite art-educated audiences. Beginning as a literary movement, the Futurists moved into performance and wrote manifestos in exaggerated language, while the Cubist writers maintained an intellectual role, legitimating their movement by associating themselves with French classical art and the latest scientific ideas.

Cubism was defined on two fronts: the private and gallery situation for the art of Picasso and Braque and the public and exhibition setting for the Salon Cubists and was thus defined only in terms of art. Futurism was a movement about the impact of social conditions and cultural conditions upon the human mind. With its constant provocative interactions with the authorities and against the status quo, Futurist artists aligned themselves with violent change and with violent methods. It could be said that Futurism was also a political movement that employed art as a weapon against tradition, and that Cubism was an art movement that employed art as a weapon against art. In contrast to the divisions within Cubism, Futurism showed in exhibitions and galleries and the artists presented a united front, instead of splitting into splinter groups. Essentially a movement concerned with the modern world, Futurism took up the Cubist innovation of collage and used it in preference to painting from about 1914 on. Many of these collages, like the earlier paintings, sought to put the spectator visually and physically in the center of the art.

Futurist art is optical and not intellectual, always related to things that move, that are directional and dynamic, colorful and fragmented. Ironically, Futurism as a style was uniquely appropriate to illustrate the Great War. Only the lines of force could convey the destruction of a world gone mad, blowing itself up, tearing itself apart into fragments. Like many other young men, the Futurist artists marched enthusiastically off to war. Sadly, Gino Serverini painted a hospital train, carrying the wounded to safety. They were the lucky ones. Running to the bright future they were sure that the War would bring, Umberto Boccioni and Antonio Santella were killed.

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Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette andArt History Unstuffed. Thank you.

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Defining Futurism - Art History Unstuffed

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