Category Archives: Transhumanist

Grimes. Promo shot for Miss Anthropocene release. 2020 [PNG Merlin Archive]PNG

Grimes | Grimes Creative Corporation/Crystal Math Music

In only a decade, Grimes (a.k.a. Vancouver-born and raised Claire Boucher) has gone from the eerie DYI of 2010s Halifaxa to 2012s confident and expansive critically acclaimed Visions right up to the wildly ambitious and successful sounds of 2015s Art Angels.

Now Miss Anthropocene arrives at a time when Grimes is as much a global brand for her romantic affiliation with Elon Musk and shrewd manipulation of social media platforms as for her music.

Her fifth album is either a concept album about anthropomorphizing climate change into an evil entity, or another delightfully damming confusion of sounds and statements from an artist who is putting out her final earth album this year. This may very well be because she is fed up with all the attention being paid to her amorous adventures rather than her adventurous art.

Spoiler alert: Repeated listenings wont divulge any grand statements about impending global chaos, save for the advice to gleefully fk the world.

However the 11 tracks (or 15 on the superior deluxe edition of the album) are philosophically assembled, Miss Anthropocene lands as one of the first big releases of this decade and certainly one of 2020s most-anticipated records. Here are five things to know about it:

1. So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth. A booming bass line haunts the back of the mix while leaden drums pound out echoing patterns until a vocal bursts forth to lets us all know what Enya huffing helium would sound like. The layers keep on stacking onto the six-minute song, until the lightest thing about it is Grimes repeating the tunes title. The sudden 360 turnaround at the 4:30 mark is quite brilliant, as she apparently falls clean through the planet and its gravity to float in some ambient expanse.

2. Violence (with i_o). This uptempo electro banger is one of the most straightforward songs on the record. But with lyrics such as You wanna make me bad, make me bad/(And I like it like that, and I like it like that), it turns the coquettish pop cluttering up the radio into something far darker and disturbing. Fans will be reading into the juxtaposing of violence, pain, partying and more as some kind of commentary on her relationship. Or Grimes is just eviscerating everyones expectations in public. The video is well worth a peek.

3. New Gods.Even someone used to making sense of the words on extreme black metal recordings could have trouble translating what Grimes is actually saying. Her voice is so often mutated past the point of comprehension, or pinging around the vast echoing background as it does in this song, that you are hard-pressed to pry any kind of meaning out of the music. Which works for a project that is meant to be both ethereal and personal. The mood is as, or more, important than the meaning.

4. Youll miss me when Im not around. From not-fully-realized drum and bass tracks (4M) to the weirdly Taylor Swift-ish acoustic strumming in Delete Forever, the album mixes somewhat experimental approaches with mainstream songcraft. Nowhere is this more realized than in the full-on dance-rock of this hooky track. The heavy guitars coupled with the blasts of mega-manipulated vocal harmonies make this a likely single.

5. We Appreciate Power. Available on the deluxe version of the album, this earlier collaboration with Hana came complete with press statements that it was influenced by everything from pro-A.I. pop bands to ideas of transhumanist desire. OK computer. What is clear is that the songs title is an accurate reflection of the artists being. Its the kind of hard industrial rock track you might expect from Nine Inch Nails, but with a goofball spoken-word bit that could rival Madonnas bad rapping in Vogue. In other words, its more fun than scary. The other remixes on the deluxe edition are of varying quality, with the Algorithm mix of IDORU particularly good.

Myopia | Universal Music Canada

At some point, Obels classical orientation is going to have to take shape in an opera. The voice arrangements paired against the orchestrations in Cameras Rolling sound ready-made to be the opening song to some noir-esque stage play as much as any album track. And that is only the beginning of this lush chamber-pop recordings highlights. Obels music has become even more sparse and flowing with silence used to add emotional impact to every note. Check out how Cant Be uses a riff almost like Laurie Andersons O Superman, and pairs it with a choir that sounds straight out of the Middle Ages. Gorgeous.

[USA] | Polyvinyl Record Co.

More digital thrashing from this chiptune quartet whose use of hacked Nintendo hardware to craft tunes has produced some truly delightful results. To prove that they are more than just a bunch of tech nerds with a love of neat noises, Lorem Ipsum (Arctic Anthem) derives its lyrics from Ciceros 1st-century BC debate about the difference between pleasure and goodness. Of course, rendered through Vocaloid treatment, youre listening to Latin sung by a possessed childs toy. Still, as one example of the groups album with words, so thats pretty good.

March 4 at the Biltmore Cabaret, 2755 Prince Edward St. Tickets and info: $24.00 at eventbrite.ca

Suddenly | Merge Records

Dan Snaith puts the past five years of his life down in a way he never has before on his latest release as Caribou. The opening song, Sister, is a haunting chant about making false promises and the need to break things to change them. Coming from the maths professor-cum-electronic musician, its a melancholy start to the dozen new tracks he selected out of a rumoured 900 to make this album. From the warped lounge piano jazz of Sunnys Theme to slinky sex groover Home, this is full of surprises. Obviously, there are some dance happy tracks too. Never Come Back will have backbones slipping.

All Or Nothing | Fat Cat

This U.K. trio really sounds like some long-lost release from the 1980s heyday of Gang of Four, Au Pairs and others was suddenly discovered, remastered and released. Songs such as Initiative, No Apologies or About You could all have been hits back then or today. Singer/guitarist Rachel Aggs has a way with laying melodic leads over top of bassist/vocalist Billy Easter and drummer/vocalist Andrew Milks mechanistic rhythms that just ripples with edginess. Its a sound that deserves reviving and revering.

March 7 at the Biltmore Cabaret, 2755 Prince Edward St. Tickets and info: $14.50 at eventbrite.ca

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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5 things to know about Miss Anthropocene by Grimes - Vancouver Sun

The second season of Netflix's hit series Altered Carbon is hitting the streaming service later this month. An adaptation of a series of successful novels, the show has become well-received in its own right. With a cyberpunk aesthetic and transhumanist themes,Altered Carbon has tapped into the futuristic socio-political thriller niche of shows like Black Mirror.

To get fans and curious newbies alike primed for Season 2, here's a rundown on the series so far, from the plot, prior season, and how to explain a certain change in its cast.

RELATED: Anthony Mackie Is Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon Season 2 Teaser

Based on a 2002 novel by Richard K. Morgan,Altered Carbon is set in 2348 in the metropolitan Bay City. Through reverse engineering alien technology, humanity now has the capacity to essentially cheat death by transferring to new bodies. Bodies are now referred to as sleeves, and disks called cortical stacks can have a persons consciousness, memories, and personality downloaded onto them. Thus, an individual can simply jump to a new sleeve whenever necessary, as long as their stack remains undamaged. Despite the seeming promise of being able to be effectively immortal, the only ones who typically have this privilege at their disposal are the rich and powerful, who do so through clone bodies and remote consciousness storage.

The protagonist of the show is Takeshi Kovacs, whose stack is recovered 250 years after his supposed death. The last surviving member of a rebel army, he is given a new sleeve and tasked with uncovering the mystery behind his own death, with the chance of a new life as his reward.

RELATED: Altered Carbon Gets Season 2 Premiere Date

As mentioned, bodies are merely a means of physical mortality in the shows universe, with the true consciousness being transferrable. In Season 1, Joel Kinnaman serves as Takeshi Kovacs newest body, while the character will be receiving a new sleeve in Season 2. This is due to the Season 1 sleeve originally belonging to Elias Ryker, who was the love interest of Lieutenant Kristin Ortega. Having promised to return the body to its original occupant, the new sleeve to house Kovacs mind will be portrayed by Anthony Mackie.

Its also worth noting that the characters original sleeve is portrayed by both Will Yun Lee and Byron Mann. Another character who plays around with this interesting concept is Edgar Poe, portrayed by Chris Conner. Ashis name would suggest, Poe is an android who bases his appearance off of Edgar Allan Poe and will be returning in the second season. Other returning characters include Renee Elise Goldsberry as Quellcrist Falconer, as well as newcomers such asLuke Cage'sSimone Missick as Trepp and Dina Shihabi as Dig 301.

RELATED: Luke Cage's Simone Missick Joins Anthony Mackie for Altered Carbon

The series is riddled with various subplots concerning murder and mystery, but the underlying theme seems to hint at a puppet master behind it all. This is revealed to be Reileen, Kovacs' sister. A member of the Envoys, a group of mercenaries that Takeshi was also a part of, she betrayed them all to ensure her own survival with a group called the Protectorate. Amassing resources and power throughout the years since then, she has grown to the rank of the Meths (the richest elites, named after Biblical figure Methuselah).

This revelation also shows the depths of Reileen's depravity, and the ways in which she has allowed those throughout the series to engage in barbaric acts include virtual torture chambers and the slaying of sex workers. She also states that Takeshi's long lost love Quellcrist Falconer was the one who created the stacks/sleeves technology and that leaving Reileen alive is the only way to recover Quellcrist's consciousness. Killing her anyways, Takeshi pledges to find Quellcrist, but not before returning his current sleeve to its former owner.

RELATED: Netflix Went All in On the Oscars, But Only Won Two

As with almost any show with a continuing plot, it's always best to enjoy the show from the beginning to understand every element of its plot and characters. Still, for those who simply want to jump into the show once the newest season drops, Altered Carbon is one of the easier series' to do so with. The first season is fairly standalone, with the season finale being fairly conclusive and never even establishing or teasing a second season. The sometimes rather dense terminology present in the series would be more easily understood from watching the first season, however. For those who still feel the need to skip Season 1, or for fans who simply need a quick refresher, Netflix has released a recap trailer on YouTube that summarizes the show so far. To see the rest of the story, however, viewers will have to wait just a little bit longer.

Developed by Laeta Kalogridis, who also executive produces the series, Altered Carbon Season 2 stars Anthony Mackie, Rene Elise Goldsberry, Lela Loren, Simone Missick, Chris Conner, Dina Shihabi and Torben Liebrecht, with Will Yun Lee and James Saito. Season 2 debuts Feb. 27 on Netflix.

KEEP READING: Why Netflix Cancels So Many Shows After Two or Three Seasons

The Batman: Forget the Bat Symbol - a Secret Is Hiding in Batman's New Mask

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Altered Carbon Season 2: Everything You Need to Know | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

As artificial intelligence (AI) starts dominating all course of human lives, a top expert has predicted that humans who live in the future could be a mix of organics and technology. Professor David J. Gunkel, an expert in robot ethics at Northern Illinois University in Chicago revealed that the actual legal standing of robots will be a point of big debate in the future.

Human cyborgs to live in the future

Gunkel made these remarks while talking exclusively to Express.co.uk. During the talk, Gunkel predicted that humans will augment themselves with artificial devices in the future, and it will increase the capabilities of these beings. Citing the example of a human pacemaker, Gunkel argued that augmenting devices inside the body will become a common practice in the future.

"We all carry mobile phones around in our pockets or have them in our purses. That's a kind of external memory device, an external brain, that augments our own cognitive abilities. I think the future is going to be not an us versus them, but us and them. At one time putting a pacemaker in your body would be considered weird by a lot of people and now it's just standard practice. As more of this technology becomes acceptable and accessible that line will move in the direction of permitting greater augmentation within our bodies and less of us will be concerned about it," Gunkel told Express.

Gunkel also predicted that the next 20-30 years will be quite crucial for robotics. He made it clear that the augmentation of technology in human bodies will not be a sudden process, but will be a gradual process that will happen over the years.

Technology will lessen human pain and worries

A few days back, David Pearce, a popular transhumanist had claimed that advancement in technology could end human worries that include pain and suffering. As per Pearce, advancement in areas like gene editing, robotics, and artificial intelligence have direct impacts on revolutionizing human lives in the coming years.

However, environmentalist James Lovelock believes that cyborgs powered by artificial intelligence will develop self-sufficiency and self-awareness in the future, and this will end the dominance of humans on the blue planet.

The rest is here:
Future humans will be a mix of organics and technology, claims top expert - International Business Times, Singapore Edition

The front and back of Mark Stewart-Greensteins signs. Photo/Andrew Sylvia

The First in the Nation Primary has finally come and New Hampshire voters will head to the polls with ballots that include 50 total candidates between the two parties (including that guy with the Hartford Whaler signs everywhere)

Heres Manchester Ink Links guide to all 50 of those candidates, 37 Democrats and 13 Republicans, divided between candidates campaigns weve reported on/received letters to the editor on directly and other candidates, with each category sorted in alphabetical order by last name. The names of candidates no longer in the race but on the ballot are italicized.

Links to webpages or Facebook pages can be found on the candidates names where applicable, as well as a brief bit of information about each of the lesser-known candidates we could gather.

Michael Bennet

Joe Biden

Cory Booker

Steve Bullock

Pete Buttigieg

Tulsi Gabbard

Kamala Harris

Amy Klobuchar

Bernie Sanders

Tom Steyer

Elizabeth Warren

Marianne Williamson

Andrew Yang

Mosie Boyd

An attorney hailing from Arkansas, Boyd seeks to rebuild patriotism by uniting Americans around our shared values.

Boyd received 96,000 votes in the 2002 California Democratic Primary for Governor and also runs a PAC that supports female candidates.

She believes that there will be no clear candidate heading into the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee and can emerge as a dark horse alternative.

Steve Burke

Burke is a cattle rancher and local Democratic party official in New York State. He sees the recent impeachment of Donald Trump as a distraction from issues impacting most Americans such as climate change, unemployment and homelessness.

Julian Castro

Julian Castro was the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017 and mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 2009 to 2014.

His campaign was suspended on Jan. 2, 2020 after the deadline for removing his name from the ballot.

John Delaney

John Delaney was the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Marylands sixth district from 2013 to 2019.

His campaign was suspended on Jan. 31, 2020 after the deadline for removing his name from the ballot.

Jason Evritte Dunlap

Jason Evritte Dunlap of Arizona is a former military intelligence officer fluent in several languages.

Dunlap does not actually want to run for president, but felt compelled to do so after he said repeated attacks by the Trump administration have put himself and fellow intellligence officers in harms way.

Like Boyd, he believes that there will be no clear candidate heading into the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee and can emerge as a dark horse alternative.

Roque De La Fuente III

Roque De La Fuente III is the son of serial candidate (and 2020 Republican Primary candidate) and is focusing his campaign on global debt relief.

Hes on the ballot in California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Texas and Utah in addition to New Hampshire.

Michael Ellinger

Ellinger is a Ohio resident running on a platform that he calls the Moral Deal. Hes on the ballot in California, Arizona and New Hampshire.

Ben Glieb

Glieb is a comedian that has appeared on CNN, ABC, NPR and other outlets. He dropped out of the race on Dec. 30, 2019.

Henry Hewes

Henry Hewes is from New York and he really, really, really dislikes abortion.

Tom Koos

Koos is the Associate Director for Health and Safety at Stanfords School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences in California.

This is the third time hes put his name in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, running just days after he turned 35 in 2000 and then again in 2008. Hes unable to put up as much effort this time, but feels that its is civic duty to run again.

He is a son of Eastern European immigrants, he feels a strong need to update the countrys immigration laws and he also feels that climate change is a key issue.

Lorenz Kraus

Kraus is an anti-semite from New York who believes the United States should be broken up into four countries.

Rita Krichevsky

Rita Krichevsky is on the ballot in New Hampshire and Colorado. Repeated calls to Krichevsky went unanswered. According to the Lawrenceville, NJ Town Clerks office, her license to practice medicine was suspended in 2018. No further information was available.

Thomas James Torgesen

Torgesen lives in Saratoga, NY. He has been a Democrat since the 1960s and believes the party has gone too far to the left, but he shouldnt have to leave it. Hes running due to the fact that several current candidates protested the Vietnam War while he served in the Navy.

His primary issues are getting prayer in schools, making sure the Navy has a thousand ships and trade surpluses.

Raymond Moroz

Raymond Moroz hails from New York, his primary focus is strengthening labor unions. He received eight votes in the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic Primary.

Joe Sestak

Sestak is a former Pennsylvania congressman and three-star Navy admiral. He dropped out of the race on Dec. 1, 2019 and endorsed Amy Klobuchar on Feb. 7, 2020.

Sam Sloan

A New York resident, Sloan ran for the Libertarian Presidential Nomination in 2012 as well as running for Governor of New York in 2010 and for New Yorks 15th Congressional District seat in 2014.

In 2016, he ran in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary and he received 15 votes.

Mark Stewart-Greenstein

Anyone driving around the greater Manchester area over the past few months has probably seen his signs (see above), a throwback to his grassroots efforts to return the Hartford Whalers to Connecticut several years ago. In the past, Stewart-Greenstein has run for several offices in Connecticut and received 29 votes in the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic Primary.

He describes himself as a conservatarian, blending philosophies from libertarianism and conservatism, but he also says his views are in line with where the Democratic Party once was before it began to move to the left in the 1960s.

Stewart-Greensteins main goal is not earning the Democratic nomination, but building support for his EPIC (Every Politically Minded Citizen) Party.

David John Thistle

Thistle currently lives in Texas, but originally hails from the Manchester area.

Thistle served in the military and is running for president primarily to reform the Veterans Adminstration, which he says harmed him and has harmed many other veterans.

Thistle received 226 votes in the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic Primary. and

Robby Wells

Wells is the first white football head coach coach of a Historically Black College or University. He also served in the Army National Guard and has a twelve-point plan he calls Eaglenomics that incorporates left-wing and right-wing policies.

He ran for president in 2012 as a member of the Constitution Party and an independent candidate in 2016.

Donald Trump

Bill Weld

Robert Ardini

A moderate Republican from New York, Ardini ran for Congress in 2016 and lost, writing a book entitled Running for Congress in Trumps Backyard about the experience.

His main goal in running is to bring greater awareness to the national debt. However, he also has other unique proposals, such as pushing the age for drivers licenses and other coming of age landmarks to 25 and requiring all Presidents to select at least 20 percent of their cabinet from a party other than their own.

President R. Boddie

Mr. Boddie, a resident of Georgia, legally changed his first name to President after receiving a vision from God in 2018 that he was destined to become President.

Boddies main goal is to merge the United States with Israel and move to capital of the United States to Jerusalem.

Stephen Comley Sr.

Comley, who hails from Massachusetts, is primarily concerned with corruption within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Roque Rocky De La Fuente

Rocky De La Fuente, (not to be confused with his son, who is also running as a Democrat), is not only running for President, but also running for Congress in the 21st District of California.

De La Fuente recieved 96 votes in the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic Primary, and has also tried to run for the nomination of the Reform Party as well as a party he created called the American Delta Party

He ran for the U.S. Senate in Florida in 2016, ran to become the Mayor of New York in 2017 and ran for the U.S. Senate in nine states simultaneously in 2018.

Bob Ely

Bob Ely of Illinois describes himself as having the charisma of a door knob and in previous attempts running in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary he described himself as a jerk.

Imagine a more boring Vermin Supreme (who is running as a Libertarian this year, so hes not on either ballot in New Hampshire.)

Zoltan Istvan Gyurko

A self-described transhumanist, Gyurko doesnt expect to become president. Instead, he hopes to advance the cause of innovation on the right, which he says has been dominated by the left, not just for the sake of conservatism, but to help America keep track with the innovation of other countries.

Gyurko ran for President in 2016 under the ticket of the Transhumanist Party and ran for Governor of California in 2018 as a Libertarian.

Rick Kraft

Mr. Kraft is a lawyer from New Mexico seeking to unify the country under the principles of Christianity.

Star Locke

Mr. Locke is opposed to abortion, immigration and Islam. Locke received 33 votes as a Democrat in New Hampshire in 2016 and has run for various offices in Texas over the past three decades.

Mary Maxwell

Maxwell, a Concord resident, actually wanted to run for vice president in the Primary, but could not do so. She ran for Congress against Charlie Bass here in New Hampshire in 2006 and ran for the U.S. Senate in Alabama in 2017.

Eric Merrill

Merrill lives in New Boston and ultimately is just running because it was on his bucket list.

He says he has voted Republican in every election since his first vote, which was for Richard Nixon. He generally agrees with mainstream principles of the Republican Party outside of climate change, which he says is a problem, but cannot be addressed with any effectiveness unless China is forced to also reduce its emissions.

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Information on all 50 NH Primary candidates (including the Hartford Whalers guy) - Manchester Ink Link

The American sociologist and bioethicist James Hughes talked to us about transhumanism, artificial intelligence, genetic modification and other new technologies that could create new capacities and senses for human beings.

MedicalExpo e-mag: What is transhumanism?

James Hughes: Transhumanism is the idea that we can use technology to transcend the limitations of the human brain, body and reproduction. It is a small philosophical and cultural movement, but it represents a broad trend in the kind of ideological developments in Western thought. For hundreds of years there have been thinkers advocating that we could transcend sickness and death. Its been a thread of utopian imagination ever sincebut in the 21st century we actually have the technologies [to do that] and it comes at a very uneven pace.

ME e-mag: CRISPR-Cas9 is a new method of genome editing. Is it a complete revolution?

James Hughes: It is a complete revolution that raises many social-ethical questions. We have been arguing about this for a while: People were saying it is science fiction, and all of a sudden science fiction becomes real. So thats why its very important to have these discussions now because who knows what will happen tomorrow?

For hundreds of years there have been thinkers advocating that we could transcend sickness and death. Its been a thread of utopian imagination ever sincebut in the 21st century we actually have the technologies to do that.

One of the risks we have to take very seriously with CRISPR is biosecurity. People, either accidentally or intentionally, could create microorganisms or even bigger things that could pose a catastrophic risk, such as tailored gene plagues or tailored insects. Modified humans would be pretty easy to track down and shoot. Microorganisms, not so much. For example, the U.S. CIA tried to bring down Fidel Castro. One of the things they imagined 30 years ago was creating a plague that would just kill Cuban crops, but they didnt have the technology. The apartheid government of South Africa wanted to develop a plague that would just kill black people. And now they have the technology.

(Credit: Getty Images)

So I think we live in a world that is on the cusp of that kind of danger. But we cant prevent those technologies. The best response is to have widespread surveillance for microorganisms and widespread capacity to create vaccines and therapies for them. We basically need a global immune system.

ME e-mag: In the end, CRISPR is good news or bad news?

James Hughes: With CRISPR, we could create more genetically modified organisms (GMOs) very easily. I believe that GMOs can be very good because we need to feed a lot more people on this planet with fewer fertilizers in a world where the climate would be declining very quickly, and to do that we need GMOs.

ME e-mag: But we dont know the possible long-term effects of GMOs on health.

James Hughes: Yes, but CRISPR precisely means that if we make a mistake we can fix it. For example, theres a disease called sickle-cell anemia that Africans and African Americans are more prone to, and that seems to have provided stronger protection against malaria. People say: If you take sickle-cell anemia out of future generations then they wont have that immunity to malaria. But we have many other better ways to get rid of malaria. We could also get rid of the mosquito that transmits malaria, thanks to CRISPR. Plus, in a hundred years, if we decide: Oh my God! We took out sickle-cell anemia, we need to put it back!, we can put it back!

Our cognitive capacity is now super powerful because we all carry smartphones around. We have access to all the worlds knowledge at our fingertips if we know how to use it, so thats the first step towards experiment capacities of the brain.

ME e-mag: What are the other technologies that help the development of the post-human?

James Hughes: Artificial intelligence, and in general, information and communication technologies. Our cognitive capacity is now super powerful because we all carry smartphones around. We have access to all the worlds knowledge at our fingertips if we know how to use it, so thats the first step towards experiment capacities of the brain.

The Exiii HACKberry bionic hand (Credit: Exiii Inc.)

The next step is to connect our brains directly to computing and that would require nano-neural interfaces. Were beginning to develop those with prosthetics limbs that you can indirectly control with your mind. For people with severe paralysis, we are also beginning to put chips into their brains so they can communicate directly with computers, but these are very crude. What we need now are very tiny robots that could communicate directly to our neurons. And were probably about two decades away from that.

Weve already got things like nanodust. They are tiny bits of computing power that you could distribute inside the cortex. Theyre non-invasive and they are powered by external, non-damaging radiation. You dont need to open the skull, thats the key thing.Also right now we dont have very good materials for putting in the brain, so we need advances in biocompatible materials. And we need advances in miniaturization of computing and telecommunication capacity inside the brain.

The next step is to connect our brains directly to computing and that would require nano-neural interfaces. Were beginning to develop those with prosthetics limbs that you can indirectly control with your mind.

ME e-mag: You often talk about silicon brains? What does that mean?

James Hughes: We are modeling more and more of the capacities of the brain in silicon, meaning computing power. One of the consequences of that is that for instance we are developing what is called neuroprosthetics. The hippocampus is very important for memory. On rats and mice with damaged hippocampuses, weve been able to develop a computer chip that mimics the input and the output of hippocampus and allows them to create memory. We can imagine not only replacing damaged parts of our brain but also giving our brain new capacities and senses.

We already have cochlear implants, which are just on the cusp of becoming more capable than ordinary hearing.With the cochlear implant you can have Bluetooth, you can connect it to your phone, you can tune it so that you hear higher frequency than most humans can hear. With future artificial eyes, we will be able to tune them so they can see infrared, radiation and things like that.

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Transhumanism: Repairing and Improving the Human - MedicalExpo e-Magazine

Cyberpunk 2077, originally planned for an April 16 release date, but has now been delayed until September 17, developer CD Projekt Red announced on Thursday.

In a statement posted to social media, the Cyberpunk developer did more than announce the delay, further describing just how far along the game is in its development. According to CD Projekt Red, the game is currently "complete and playable," throughout its open world setting of Night City. Instead of core story, content or environmental changes, the delay is primarily motivated by the need for additional "playtesting, fixing and polishing."

Indicating their confidence in the game they've created, CD Projekt Red also set a bold goal for Cyberpunk 2077: topping their own critically acclaimed Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to become their "crowning achievement" in the current console generation. Witcher 3 is often named among the best open world games and best RPGs ever createdit's not even uncommon to hear Witcher 3 named as the best game ever made. So while Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot to live up to, its delay announcement suggests CD Projekt Red feels as if they're near to realizing their complete vision.

CD Projekt Red also promised more frequent updates on the game's progress, particularly as the revised release date approaches.

In Cyberpunk 2077, players start off in Night City as V, a customizable mercenary who acquires transhumanist enhancements throughout the game. Night City is a gigantic corporate-controlled metropolis in the Free State of California, with six different regions for players to explore, each with their own rival factions and gangs. Along the way, players are guided by Johnny Silverhands, a digital ghost played by Keanu Reeves, who haunts the player and nudges him or her towards his own objectives.

Signed by CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwiski and the head of studio, Adam Badowski, the full statement reads:

"We have important news regarding Cyberpunk 2077's release date we'd like to share with you today. Cyberpunk 2077 won't make the April release window and we're moving the launch date to September 17, 2020.

We are currently at a stage where the game is complete and playable, but there's still work to be done. Night City is massivefull of stories, content and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing and polishing. We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation, and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect.

Expect more regular updates on progress as we get closer to the new release date. We're really looking forward to seeing you in Night City, thank you for your ongoing support."

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'Cyberpunk 2077' Delayed as CD Projekt Red Polishes 'Crowning Achievement' Over 'Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' - Newsweek

Danielle Balbuena found herself in a Wyoming field, dancing and waving her arms above a crowd that had gathered for a major music industry event.

Kanye West, the host, closed his eyes and sang along to Ghost Town, a track on his new album Ye. He then walked over to Balbuena and helped hoist her in the air. It was his listening party, but this was her moment.

Balbuenas voice rang through the loudspeakers under the night sky, beckoning everyone to let go of their burdens, at least for one evening.

And nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda freeeee! Were still the kids we used to beee!"

The North Bergen singer and rapper egged on the crowd like a freewheeling conductor, swaying and bouncing to her words in the song. Back on the ground, in the shadow of the floodlights illuminating the grass, Balbuena windmill-strummed an air guitar as a gaggle of onlookers filmed her with their phones.

Before the albums release in June 2018, she had no idea which parts had made the cut.

Another one, another one!! Balbuena told them, recognizing her voice as the next song cued up.

Balbuena, an up-and-coming artist known as 070 Shake, is ready for the spotlight once again. Shes seen her career blast off from the streets of North Bergen to the musical firmament like some kind of Jersey-powered spaceship.

After signing to Wests G.O.O.D. Music in 2016, the former North Bergen High girls basketball player became known for her contributions to some of the biggest West-produced albums of the summer of 2018 his own Ye, Pusha-Ts Daytona and Nas Nasir.

Now her debut album, Modus Vivendi Latin for way of life has arrived following several delays. The long-awaited project, released Friday by Def Jam and G.O.O.D. Music, is an effusive, futuristic work that evokes celestial bodies and outer space almost as much as relationships, longing and heartbreak.

Its different, Malick Ba a rapper and 070 Shake collaborator known as 070 Malick says of the release. He tells NJ Advance Media the new music marks an evolution from Shakes previous work. This is real artistry right there," he says.

The android-inspired cover for "Modus Vivendi," the debut album from North Bergen's 070 Shake.G.O.O.D. Music / Def Jam Recordings

Balbuena, 22, is about to set off on a tour of Europe and the United States that starts in Ireland on Jan. 19 and comes to New York and Philadelphia on March 5 and 6.

As she embraces her rise, she is taking a piece of home along with her: the 070 crew, a collective of artists and producers from in and around North Bergen hence the 070 (oh seven oh) in their names, for the North Bergen zip code, 07047.

In anticipation of Modus Vivendi, several members of the extended group spoke with NJ Advance Media about the evolution of 070 Shakes sound and success.

Balbuenas road from SoundCloud to a major deal started with one song.

Were the kids that never made em proud, she sang in one of her first recordings. Were the ones that break the rules, we live to stand out.

The declaration, from the song Proud, got the attention of social media personality and promoter Julieanna YesJulz Goddard in 2016. She wanted to know who the boy was on the track.

Part of the appeal of 070 Shakes voice can be found in its androgyny and strength. Goddard, who became Shakes manager, brought her music to Wests camp. From there, Pusha-T signed the Jersey artist to G.O.O.D. Music.

Shake, who was unavailable for an interview, participated in Wests recording sessions in Wyoming. When his album Ye came out in 2018, critics hailed her part in the outro of Ghost Town. Kid Cudi, who along with West was one of Shakes all-time favorite artists growing up, was also featured on the track. (Shake also could be heard on Violent Crimes.)

070 Shake drew critical acclaim for her features on Kanye West's album "Ye." Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Balbuena used to be a shooting guard for the North Bergen basketball team. The Shake part of her name is taken from the shake weave, one of her favorite moves on the basketball court.

Shortly after the release of Ye, Shake and the 070 crew hosted a concert for local fans in North Bergen. The crowd sang every word of Shakes part, which has become a kind of anthem.

And nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda free. Were still the kids we used to be," Shake sings in the West song, her enchanting, youthful voice flying high and giving the lyrics authority. "I put my hand on a stove to see if I still bleed. And nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda free.

Balbuena wrote poetry as a way to cope with depression as a teen.

Later, she turned her words into song. Her confessional lyrics cover universal themes like mental health, identity, self-expression, drug addiction and desire.

We do what we do cause we dont understand the consequence of every step we take is wrong, she says on I Laugh When Im With Friends But Sad When Im Alone," a track from her Glitter" EP, released in 2018. How could we ever see the mess? And its not just you and me, the whole youth is depressed."

She continues: Sniffing sh*t at 14, it becomes a little hard when youre living in a scene where the healthy sh*t is far, but the drugs are no further than your room or your car."

In the song, Shake implores her listeners to seize their own stories and become their own saviors.

Itll get brighter, itll get better," she sings. Its 'cause we are fighters and tougher than leather. The strong you is inside, but you just havent met her. Only we control our storm because we are the weather.

Before they formed the 070 collective, Shake and Ba both attended Robert Fulton Elementary School in North Bergen, where they later worked summer jobs as camp counselors.

I want to do music, Ba, 22, remembers her telling him. Can you help me? I dont know where to start.

We didnt want to do the regular 9-to-5 thing, he says.

Recording at Star Cloud Studios in Union City, Shake, Ba and two friends Ralphy River and Hack started 070, a roster of artists that would expand as more locals joined the fold.

In 2016, the group released The 070 Project: Chapter 1."

Now, Ba and other 070 artists are set to follow Shake on the Modus Vivendi tour.

I was there during the process of recording, and its just crazy, he says. Mike Dean mixed it, mastered it. The production is ridiculous. I really enjoyed the album. I hope everyone else does.

Dean is a veteran hip-hop producer who has worked on albums for West, Jay-Z, Pusha-T and 2 Chainz.

Album-stealing features have become Shakes calling card. For the haunting chorus of Santeria on Pusha-Ts Daytona album, Shake whose mother emigrated from the Dominican Republic sings in Spanish. She also contributed doleful vocals to Scar, a track on Beyoncs Grammy-nominated The Lion King: The Gift album released in July.

But there are no features on Modus Vivendi." Just 13 tracks of pure Shake and a brief interlude with Its Forever by The Ebonys, a 70s R&B group from Camden.

Still, there are some other notable influences at play.

The production on the catchy, propulsive track Morrow," released as a single in April, is reminiscent of some of Deans earlier work with West. Another song, The Pines, is an updated take on a folksong known as In the Pines or Where Did You Sleep Last Night? It was recorded by the blues singer Lead Belly and bluegrass singer Bill Monroe in the 1940s and performed by Nirvana in 1993 on MTV Unplugged.

Where did you sleep last night? Shake sings in the delightfully sinister track. The pines, the pines, the pines. Where the sun dont ever shine, shine, shine.

The fourth and latest single from Modus Vivendi, Guilty Conscience, was released Jan. 10. The song, centered on an act of infidelity, deploys an 80s sound that channels educational VHS tapes. Its music video features a group of men fighting with Shake in the mix. At the end, she spits blood at the camera. The video is prefaced by a note from Shake, who also goes by Dani Moon.

Although Im not a boy, I wanted to display a boy being broken," she writes. How he manages his sadness when he is not allowed to cry. From young, a boy must create a shell that protects him from his own emotions. But when that shell cracks, it creates an intense amount of vulnerability where the boy must replace the shell with actions that make him seem as if the shell never broke. He replaces this shell with ego, desire and pride.

Shake has resisted labels like gay and straight, but was featured in a 2017 Vogue spread for The Rising Stars Queering Rap" with her girlfriend, model Sophia Diana Lodato.

The cover of Modus Vivendi" depicts Shakes face framed in a metal suit. It is an android-inspired image evocative of the robot from Fritz Langs 1927 film Metropolis, and with its wriggling head attachments, the tentacles that kept Neo plugged into the Matrix. Visible at Shakes temple: her signature 070 tattoo.

Does the image represent transhumanism or that your music will evolve and live forever? a fan asked on Twitter.

Yeah man pretty close, Shake replied. It represents the evolution of humankind, in 50 years we will look back and itll represent a time where humans were being invaded by artificial intelligence. Not a bad thing. Just what it is. The era of cyborgs.

J Sebastian, an 070 producer, worked on Dont Break the Silence," the albums introductory track.

Shes always thinking about the future: electronic sounds, synthy sounds, she likes that," Sebastian says. I like it, too. I feel like our sounds complement each other.

Sebastian, 27, who hails from Paterson, North Bergen and the Dominican Republic, is part of The Kompetition, a production trio that worked on Shakes Glitter" EP. Sebastian, along with his collaborators Ether and Razsy Beats, started making music with Shake at Star Cloud Studios in Union City.

As she began to draw attention beyond North Bergen and SoundCloud, some of the spotlight found other 070 artists.

After Kanye kind of co-signed her, I feel like more doors definitely opened up they were like, What can I do for you?" Sebastian says. "Now, she has more control, which is really fire.

On Thursday, Shake shared a message with fans on Instagram, hours before the albums release, encouraging them to listen in isolation and visualize a narrative.

Create your own story, direct your own movie to it," she said. ... Instead of going to everyone elses world, I am creating my own world ... I hope that more than anything you are able to understand and receive the love I stored inside of it.

Modus Vivendi was Shakes second attempt at a debut album. The first was Yellow Girl, which was scrapped in favor of new material. Along the way, Shake parted ways with YesJulz and moved to new management.

Those songs werent her, really, Sebastian says. It was more trappish, and that wasnt really her.

She hit them with the Yandhi trick," muses Josh Lopez, aka rapper 070 BeHeard, referring to Kanye Wests anticipated Yandhi album. The project never arrived and was replaced by Jesus is King," released in October.

Lopez, 25, a Jersey City native, now lives in Union City, where he first met Shake in the studio.

She always stayed true to herself and fought for creative control of everything," he says. Lopez has a feeling Modus will give her the major moment she deserves.

Were just pushing her as far as we can as a team, and shes pushing herself also. Im extremely excited for her, I feel like its going to be something big. She has a good fan base, but I feel like it should be bigger."

070 Shake will play Webster Hall in New York on March 5 and the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia on March 6; 070shake.net.

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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Originally posted here:
How 070 Shake, the North Bergen music sensation, made em proud with Modus Vivendi,' her debut album - NJ.com

As we careen into another decade of bioengineering advances, questions about how, and how much, we ought to manipulate our own biology grow more urgent. Thankfully, the books, movies, and TV series exploring such questions have never been smarter. For proof, check out these underrated biohacking titles from the past few years.

A transhumanist entry in the recent surge of feminist reinterpretations of classics

If youve ever marveled at the timelessness of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelleys Frankenstein, at how forward-thinking and eternal the young (20-year-old!) writer was for her early-19th-century time, this novel from celebrated queer novelist Jeanette Winterson will delight you. It feels inaccurate to call Frankissstein a novel, thoughcall it more of an act of modernization, of revivification, a fitting ritual for a story that changed societys views about transcending the laws of nature.

The book jumps between two timelines, the first being a fictionalized diary of Mary Shelleys, from that one summer in which she wrote Frankenstein for husband Percy Shelley, stepsister Claire Claremont, and friends Lord Byron and John Polidori, all the way to her (imagined) meeting of computing godmother Ada Lovelace, the daughter abandoned by Lord Byron. The other is a retelling, of sorts, of both history and novel: in the near future, trans doctor Ry Shelley becomes involved with cis futurist Victor Stein, a Silicon Valley visionary seeking to recreate the brain of his mentor, a collaborator of Alan Turing. The two stories are elegantly similar; Winterson continues Shelleys line of philosophical inquiry and shows just how little weve figured out in the intervening two centuries.

The Hunger Games meets Orphan Black

If you want to get your kid thinking about the possibilities that await them, or if you are just a sucker for smart adventures, check out Emily Suvadas post-apocalyptic biohacking trilogy. In a future America where everyone is implanted with a panel in their forearm at birth, people are able to hack their own DNAor to be more precise, theyre able to wrap their own DNA in custom mods, as long as theyre proprietary apps made by Cartaxus, an Amazon/Apple-type megacorporation that ends up having just about as much ethical fortitude as youd expect from an Amazon/Apple-type megacorporation with a name like Cartaxus.

Not everyone sticks with out-of-the-box mods; fringe groups experiment with high-concept hacks like feathers (!) while people with debilitating diseases too rare to interest Cartaxus set out to design their own cures. Oh, also: A massive global pandemic is making people first hunger for human flesh, then explode into vapor, so Cartaxus is providing refuge to people in massive underground bunkersprovided they wipe their panels of any non-Cartaxus code first. The protagonist, 18-year-old Catarina Agatta, is the daughter of one of the worlds best gene hackers and has a disease that prevents her from accepting any mods; Cartaxus has re-requisitioned her father, allegedly to work on a cure for the explosion disease, and Cata biotech genius in her own rightis stuck out in the world working on a cure herself.

The series is meticulously researched without being weighed down by hard-sci-fi exposition; its exciting without being simple, and best of all, the technology, and the way it perpetuates inequality, feels plausible. Plus, youer, your kidwill learn something about the science of gene hacking along the way. The third installment, This Vicious Cure, will be released on January 21, so you(r kid) have a couple of weeks to get caught up.

Imagine Altered Carbon with a distinctly French malaise

People angry about the Gen Z retort OK, boomer dont know how good they have it. In the future imagined by this French series, the youths are literally killing themselves to escape the hellishness their parents have left for them. Its a future that might even seem desirable to the transhumanists of today: Biotechnology has uncovered a gene in jellyfish that has been reverse-engineered into a process allowing people to stay youthful, ostensibly forever. (Its not too far into the future; the oldest woman on earth is only 169.)

For the kids born into this world, however, its an eternal prison. Society has started treating childhood like a waiting room for the day one is able to start the anti-aging treatments, and even then, some people are ruled genetically incompatible and forced to live a normal life alongside immortals. So when a bunch of youths wash up dead on a beach, seemingly as a result of a mass suicide, one detective must track down the leaders of a death cult. He enlists the help of Christa Novak, a 20-year-old former member of the cult who has been institutionalized since the last mass suicide and has her own reasons to catch the leader. Where Altered Carbon thought about biohacked immortality through the lens of radical inequality, Ad Vitam presents a slightly tweaked view, in which the dangers of consumer biotech lie not just in the berpowerful demigods of the .00001%, but also in the more gradual, banal effects invited by everyone else.

Its like a super-feminist episode of Black Mirror

Jennifer Phangs film about a 40-something mother who runs out of options will haunt you for years to come. In a future in which women are becoming increasingly infertilelike right before Margaret Atwoods Gileadone biotech company has finally cracked the code on human consciousness transfers. A few weeks before the procedures commercial launch, the company lays off its spokeswoman, Gwen, implying that shes too old (and too Asian) to be the face of a product designed to eliminate aging altogether. Her daughter Juleswhose existence is itself a privilege only the rich can affordhas just been accepted to an expensive prep school; moreover, it quickly becomes clear that her former employer is railroading her into having the consciousness-transfer procedure done in exchange for having her job back.

With her daughters future on the line, Gwen makes a choice that, in reality, is no choice at all. Equal parts gorgeous and harrowing, the film is a reminder of the ways that purported biotech utopias can diminish human diversity.

A Black Mirror spin-off series about love and privacy

Look, the French are doing the most when it comes to transhumanist television. Osmosis is the most recent of the bunch. (See also: Transfers, about illegal consciousness transplantsbasically Travelers without all the time-travel insanity.) The Netflix original from showrunner Audrey Fouch imagines a near-future Paris where rising-star supergenius Esther Vanhove has developed Osmosis, a technology that uses nanobots that implant themselves in your brain; capture every fleeting desire youve ever had, conscious or subconscious; and sift through social networks to single out your soul mate. Once matched, even if youre separated by distance your respective implants link to create a virtual space where you can meet for some very sexy, emotional time together.

Together with her brother and business partner Paul, a sentient voice assistant Martin, and a few elite employees, she conducts a beta test with a handful of all-too-willing subjects, and it goes just about as smoothly as youd expect it to.

Think of the Spider-Man meme, but with two Paul Rudds

OK, so this Netflix series uses biohacking more as dark-comedy device than realistic concept. That doesnt mean its not delightful. Paul Rudds character Miles has hit a serious rough patch in his life: despite having the exact life he chose for himselfwith a high-paying job at an ad agency and a beautiful wife (Aisling Bea) and a gorgeous house in the suburbshes become depressed, listless, and close to losing it all.

Does he consider medication and therapy, you may ask? Of course not! When a colleague comes into the office one day with an entirely new, sparkling personality, Miles decides thats the kind of magical, extremely expensive fix he needs, so he gathers the savings he and his wife have collected for fertility treatments and goes to a spa, where instead of getting a really good massage (or, you know, Lexapro), he wakes up buried alive in the woods. Turns out the treatment facility is two dudes conducting a very illegal operation wherein they clone you but take out all the bad parts of your brain, leaving the best version of yourself to go back to your life none the wiser, while they kill the hard copy. Except it didnt take in Miles case, and now hes stuck fighting with a New Miles for control of a life the latter is easily better at leading. Its a light, funny snack of a series that gets at the heart of what we really mean when we say we want to use biotech to improve ourselves.

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6 Books, Movies, and Shows to Bend Your Neocortex This Winter - NEO.LIFE

In the first episode of Years and Years, a family shindig is interrupted by the whine of air-raid sirens and the news that Donald Trump has fired a nuclear missile at the Chinese a moment of hysteria-inducing horror that doubles as the shows starter pistol. Thats right: impending Armageddon is merely an aperitif when it comes to the devastation the Lyons family faces in Russell T Daviess breathtakingly ambitious dystopian drama. By the time the series ends in 2034, the UK has experienced 80 consecutive days of rainfall, while dirty bombs have made thousands homeless, a fascistic politician in the light-entertainer mould has risen to power and the government has set up a series of secretive concentration camps. Between them, the Lyons have lost their wealth, their health, their freedom and, in some cases, their lives.

The plot of Years and Years felt like the news ticker tape of nightmares brought to life, but it was so much more than a parade of atrocities. Daviess great trick was to meld the wild catastrophising of shows such as Black Mirror with the daily trials of a Mancunian every-family you could really get behind. The result resembled a mashup of soap and sci-fi: Corrie transposed on to a backdrop of staggering political and environmental ruin.

Years and Years dramatised the tipping point at which the news becomes our lives

Opening on the actual date of broadcast, 14 May 2019, Years and Years followed the personal and increasingly political struggles of the Lyons clan: 92-year-old Muriel, her grandchildren Rosie, Stephen, Daniel and Edith, plus their partners and kids. But the Lyons werent just a family they were society under a single surname. They were gay, straight, lesbian, trans, white, black, Asian, disabled and elderly. They were lone parents trying to make ends meet, moneyed middle-class professionals, refugees, never-ending gap year nomads and wealthy retirees rattling around cavernous suburban piles. It wasnt a realistic setup Davies, who has called himself a great believer in quotas, says he was driven by a desire to be representative but it allowed its creator to flesh out a cross-section of society, and create a 3D diagram of varying degrees of privilege.

At its heart, Years and Years was not a show simply about how bad the news could get. It dramatised the tipping point at which the news becomes our lives, and worked at predicting the pain that is largely still to invade our cushy western existences. Characters fell with a shocking abruptness (Daniels descent from a plush flat to the bottom of the freezing sea) or via a piecemeal disintegration (Stephens banking-glitch-prompted slide into the gig economy) that felt frighteningly convincing.

This was realism fit for a world that no longer feels particularly real. That it felt so frighteningly convincing can be credited to its stellar cast, which included Rory Kinnear, Jessica Hynes and Emma Thompson. But it was also down to the fact that many of its atrocious events the ascent of populist leaders, the flooding, the economic crashes, the extinctions have already taken place. Davies, best known for his showrunner stint on the Doctor Who revival, first conceived of Years and Years two decades ago, and began writing after Trumps election victory in 2016. Nobody could blame him for managing to stay only a few steps ahead of the worlds increasingly distorted curve.

The shows embrace of technology is one way that Davies managed to imagine a chilling future. In the first episode, Stephens teenage daughter, Bethany, announces she is transhuman. Initially played for laughs, the idea steadily gains credence until it is revealed to underpin the entire show in a spine-tingling finale that grapples with ideas about what it means to be a human being. In fact, that uncommon optimism about technology runs through the structure of the series. The constant communication made possible by smartphones has long been the scourge of screenwriters its hard to maintain peril when salvation is only a WhatsApp message away but Davies makes it a dramatic asset, using multi-person voice-and-video calls to drive the plot.

There are superficial reasons to admire Years and Years, and there are more profound ones. The show humanises the bad news cycle one that sees the shocking morph into the status quo on a daily basis. Davies attempts to counteract the apathy that can grow out of relentless dismay. He does this not through shock value, but by creating rounded characters that draw empathy, outrage and horror from our increasingly hardened hearts. By no means an easy task, but an indisputably noble one.

Originally posted here:
The 50 best TV shows of 2019: No 4 Years and Years - The Guardian

Photo by Frank V. via Unsplash

Alexa seems to know what I want to watch and when, Google search seems to know my wishes too when I search for my favorite restaurant online and perhaps even more interesting is that even the success of my 401(k) investments will ultimately be influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) that seemingly is becoming more real by the day.

There are a growing number of hedge fund managers even who rely on AI to outperform the market and to complete trades faster than our human mind can contemplate. They tend to exponentially outperform their non-AI counterparts with super-human ability.

So when one reads about the idea of an AI God that gained steam a couple of years ago, when self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski opened The Way of the Future Church, it seems as though the future has easily slipped into our present day-to-day activities in the blink of an eye.

According to The Way of the Future Churchs website, it is a movement about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people plus machines. It is about something called the singularity point a point in time that is fast approaching when machine intelligence will surpass that of its human makers. Remember The Matrix trilogy, anyone?

The classic line by the films hero, Neo, comes to mind: Ever have that feeling where youre not sure if youre awake or dreaming? Thats a whole other Silicon Valley philosophy that we are merely in a simulation. But thats another topic, entirely.

The idea of people and machines being in charge, however, seems far from comforting and far removed from a Lutheran ideal of grace in removing God from the equation altogether.

This month Lutheran theologian Ted Peters dives into many of the thorny issues related to artificial intelligence and how some in the transhumanism community view it as a way of advancing our humanity beyond our physical bodies.

Countless movies and T.V. shows have taken on this topic including a popular Netflix series called Altered Carbon, where society simply views physical bodies as sleeves for ones uploaded consciousness that can be slotted over and over again into new bodies. Of course, there are problems and ethical dilemmas that give way to a dramatic story line.

Still, technology always seems to have a way making us feel smarter (thanks Google!) and almost invincible. That in its own right can be problematic, which is some of what Peters writes about this month.

Whether it is a new medical device, an app on your smart phone or even your Wifi connectivity, it is well worth remembering all have a piece of Gods very creation within it as do the technology developers who creatively make the invisible, visible every day.

Considering technology as our ultimate savior and life-giver sans God is what is at issue. Worshipping a powerful algorithmic God is short sighted too as we realize that even within the code itself there is the hand of a human being created in the image of a loving God who in turn supports the human intellect that ultimately wants to surpass itself.

Editor

Susan is an author with a long-time interest in religion and science. She currently edits Covalence, the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technologys online magazine. She has written articles in The Lutheran and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science newsletter. Susan is a board member for the Center for Advanced Study of Religion and Science, the supporting organization for the Zygon Center and the Zygon Journal. She also co-wrote Our Bodies Are Selves with Dr. Philip Hefner and Dr. Ann Pederson.

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