Category Archives: Transhumanist

"The Spirit of God" by the Mormon Transhumanist Barbershop Chorus

By: Mormon Transhumanist Association

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"The Spirit of God" by the Mormon Transhumanist Barbershop Chorus - Video

Terasem: The New Transhumanist Religious Cult
Terasem: The New Religion of Transhumanism *SUBSCRIBE* for more great videos! Mark Dice is a media analyst, political activist, and author who, in an entertaining and educational way, gets...

By: Mark Dice

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Terasem: The New Transhumanist Religious Cult - Video

Rachel Botsman speaking at TEDx Sydney in 2010. Source: Supplied

Benjamin Bratton, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD introduces his TEDx talk, 'What's wrong with TED talks?' Courtesy TEDxTalks/YouTube

The TED circus has rolled into town with TEDx Sydney due to take place this Saturday under the sails of the Opera House. So be prepared for people to wax lyrical about ideas. Ideas to change the world, ideas to engage the community and ideas to inspire yourself.

TED (technology, entertainment and design) conferences have attracted heavyweights the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Richard Dawkins and Jane Goodall to tell everyone about their ideas.

So yeah, ideas. It is, after all, TEDs ethos Ideas worth spreading.

The global phenomenon that is TED now is fascinating precisely because its focus is something as cerebral and intangible as ideas. But thats exactly why TED has inspired an almost cult-like awe among its followers.

Clock onto the TED website and you can find intelligent talks on almost any topic ranging from neuroscience to bees. Best of all, you can learn about something interesting from the best in the field in less than 20 minutes instead of slaving away through a small-print academic textbook.

But its not supposed to be just about self-education. The more grandiose aspect of TEDs mission is that those very ideas will get people working on how to improve the world through science, technology and people. It even hands out three annual $100,000 prizes to people to actualise their ideas.

The audience at TEDx Sydney last year. Source: Supplied

So you can see why hordes of aspirational and well-meaning people globally have clung onto TED like its the second coming.

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The cult of TED: Why everyone is obsessed

Zoltan Istvan talks about, "The Transhumanist Wager"
Quite possibly the most interesting man in the world...Zoltan Istvan.

By: cody stark

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Zoltan Istvan talks about, "The Transhumanist Wager" - Video

I am a Transhumanist

By: Kuanslog

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I am a Transhumanist - Video

Any mention of cyborgs or superpowers evokes fantastical images from the realms of science fiction and comic books. Our visions of humans with enhanced capabilities are borne of our imaginations and the stories we tell. In reality, though, enhanced humans already exist ... and they don't look like Marvel characters. As different human enhancement technologies advance at different rates, they bleed into society gradually and without fanfare. What's more, they will increasingly necessitate discussion about areas that are often overlooked what are the logistics and ethics of being superhuman? Gizmag spoke to a number of experts to find out.

Our natural tendency is to focus on the functionality of enhanced humans. Abilities like super-strength, flight or telepathy seem so far removed from that of which we're capable and so desirable that it's understandable for us to focus on these possibilities. The individual, social and ethical consequences of enhanced humans are considered far less in popular culture, however.

"People tend to imagine the current state of human enhancement as either much more advanced or retarded than it really is," Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, tells Gizmag. "I realize that this sounds paradoxical, but generally speaking it helps to explain the curious blend of impatience and disappointment that surrounds the topic. This simply reflects the fact that people know more about human enhancement from its own hype and science-fictional representations which can be positive or negative than from what's actually available on the ground."

Professor Andy Miah, director of the Creative Futures Institute at the University of the West of Scotland, has spent much of his career looking at the potential for human enhancement and what it might mean for us. Speaking to Gizmag, he explains that enhancement is not a new phenomenon, but that, increasingly, we have important decisions that will have to be made.

Miah argues that as society becomes more advanced, more and more difficult decisions surrounding human enhancement will be thrust upon us. "I thinks it's inevitable that we will have to make these decisions," he says, explaining that the only other option would be to halt human progress with an archetypal head-in-the-sand scenario.

The issues that society will have to consider range from straightforward personal issues to highly complex and abstract social issues. Beginning with the more personal considerations, Miah uses the example of super-strength. "In order for that, you are going to need added muscle mass, which will likely compromise your potential for speed and agility," he says. It's a simple proposition used to show that any enhancement is likely to have side-effects.

Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, tells Gizmag that it will be important for people to consider what they are getting themselves into and what exactly they want to achieve. "The nature of the enhancement will take on dramatically different forms," he explains. "Has anyone done it before? It could be dangerous; could go wrong. There could be side effects that we know little or nothing about."

Another example is provided by social psychologist Bertolt Meyer in a recent Wired article. Meyer, who was born without his lower left arm, asks whether people would have a limb amputated to replace it with a prosthesis that was to some extent better. Even now, though, he notes a potential trade-off. "Augmented bodies that contain connected technology give the word hacking a new meaning," he says in the article. "My i-limb connects to my iPhone, but my iPhone is connected to the internet. Technically, a part of my body has become hackable."

Fuller agrees that such unintended consequences are the main consideration required when thinking about enhancement. "If, say, your memory is successfully enhanced, consider how else this might change your way of living and your relationship with people." Warwick reiterates this point by asking, "With superintelligence, what would the enhanced folk do with the stupid unenhanced?".

This application of practicality places the idea of human enhancement under a whole new light compared to its presentation in popular culture. It provides an instant recognition that being bestowed with a "super-power" is unlikely to come without its costs. Furthermore, it only complicates matters when considered on a larger scale.

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Will superhuman powers give us superhuman problems?

Transhumanist Declaration
The Transhumanist Declaration was originally crafted in 1998 by an international group of authors. Film created by MJSL-2050 (2014) Music: "Americana" by Kevin McLeod (Creative Commons 3.0)

By: MiriamLeis

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Transhumanist Declaration - Video

Atheists Mormons: Exposing Myths, Dispelling Stereotypes
"Atheists Mormons: Exposing Myths, Dispelling Stereotypes" was a free public event in the Nancy Tessman Auditorium at the Salt Lake City Public Library on ...

By: Mormon Transhumanist Association

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Atheists & Mormons: Exposing Myths, Dispelling Stereotypes - Video

Positronic Transhumanist By: Matthew Kowalski in the book Cyberpunk Dao Theme 4
Positronic Transhumanist By: Matthew Kowalski in the book Cyberpunk Dao Theme 4.

By: Matthew Kowalski

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Positronic Transhumanist By: Matthew Kowalski in the book Cyberpunk Dao Theme 4 - Video

Newsfeed society Gabriel Rothblatt, a pastor at Terasem, photographed at the Terasem ashram in Melbourne Beach, Florida April 7, 2014 Bob Croslin for TIME

In the backyard of a cottage here overlooking the water, two poles with metal slats shaped like ribcages jut out from the ground. They look indistinguishable from heat lamps or fancy light fixtures.

These are satellite dishes, but they arent for TV. Theyre meant for dispatching mindfiles, the memories, thoughts and feelings of people who wish to create digital copies of themselves and fling them into space with the belief that theyll eventually reach some benevolent alien species.

Welcome to the future. Hope you dont mind E.T. leafing through your diary.

The beach house and the backyard and the memory satellites are managed by 31-year-old Gabriel Rothblatt, a pastor of Terasem, a new sort of religion seeking answers to very old kinds of questions, all with an abiding faith in the transformative power of technology.

Technology does feel and smell and look and act like a God.Beneath the cottage is a basement office where the mindfile operation is headquartered. Next door is an ashram, an airy glass building with walls that slide away to reveal a backyard home to a telescope for stargazing and a space to practice yoga. Tucked behind a shroud of greenery, most neighbors dont even know this house of worship exists.

The name Terasem comes from the Greek word for Earthseed, which is also the name for the futuristic religion found in the Octavia Butler sci-fi novel Parable of the Sower that helped inspire Gabriels parents, Bina and Martine Rothblatt, to start their new faith. Martine founded the successful satellite radio company Sirius XM in 1990. (Martine was originally known as Martin. She had sex reassignment surgery 20 years ago.)

Organized around four core tenetslife is purposeful, death is optional, God is technological and love is essentialTerasem is a transreligion, meaning that you dont have to give up being Christian or Jewish or Muslim to join. In fact, many believers embrace traditional positions held by mainstream religionsincluding the omnipotence of God and the existence of an afterlifebut say these are made possible by increasing advancements in science and technology.

Einstein said science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind, Martine Rothblatt tells TIME. Bina and I were inspired to find a way for people to believe in God consistent with science and technology so people would have faith in the future.

Sure, its easy to dismiss people who think they can somehow cheat death with a laptop. But Terasem is a potent symbol of a modern way of life where the digital world and the emotional one have become increasingly entwined. It is also a sign, if one from the fringe, of the always evolving relationship between technology and faith. Survey after survey has shown the number of Americans calling themselves religious has declined despite the fact that many still identify as spiritual. People are searching, and no longer do they look to technology to provide mere order for their lives. They also want meaning. Maybe, its time to hack our souls.

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The Rapture of the Nerds