Category Archives: Transhumanist

Thoughts on the The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan.
On Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Transhumanist-Wager-Zoltan-Istvan-ebook/dp/B00AQQSY60.

By: aeolisticwill

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Thoughts on the The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan. - Video

Giulio Prisco - Transhumanist Spirituality, A New Religion for the Modern Age
Giulio Prisco is a physicist and computer scientist, and formerly a senior manager in the European Space Agency. He is a member of the board of directors of ...

By: Martin Higgins

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Giulio Prisco - Transhumanist Spirituality, A New Religion for the Modern Age - Video

The Transhumanist Takeover of America
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The Transhumanist Takeover of America - Video

Shortly before he began shooting his new artificial-intelligence thriller "Transcendence" last year, filmmaker Wally Pfister flew Jose Carmena and Michel Maharbiz, a pair of UC Berkeley scientists, to his office in Los Angeles. Professional consultants are common on Hollywood movies, but they're not usually this advanced Carmena studies neuroscience and Maharbiz is a nanotechnology specialist and even fewer go deep into the weeds with directors.

For 10 hours, the men pored over the script with the intensity of lab researchers on the verge of a major discovery. They discussed the density of brain signals, the limits of nanotechnology and the vexing problem of defining consciousness scientifically.

"We went through line by line, hitting on a technical topic and just going through it with Wally and his team," said Maharbiz, whose journal articles come with titles such as "Can We Build Synthetic, Multicellular Systems By Controlling Developmental Signaling in Space and Time?" "I've almost never seen people want to understand it at that level," he added.

Science-fiction movies have looked at the possibility and peril of artificial intelligence since HAL sought to destroy Dave Bowman in "2001: A Space Odyssey" back in 1968. Sarah Connor would of course later try to beat back the malicious plans of Skynet in the Terminator" franchise, and Hugo Weaving's coolly robotic Agent Smith proved a slippery foe for Neo and friends in "The Matrix."

PHOTOS: Screenwriters stranger than fiction

But few in this subgenre have examined the theme with the level of scientific rigor or, for that matter, the emotionally inflected story line of "Transcendence." Thanks to the emerging intelligence of digital creations, Pfister and screenwriter Jack Paglen are able to indulge in a science fiction that, while fantastical, is both plausible and plausibly human.

Written by first-timer Paglen and marking the directorial debut of Pfister, the Oscar-winning cinematographer and longtime Christopher Nolan collaborator, "Transcendence" concerns an artificial-intelligence researcher named Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall) who uploads the consciousness of her husband and professional partner Will (Johnny Depp) just before he dies from a gunshot wound inflicted by an anti-technology radical. She is hardly engaging in disinterested science: Will is the love of her life, and the possibility that a digital replica can keep him with her is too powerful to resist, no matter the consequences.

In the ensuing weeks, the entity voiced and embodied by Will not only gains consciousness but evolves past the point of mere human abilities, engaging in superhuman activity in the interest of bettering society (he says). In the process, the digital Will provoke fear maybe justified, maybe not on the part of the couple's close friend, the fellow researcher Max (Paul Bettany), as well as a swelling cadre of government authorities fearful of a force they can't control.

With its action set pieces and propulsive plot, the $100-million-budget "Transcendence" is an unmistakably Hollywood confection. Yet with its slowed-down moments hashing out questions of digital consciousness and human evolution, it also puts complex philosophical issues at the fore. The film essentially offers the man-vs.-machine tension of "The Matrix" only this time there's a decent chance we should be rooting for the machine.

This is not 'point the laser and zap the guy to death.' These are real human beings faced with something large," Depp said. "It's something the audience is really meant to ponder.

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'Transcendence' ponders as it propels

According to the World War II-era nautical lore, the Navy wanted sailors that could see IR signals. To this end volunteers were fed a diet that was missing the form of vitamin A normally used to make photopigments for our visual system. They were instead given supplements of an alternate form of the vitamin that gave sensitivity into the IR spectrum. While invention of the sniperscope brought these dubious experiments to a premature close, a group of biohackers has been inspired to pick up right where the early transhumanist pioneers left off.

Eyes are remarkably adaptable machines. Animals have morphed them into exotic polarization sensors, magnetic field orienteering aids, and even single photon detectors. An interesting anecdote from the astronautical lore is that flashes of light generally attributed to cosmic rays have been perceived by astronauts even with their eyes were closed. While it is possible that these figments are triggered in the brain, it seems more likely that the retina, perhaps even the photopigments themselves, are directly sensing energy deposited by the rays and realizing it as light. With the right photopigment, seamless detection of IR should be a piece of cake.

The only problem is that lack of vitamin A claims the lives of around a million children worldwide each year, and it is responsible for blindness in half that again. Anintrepid group of four biohackers hope that the replacement form of vitamin A, known as vitamin A2, will compensate completely. A2 is found in freshwater fish, and can be extracted (with some effort) from their livers. The group has created a project based on a Microryza crowdfunding model, and is now funded to the tune of $4,000. (Read: Seeing ultraviolet, exploring color.)

This is what our intrepid senior editor, Sebastian Anthony, looks like with thermal IR.

Much of the capital raised will be used to procure the vitamin itself. Additionally there will be funds for sensitive equipment to measure the electrical responses of the eye as its spectral sensitivity changes. Their results will be published in an open, peer-reviewed research journal. The diet the biohackers will use has been developed by computer engineer Rob Rhinehart, creator of a successful life-optimizing drink known as Soylent. Crowdfunded itself, Soylent also enjoys high-profile backing from venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz.

Vitamin A, and its precursors like beta-carotene, are metabolized into different forms that are used in various ways all throughout the body. Its ability to melt wrinkles or pimples when applied to the skin hints at its powers once inside a cells nucleus, where it has its main effects. The kicker in prescription drug Accutane is a vitamin A derivative called retinoic acid. This acid is actually the go molecule used in a developing embryo when it begins to push out the upper limb buds. Retinoic acid is a master regulator molecule that turns on other genes to get the bits and pieces of the arm just right.

The Milky Way, as seen by NASAs infrared Spitzer telescope. I doubt it would look like this with biohacked eyes, but its nice to dream

If you arent scared yet, consider one more thing: vitamin A deprived rats developed hypogonadism (reduced gonad functionality). This happened even when they were fed the retinoic acid that is needed by the testes because they are actually a bit pickier than that they need locally-synthesized retinoic acid to actually do the trick. The good news is that inhibiting retinoic acid makes a wonderful birth control in humans, and that has even been promoted as a male contraceptive. One further word of caution is in order. While the body can in fact metabolize the fishy A2 vitamin form, the proteins that transport it through cell membranes are only one-quarter as efficient at binding and taking up the A2 form.

Researchers sometimes seem to be motivated by fame and glory as much as by science. There may be a hint of that here, but transhumanists see themselves more as individual medical explorers than as medical trials guinea pigs with no control over their fate. (Read: What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human?)That being said, one indication that times are tough in the academic research arena is the recent report of the guy who published a study of the absolute worst places to be stung, in descending order with himself as the subject. While there may be some value in research like that, it reminds one of the guy who ate a bicycle just to get into the Guinness book of World records. Fortunately for him, Guinness published it, but only with a note saying this will be the last time for things like that.

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Intrepid biohacker gives himself infrared night vision, but at what price?

Lobotomies Past, Present and Future Transhumanist Biotech B.R.A.I.N. Initiative
David Knight discusses the crude brutality of lobotomies post-WWII, to the more subtle SSRI drugs today, to DARPA #39;s hi-tech, selective removal of memories an...

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Lobotomies Past, Present and Future Transhumanist Biotech & B.R.A.I.N. Initiative - Video

Introduction to Libertarian Transhumanism
This is an introduction to the idea of Libertarian Transhumanism.

By: The Libertarian Transhumanist

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Introduction to Libertarian Transhumanism - Video

Death Is Wrong: Transhumanist Kids Book (w/ Gennady Stolyarov II)
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Death Is Wrong: Transhumanist Kids Book (w/ Gennady Stolyarov II) - Video

March 2014 Discussion Group of the Mormon Transhumanist Association
March 2014 Discussion Group of the Mormon Transhumanist Association.

By: Giulio Prisco

Link:
March 2014 Discussion Group of the Mormon Transhumanist Association - Video

Heres an interesting thought experiment for you: What happens to life imprisonment for murder and other heinous crimes if the human lifespan is increased? If we live until 150 or 250 or 350 (which is very possible, given the direction of recent efforts into life extension) how many more prisons will we have to build to hold all of those murderers and rapists who just wont die? Even if we can build enough prisons to hold them, will it be economically viable to do so? What about parole? Right now, many life sentences are up for parole after 15 or 20 years but if we live for 350 years, doesnt a 15-year incarceration seem a little bit on the lenient side for a serious crime?

As a futurist, this is the kind of thing that I spend a lot of time thinking about and the kind of thing that we, as a society, need to sit down and discuss, before its too late. Incarceration is just a tiny piece of the life extension discussion, too: What about pensions? And healthcare? And employment? And education? These four factors combined have essentially dictated the framework upon which all of modern society is based and theyre all based on the idea that humans are born, become adults around the age of 18, retire around the age of 60, and then die fairly soon after that. In the US, average life expectancy has risen from 69.77 years in 1960 to 78.64 in 2011 a fairly small gain on paper, but a difference of billions of dollars in healthcare and social security spending. Imagine if we all start living to 90, or 100, or 110 or 200. You begin to see how indefinite life extension could cause some problems. (Read: Googles Project Calico wants to make your lifespan its business.)

Because there are so many factors that determine the longevity of a human life, hard figures for life expectancy from birth and life extension in your later years are hard to come by. Generally though, in developed countries, the average life expectancy has been creeping up by around one year for every five years that pass. So, if youre born today, you can expect to live around 80 years; but if youre born five years from now, you might live until youre 81. In general, as weve started to gain more control over cancer, heart disease, and smoking, this figure has been trending upwards. One theory suggests that life extension will actually slow down, because there just arent that many gains to be had by conquering heart disease and cancer wed get a few more years on average, but then old age will probably get us. The other theory, of course, is that our average life expectancy is about to shoot forward, thanks to gene therapy, replacement organs, and other advanced transhumanist approaches. (Read: What is transhumanism?)

But lets get back to the original point of this story: If we do start to live until were 100 or 150, where does that leave our justice and jail systems?

In the future, jail sentences might be spent with your mind trapped inside a computer for a thousand years.

Its fairly obvious that we cant significantly increase the duration of prison sentences its just not economically (or societally) viable and so we have to look at other possible solutions. This isnt as easy as it sounds humanity has spent a large portion of the last 10,000 years trying to work out how to fairly deal with criminals, and yet plain old prison still seems to be the correctional method of choice. Execution is one very obvious method of solving the problem of over-full prisons but of course thats a non-starter. Another option is downscaling the number of people that get sent to prison, through crime prevention and different, non-prison sentences (rehabilitation, house arrest, etc.)

And then, of course, there are the terrifying, futuristic, technological solutions. After all, if we leverage advanced technology to extend our lifespan, why shouldnt we also use it to deal with criminals? Thats the theory put forward by Rebecca Roache, anyway, who leads a group of scholars at Oxford University that are looking at how futuristic technology will transform punishment. Roache says that there are already psychoactive drugs that can distort your sense of time and that it probably wouldnt be hard to develop a dedicated time dilation drug, which when given to prisoners would make them feel like they were serving a 1,000-year sentence.

A precog from The Minority Report, tasked with predicting crimes before they happen.

Another equally terrifying biotech solution, Roache writes on her blog, would be to upload the mind of a criminal to a computer and then speed up the rate of the simulation by a factor of a million then 1,000 years of imprisonment could be experienced in just eight and a half hours. Showing her slightly more humanitarian side, Roache also says that the last hour or two of the simulation (i.e. a few hundred years) could be spent on treatment and rehabilitation. Voil: Eight and a half hours in a Matrix-style chair, and out comes a suitably chastised and rehabilitated criminal. How kind.

Personally, rather than devising ingenious ways of tormenting fellow humans, I think futurists and technologists should probably focus their efforts on making the world a better place, through crime prevention and education. Lets start with pre-crime, a la The Minority Report, and go from there.

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Immortality, biotechnology, and the woefully unprepared criminal justice system