From: J. Hughes (jhughes@changesurfer.com)
Date: Mon Dec 16 2002 - 15:16:37 MST
NEWS OF THE WORLD TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION
December 16 2002
CONTENTS:
Events
NBIC Converging Technologies for Improving Human
Performance Conference 2002: Feb 2003
NYTA World Futures Symposium: February 2003
TransCentral: Midwestern Winter Gatherings
Transvision 2003 is Exploding!
WTA News
WTA Officers Group
JBS Haldane Award
Transhumanity Magazine - Volunteers Wanted
News from the Field
Jose Cordeiro's Travelogue of
Transhumanists Around the World
New York: NYTA
Toronto: Toronto Transhumanist Association
TransCentral
New Chapters Organizing
Beijing
Nigeria
News from Affiliates and Friends
New Additions to Betterhumans
Things to Read and Watch
New in Transhumanity - Book reviews, articles and interviews
New in Betterhumans
Michael Crichton's Prey
New Kass Book: Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity
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EVENTS
NBIC CONFERENCE 2002: CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR
IMPROVING HUMAN PERFORMANCE
In another sign that Transhuman ideas are gaining currency
the well received NBIC report on Converging Technologies
for Improving Human Performance is being followed up by a
conference on the same issues. The convergence of
nanoscience, biotechnology, information technology and
cognitive science ("NBIC") offers immense opportunities
for the improvement of human abilities, social outcomes,
the nation's productivity and its quality of
life; it also represents a major new frontier in research
and development.
This conclusion was reached at a December 2001 workshop
held by the National Science Foundation and the Department
of Commerce in which leading experts from government, the
academic research community and the private sector
explored the nature and size of the potential
opportunities in NBIC convergence. The report that
resulted from this workshop, asserting that NBIC
convergence is "a broad, cross-cutting, emerging and
timely opportunity of interest to individuals, society and
humanity in the long term," recommended that an R&D
initiative focusing on enhancing human
performance (while governed by respect for human welfare
and dignity) should become a national priority. The NBIC
Convergence 2003 conference has been organized as a first
step in realizing the vision of this report...
More information on the conference can be found at
http://www.infocastinc.com/NBIC/nbic.asp.
The original report can be found as a pdf file and is
worth a look -
http://wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/
NYU SYMPOSIUM: WORLD FUTURES
THE SCIENCE OF HUMANITY IN THE EPOCH OF TECHNOLOGY
The New York Transhumanist Association is putting together
a one-day symposium at New York University for either
February 21 or 28. For more information contact
Mike Treder (iph1954@msn.com)
TRANSCENTRAL: A MIDWESTERN WINTER GATHERING
The Chicago area transhumanists, most of whom are area college
students, have organized several gatherings. On Monday December 10
they met at the Lombard Illinois library for a discussion, and then
convened to Alfie's Inn in Glen Ellyn for dinner. This coming
Thursday, December 19, they will meet for dinner at Sabri Nihari
(Pakistani Cuisine near Lombard Lanes, 800 East Roosevelt Rd.
Lombard, IL, 630-889-8600), then go bowling, and possibly catch The
Two Towers later.
For more information check out the TransCentral group site
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Transcentral
or email Ben Hyink at
ben_hyink9@yahoo.com
TRANSVISION 2003 USA – Conference Exploding!
The WTA's transhumanist bioethics conference on the "Adaptable Human
Body" is growing very quickly. Some of the speakers who will be
appearing include:
- Steve Mann Ph.D., professor of Engineering,
University of Toronto
- George Annas J.D., Director, Health Law, Boston Univ.
- Greg Stock Ph.D., author of Redesigning Humans
- Alice Dreger Ph.D. author of Hermaphrodites and
the Medical Invention of Sex
- Greg Pence Ph.D., author of Whose Afraid of
Human Cloning?
- Douglas Mulhall, author of Our Molecular Future:
How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and
Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World
- Gregor Wolbring Ph.D., Bioethicist and Biochemist,
Director of the International Center for Bioethics,
Culture and Disability
- Ron Bailey, science correspondent for Reason Magazine
- Jose Cordeiro, author of The Great Taboo
- Natasha Vita-More, Director, Transhumanist Arts and
Culture
- James Hughes Ph.D., Producer, Changesurfer Radio
- Eliezer Yudkowsky, research fellow, Singularity Institute
for Artificial Intelligence
- Nick Bostrom Ph.D., Chair, World Transhumanist
Association; author of Anthropic Bias: Observation
Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy
The call for papers and media projects continues and the
deadline for submission has been extended until Feb 1, 2003.
Paper submissions - http://www.transhumanism.org/tv/2003usa/call.htm
To submit video or media projects -
http://www.transhumanism.org/tv/2003usa/call.htm#videos
For more information on the seminar go to:
http://www.transhumanism.org/tv/2003usa/index.htm
To register for either the TV03USA conference or the June 26 seminar
go to:
http://www.transhumanism.org/tv/2003usa/registration.htm
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WTA NEWS
WTA OFFICERS GROUP
Mike Latorra and Simon Smith have created a new group for
officers of WTA local chaptes. According to Mike "This
group is for World Transhumanist Association Chapter
Officers to discuss how best to operate their chapters.
Group membership is restricted to full dues paying members
of WTA who are also WTA Chapter Officers." This should
serve as a great resource for Officers to learn from
each other on what has worked well and what hasn't. If
you are leading your local chapter be sure to check it out
and participate at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wta-chapter-officers/ or
contact Michael Latorra at mike99@lascruces.com
J.B.S HALDANE AWARD
As mentioned last month the WTA has created a new award,
the Annual JBS Haldane Award for Best Undergraduate
Transhumanist Paper to honor the top undergraduate paper
in the field of transhumanism. Now is the time to get
the word out to your local colleges and universities.
This award is a tremendous opportunity to introduce the
idea of transhumanism to a demographic group that will
likely prove to be a great supporter of the WTA.
Talk to friends and family members who may be interested
in submitting a paper. The WTA has also created a flyer
that can be posted on information boards in Cognitive
Science, Philosophy, Computer Science and other related
departments. It is up to us to promote this award and the
fact that the awardee will receive $250 and a chance to be
published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Evolution
and Technology or a special edition of the
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics should help.
Haldane award flyers are available at
http://www.transhumanism.org/tv/Award20flyer.pdf
TRANSHUMANITY
www.transhumanism.com
There are some new positions to be filled in the
Transhumanity editorial team. Motivated people with good
writing skills, who are able to contribute a few hours a
week should contact giulio@prisco.info or go to
http://transhumanism.com/volunteer.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
NEWS FROM THE FIELD
JOSE CORDEIRO's TRANSHUMANIST TRAVELOGUE
Very dear transhumanist friends,
I have returned to Venezuela after several months
traveling in different countries thanks to several
academic commitments and other professional
responsibilities. The experience was very enriching, and I
had the opportunity to meet people in different areas, all
the way from libertarian ideas to Communist futurist
thinking. Here is a brief report per country:
URUGUAY: Alain Ayerra (alain@adinet.com.uy) is a young
transhumanist living in Montevideo and working
simultaneously for several academic degrees (physics and
philosophy included) in the national university. Even
though he is very young, he was one of the initial
translators into Spanish of the original transhumanist
literature. I also met some "standard" futurists in
several gatherings at the Mercosur headquarters and their
telecommunications groups.
ARGENTINA: Fernando Enis (fer@ignatius.com.ar) is a "self-
educated" transhumanist who has been working many years in
marketing in Argentina. He told me that there are other
people in Argentina (mostly in Buenos Aires and
Cordoba)dedicated to the TH ideas, and he pointed out a
brilliant student of computer science and a medical doctor
interested in cryonics. Fernando has now left Argentina
due to the crisis in his own country and is working
currently in Madrid. There is a Spanish listgroup with 30
members (groups.yahoo.com/group/wta-espanol), that was
started by James Hughes last March, and many of the
messages come from Argentina.
BRASIL: Octavio Pineda (op@plus.org) is a very active
transhumanist in a very large country where no one knows
what transhumanism is. He translated the transhumanist
principles into Portuguese and has been pushing the
Portuguese listgroup started last February and that now
has 20 members. Most members are in Sao Paulo, even though
there are some people in Rio de Janeiro and Ceara as well.
Octavio met another Brazilian (Dr Antero Coelho Neto)
through the TH listgroup of the UK and since then they
became friends, but they have not organized larger
physical meetings yet.
ENGLAND: Tarik Theodorus Ibrahim "Theo" (theo@gmx.co.uk)
has been active in the TH movement since its incipient
beginnings in England with Nick Bostrom and David Pearce.
We had a very nice dinner in the house of a friend in
London, where I could see how committed Theo was to TH,
even on his rigorous caloric intake and diet. Ian Pierson
(Chief Futurist of British Telecom) also accompanied us
and we had a fantastic conversation about new technologies
and even the orgasmatron (for the year 2012:-) Theo talked
about his company (Community Technology), a London-based
nonprofit organization that promotes technology education
and access. There is a growing group of Extropians in
London, called ExtroBritannia, who have been meeting
regularly to discuss books and other subjects. On a side
note, I had the opportunity to meet Lady Thatcher and two
Economics Nobel Prize Laureates in the reunion of the Mont
Pelerin Society in London.
SPAIN: Giulio Prisco (giulio@prisco.info) invited me for
some Spanish "tapas" and beer (which tasted great but
would not pass the Theo test of TH food:-) while smoking
heavily (like many Italians, combined with Spanish:-)
Giulio is a very hyperactive person with incredible varied
interests, all the way from space travel to quantum
computing. His job at the European Union is a good
platform to promote TH ideas, and he has been heavily
involved in this. He started the FASTRA listgroup in Spain
(www.fastra.org) last March, and it now has 43 members,
some of which are very active. Giulio was convinced that
we have to push the TH movement to new highs, and his
commitmment is worth of admiration.
MEXICO: I was only in Guadalajara and all the
transhumanists seem to be in Mexico City and Monterrey,
apparently. I gave a conference about TH for students at
the University of Guadalajara and it caused a lot of
interest.
VENEZUELA: I (jose_cordeiro@yahoo.com) am working with
some people of the World Future Society Venezuela to start
a formal chapter of the WTA. So count on more Venezuelan
transhumanists learning about the TH ideas. And already
include us in the WTA chapter list:-)
I hope this short briefing is useful to you. It was
funny to see that most of the THists only know each other
virtually. We need more physical bridges. Until
Transvision 03...
Futuristically,
La vie est belle!
Yosé (www.cordeiro.org)
President, World Future Society Venezuela
(www.FuturoVenezuela.org)
NEW YORK
The New York Transhumanist Association (NYTA) met on Nov.
21 starting off with a report on the recent Alcor
conference on Extreme Life Extension from Jones Murphy.
The next speaker, John Klos, focused on the future of
computing and simulated neural networks specifically. The
NYTA is also working on a symposium to be held at NYU on
World Futures: The Science of Humanity in The Epoch Of
Technology for more info on this or the New York
chapter contact Mike Treder for more information at
(iph1954@msn.com)
TORONTO
TTA is leading the way in what will hopefully become
standard practice - defense of transhuman values and
beliefs by way of brilliantly titled press
release. The press release was issued in response to a
talk by Leon Kass. According to Vice President George
Dvorsky "The Toronto Transhumanist Association greeted
Leon Kass's visit to the city by issuing a press release
titled "Bush Bioethicist Thinks Canadians Should Die." In
the release, the TTA made clear its opposition to the life
extension position of Leon Kass,
chairman of the US President's Council on Bioethics, who
gave a talk called "Why Not Immortality?" at the
University of Toronto on Dec. 2." To read the
entire press release, go to
http://toronto.transhumanism.com/news/
The TTA executive staff met with WTA secretary Dr. James
Hughes and WTA board member Dr. Mark Walker on November
21. Topics discussed included the future of Transhumanism,
the contributions of Betterhumans, and the
relationship between charter groups and the WTA.
On Thursday November 28, the TTA hosted the discussion,
"Women's Issues in the 21st Century." Content was
generously provided by Shari Golberg, who works for the
Government of Ontario's Women's Directorate, Natasha
Vita-More, current director of Progress Action Coalition,
and Michal Nahman, currently completing a sociology
doctorate on reproductive technology at Lancaster
University.
Also in November, the TTA added the Speakers Bureau to the
Website.
For information on upcoming meetings go to
http://toronto.transhumanism.com
or contact George Dvorsky at george@betterhumans.com
TRANSCENTRAL
The first campus group to seek affiliation with both the
WTA and the Humanist "Center for Inquiry" through the
Campus Freethought Alliance met with a CFA representative
Tuesday, 12/10. The club name "Third Culture," refers to
JS Mill's prescription for a progressive culture that
incorporates the scientific community and that of the
humanities in free discussion of ideas and issues that
affect each and thereby develop a more comprehensive
understanding that is reflected, eventually, in more
enlightened legislation supported by a more knowledgeable
population. The group met with the student activities
personnel at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. On
Friday 12/13 in one of the last steps to becoming an
official recognized club. The
final step will be connecting with a faculty member in
January to serve as the club advisor (coordinated through
the office of student activities). The first draft of the
club constitution is held in the open "Files" section of
TransCentral. The College of DuPage is the largest single
campus community college in America.
-------------------------------------------------------
NEW CHAPTERS ORGANIZING
BEIJING, CHINA
A Beijing WTA discussion group is forming. Contact
jhughes@changesurfer.com for more information.
NIGERIA
The Nigerian chapter of the WTA will be meeting at the University of
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, between January 27th and January 30th.
For more information contact Mr. Ogu Innocent: inomina@yahoo.com.
----------------------------------------------------------
NEWS FROM FRIENDS AND AFFILIATES
BETTERHUMANS
www.betterhumans.com
In November, Betterhumans added a headline news utility;
individuals can display some copy from the Syndication
page for display on their own sites. This feature is also
customizable by topic. A progress rating utility was
also added that allows people to express their feelings on
whether a particular development actually represents
progress. Betterhumans hopes to build upon this feature to
provide meta information on human progress. Betterhumans
was also added to the Google News Index. For more on
adding the Betterhumans new utility to your site go to
http://www.betterhumans.com/about_us/syndication/
----------------------------------------------------------
THING TO READ AND WATCH
NEW IN TRANSHUMANITY
www.transhumanism.com
Transhumanists - Co-Creators of the Universe!
By Marc Geddes
"...If all physical process can be simulated on a
computer, then some scientists ask why it is not valid to
simply regard all physical processes as 'information
processing'." Mark explores the possibility that our
universe is a Self-Configuring, Self-Processing computer
language and looks into the metaphysical implications of
this theory.
http://www.transhumanism.com/2002/geddes0202.shtml
Cloning As A Valid Reproductive Choice, by James Hughes
Dr. J. looks at the current debate surrounding human
cloning and why Bush, the Vatican and mainstream opinion
has turned against the practice of creating an 'artificial' human
twin.
http://www.transhumanism.com/2002/hughes0204.shtml
Transhumanism vs. Plastic Surgery: Versus Column #3,
by Cyril Fievet
Should Plastic Surgery be taken into consideration in
Transhumanist thinking?
http://www.transhumanism.com/2002/versus0203.shtml
NEW IN BETTERHUMANS
www.betterhumans.com
Killing Immortality
Bush bioethicist Leon Kass wants an end to life extension
efforts. But he has yet to offer a good reason
By Simon Smith
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Forward_Thinking/column.a
spx?articleID=2002-12-03-4
Forward in the Face of Danger
Never before has the future been filled with such promise
while fraught with such peril. But now isn't the time to
shy away from progress
By George Dvorsky
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Transitory_Human/column.a
spx?articleID=2002-11-25-2
Using Democracy to Adapt to Future Shock
Fundamentalist reactions to rapid change aren't helpful.
Democratic institutions help us cope best.
By James Hughes
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Change_Surfing/column.asp
x?articleID=2002-12-08-2
NANOTECH MEMES GO MAINSTREAM
>From renewed commitments by the US government in the form
of more than half a billion research dollars, to increased
venture capital investment and the NBIC report/conference
mentioned above nanotechnology has had a good deal of
publicity in the last year.
The trend continues with the release of Michael Crichton's
new book Prey. Crichton plays with the familiar and
successful theme of a technology that inadvertently and
overwhelming runs out of human control. Crichton is not
the usual Luddite interested only in spreading fear
about nano and other technologies. In recent interviews
Crichton has shown an interest in the positive aspects of
nanotech; an optimism that is constrained by concerns over
the power and uncertainty surrounding the
technology. To read reviews or purchase the book go to
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0066214122/qid=1039828901/sr=2-1/102-5912347-5434528?
v=glance&s=books
The Economist magazine has also been bitten by the nanobug
and in the recent article "Trouble in Nanoland" they
investigate the hurdles faced by nanotechnology. This
article can be found at
http://economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1477445
NULAND ON KASS
Sherwin Nuland recently reviewed Leon Kass's latest book,
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Human Dignity, for the
New York Times. Leon Kass is the Chair of the US President's Council
on Bioethics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/books/review/17NULANDT.html
Nuland notes "as you admire the elegance of Kass's
writing, the sweep of his erudition and the appeal of his
narrative, lest you forget that you are in the company of
perhaps the most conservative of bioethicists -- and
certainly the most persuasive of the polemicists
declaiming against the unquestioning acceptance of the
technological imperative currently gripping the
imagination of an enthusiastic American public. Kass
leaves little room for compromise or adjustment. Under the
spell of his luminescent writing, one is tempted to
abandon long-held assumptions about the inviolability and
freedom of the scientific enterprise. His is a voice that
properly deserves attention, but always with the caveat of
its seductiveness."
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ABOUT THE WTA
The World Transhumanist Association is a nonprofit membership
organization, which works to promote discussion of the
possibilities for radical improvement of human capacities
using genetic, cybernetic and nanotechnologies. The WTA is
growing faster than ever, and we invite you to join us in
this important work. You may also enroll in one of our discussion
lists and join one of our local WTA chapters, which can be found in
countries and languages all over the world. The WTA speakers bureau
can provide someone to answer questions on the transhumanist
perspective to the media or to your group. Also, take a look at our
Journal of Evolution and Technology and our new ezine Transhumanity.
Join us in working for a brighter future!
http://www.transhumanism.org/join.htm
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