From: Nick Bostrom (bostrom@ndirect.co.uk)
Date: Sat Oct 10 1998 - 09:29:07 MDT
[appologies to those of you who have already been sent this update]
WTA Update 2
10 October 1998
Dear member,
A number of positive things have happened since the last update.
The TransVision98 conference, which was organized by the Dutch group
Transcedo, was a great success. Much of the discussion focused on
practical issues and on what Europe has to contribute to
transhumanism. There was a general sense that the people attending
were witnessing the beginning of something important. It was decided
that there should be a follow-up -- TransVision99 -- which will be
held in Stockholm next year, June 4-6, and will be organized by the
group Aleph. More information will be available closer to the event at
http://www.transhumanism.com/events.htm.
A new group in Germany is under the process of formation (preliminary
name "De:Trans"). Having tweaked their constitution and having planned
everything very carefully (they are Germans after all ;-), they now
seem close to being able to launch it. This will be a very welcomed
reinforcement of transhumanism in Europe. What country is next in
turn?
The Journal of Transhumanism has published its second paper, "Is a
singularity just around the corner? -What it takes to get explosive
economic growth", by Robin Hanson. We are also glad to announce that
Hal Finney has joined the editorial board.
Work has commenced on the production of a Transhumanist Reader (eds.
Thom Quinn and Nick Bostrom), which will contain a selection of
central transhumanist texts and will be aimed at an
academic/well-educated audience and preferably be published by a major
university press. (See http://www.transhumanist.com/call.htm for more
details.)
The last update said that the WTA needed to enter a growth phase. That
objective has been achieved; the current membership is now 275
(compared to 120 on May 29). Thanks! to all who have contributed to
this, whether by telling your friends, putting up a link from your web
site or by some other means. Let's do our best to keep it up or even
increase the expansion rate.
The next phase will now be to prepare and position ourselves for the
outreach. We want to reach a point where we are ready to begin to
effectively put our transhumanist views across both in (1) the media
(other than the net) and (2) in the academic/scientific community.
(1) Kathryn Aegis is setting up a Transhumanist Media Advocacy Network
(TMAN), which will fascilitate media communications for transhumanist
organizations and individuals. If you have professional media
experience and want to get involved in this, you should contact
Kathryn at <aegis@igc.apc.org>. An FAQ is also being developed, to
deal with the most commonly asked questions about and objections
against transhumanism. A lot of people have already contributed loads
of valuable ideas for the FAQ. It is currently in the writing-up
stage. When a tentative first draft is ready, we'll all be able to
comment on it before it is finalized.
(2) The Reader will hopefully contribute to the second objective. But
also: all you academics and scientists out there, it is through your
mediation that transhumanism will be receiving more attention from
your peers. The Battle for Minds, it is said, is won in the coffee
rooms. Just mentioning the word "transhumanism" often enough can
probably do a lot of good. Also desirable would be increased
interaction with related professional organizations such as the
Foresight Institute. Those of us who have contacts within such
organizations can make a contribution here.
If we do our job well now, then by the time of the third or fourth
Update, we may be in a position to begin to have a much greater
impact. Transhumanism needs to become utterly mainstream.
Thanks again to everybody who have contributed. Onward!
Nick Bostrom | David Pearce
n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk | dave@hedweb.com
Nick Bostrom
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
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