Transhumanists?

[Eviander]

Just wondering if anyone has heard of trans-humanism and what there thoughts are on such things.

 

Just to sum it up, transhumanism is basically the idea of using nanotechnology or other high forms of enhancement to create human-cyborgs of overall extreme capacity.

 

Think of using stem cells to artificially create the state of ultimate "enlightenment" that some people search for their entire lives. Think of being able to buy this state of bliss or create states yet unfathomed with the use of technology.

 

Technology to better humanity rather than to destroy it.

 

Opinions?

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Quite interesting. Is there any more information on this? Youtube, Blog or Website? Thanks!

[Eviander]

Quite interesting. Is there any more information on this? Youtube, Blog or Website? Thanks!

 

Yea heres a good website on trans-humanism

 

hedonistic imperative

[Owledge]

I see no point in creating even more advanced, potentially powerful technologies as long as the human mind is so immature. The more powerful it is, the more it will be misused to do harm.

[Thunder_Gooch]

I see no point in creating even more advanced, potentially powerful technologies as long as the human mind is so immature. The more powerful it is, the more it will be misused to do harm.

 

Whether liberation is achieved by spiritual or technological means is irrelevant to me, I see my spiritual training as a technology itself anyway. I think eventually if we ever make it to what transhumanists call the singularity we might well understand the true nature of reality.

[Thunder_Gooch]

Must Watch:

 

Did You Know?

 

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Ray Kurzweil futurist, transhumanist, and author of the singularity is near

 

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Blue Brain is a project, begun in May 2005, to create a computer simulation of the brain of mammals including the human brain, down to the molecular level.

 

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IBM is doing this now, its called the blue brain project.

 

http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Brain

 

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/cognitive-compu/

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10103355-52.html

 

A company from Canada D-Wave, and NASA demoed the worlds first quantum computer a few years ago, if the technology scales it could lead to single chips which have greater computational capacity for certain problems then all of our current super computers combined. I can only imagine what advanced quantum computers coupled with IBM's blue brain software could accomplish.

 

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2007/02/quantum.ars

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems

 

http://dwave.wordpress.com/

 

http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/04/dwa...c-quantum.html

Edited May 1, 2009 by More_Pie_Guy

[Aasin]

I read an article in Rolling Stone on Ray Kurzweil and frankly it scared me what the guy has in plan. The whole idea of singularity really dehumanizes people and misses the whole point of living life. It isn't how long you live life but how you live it. Ray Kurzweil takes like 300 pills a day to stay in fit shape but thats a bit too extreme. He also wants to make his father live again. It seems like the man is playing god with this whole thing.

[Tao99]

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[Thunder_Gooch]

I read an article in Rolling Stone on Ray Kurzweil and frankly it scared me what the guy has in plan. The whole idea of singularity really dehumanizes people and misses the whole point of living life. It isn't how long you live life but how you live it. Ray Kurzweil takes like 300 pills a day to stay in fit shape but thats a bit too extreme. He also wants to make his father live again. It seems like the man is playing god with this whole thing.

 

I am sure if the singularity ever happened you could choose to be a neo-luddite.

 

Like how today just because everyone else uses electricity, running water, computers, telephones, television, cars, etc, doesn't mean you are forced to do so.

Edited May 1, 2009 by More_Pie_Guy

[VCraigP]

Just wondering if anyone has heard of trans-humanism and what there thoughts are on such things.

 

Just to sum it up, transhumanism is basically the idea of using nanotechnology or other high forms of enhancement to create human-cyborgs of overall extreme capacity.

 

Think of using stem cells to artificially create the state of ultimate "enlightenment" that some people search for their entire lives. Think of being able to buy this state of bliss or create states yet unfathomed with the use of technology.

 

Technology to better humanity rather than to destroy it.

 

Opinions?

 

Makes me want to scream and run. How is that for a reaction??

 

This is the ultimate Mind/Body disconnect.

Do you really believe scientific materialists will achieve this feat of transplanting consciousness into a cyborg? And you can actually contemplate this as a good thing?? Now that is scary.

How will scientific materialists ever be able to know if their comprehension of all layers of reallity is complete?

 

Kurzweil and his ideas scare the hell out of me. It is the ultimate descent into material and disconnect from the spiritual.

 

And further to think that scientific materialists would attempt to define enlightenment and achieve it through technological means is scary as hell. In fact this whole idea of transhumanism is a good start for my definition of what Hell on Earth would be like should this be developed to it's illogical conclusions.

 

 

acckkk.

 

 

Call me a luddite.

 

PS - MERRY BELTANE

 

Craig

[Tao99]

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Edited May 6, 2009 by Tao99

[Wayfarer64]

I am something of a Luddite. No car, no TV, an antiquated cell phone that costs only $10 per month- (TuYo) -

 

I've often lived with no electricity, an out-house and a pump for water... Such experiences I cherish as much as any... I was at home in a very simple way - easy on the world and easy on me too...

 

This transhumanism seems down-right evil-minded to my way of thinking....The natural path is the only one for me, my brothers & sisters... the only way.... in harmony with the world - not trying to change the paradigm of natural life or to build on silly wishes- to bring back ones' father!!!

 

meditate and delve into yr subconscious mind -you will meet yr father there...

I am still in contact with every one of my loved ones who have died and there are several! Those connections are more real to me than this cyber- chat is.

 

communicate openly and honestly and trust nature (the actualized Tao!) to win in the end!

[sasblamthanb]

If this "Hell on Earth" occurs, will it be

1) because Mankind is imitating the Machines, or

2) because the Machines are imitating mankind?

Me thinks the latter.

 

 

... and then along comes John Conner...

[Tao99]

Edited May 6, 2009 by Tao99

[Owledge]

@More_Pie_Guy

The video about exponential development is not good. Number games. The problem with exponentiality (besides that the video only selects cases that have not slowed down yet or are replaced by completely different concepts and is partly based on narrow-minded predictions) is that it is non-comparable due to its arbitrary standard/scale.

 

For example: When you say that it took humankind millions of years to achieve travel by flight, but only some decades to travel to the moon, then a person from the far future could say: "Imagine: It took humankind millions of years to visit the moon, but only centuries to terraform mars." And a person from an even farther future could say: "Imagine: It took humankind millions of years to colonize another planet, but only a thousand years to colonize our galaxy." And another guy would just smile and say: "What? You still live in only ONE universe?!"

And then a bright energetic entity appears and telepathically tells the others that they're all stupid.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Hardyg