transhumanism
oracknows | April 28, 2017I've been at this blogging thing for well over 12 years now. I know, I know. Sometimes it amazes even me that I been doing this so long. I also know that I've been mentioning just how long I've been blogging more frequently. Sometimes I worry that the blog will turn into nothing more than posts counting down the days since I started this whole crazy thing. Of course, the main reason I mention this is not so much out of a desire for repetition but as a way of expressing amazement when I find something new and/for bizarre that I don't recall having heard before.
So it was when I came across an…
oracknows | September 3, 2012Why is it after a three day weekend, it always feels as though I have to "catch up"? After all, it's only one day more than the average weekend, and I didn't really do anything that different. A little yard work, out to dinner, a bit of grant writing, a bit of chilling, that's it. Maybe it's because pseudoscience and quackery never rest, while, my never-sleeping, computer-inspired moniker notwithstanding, I do. I have to, particularly as age creeps up on me. In any case, right before the Labor Day weekend, I felt a disturbance in the antivaccine crankosphere. It began Wednesday, with a post…
sciencepunk | April 8, 2010Next week I'll be in London to attend Bad Idea magazine's Future Human, part of a series of salons exploring themese of transhumanism. Wednesday's event looks at whether increasingly sophisticated software will render some clerical occupations obsolete.
In the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the British working class who fell victim to the mechanisation of industry. In the Information Revolution of the 21st century, however, industrial productivity is increasingly driven by software algorithms and the exponential rise of computer processing power.Middle-class…
razib | February 27, 2010Ends today. Last Chance to Contribute to 2010 Singularity Research Challenge!:
Thanks to generous contributions by our donors, we are only $11,840 away from fulfilling our $100,000 goal for the 2010 Singularity Research Challenge. For every dollar you contribute to SIAI, another dollar is contributed by our matching donors, who have pledged to match all contributions made before February 28th up to $100,000. That means that this Sunday is your final chance to donate for maximum impact.
Since ~1/3 of readers of GNXP are sympathetic to transhumanism I thought it might be worthwhile to post this…
razib | October 7, 2009My thoughts on the talks at The Singularity Summit 2009 below the fold....
Shaping the Intelligence Explosion - Anna Salamon: A qualitative analysis of the implications of the emergence of artificial general intelligence. Having talked to Anna before, and knowing the general thrust of the work of the SIAI, not too surprising. AGI will come fast if it comes, it will be beyond our comprehension, etc. The main issue with Anna's talk was that it was hurried at the end, so perhaps we missed some points.
Technical Roadmap for Whole Brain Emulation - Anders Sandberg: Interesting. Lots of pictures.…
razib | May 15, 2006This week Seed is asking the question:
"Will the 'human' race be around in 100 years?"
Since I suggested the question, I have a quick set of answers. I believe there are three primary categories of alternatives:
1) The rate of technological (both bio & computational) change will continue to accelerate, and "humanity" as we know it will be transcended beyond comprehension.
2) Our complex technological society will collapse as our artifactual matrix overwhelms our cognitive substrate, and the sociological response will be like that of lemmings over a cliff. We will revert back to some…
razib | January 31, 2006In response to a skeptical response to my post below from RPM I have posted an entry on my other weblog asking whether I am deluding myself in thinking that our generation is at an axial pivot in the progression of ages. If previous posts on this topic are any clue, the discussion should be spirited.