Tag: transhumanism

  1. Online talk about exocortices.

    02 February 2018

    A couple of days ago I gave a talk online to some members of the Zero State about my exocortex.  It's a pretty informal talk done as a Hangout where I talk about some of the day to day stuff and where the project came from.  I didn't have any notes and it was completely unscripted.

    Embedding is disabled for some reason so I can't just put the video here here.  Here's a direct link to the recording, here's a copy at my Peertube channel, and here's a local copy.

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  2. Exocortices: A definition of a technology.

    02 November 2017

    Originally published at Mondo 2000, 10 October 2017.

    A common theme of science fiction in the transhumanist vein, and less commonly in applied (read: practical) transhumanist circles is the concept of having an exocortex either installed within oneself, or interfaced in some way with one's brain to augment one's intelligence.  To paint a picture with a fairly broad brush, an exocortex was a system postulated by JCR Licklider in the research paper Man-Computer Symbiosis which would implement a new lobe of the human brain which was situated outside of the organism (though some components of it might be internal).  An …

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  3. Book review: To Be A Machine

    27 March 2017

    It seems like everybody is reviewing the book To Be A Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death by Mark O'Connell, and most of the book reviews are, to be frank, kind of pants.  The mainstream book reviewers seem to have read only the first and last chapters and make light (at best) or a joke (at worst) of the life's work of people who are actually doing the work in some parts of the medical profession instead of just playing "Won't it be nice when..." on Slack channels and Facebook.  A …

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  4. Inflatable space station modules, successful gene therapy for aging, and neuromorphic computing.

    06 June 2016

    Now that I've got some spare time (read: Leandra's grinding up a few score gigabytes of data), I'd like to write up some stuff that's been floating around in my #blogfodder queue for a couple of weeks.

    First up, private-sector aerospace engineering and orbital insertion contractor SpaceX announced not too long ago announced that one of their unmanned Dragon spacecraft delivered an inflatable habitat module to the International Space Station. Following liftoff from Cape Canaveral the craft executed a rendezvous with the ISS in low earth orbit, where the ISS' manipulator arm grappled the craft. In addition to supplies and …

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  5. Call for participants: The Second Transhumanist Debate

    12 February 2016

    The Brighter Brains Institute is holding another transhuman debate on 2 April 2016 in Oakland, CA, and they've put out a call for participants. The topics up for debate this time around will be:


    • Eugenics
    • Gun laws
    • Capitalism
    • Psychedelics
    • Sexbots

    The debate styles this time will be one-on-one, two-on-two, and a three-on-three verbal battle royale. A couple of discussion panels will also be on the schedule this time around, with audience participation. The audience will vote to determine the winner of each debate.

    If you are interested in taking part in the debates, please e-mail brighterbrainsinstitute at gmail dot com …

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  6. I am now obligated to say something.

    12 October 2015

    Readers of my site or social aquaintenances may be aware of independent presidential candidate and outspoken transhumanist Mr. Zoltan Istvan, who is at this time on the campaign trail. More specifically Zoltan is one of the residents of the Immortality Bus which is driving across the country to raise awareness of death and why time and funds must be allocated to study cures for aging and decrepitude in the human animal. Zoltan Istvan seems, in the times I've spoken with him on a casual basis a reasonably decent, intelligent, and well read person. He is a very successful and ambitious …

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  7. UPDATED: I'll be presenting at the Future of Politics Conference.

    25 August 2015

    EDIT: While I will be attendence at this conference, I am no longer in the lineup of speakers.

    On 18 October 2015 I'll be presenting at the Future of Politics Conference held by the Brighter Brains Institute. I'll be giving a talk (which doesn't have a title yet, and in fact I have yet to start writing) on tools and strategies for grassroots organization in a time when we're all connected on a 24x7x365 basis (which is to say, today).

    The conference will be held at the Humanist Hall in Oakland, CA from 10:30am until 6:00pm. Lunch will …

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  8. Notes from the Transhuman Strategies conference, 21 March 2015

    17 July 2015

    At long last, here are my notes from the Transhuman Strategies conference held by the Brighter Brains Institute on 21 March 2015. It took me a while to find the notebook I wrote them in, so that's why they're a few months late in coming. Anyway, my notes are under the cut.

    Hank Pellissier - Transhumanitarian Projects

    • Goals: Extending life, increasing mental ability
    • Life expectency in Japan is 80, in Sierra Leone is 35
    • Hunger is still the greatest killer
    • Shipping food or backing projects
    • De-worming - parasiting infections in children
    • The energy deficit incurred by parasitic infection lowers IQ in children …

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  9. 3D printing circuit boards, photography-resistent clothing, and wireless DNI.

    13 February 2015

    Now that I've had a couple of days to sleep and get most of my brain operational again, how about some stuff that other parts of me have stumbled across?

    Building your own electronics is pretty difficult. The actual electrical engineering aside you still have to cut, etch, and drill your own printed circuit boards which is a lengthy and sometimes frustrating task. Doubly so when multi layer circuit boards are involved because they're so fiddly and easy to get wrong. There is one open source project that I know of called the Rabbit Pronto which is a RepRap print …

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