The document discusses the goals and philosophy of transhumanism, which advocates using technology to enhance human capabilities and abolish involuntary suffering by achieving indefinite life extension, abundant resources through space exploration, and advancing intelligence through both biological and technological means. It outlines concerns about aging populations, resource shortages, and economic crises, and proposes focusing research on anti-aging, artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and space exploitation to address these challenges. The document asks what individuals can do to help achieve this vision through funding research, building high-tech communities, and using their own skills to collaborate on advancing relevant technologies.
Selecting the correct column in order to support a given load without over engineering the situation takes in many factors. This section takes a step by step approach to one method of selection. The key terminology and calculations are explored by use of a simple example. Extracts of column tables are used to extract key variables. The tables used are extracted from standard construction engineering data sheets.
At some time(s) all of us will lose control; feel anxiety, anger, exposure, vulnerability, threatened, stress, depression, uncertainty, be forgetful, or be of ‘two minds’ and so on. Our behaviors will most likely be modulated, and even strange in some way for some period. But all this is normal and a key component of our physiology of survival, and it is generally transient lasting minutes, hours, or at worst a day or two. When such conditions last for many day or weeks or become episodic, we label them mental illness.
The treatment of mental illness sufferers throughout history has not been a happy story spanning; the possession by spirits and demons, to incarceration, and institutionalization to become objects of fun, entertainment, derision, neglect, and disrespect. In the developed world a deal of progress and enlightenment (in terms of base understanding and treatment) has now been established, but there are still marked differences between the older and younger generations, sub-cultures, religions, and belief systems.
The medical profession has come a long way, and their understanding and science are still advancing, but expertise is in chronically short supply. And so there is a universal plight shared between physical and mental health with a gross shortage of skilled practitioners and physical facilities. In reality, this shortfall cannot be overcome by traditional health models - there are simply insufficient people available to be trained and qualified into all the health professions. Our only hope then; is to turn to new technologies with a progressive migration of patients from a ‘Do It all For Me’ (DIFM) to a ‘Do It For Yourself’ (DIY)_culture and expectation.
This DIFM to DIY transition is getting well established for the physical health sector, but it is still in its infancy for mental patients. Both sectors suffer the irrational/uneducated/unthinking/virulent detractors, but the reality is - we have a very limited number of choices - and we can only move within the framework of the possible. But: it is worth noting that the mental health sector is far more of a ‘minefield’ than the physical precursors. And so we should advance and experiment with great care and be sure to involve patients as a member of the team as opposed to being mere subjects and pseudo ‘lab rats’.
“tread softly, lest you step upon my dreams”
Kim Solez tech&future of medicine for med students fall 2016 1Kim Solez ,
Dr. Kim Solez presents "Technology and the Future of Medicine for Medical Students" on Friday October 21st, 2016 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Kim Solez tech&future of medicine for med students fall 2017Kim Solez ,
Kim Solez technology&future of medicine for med students fall 2017 Oct. 6, 2017 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Copyright (c) 2017, JustMachines Inc.
The Longevity Dividend: What advancements in longevity science mean for indiv...Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos
The information theory of biology has accelerated scientific knowledge of the inner workings of our bodies – understanding them from an almost machine and code perspective. Advancements in gene therapy, cellular rejuvenation and the longevity science field is growing exponentially and many experts in the field are claiming we now live between mortals and immortals. Renown technologist Ray Kurzweil predicts that we will reach longevity escape velocity by 2029. This would mark a moment when technological improvements add years to life faster than time passes. This presentation explores what these advancements mean for individuals, society, the economy and the military.
Selecting the correct column in order to support a given load without over engineering the situation takes in many factors. This section takes a step by step approach to one method of selection. The key terminology and calculations are explored by use of a simple example. Extracts of column tables are used to extract key variables. The tables used are extracted from standard construction engineering data sheets.
At some time(s) all of us will lose control; feel anxiety, anger, exposure, vulnerability, threatened, stress, depression, uncertainty, be forgetful, or be of ‘two minds’ and so on. Our behaviors will most likely be modulated, and even strange in some way for some period. But all this is normal and a key component of our physiology of survival, and it is generally transient lasting minutes, hours, or at worst a day or two. When such conditions last for many day or weeks or become episodic, we label them mental illness.
The treatment of mental illness sufferers throughout history has not been a happy story spanning; the possession by spirits and demons, to incarceration, and institutionalization to become objects of fun, entertainment, derision, neglect, and disrespect. In the developed world a deal of progress and enlightenment (in terms of base understanding and treatment) has now been established, but there are still marked differences between the older and younger generations, sub-cultures, religions, and belief systems.
The medical profession has come a long way, and their understanding and science are still advancing, but expertise is in chronically short supply. And so there is a universal plight shared between physical and mental health with a gross shortage of skilled practitioners and physical facilities. In reality, this shortfall cannot be overcome by traditional health models - there are simply insufficient people available to be trained and qualified into all the health professions. Our only hope then; is to turn to new technologies with a progressive migration of patients from a ‘Do It all For Me’ (DIFM) to a ‘Do It For Yourself’ (DIY)_culture and expectation.
This DIFM to DIY transition is getting well established for the physical health sector, but it is still in its infancy for mental patients. Both sectors suffer the irrational/uneducated/unthinking/virulent detractors, but the reality is - we have a very limited number of choices - and we can only move within the framework of the possible. But: it is worth noting that the mental health sector is far more of a ‘minefield’ than the physical precursors. And so we should advance and experiment with great care and be sure to involve patients as a member of the team as opposed to being mere subjects and pseudo ‘lab rats’.
“tread softly, lest you step upon my dreams”
Kim Solez tech&future of medicine for med students fall 2016 1Kim Solez ,
Dr. Kim Solez presents "Technology and the Future of Medicine for Medical Students" on Friday October 21st, 2016 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Kim Solez tech&future of medicine for med students fall 2017Kim Solez ,
Kim Solez technology&future of medicine for med students fall 2017 Oct. 6, 2017 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Copyright (c) 2017, JustMachines Inc.
The Longevity Dividend: What advancements in longevity science mean for indiv...Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos
The information theory of biology has accelerated scientific knowledge of the inner workings of our bodies – understanding them from an almost machine and code perspective. Advancements in gene therapy, cellular rejuvenation and the longevity science field is growing exponentially and many experts in the field are claiming we now live between mortals and immortals. Renown technologist Ray Kurzweil predicts that we will reach longevity escape velocity by 2029. This would mark a moment when technological improvements add years to life faster than time passes. This presentation explores what these advancements mean for individuals, society, the economy and the military.
This is slideshow I used in Terry Jantzi's EMU class. It has elements from Ellul and others on "ends" as well as case study of what inattention to ends leads to in international health.
As Steve Jobs once said ” Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Political advantages and dangers of a world with or without life extension fo...India Future Society
Political advantages and dangers of a world with or without life extension for (almost) everybody by Dr Didier Coeurnelle on 5th October Sunday at International Online Longevity Day Conference.
Transhumanism 2024: A new future for politics?David Wood
Presentation made by David Wood on 2nd October 2021 to the London Futurists event "A new future for politics?" This includes 15 possible policies for mayoral campaigns in major cities in the UK in 2024.
A video recording of this presentation, along with subsequent discussion, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJLHx5T8BFI
The Abolition of Aging - An update for 2022.pdfDavid Wood
Slides used by David Wood, Chair of London Futurists, in his presentation on 24th March 2022 for the Church of Perpetual Life. The presentation weighed up arguments for and against the possibility of widespread low-cost access, by 2040, of treatments providing comprehensive rejuvenation (reversal of aging) in both body and mind. In particular, the presentation looks at how that balance of probabilities has shifted in the six years since these arguments were first aired in the 2016 book "The Abolition of Aging".
A recording of this presentation can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSETLmTKzqg
Slides presented by David Wood, Executive Director of Transpolitica, at the London Futurists event "Anticipating Tomorrow's Politics" on Saturday 21st March 2015. See http://www.meetup.com/London-Futurists/events/220967752/ for more about this meeting, and http://transpolitica.org/ for more about Transpolitica.
This is slideshow I used in Terry Jantzi's EMU class. It has elements from Ellul and others on "ends" as well as case study of what inattention to ends leads to in international health.
As Steve Jobs once said ” Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Political advantages and dangers of a world with or without life extension fo...India Future Society
Political advantages and dangers of a world with or without life extension for (almost) everybody by Dr Didier Coeurnelle on 5th October Sunday at International Online Longevity Day Conference.
Transhumanism 2024: A new future for politics?David Wood
Presentation made by David Wood on 2nd October 2021 to the London Futurists event "A new future for politics?" This includes 15 possible policies for mayoral campaigns in major cities in the UK in 2024.
A video recording of this presentation, along with subsequent discussion, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJLHx5T8BFI
The Abolition of Aging - An update for 2022.pdfDavid Wood
Slides used by David Wood, Chair of London Futurists, in his presentation on 24th March 2022 for the Church of Perpetual Life. The presentation weighed up arguments for and against the possibility of widespread low-cost access, by 2040, of treatments providing comprehensive rejuvenation (reversal of aging) in both body and mind. In particular, the presentation looks at how that balance of probabilities has shifted in the six years since these arguments were first aired in the 2016 book "The Abolition of Aging".
A recording of this presentation can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSETLmTKzqg
Slides presented by David Wood, Executive Director of Transpolitica, at the London Futurists event "Anticipating Tomorrow's Politics" on Saturday 21st March 2015. See http://www.meetup.com/London-Futurists/events/220967752/ for more about this meeting, and http://transpolitica.org/ for more about Transpolitica.
2. An Agenda? (we wants..)
We want Indefinite Life Extension
We want Peace, Justice, Fairness and Liberty
We want to abolish involuntary suffering
We promote the advancement of intelligence
Biological and otherwise
We want space travel and exploration
We want to do whatever we like to enhance and
modify ourselves
We want politicians to either help or get out of the
way
We accept taxation that helps our goals
3. My primary’s stab at it
We advocate the end of aging
We believe in and advocate the achievement of actual
abundance
We hold that all must be voluntary
We support the exploitation of space resources
All humans are free to attempt to improve themselves
We strive to cure all disease and achieve indefinitely long
healthspans
We support free and open access to accumulated knowledge
The rights of humans include their techological extensions.
4. What do you think?
What is transhumanism?
Movement?
Loose collection interest in common things?
Definitive of parts of your life?
What future do you want?
What can you do toward achieving it?
What are you willing and able to do?
5. Where Are We?
Over six billion people with majority well below our living
standard
Growing resource shortages even for status quo
Including water
Energy shortages are eminent
Aging populations in all developed countries
Much larger health care and retirement benefit costs
Economic Crisis
Economic Crisis
Across almost all developed countries
Possibly pushing edge of human decidable problem
resolution speed and accuracy
6. Aging
25% - 40% of population over 65
Depending on country
Most healthcare cost are post 65
> 80 year old segment growing rapidly
Soon only two or three workers per retired person
At best
Ways this will resolve:
Curing and/or greatly postponing aging
Economic collapse and/or war leading to mass die off
All the aged die especially as the government programs stop
functioning through utterly impossible to pay costs
Likely taking the countries with them
7. Health
End to aging
Full medical nanotech
End of all diseases
Curing of all physically based maladies
What of psychological ones?
Advocacy of mental health
What of growth of consciousness / wisdom /
enlightenment?
8. Tools for change
Technology
Economic dependency
Political dependency
New inventions and applications are crucial
The old ways have been worked to near end of life
Politics
Political advocacy
Keeping too much government from killing off future
Freedom enough to innovate and seek alternatives
Priority acknowledgement
Wide understanding of what is important and why
Private investing, Foundations, enterprise
Especially as government can fund less and less.
9. Intelligence Augmentation
Maximizing intelligence is obviously essential
for maximizing almost everything else
All individual choices of means are legal
R&D in IA
Drugs
Diet
Training
Physical brain augmentation
Wearables
Software systems
BCI
10. Artificial Intelligence
Essential to
Robotics
IA
Going beyond human limitations
Maximizing intelligence in universe
Push for full AGI
Intelligence unhinged from the evolved biological
Software writing AI
Personal decision support AI
confidante
11. Immediate technology to push for
Much better solar, especially thin film
Best reactor designs
Molten salt thorium reactor
Anti-aging R & D
Increased improvements in medicine
Streamlining new drug/treatment time to market
Exploitation of near earth asteroids
Materials, opening frontier, space based solar
Continued computational and communication
improvement
Wide dissemination of technology and knowledge
12. Space Exploitation
Humanity and all our works limited to this one
rock is not tenable
Space is where vastly more resources and
energy than on earth is
Space and other stars/planets it the outer
(physical) frontier
Space may belong to non-humans, at least not
to human 1.0
But many of our problems on earth cannot be solved
without exploiting at least local space
13. So What Can We Do?
Raise lots of awareness?
Funding Foundation?
Gather lots of private funds from everyone, not just the rich.
How many of the super tech parts are mostly matter of funding?
Some have much fundamental science left which is not all that amenable to
just lots of cash
the money may need to be there for a while to attract a new generation of
researchers (which implies it takes more time than we may have)
Build high tech intentional communities to preserve what we value
and wait out the storm?
Do everything each of us can with our own skills.
Collaborate where we can.
All of the above?
More?
Editor's Notes
This list came out of a survey on transhumanity.net because the old transhumanist agenda had no oomph to it at all.This one I have a few issues with starting with the “we want” lead. How about “We are committed to.. “ ?Peace Justice Fariness and Liberty are great but rather ambiguous in the particulars. The third one bothers me in its full form:“We Want Involuntary Suffering Abolished in All Sentient Creatures. We Want a Compassionate Planet, Devoid of Predation, Pain, and Emotional Anguish.”I don’t for a moment believe that this is possible. To be sentient at all is to experience some suffering even if only of frustrated desires. Pain, the opposite of pleasure being totally eliminated seems like saying we want only light and no dark. Some experiences are more pleasurable, some more painful, some more neutral. Are we really saying we would eliminate all painful experiences? Whatever for? Any system governed only by positive feedback will fluctuate out of control. We tend to do get a lot of our impetus to learn and grow from painful or less than satisfactory experiences. The one on space is worded like this:“We Want Outer Space. We Want to Travel, Explore and Visit the Universe.”Noticeably missing is that we want to colonize the universe and make use of its resources and exploit those resources for our benefit. It sounds like we are perpetual tourists.And of course I utterly despise the last one. I don’t believe that collecting money or anything else by force is actually helpful for achieving anything good.
http://transhumanity.net/news/entry/nail-biting-victory-a-champion-is-declared-in-transhumanist-declaration-2.01) We advocate the end of aging. We advocate serious research focus on finding a cure for all the deleterious effects of aging and ultimately the dissemination of the resulting treatment to all who care to avail themselves of it. 2) We believe in and advocate the achievement of actual abundance.We believe in and seek to bring into the being the technologies and practices, that will ensure such abundance that it is trivial to meet all the needs and many of the wants of all humans. This abundance includes abundant food, water, shelter, education, communication, computation, health care. This is to be achieved by means of advanced technology and whatever changes are necessary to actually experience abundance in ourselves and our institutions.3) We hold that all must be voluntary.None of our goals should be or in our view could successfully be achieved by force. No one should be forced directly or indirectly to support these goals. Force and oppression lead to hopelessness, anger, revenge, revolution. With the multiplication of consequences afforded by accelerating technology these cycles are even less survivable than ever before. 4) We support exploitation of near earth space resources.The future of humanity brightens considerably if we exploit near earth space resources. The right to do so should be available to any and all entities capable of improving or making productive use of any part of it. Any treaties that say no part of off planet resources can belong to anyone should be nullified and declared void.5) All humans are free to attempt to improve themselves.All humans by virtue of the inalienable right to their own life have the right to do whatever they wish that they think may be an beneficial or even as a whim. They only limit is that they cannot abrogate the equivalent rights of others. They can ingest, or embed or modify themselves in any way they wish and think may be an improvement. This includes seeking and achieving improvements beyond the human norm. In short they have full right to pursuit of happiness via such means.6) We strive to cure all disease and to achieve indefinitely long health lifespansWe seek to remove as many causes of suffering and lowered capacity and even of final irrevocable death as possible. 7) We support the free and open access to the accumulated knowledgeWe support the rights of the creators including to reward commensurate with the value granted their work by those who peruse or use it. But such rights and rewards do not require and should not include limiting the access and use of knowledge by others. Knowledge increases by sharing. It is one of the first and most obvious types of true abundance. If we do no affirm abundance here it is very unlikely we will ever affirm and enjoy abundance at all. Particularly as the maximization acceleration of knowledge and quality of knowledge maximizes our achievement of all our values and goals. 8) The rights that accrue to humans include their technological extensions.The technological extensions of human beings such as phones, smartphones, computers and so on are as sacrosanct as the actual physical brain of the person. It is not ethical and should never be permitted to take away parts of a person that are technological and use peruse the information therein against the person’s will or have it testify against them. It is not permitted to modify any part of another human being including the technological parts without their permission.
We can raise awareness of all these wonderful possibilities. But won’t that be a lot harder to sell when more and more people wonder where there rent and food is going to come from?Some say that a great hope and vision is actually easier to sell at such times. I am not sure of this. Assuming we can raise that kind of awareness don’t we also want to raise awareness of the problems?The problems after all are a large part of why these solutions truly are urgent and not just “nice to have some day when automatic accelerating change brings them”.Assuming the R&D must be done privately can we establish some kind of Foundation that can be contributed to by everyone of any means that allow the to at all?Can we make it so it benefits and thus we benefit by its successes and so that many many important initiatives that may be long term get and stay funded?Some initiatives are open to donations now but on a more piecemeal basis. Many are not set up to receive public funding but likely can receive Foundation grants.One problem may be that much basic science is needed that doesn’t happen just by adding money. It may be needed to train and focus a new generation of researchers to make much difference.If we can’t make the tech go faster or fast enough then what? What if we can’t avoid or slow down a real collapse or much too close enough collapse?Perhaps we who hold the dream fast should establish intentional communities to better ensure that we ourselves and more importantly the dream and the values survive.Our communities can enable us to be much more resilient if they can be done well and to preserve much knowledge if the worse should ensue.What can we, should we do and what will we do as individuals? We much do all we can with what skills we possess or can acquire for these values we hold so dear.We must learn to collaborate and work together if we are to reach that future we dream of or make it any more likely that those that follow us can reach it.