Comments on Transhumanist Blogs on Religion and Spirituality

Thanks Ron, really interesting comments here. Anot...

DANIEL — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:29:12 +0000

Thanks Ron, really interesting comments here. Another of the points made by Savulescu consistently is the long-term cost of "non-enhancement." In others words, staying stupid costs us!

Not many Christian ethicists are talking about this notion of "risk assessment"--what are the risks of not enhancing, etc.

[Sandberg, A. and Savulescu, J. (2011), 'The Social and Economic Impacts of Cognitive Enhancement'.]

awesome I put-off buying this for months, despite ...

karama maiha — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:04:10 +0000

awesome I put-off buying this for months, despite positive reviews. I tried every free weather app going and eventually decided to take the plunge. Glad I did - easily the most customisable weather widget and clock on caftan and the skins are awesome!

http://android-fore.blogspot.com/

Congrats, Robert.

Lincoln Cannon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:12:16 +0000

Congrats, Robert.

I think you're all on the highway to hell.

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:36:36 +0000

I think you're all on the highway to hell.

"ain't no way my beliefs about stuff that...

Jack Tanizaki — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:49:59 +0000

"ain't no way my beliefs about stuff that hasn't happened yet and cannot be confirmed in the immediate future are religious!"

Are you making the argument that scientifically-based attempts to understand future events "that havent happened yet and cannot be confirmed in the immediate future" are somehow inherently religious? I must be missing something because it seems like such a terrible argument to me.

Is it "religious to speculate about manned space travel to Mars, climate change changes in coming decades, quantum computing, or cybernetic implants (as a continuation of cochlear and other brain implants)?

Oh, wait, you probably think the last one is sufficiently weird and outside your intuitive sense of what's normal, so now we're veering into religious territory.

The whole "as soon you start talking about nanotechnology or extending longevity" you're automatically entering religious terrority line makes no sense to me.

Richard Feymann, were he alive today would have his hand in a better understanding of future human technological capacity, just as he did when he envisioned nanotechnology, and there was nothing religious about it then, and there would be nothing now. Do you think "There's plenty of room at the bottom" is religious. If so, then you are using the word in so expansive of a way as to render its usage meaningless.

To say, oh wait, people thinking Jesus predicted the singularity has anything to do with Nick Bostrom's recent talk in Oxford at Winter Intelligence Conference on superintelligence is like saying the seriousness of David Brin's views on extraterrestrial contact are compromised and in any way quasi-religious because people (in a state of a sleep paralysis, probably) report being probed by aliens.

Frankly, I don't even understand how it makes sense to think of any speculation on the future direction of, say, nanoengineering as automatically religious. Is the International Institute for Nanotechnology in any way a religious organization? It obviously is predicated on the study of "things that haven't happened yet and cannot be confirmed in the immediate future."

Why would anyone who researches, say, AI or nanotechnology get "enfolded some group with a patently irrational, nonscientific worldview."

I simply don't get it.

This is the book by Martin Rees, where he discusse...

Graham Walker — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:29:14 +0000

This is the book by Martin Rees, where he discusses his views about the possibility of grey goo:

Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning: How terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future in This Century - Earth and Beyond (ISBN 9780465068630)

By latest I mean 8 years ago.

Graham Walker — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:26:00 +0000

By latest I mean 8 years ago.

The latest on Grey Goo in the UK: http://www.teleg...

Graham Walker — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:18:59 +0000

The latest on Grey Goo in the UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3309198/Prince-asks-scientists-to-look-into-grey-goo.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3788673....

Graham Walker — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:09:51 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3788673.stm?

I have read many science fiction books, many pop s...

Giulio Prisco — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:01:03 +0000

I have read many science fiction books, many pop science books, and many serious science and policy books. In each of these three categories there are great books, good books, and bad books. I prefer a great book to a good book, and a good book to a bad book, regardless of the category. I would agree that The Diamond Age and Eastern Standard Tribe are quite relevant to policy.

I guess this is a good book to read. I'll chec...

Aina Siao — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:50:26 +0000

I guess this is a good book to read. I'll check out the link. Thanks for sharing! painter melbourne

Of course, "transfiguration" has history...

Lincoln Cannon — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:32:25 +0000

Of course, "transfiguration" has history in Mormonism, Christianity and other religions.

No. That term has no history in Mormonism - until ...

Lincoln Cannon — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:30:57 +0000

No. That term has no history in Mormonism - until Mormon Transhumanists started using it, at least.

I love the term Transfigurism, but doesn't it ...

Giulio Prisco — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 21:29:50 +0000

I love the term Transfigurism, but doesn't it kind of "belong" to the LDS?

Transfigurists

Lincoln Cannon — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 09:47:18 +0000

Transfigurists

i did get an apology from the author, so i accepte...

Robert M Geraci — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:03:37 +0000

i did get an apology from the author, so i accepted it.

oddly, his next e-mail was to lambast me for pointing out that i'd been misquoted on my blog. i told him that this didn't seem particularly appropriate after i'd accepted an apology from him...but such is life

That is actually what happened. The words were mi...

Warren Olin-Ammentorp — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:09:27 +0000

That is actually what happened. The words were mine. The author emailed me yesterday to apologize. He said "
I just wanted to apology for a horrible gaffe I made in my "American Gods" piece that ran recently in the Plain Dealer. Somehow I took something brilliant you said (about there not being "an" America but many Americas) and attributed it to Robert Geraci. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for such a bone-headed mistake."
I would hope he'd contact you as well.

Have you checked to make sure he's not stuck y...

Roger O'Donnell — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:25:50 +0000

Have you checked to make sure he's not stuck your name on somebody else's quote?

Why? Why, when almost everything we type, do or sa...

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:47:05 +0000

Why?
Why, when almost everything we type, do or say is recorded, why do people insist on lying, cheating and fabricating?
A mistake? Perhaps, but it would have to he one helluva drunken mistake.
Hubris and denial are not a pretty combination especially when the truth would have been a much better read.
Cherokee

Apologies for repeating the ironic assertion; I wa...

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:37:56 +0000

Apologies for repeating the ironic assertion; I was busy doing my research to ensure I had my facts correct, unlike Mr E.