October 9, 2014
Public Understanding of Science (Vol. 23, No. 7, October 2014) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Faith in Science in Globalization: Implications for Transhumanism” by John H. Evans “Religious Beliefs, Knowledge about Science and Attitudes toward Medical Genetics” by … Read More
September 15, 2014
(New Republic) – Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom thinks we’re neglecting the biggest challenge that we as a species are likely to face this century: what to do when the machines take over. We already have artificially-intelligent machines that are “super-human” … Read More
September 1, 2014
(Slate) – Singularity. Posthuman. Techno-Optimism, Cyborgism. Humanity+. Immortalist. Machine intelligence. Biohacker. Robotopia. Life extension. Transhumanism. These are all terms thrown around trying to describe a future in which mind uploading, indefinite lifespans, artificial intelligence, and bionic augmentation may (and I … Read More
August 11, 2014
(The Economist) – Mr Bostrom is, sensibly, not interested in trying to predict exactly when such successes will translate into a machine that is generally intelligent—able to compete with, or surpass, humans in all mental tasks, from composing sonatas to … Read More
August 8, 2014
(Newsweek) – Women no longer give birth in Aldous Huxley’s classic Brave New World. Instead, surgically removed ovaries are fertilized then bred in artificial receptacles. That was all pulled out of Huxley’s imagination with the help of LSD, but he … Read More
June 20, 2014
(The Guardian) – Fantasies of human enhancement have a long history, from early myths about supernormal strength and eternal life to 20th-century comic superheroes: Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and their many emulators. While early attempts to achieve superpowers in real life – … Read More
June 12, 2014
(NPR) – How is it that we define a human? Is it our body? Our genome? Our behaviors? Our self-awareness? Our compassion? Our minds? All of these and then something more? What now may be obvious to most people about … Read More
May 12, 2014
(The Atlantic) – Hawking, along with MIT physics professor Max Tegmark, Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, and Berkeley computer science professor Stuart Russell ran a terrifying op-ed a couple weeks ago in The Huffington Post under the staid headline “Transcending Complacency … Read More
April 28, 2014
(The Daily Beast) – Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, is the latest in a series of Hollywood films with what you might call a transhumanist flair. Other recent movies exploring the symbiosis of man and machine and our relationship with technology include the Robocop remake and … Read More
April 18, 2014
(Time) – Sure, it’s easy to dismiss people who think they can somehow cheat death with a laptop. But Terasem is a potent symbol of a modern way of life where the digital world and the emotional one have become … Read More
April 4, 2014
(The Telegraph) – The first Cybathlon, an Olympics for robot assisted parathletes, will take place in Switzerland in October 2016. For people with disabilities who are using advanced technologies – robotic limbs or brain-computer interfaces – to compete. The “Transhumanists” … Read More
March 17, 2014
(Slate) – A good kids’ book delivers knowledge fundamental to living in the world, such as the (now apparently out of print) classic Everyone Poops. But Death Is Wrong, a new children’s title from transhumanist author Gennady Stolyarov, can only … Read More
March 3, 2014
(Huffington Post) – Transhumanists are people who desire to use science and technology to improve the human being. While the international movement of transhumanism is rapidly growing and diversifying, its most important goal remains the same: overcoming human mortality. Many … Read More
February 24, 2014
(The Guardian) – Ray Kurzweil popularised the Teminator-like moment he called the ‘singularity’, when artificial intelligence overtakes human thinking. But now the man who hopes to be immortal is involved in the very same quest – on behalf of the … Read More
February 24, 2014
(Scientific American) – The so-called “STEM†fields—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—are often grouped together in discussions of education policy or curriculum. But a group of students and faculty at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design (R.I.S.D.) and Massachusetts … Read More
February 4, 2014
(Wired UK) – Since then, that technique — floating words representing text messages, internet searches, or some other form of technological interface — has become a core element of the series’ identity. And while there are plenty of tech-savvy shows … Read More
January 16, 2014
In ‘Transcendence’, Johnny Depp plays a brilliant scientist whose mind is allowed to live on and evolve through artificial intelligence, after his body is attacked. (U.S.A. Today)
January 14, 2014
If you worry that the robots are coming, don’t, because they are already here. Artificial intelligence agents are already involved in every aspect of our lives – they keep our inboxes free of spam, they help us make our web … Read More
January 13, 2014
Medical implants, complex interfaces between brain and machine or remotely controlled insects: Recent developments combining machines and organisms have great potentials, but also give rise to major ethical concerns. In a new review, KIT scientists discuss the state of the … Read More
December 26, 2013
This is spooky stuff, but it’s real and it’s already happening. Humans are augmenting themselves with computers and technology that will expand their abilities, and it’s going to get more advanced and morally complex as time passes. Imagine transplanting your entire consciousness … Read More
December 26, 2013
Silicon Valley keeps spawning micro-storytelling genres — from six-second Vines to 140-character tweets — that are each more popular than the next. But that hardly means those mini-formats can properly capture the controversies, personalities, ramifications and dangers of the tech … Read More
December 19, 2013
AI & Society (Volume 28, No. 4, December 2013) is now available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Ethical issues in our times of technology: select exploration” by Parthasarathi Banerjee “Artificial agents and the expanding ethical circle” by Steve Torrance … Read More
December 5, 2013
Futurists have long speculated that nanotechnology — the engineering of materials and devices at the molecular scale — will revolutionize virtually every field it touches, medicine being no exception. Here’s what to expect when you have fleets of molecule-sized robots … Read More
November 26, 2013
On the eve of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary, a bioethics researcher at the University of Leicester claims that one of the Doctor’s most fearsome villains – the Cybermen – represent public concerns about the greater use of technology in medicine. … Read More
November 6, 2013
Here’s controversial Cybernetics Professor, Kevin Warwick, on the future of worker productivity. His chilling warning: If we don’t wake up, countries like China will soon be producing cyber-enhanced super-employees—workers who far outclass even the most capable employee here at home. … Read More
