Cyborg Buddha Blog
Dr. J. chats with IEET contributing writers Kris Notaro and Andrew Cvercko about their working out of the connections between philosophy of the mind, Buddhism, radical politics and transhuman possibilities. (Recorded in a closet-sized studio with a reggae party rocking next door. But legible.) Part 2 of 2.
DOWNLOAD/LISTEN/VIEWMay 17, 2011
Buddhism, Politics and the Future of the Mind pt1
Changesurfer RadioDr. J. chats with IEET contributing writers Kris Notaro and Andrew Cvercko about their working out of the connections between philosophy of the mind, Buddhism, radical politics and transhuman possibilities. Part 1 of 2.
May 11, 2011
Transhumanism, Religion and Science
Changesurfer RadioDr. J. chats with William Grassie, founder and former director of the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, author of The New Sciences of Religion and Politics by Other Means, and editor with Gregory Hansell of Transhumanism and Its Critics. They discuss the relationship of religion to science and transhumanism.
Apr 24, 2011
The Compatibility of Religion and Transhumanism
Transhumanism and Spirituality ConferenceIEET’s Executive Director James Hughes spoke on “The Compatibility of Religion and Transhumanism” at the Transhumanism and Spirituality 2010, held 1 October 2010 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City,
Abstract: Transhumanism - the proposition that human beings should use technology to transcend the limitations of the body and brain - is a product of the Enlightenment humanist tradition. As a consequence most avowed transhumanists are secular, and many religious are skeptical or hostile towards the transhumanist project. However there are also many religious transhumanists who find the project of human enhancement at least consistent with, and sometimes a fulfillment of, their metaphysics, soteriologies and eschatologies. Transhumanism appears to be especially compatible with religious traditions that emphasize human agency and evolution to a transcendent state, such as Buddhism, or that have incorporated Enlightenment values, such as liberal Christianity. But elements of the transhumanist worldview and enhancement technologies are compatible with one element or another of most world faiths, even the most fundamentalist. We can thus expect that human enhancement technologies will be adopted creatively into the theologies of groups within all the world’s faiths, producing many flavors of “trans-spirituality.”
The Compatibility of Religion and Transhumanism by James Hughes from Mormon Transhumanist Association on Vimeo.
Apr 8, 2011
Mood Manipulation is not Mind Control
by Kyle MunkittrickDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner‘s dead-tree forebear) opens with Deckard arguing with his wife about whether or not to alter her crummy attitude with the “mood organ.” She could, if she so desired, dial her mood so that she was happy and content.
Mar 23, 2011
Technological Transcendence: An Interview with Giulio Prisco
by Ben GoertzelA character in Ken MacLeod’s 1998 novel The Cassini Division refers to the Singularity as “the Rapture for nerds” (though it should be duly noted that in that novel the Singularity occurs anyway!). This represents a moderately recurrent meme in certain circles - to denigrate transhumanism by comparing it to extreme religious notions. But not all transhumanists consider such comparisons wholly off-base. While transhumanism differs from traditional religions in being based around reason more centrally than faith, it does have some commonality in terms of presenting a broad vision of the universe, with implications on the intellectual level but also for everyday life. And it does present at least some promise of achieving via science some of the more radical promises that religion has traditionally offered - immortality, dramatic states of bliss, maybe even resurrection.
Mar 16, 2011
Ways to Overcome Addiction
RadiolabIEET Fellow David Eagleman joins Radiolab to talk about ways to gain the upper hand over those forces inside us—from unhealthy urges, to creative insights.
Jan 20, 2011
The Net, Brains & Civilizational Resilience
Changesurfer RadioDr. J. chats with David Eagleman, a fellow of the IEET and director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law at Baylor College of Medicine. Eagleman is author of the bestseller Sum, on fictional afterlives, Wednesday is Indigo Blue, about synaesthesia, the e-book Why the Net Matters and the forthcoming Incognito: The Brains Behind the Mind. They discuss the thesis David outlined for the Long Now Foundation that the Internet makes our civilization more resilient than previous ones.
Dec 15, 2010
#17: Cerebral Imperialism
by Richard EskowCould it be that there is no intelligence without a body? That there’s only computation? That cognition is the byproduct of biological processes, and never the driver of them?
Oct 1, 2010
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