My name is Sarah Lim and I am the US Transhumanist Party’s Singaporean ambassador. I have been repeatedly trying to reach you over the course of the last few months, but I understand that you are a very busy man who’s doing a lot of great things and propelling the Singularity forward.
Like you and Andres Gomez Emilsson, I’m in the very small minority of transhumanists with an avid interest in non-local consciousness and psi research.
I’ve watched your video, “Wild-Ass Sh*t: Consciousness and Psi from a Euryphysics Perspective” four times in a row, to date. I’ve read up extensively on the PEAR Lab experiments, and I’m a friend of Jim Matlock’s as well. I’ve also read and re-read “Physicists Rediscover Sheldrake’s Morphic Fields … and my Morphic Pilot Wave …” five times, to date.
I was live on Good Morning Britain this morning talking transhumanism and life extension. It’s one of the UK’s most popular news shows. The Mirror did a write-up of the story and there’s a 2-min video embed of the interview in the article to watch:
American journalist Zoltan Istvan said that humans will be able to download many versions of themselves onto the internet.
The Cyborg and Transhumanist Forum at the Nevada Legislature on May 15, 2019, marked a milestone for the U.S. Transhumanist Party and the Nevada Transhumanist Party. This was the first time that an official transhumanist event was held within the halls of a State Legislature, in one of the busiest areas of the building, within sight of the rooms where legislative committees met. The presenters were approached by tens of individuals – a few legislators and many lobbyists and staff members. The reaction was predominantly either positive or at least curious; there was no hostility and only mild disagreement from a few individuals. Generally, the outlook within the Legislative Building seems to be in favor of individual autonomy to pursue truly voluntary microchip implants. The testimony of Anastasia Synn at the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 26, 2019, in opposition to Assembly Bill 226 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXGessk5c24 — is one of the most memorable episodes of the 2019 Legislative Session for many who heard it. It has certainly affected the outcome for Assembly Bill 226, which was subsequently further amended to restore the original scope of the bill and only apply the prohibition to coercive microchip implants, while specifically exempting microchip implants voluntarily received by an individual from the prohibition. The scope of the prohibition was also narrowed by removing the reference to “any other person” and applying the prohibition to an enumerated list of entities who may not require others to be microchipped: state officers and employees, employers as a condition of employment, and persons in the business of insurance or bail. These changes alleviated the vast majority of the concerns within the transhumanist and cyborg communities about Assembly Bill 226.
This Cyborg and Transhumanist Forum comes at the beginning of an era of transhumanist political engagement with policymakers and those who advise them. It was widely accepted by the visitors to the demonstration tables that technological advances are accelerating, and that policy decisions regarding technology should only be made with adequate knowledge about the technology itself – working on the basis of facts and not fears or misconceptions that arise from popular culture and dystopian fiction. Ryan Starr shared his expertise on the workings and limitations of both NFC/RFID microchips and GPS technology and who explained that cell phones are already far more trackable than microchips ever could be (based on their technical specifications and how those specifications could potentially be improved in the future). U.S. Transhumanist Party Chairman Gennady Stolyarov II introduced visitors to the world of transhumanist literature by bringing books for display – including writings by Aubrey de Grey, Bill Andrews, Ray Kurzweil, Jose Cordeiro, Ben Goertzel, Phil Bowermaster, and Mr. Stolyarov’s own book “Death is Wrong” in five languages. It appears that there is more sympathy for transhumanism within contemporary political circles than might appear at first glance; it is often transhumanists themselves who overestimate the negativity of the reaction they expect to receive. But nobody picketed the event or even called the presenters names; transhumanist ideas, expressed in a civil and engaging way – with an emphasis on practical applications that are here today or due to arrive in the near future – will be taken seriously when there is an opening to articulate them.
The graphics for the Cyborg and Transhumanist Forum were created by Tom Ross, the U.S. Transhumanist Party Director of Media Production.
Become a member of the U.S. Transhumanist Party / Transhuman Party free of charge, no matter where you reside: https://transhumanist-party.org/membership/
References
Gennady Stolyarov II Interviews Ray Kurzweil at RAAD Fest 2018 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10dFgrjdfqY
It’s comforting to think of the body as a machine we can trick out. It helps us ignore the strange fleshy aches that come with having a meat cage. It makes a fickle system—one we truly don’t understand—feel conquerable. To admit that the body (and mind that sits within it) might be far more complex than our most delicate, intricate inventions endangers all kinds of things: the medical industrial complex, the wellness industry, countless startups. But it might also open up new doors for better relationships with our bodies too: Disability scholars have long argued that the way we see bodies as “fixable” ultimately serves to further marginalize people who will never have the “standard operating system,” no matter how many times their parts are replaced or tinkered with.
Tech gurus are obsessed with treating bodies like machines—something a 30-year-old cartoon about a tricked-out detective suggests won’t work.
Nearly 50 years ago, The New York Times—widely considered America’s paper of record—changed the media industry by creating the first modern Op-Ed page. Since then, their Opinion section has arguably become the most important voice for many public ideas that enter and change the world. Everyone from Heads of State to the globe’s most powerful business people to Nobel Prize winners to everyday citizens have written there when they had something essential to say about the times we live in. I’m super excited to share my first Op-Ed for The New York Times on #biohacking and the growing concern of legalizing implants. It’s a happy professional day for me, and an important step forward for the growing #transhumanism movement as we begin to enter mainstream culture.
Implant technology can change the world — unless politicians give in to the hysteria against it.
Peter voss is a serial entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and a pioneer in artificial intelligence.
Peter started out in electronics engineering but quickly moved into software. After developing a comprehensive ERP software package, Peter took his first software company from a zero to 400-person IPO in seven years.
Fueled by the fragile nature of software, Peter embarked on a 20-year journey to study intelligence (how it develops in humans, how to measure it, and current AI efforts), and to replicate it in software. His research culminated in the creation of a natural language intelligence engine that can think, learn, and reason — and adapt to and grow with the user. He even coined the term ‘AGI’(Artificial General Intelligence) with fellow luminaries in the space.
Peter founded SmartAction.ai in 2009, which developed the first AGI-based call center automation technology. Now, in his latest venture, Aigo.ai, he is taking that technology a step further with the commercialization of the second generation of his ‘Conversational AI’ technology with a bold mission of providing hyper-intelligent hyper-personal assistants for everyone.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, and AI pioneer, Peter often writes and presents on various philosophical topics including rational ethics, free will, and artificial minds; and is deeply involved with futurism and radical life-extension.
Church of Perpetual Life, a science-based church is open to people of all faiths & belief systems. We are non-denominational & non-judgmental and a central gathering place of Transhumans. What unites us is our common faith, belief, and desire in Unlimited Life Spans.
I’ve been wanting to write on this quintessential #transhumanism debate for a long time: whether a copy of you is…well you. Here’s my new article for Quartz: https://qz.com/1616187/transhumanist-science-will-reshape-what-it-means-to-be-human/ #Omnipotism #Philosophy #LifeExtensionGameTheory
In 20 years transhumanist science could help us cheat death.
I’m excited to share my new #transhumanism article out at Metro, on of UK’s largest sites. It’s part of their #FutureofEverything series. Check out the artwork too:
Whatever science transhumanists want to use to become a better species, overcoming biological death is the movement’s primary goal.
Most deaths in the world are caused by ageing and disease. Approximately 150,000 people die every day on planet Earth, causing devastating loss to loved ones and communities.
I think the first step in getting this figure to decrease is for governments around the world to declare ageing a disease.
If society were to see ageing like it sees cancer or diabetes, then I believe more would be done to fight it.
