Kuehleborn's World » Transhumanism

Mouse brain simulated on computer

kuehleborn — Sat, 12 May 2007 19:32:09 +0000

US researchers have simulated half a virtual mouse brain on a supercomputer. The scientists ran a “cortical simulator” that was as big and as complex as half of a mouse brain on the BlueGene L supercomputer.

Links:

BBC-News.

Original article.

The Early Signs of the Long Tomorrow.

Goodman Brain Computatuon Lab.

Facing the Challenges of Transhumanism.

kuehleborn — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:31:02 +0000

De Arizona State University geeft een vierjarige cursus transhumanisme, waarin alle aspecten, alle voors- en tegens, van het transhumanisme aan bod zullen komen.

Niet voor niets heeft de cursus als ondertitel: Religion, Science en Technology. Want, in de eigen woorden van de organisatie:

In the transhuman phase, humans will become their own makers, transforming their environment and themselves. Proponents of transhumanism believe that advances in robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and genomics will liberate humanity from pain and suffering. Presumably, in the transhuman age humanity will conquer the problems of aging, disease, poverty, and hunger, finally actualizing happiness in this life. Yet, many people, especially those committed to a religious outlook, intuitively recoil from the trans-human vision and find within that vision an affront to human dignity. It is precisely the belief that humans are created by God in the image of God that leads many people (including religious scientists) to resist the trans-human vision as a new hubris that will destroy humanity by “redefining” it, and further endanger life on our vulnerable planet through unforeseeable consequences. Those who advocate transhumanism promote a utopian vision rooted in a host of unstated assumptions about the meaning of being human. To face the challenges of transhumanism with appropriate depth, an interdisciplinary approach is urgent.

Voor de opbouw van het programma is gebruik gemaakt van een aantal gezaghebbende Transhumanisten, zoals Nick Bostrom, Max More, Ray Kurzweil, de World Transhumanist Association en het Extropy Institute. Tot mijn vebazing zag ik dat er ook een Mormon Transhumanist Association – An international nonprofit organization that promotes charitable and working faith in physical salvation, to support both Transhumanist efforts at large and their members’ personal religious affiliations, encouraging them to adapt Transhumanism to their unique situations. – bestaat die ook meewerkt.

De opbouw van de studie:

Year 1: Transhumanism and Human Nature

Year 2: Environmental Impact of Transhumanism

Year 3: Social and Legal Implications of Transhumanism

Year 4: Transhumanism as Secularized Eschatology

Vanuit Nederland is die cursus helaas niet te volgen, maar met de syllabus en de uitgebreide lijst bronnen kun je toch een eind komen.

Be More Than You Can Be

kuehleborn — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:05:15 +0000

Improving radically the performance, mental capacity, and resilience of the human body. It is one of the first targets of transhumanism. Robert Ettinger wrote about it in “Man into Superman”. Of course there are always the naysayers, the discusions about ethics and “playing God”. (Ettinger’s answer to this accusion: “it is better to pay God than playing ostrich”).As usual, when the army may profit from science, a different ballgame is played. And maybe this is not too bad at all. According to an online article by Wired Magazine the DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has a budget of US$ 90 million a year to explore how “biological systems … adapt to wide extremes.” Since the human-enhancement program looked promising, DARPA received another $78 million-per-year push for research including “the development of biochemical materials for enhancement of performance.” By “sustaining and augmenting human performance,” as well as “enabling new human capabilities.” Darpa was going to figure out how to build a better soldier. But, since humans are Universal Soldiers (according to that old song by Donovan), I do hope that we may profit a little from this expertise.

How long will it take untill we can buy extensions and enhancements? Cryonics is the solution for people who are too old to wait for the results of DARPA’s research.

Roth knew that some animals hibernate — slowing their metabolisms until environmental conditions improve. He also knew that some cells can enter a kind of dormancy and then spring back to life — essentially, they go into suspended animation. Roth wanted to better understand this “metabolic flexibility.” He started testing various chemicals that slowed metabolism, like heavy water and tetrodotoxin (puffer fish poison, used in Haiti to turn people into zombies). Nothing worked. But then Roth found a loophole in one of nature’s seemingly absolute rules: Animals need oxygen. But some creatures, like nematodes, fruit flies, and zebra fish, don’t die if oxygen levels drop. Instead the critters suspend. Their hearts stop beating for up to 24 hours. They don’t breathe. And they don’t die. Wounds stop bleeding; nearly any injury becomes survivable, and the brain shuts down without damage. “If you were shot, this is exactly what you would want,” Roth says.

It’s a timing issue: At oxygen concentrations below some critical level, animals kick off. But take the oxygen level even lower than that, fast, and they don’t. The problem was, Roth couldn’t figure out how to pull off his oxygen reduction trick in mammals, let alone humans. What would a battlefield medic do? Tie a plastic bag over a wounded soldier’s head?

This is interesting research. Cryonics providers should watch this carefully.

A television show gave Roth the clue he needed. In October 2002, he was watching a PBS show about caving in Mexico. The host had to don a breathing mask because the cavern’s air was full of hydrogen sulfide, which binds to mitochondria and impedes the body’s ability to use oxygen. “Oh my gosh,” Roth thought. “We can de-animate people.”

Three weeks later, Roth was at a meeting at the Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado, organized by DSO’s Bielitzki, the ex-NASA veterinarian. The agency was looking for ways to extend the “golden hour,” the period of time within which massive-trauma victims need to get medical care. Bielitzki thought Roth had the best shot, and was prepared to fund further research.

This is awesome. And what about the critics?

But before the program could start, DSO’s performance-enhancement push ran into trouble in Washington. The President’s Council on Bioethics was publishing reports decrying body hacks. Some in Congress worried about being accused of funding a Frankenstein army.

In response to those critics, the agency already predisposed to clandestine research — decided to go underground. Program names were changed to dull their mad-scientist edge. Metabolic Dominance became Peak Soldier Performance. Augmented Cognition became Improving Warfighter Information Intake Under Stress. Researchers were told to keep their mouths shut; many current and former program managers still won’t talk on the record, requesting anonymity for this story. The Surviving Blood Loss program, meant to fund Roth’s work, was itself put into suspended animation.

So the research will continue. And that is good. We want better cars, houses and computers all the time, so why shouldn’t we want a better body if it is possible?

The Struldbrug Fallacy : An essay by Extropia DaSilva

kuehleborn — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:00:28 +0000

This essay published at the Transumanar-website explains the principles of extropianism from the mainstream-transhumanist principles of life extension to the high shock-level principles of disassembling the planets in our solar system to turn them into giant solar power collectors (and thus the reaching of mankind of a Kardashev scale type II civiliation .

Just a matter of drawing the line.

Extropy means seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness…perpetually overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities as individuals, as organizations, and as a species.

When I first read these words in 1997, written down by Max More in the “Extropian principles” I knew I was with my people.

Of course (and this is why the title of the essay refers to the race of immortal people in Swift’s novel “Gulliver’s Travels”) there are always questions about how boring eternal life would be (as if eternal death would be more interesting…) and our duty to make room for future generations, a question that was asked me this month for an interview in the Dutch magazine “Quest” (and my answer was: “I have no objection if someone is willing to make room for future generations, but I for one am determined to play the game of life as long as possible”).

The question of fun has been answered a few years ago by Eliezer Yudkowski in his great speech “A Theory of Fun“. He explains why intelligent people have more fun – they simply have more options for fun.

So I think it is our duty to overcome our limits and fight entropy.

This is what we should live for, Danlo: the heightening of our sensibilities, the rarefying of our desire, the deepening of our purpose, the vastening of our selves. The power to overcome ourselves. To be more. Or rather, to become more.

Who hasn’t dreamed of such becoming?

David Zindell – The Broken God.

This quote is from David Zindell’s “Requiem for Homo Sapiens”. The character who said this to Danlo – Hanuman – tried to disassemble the moon of Neverness to use the silicon to remake himself into a planetary intelligence. He fails, because Danlo, the main character of the story, stops him.

Should we stop? Is it better to watch ourselves slowly become extinct? I think not: as stated above I want to play the Game of Life as long as possible. So we have to move on and getting better all the time. Or, to end with another quote:

The future is for those who prepare for it.

(Robert Freitas in “Nanomedicine”)

RAW and Cryonics

kuehleborn — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:25:27 +0000

Okay, it’s nothing new yet, and other bloggers have written more interesting pieces (or at least, better informed) about it, but this post is about Robert Anton Wilson, who died 11 january. So you may accuse me of blogorrhea, it doesn’t harm me since this weblog is only meant to make a survey of what I read on Transhumanist forums anyway.

First about Wilson. For me RAW is the man who cooperated with Timothy Leary on “The Game of Life”, a remarkable book about Leary’s 8 circuit Model of Consciousness. He also advocated E-prime, space migration, intelligence increase and life extension. Unfortunately all this mixed with a new-age flavour of occultism and Zen-Buddhism.

However, his demise sprouted a small thread on the extropy-mailinglist. A beautiful poem by Nick Herbert was forwarded:

What a marvelous journey!
How we all laughed!
O such lovely companions
On this splendid old craft!
Here’s to bold Captain Wilson
Who jumped ship last night
Amused to the end
By his share of the Light!

Hail Eris! Hail Arlen! Hail Schrödinger’’s Cat
Hail Robert Anton Wilson
Wherever you’re at.

with much love
Nick Herbert

Did the great thinker of the future (RAW founded the Institute for the Study of the Human Future with his wife Arlen Riley Wilson) and master of “Maybe Logic” have a suspension contract with one of the providers? Unfortunately not. Wilson knew, of course, of Cryonics, since his daughter Patricia Luna is in suspension. His friend Timothy Leary also had a contract, but changed his mind. Also Robert Heinlein, the Science Fiction writer who wrote about longevity (e.g. “Methuselah’s Children”) did not arrange for Cryonic Suspension.

So, this post is also about Cryonics; last week it was 40 years ago that the first man, Dr. James Bedford was brought in suspension on 12 january 1967. It is interesting to quote Robbert Ettinger, Godfather of Cryonics, from a post to the Cryonics Institute mailinglist on 13 january 2007 when he shares his memories of this event with us.:

I assume no one has made a big deal of the Bedford anniverary because there is no history of effectiveness of such efforts. However, there may be a few latecomers who might be mildly interested in some of the background. Bedford’s freezing was primarily owing to Bob Nelson and myself. I talked him into it, over a period of time, and Nelson was the prime mover in the actual arrangements. Prehoda played a temporary part and kept the body one night in his garage. My brother Alan and I flew out for the feezing and aftermath.

Further details can be found in Bob Nelson’s book, WE FROZE THE FIRST MAN. As you know, Bedford finally found a place with Alcor.

A big publicity boost was mostly missed. Life magazine–then a leading weekly–did a multi-page feature, but the astronaut tragedy resulted in a rare split edition. Partway through the run, our story was pulled and the astronaut story substituted. The big urban centers did not get our version. Who knows what might have resulted otherwise.

Roberrt Ettinger

My stance on Cryonics is simple: it is a rational gamble. You know that you’re dead when you’re dead, but it might work when you buy a ticket in the lottery of Cryonics. So why was it so difficult to persuade Robert “Maybe Logic” -Wilson. The future is for those who prepare for it! (Robert Freitas in “Nanomedicine”).

Hazards and Humour in Transhumanism.

kuehleborn — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:41:34 +0000

While Nick Bostrom alsways preaches his doom and gloom-story about transhumanism and possible dangers for extinction, Anders Sandberg made some warning signs for transhuman technologies. You can view them on his weblog. As always, it’s a good thing not to take yourself too seriously. OTOH, people fear future technologies, just because there is always the unknown. That’s why Anders proposes a code for the level of threat, possibly extended with the “outrage scale” as developed by Peter Sandman.

Anders Sandberg is also busy editing a Transhumanist Jokebook. His motto is “The goal of transhumanism is to make gods that can pun.” That reminds me of a post by Amara Graps, with an extropian “lightbulb”-joke.

**********************************************************
How many extropians does it take to change a lightbulb?
**********************************************************

A.  Don’t worry about that!  We’ll just wait for the singularity.

A.  None!  In any properly run galaxy, we’ll just MOVE THE STARS to put
their light exactly where it is needed.

A.  None!  Lightbulbs don’t burn out in virtual-reality…

A.  Extropians believe in dynamic optimism, which should hold that
with the availability of a suitably advanced nanotechnology
lightbulbs could become self changing, and indeed, self repairing.
Failing that, the standard 1 extropian will do to change the bulb,
while 12 stand by flaming.

A.  264. One to change the light bulb and 263 to argue about whether a
universe exists where the lightbulb is still burning.

A.  One original, and as many copies as are necessary.

A.  None. They’ve insured the lightbulb with their protection agency.

A.  None. Why invest in such obsolete technology when nanotech is
imminent?

A.  Wait, is it on an island?

A.  What is an extropian, I mean, really?

A.  None; they’ll just switch their visual systems to infrared.

A.  ”Not now; we’re trying to get free light from the quantum vacuum
         fluctuation.”

A.  %^4FgT^hH%RR#$GH*857GHWr5@$%T 23$Tb@3546bskldvhj2934
      (Hmmm, this answer appears to be encrypted…)

A.  Two:  one to install a perpetu-bulb, and the other to blame the State for the crappy design of the first bulb.

A.  None, because that would infringe on the neighbors’ riparian right to darkness.

A.  None; we’ll let the State do it and then explain how we could have done it better.

A.  I don’t know, but with full nanotech we could make as many Extropians as we needed…

A.  Depends on what you want to change it into…

A.  All of them:  one to hold the bulb and the rest to rotate the Universe.

A. 1.. no…  wait-a-minute 5.. no.. the-answer-is 3 .. try 12.. ..
    (memes competing in my head)

A. Wait while I convert that statement to E-prime!

A. I don’t know, but let’s use betting markets to generate a consensus!

Extropians claim they haven’t got any sense of humour, but they know how to put their own ideas in proper perspective!

Extropian Commandments

kuehleborn — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 22:33:15 +0000

An interesting discussion at the Extopy-mailinglist this week. Robert Bradbury kicked off with his idea of four extropian commandments, principles derived from a central belief in the value of information or complexity.

1) Information of greater complexity has greater value than information of lesser complexity.
2) Information in agreement with the natural laws and history of the universe has greater value than information in disagreement with the natural laws and history of the universe.
3) Thou shalt seek to maximize the amount of information and its complexity in existence.
4) Thou shalt seek to make such information available to the greatest number of computational units to derive more information from it.

So for example “Thou shalt not kill” derives from #3 while “Thou shalt not lie” derives from #2. But a number of other “classical” commandments have no place or are contraindicated under such guidelines.

It is interesting to compare these commandments with a set of principles from a more European transhumanist point of view, and of course Anders Sandberg jumped in with a set of commandments derived from the Transhumanist Principles:

1) The goal is the flourishing of minds.

2) Diversity is good because it gives new content to the minds and allows
finding alternative solutions.

To achieve this we must:

2) Remove the evolved limits of our biological and intellectual
inheritance, the physical limits of our environment, and the cultural and
historical limits of society that constrain individual and collective
progress.

3) Since we want to actually achieve the goal we must use efficient and
error-correcting means, which implies rational and empirical means and
thinking.

4) Given the uncertainty in our information and the results of our
actions, as well as the diversity of opinions, we should tolerate people
of all schools of thought that do not seek to limit the extent or variety
of our achievement. Discourage any attempts to impose will or ideas
through coercion.

The left-wing transhumanists would of course expand 2 in a very different
way than the libertarian ones, but I think this would be a core most would
agree on. But there are lots of devils in the details…

Olga Bourlin posted Bertrand Russell’s Decalogue:

LIBERAL DECALOGUE
By Bertrand Russell
Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new
decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it.
The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might
be set forth as follows:
1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the
evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or
your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for
a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always
contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you
do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted
was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement,
for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper
agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is
more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s
paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.”
——————————————————————————–
“A Liberal Decalogue” is from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 3:
1944-1969, pp. 71-2.

I remember when I subscribed to the extropy mailinglist in – I believe – 1998, one of the first messages I read was about 100 extropian principles. From these I personally derived 15 principles, my personal “Credo”, more or less based on a mix of extropian and objectivist principles. Bradbury’s four commandments however force me to reconsider my principles; I love them because there are only four, which makes it easier to learn and remember, and because of their clarity and – how paradoxical – their simplicity.

IEET Conference in Second Life

kuehleborn — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 14:45:42 +0000

Last Friday, 30 June, I attended a remarkable event: a virtual conference in Second Life. James Hughes, executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies held a presentation about the activities of this organization. What I can say is: Transhumanism is clearly developing itself from an obscure group of hardcore sciencefiction-readers thinking it will only be a matter of time untill we all will live in the Matrix to a scientifically founded organization of people with a lot of more vision about the near and not-so-near future than most others.

With Transhumanism becoming mainstream, the downside is that some people are frightened by the new possiblities. “Playing God”, references to Nazi-Germany and Eugenics, and of course, mentioning “Brave New World” (the novel by Aldous Huxley), are the means whereby the public is scared off by the idea of a better, wealthier, longer and – best of all – healthier life.

Personally I think people should have a right to “opt out” and to not participate in a world where people live longer and healthier. Playing God or playing Ostrich. There must be some people somewhere in the western world who still don’t own a television, a telephone, a car or a computer, although, thinking about it, I myself don’t know anyone who chose to live in the past tense. The future will be for the people who choose to live in it and are willing to prepare for it.

Philosophers like Francis Fukuyama and Peter Sloterdijk call for a strong government regulation. This means that scientists will have to negotiate with politicians about what research is ethical and can be done. Of course this will slow down evolution of mankind enormously; politicians are usualy not the most enlightened people on earth. But: it is undeniable that there is such a thing as government and we will have to deal with politicians. This means that educating people and enlighten politicians about the possibilities and hazards of e.g. Molecular Nano Technology is, although time-consuming, necessary. For this, I think, the case for transhumanism is in good hands with the IEET.

Latest research supports possibility of cryopreservation

kuehleborn — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:21:56 +0000

Slow-frozen people? Latest research supports possibility of cryopreservation from PhysOrg.com
The latest research on water – still one of the least understood of all liquids despite a century of intensive study – seems to support the possibility that cells, tissues and even the entire human body could be cryopreserved without formation of damaging ice crystals, according to University of Helsinki researcher Anatoli Bogdan, Ph.D. [...]