Category: Transhumanism
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Why my optimism about bionics has faded
Though I still get excited when I see footage of bionic exoskeletons and limb supports — devices that promise greater ability to the disabled and superhuman strength and endurance to all — I doubt that anyone I know will benefit from them in the next 20 years. My optimism is dimming with my current experience trying…
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Monday film: Blank Bodies
I’m wallowing in self-pity and struggling with exhaustion after my first attempt to sleep in my normal bed (instead of a bed moved from our guest room to the dining room). So, while I take a nap, enjoy this strange little film. Hat tip to io9. Blank Bodies is NSFW for nudity and violence. It’s essentially…
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Considering “The Immortalists”
I’ve been wanting to see the 2014 documentary “The Immortalists” since it was released, so when it appeared on Netflix this month, I streamed it immediately. Here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen the film: The documentary is mostly focused on Bill Andrews and Aubrey de Grey, evangelical researchers fighting to “cure aging”. They’re interesting fellows and…
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Watching “The Incredible Bionic Man”
Yesterday I watched The Incredible Bionic Man on Netflix. It’s a strange Smithsonian Channel documentary from 2013: a group of scientists gathered state-of-the art bionic parts and assembled them into a “man”. The results aren’t completely successful, but as a mainstream introduction into what’s possible in bionics now and coming in the near future, it’s not bad. Here’s…
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Wednesday Film: The Singularity is Near (full)
This is Ray Kurzweil’s expansion of ideas from his book, veering off into a virtual reality/augmented reality science fiction plot. The movie is surprisingly cheesy and the quality of this upload isn’t ideal, but it’s still interesting. Some of the film was shot in Second Life, though of course this was a few years ago…
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Lewis Black rants about life extension biotechnology
If you haven’t had your dose of sarcasm and hyperbole today, here’s Lewis Black talking about breakthroughs in life extension from last night’s The Daily Show: Back in Black 14 May 2014
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Keep your intelligence in your skull a bit longer…
…because the chances that you’ll be able to upload it by 2045 are slim to none, according to Ramez Naam in the essay The Singularity is Further Than it Appears, posted on the Institute for Emerging Ethics & Technology website. He first touches on the hard takeoff described by Vernor Vinge in 1993, that is, the point when…