I’ve spent the last almost 20 years building a career in corporate America with the goal of getting to the point of having enough resources and industry standing to do something worthwhile and contribute to society or rather to the species.
As I approached that 20 year mark I have been helping write books in my industry, speaking professionally, running user groups and the like. I even won the industry award Microsoft MVP for 6 years straight.
But as I began to have the resources I’ve needed I started looking at more solid plans to contribute and I sort of found out that there was this ‘thing’ out there called Transhumanism.
Transhumanism essentially was a “word” that defined the principals that I had and had evolved into.
With a few of the others that had been part of the year 20 plan we put together this idea of a ‘Foundation’ that is a nonprofit organization that would help move some of these ideas forward.
A critical part of this was to focus on actually getting real work done. After spending more than a decade on various elements in terms of engineering and now 3 years on the Augmented Reality Game Spell we are ready to start a kickstart to try to raise enough funds to start an Indy game studio that gives a percentage of corporate profits to the Foundation for these Transhumanist activities, in particular building a library and institute to promote further Transhumanist work in particular research that moves us towards singularity.
In the past few years I’ve traveled all around the world meeting Transhumanists one on one from Amon and Dirk in London to Hank in San Francisco. What would happen if we all work together in a cohesive structured organization that actually was focused on real world results? For example, take the main character from Zoltan’s book the “Transhumanist wager”, while extreme a more open and inclusive approach but a similar one in terms of a strong Transhumanist focused organization moving us forward is exactly what we are going for. While Spell and an Indy game studio is not the only funding source we are looking at it is a critical one.
Help us spread the word, donate, get involved, stop talking about transhumanism and start doing something about it.
Please check out our Kickstart Campaign…
and more importantly check out:
THE Kickstart HERE
for more information on the Foundation (the organization running this site as well) see: http://www.pratoriate.org
for more information on just “Spell The Game” see: http://www.SpellTheGame.com/
October 29, 2014 at 8:53 am
Excellent, David. As you know that is what i have been asking for consistently over the years. Great to see qualified people actually becoming active in that direction. Even though we all more or less disagree on details, and which aspects of transhumanism should be given higher and lower priorities, this should not keep us from dedicating ourselves to realizing our ideas more explicitly on the physical, not only intellectual, level, in fact it should make it more interesting and alive.
October 30, 2014 at 2:49 am
well to be honest Rene, I would rather support some one that I disagree with on details if they are doing things that move us forward at some level generally 🙂 I appreciate your support. I hope at least if we are all willing to work together on the things we agree we can move forward and make progress. tks again.
October 29, 2014 at 6:29 pm
Good Word my friend, I have tried such for several years now… So I say to you good fortune…. The causes of ageing are now found, and the cure located… http://adamandevewordresearch.blogspot.com/ and http://www.adamandevewordresearch.org … Respect the Transhumanist and David J Kelly
October 29, 2014 at 8:24 pm
Don’t waste your precious remaining time on this planet on such a fruitless pursuit, Dave. Transhumanism as a concept will never hold water. Talk to some theoretical biologists.
As biological beings, we will never completely “transcend” or “escape” the biological basis of our existence. Even in today’s world, we are surrounded and integrated with artificial environments, artificial “life”, and artificial intelligence. Even in today’s world, our bodies are heavily altered by artificial processes: medications, eyewear, artificial limbs, braces, pacemakers, etc. We can even genetically engineer ourselves! We can extend our lifespans, we can cure diseases, and we can live lives immersed in artificial accoutrements. We’ve been doing all of these things in various ways for tens of thousands of years.
But we will never become immune to death itself, even if at the hands of the pierce of a bullet or the slash of a sword. Even if we cloned ourselves, we would only guarantee a continuing life for a twin of ours…not for ourselves. When the “eye” of a plant dies, the entire plant dies. When a plant spawns multiple “eyes”, it becomes a colony, not an individual – just as a human can give birth to offspring.
When your “eye” dies, the “you” that is “you” will die. You will have left your mark on civilization, both genetically and culturally. But you will be no more, or at least never that particular unique living being ever again. No one else will, either. No scientific or technological advancement can ever change that. By definition, for there to be life, there must also be death.
October 30, 2014 at 2:57 am
that is just not logical. I have talked with biologists in fact I have a significant background in marine biology AND why a ‘theoretical’ biologist, lets focus on real biologists and evidence is clearly point to us or we being machines. Machines can be fixed and clearly the science points to use being purely software abstractions running on an electro-biochemical substrate and therefore can be abstracted. there is such a preponderance of science to support this as to say anything contrary I would require you to prove. if you do I would listen but I have no need to prove that to you. Transhumanism is the ONLY way to give back to civilization with a focus on preservation of intelligence and knowledge and then getting off world even if that is only a few that make it is the only logical path I can see or risk intelligence being extinguished in the universe. There is no purpose in life other then success along that path and everything else that is even marginally important is based on that assumption from my standpoint. really what you said here is like telling me the sky is Green and clouds pink as to the level of illogical.
October 30, 2014 at 4:39 am
Nice reply to that John Doe character. Criticism ought to be welcomed, but not when it comes from nincompoops and traditionalists who stand in the face of progress whilst upholding pre-concieved ideologies. His ‘arguments’ made as much sense as book burning.
I think this is a great initiative. Gamification of such a topic is a great way to spread the concept of transhumanism…a word that is relatively unknown today even to most educated people, since a lot of us limit our minds to the confines of a routine, over which we have no control. If we are to evolve as a species and begin a new chapter in human evolution, the biggest challenge will be breaking the inertia of the public mindset. Your game will provide a fun tool to address this issue.
October 30, 2014 at 6:44 am
Thanks, I hope so. As a movement I hope we can make real progress. What really bothered me is that based on the word usage it is someone I know and how could someone I know be so illogical and not even use their real name and not have evidence to support a logical sound conclusion. And still a theoretical biologist? What is that… drives me nuts… 🙂
October 30, 2014 at 7:47 am
John, you make a couple valid points, which however in this context are irrelevant.
“we will never become immune to death itself” – absolutely correct. There is a very good chance that the universe we find ourselves in is going to end, and everything, not only life, contained therein will end with it, including death itself. I have spoken out for years against the thoughtless use of the term ‘immortality’. This idea is no part of the transhumanist platform. Longevity however is, and we have for centuries already achieved considerable lifespan increase; there is no reason to assume that this trend can not and will not continue for a very long time.
And you are right with your reservations about consciousness transfer, the technique on which teleport and uploading will have to be based. Currently it is an open question if this can be achieved. However there are plenty of brilliant minds who think it can and who are working on it, which is also true for strong (independent and ‘conscious’) AI. Therefore an ex cathedra statement like “No scientific or technological advancement can ever change that” is unwarranted.
Transhumanism is not about an end state in which everyone will live happily ever after. It is about the process of daily improvement of the (post)human condition which will include galactic exploration and beyond. There is no way of knowing what we might find. Universal constants are proving to be not so constant over space and time. Everything is possible, nothing is safe. Transhumanism is an invitation to consciously continue on this path.
October 30, 2014 at 3:45 pm
exactly, thank you Rene.