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My talk at In Nano Veritas

I gave a talk on nanotechnology at the In Nano Veritas round table of the THINK BIG - MEDEF Summer University, on August 28 in Paris. The participants were:

Claude Birraux, deputy of Haute-Savoie, President of the Parliamentary Office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices
Jean-Frederic Clerc, director of CEA-DPSE
Christian Colette, director of R & D of Arkéma
Benedict Croguennec, project manager at AFNOR
Alain Fontaine, director of the NEEL institute, director of research at CNRS Grenoble
Alain Grimfeld, president of the National Consultative Ethics Committee
Paul Jacquet, director general of INP France
Paul Lannoye, co-founder of Grappe ASBL
Jean-Claude Mialocq, researcher in molecular chemistry, CEA
Giulio Prisco, director of metafuturing SL
Moderator: Jacques Hebert, journalist and communications consultant.

The round table was very interesting, and I was very pleased when I heard the T word mentioned by a senior policy officer (Mr. Birraux) in reference to proposals for nano augmentation of the brain. Transhumanism, the T word, was “in the air”: most of the participants were cautious (the public was more open and we had many interesting questions), but it was evident that the transhumanist worldview cannot be ignored in today’s policy debate. So I decided to focus more on transhumanism and less on practical nanotech than I had originally planned. The program that had been distributed to the audience had a list of issues:

1. What if one of the solutions to see big lays in the infinitely small?
2. What is nanotechnology? Which areas, which applications? What costs? What risks?
3. Between science and fiction, where is our future?
4. Does Europe have the will and the means to become a leader in this area?
5. In the quest for the Grail, are patents sufficient?
6. From the lab to the table, will nanotechnology invade the food industry?
7. What about cosmetics, computers, medicine, military?
8. Will nanotechnology change the rules of the economy?
9. Privilege of large enterprises or fertile ground for SMEs?
10. After the digital divide, the nanotechnology gap?
11. After the nuclear deterrence, the invention of nanotechnology deterrence?
12. Should we trivialize the use of nanotechnology? What about ethics?
13. How to manage the development of artificial intelligence?
14. Will synthetic brains ensure they survival of the human species?
15. Are we sorcerer’s apprentices?

So I decided to structure my 10 min intervention as a set of answers to questions selected from the list above. Here is my interventiom, translated and expanded from the notes I had prepared:

Are we sorcerer’s apprentices? Yes, since thousands of years - we have been sorcerer’s apprentices who learn hho to understand and manipulate nature since the dawn of history.

Should we trivialize the use of nanotechnology? What about ethics? Yes, of course we should trivialize the use of nanotechnology! The vocation of technology is to be trivialized: at some point technology descends into the fabric of life and society and is not even called technology anymore. When I first experienced the Internet I thought it was something magic, and now it is daily routine for our kids. Ethics? What does that mean? To me ethics is about improving the life of concrete persons - if something can improve our lives (in the sense of improving someone’s life without making someone else’s life worse) then it is good and must be done. On the contrary, what makes our lives worse is no good and must not be done.

Does Europe have the will and the means to become a leader in this area? Means (brains and money) yes. The will, I am not sure. Sometimes when I listen to administrators and politicians I don’t think so. I preferred not to mention explicitly the over-involved and over-over-byzantine over-mess of European regulations at both EU and national level, that may seem designed in order to prevent any real development.

Will nanotechnology change the rules of the economy? I don’t think so, the rules of the economy are too fundamental to be changed by mere nano. They say there are two unavoidable things, death and taxes. I do not think nano will change the rules of the economy and permit avoiding taxes. But perhaps, just perhaps: will nano permit avoiding death? Maybe it will.

So we come to the “sci-fi-like” issues (3, 13, 14) in the list above. We, our bodies and our minds, are biological machines, actually biological nanomachines that depend on nanoscale physics and chemistry. Nanotechnology will permit repairing and improving biological nanomachines, so it will permit repairing and improving US. This will cause a deep change in our nature as a species. Radical life extension? Immortality? Perhaps.

Back to today’s world: Privilege of large enterprises or fertile ground for SMEs? Big nano projects are a privilege of large enterprises. But fabbing, an open source version of industrial rapid prototyping and 3D printing technologies, is building a huge momentum and will converge with nanotechnology. The fabbing revolution, open to global individuals and small companies, is the subject of my article Fabbing and RepRapping to Matter Compiling.

The Cosmic Engineers mailing list is now open

The Cosmic Engineers mailing list of the Order of Cosmic Engineers is now open. Unmoderated posting by list subscribers is now enabled, with the objective to make this the best and most useful information source and discussion space for all things related to Transhumanism and Cosmic Engineering. Please request to join the Cosmic Engineers mailing list if you wish to participate. If appropriate, please request to join also the Cosmic Engineers Facebook Group, the Cosmic Engineers SL Group in Second Life, and the Cosmic Engineers Guild in World of Warcraft. Most requests will be approved. See:
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Cosmic_Engineers_mailing_list
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Order_of_Cosmic_Engineers:Membership

Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life

Please note that, beginning in September, I and other core members of SL-Transhumanists will organize future activities in Second Life as part of the initiatives of the Order of Cosmic Engineers http://cosmeng.org/ in SL and other VR worlds. I have also assigned the land at Extropia Core to the Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life. The parcel will be shared between the two groups. The SL-Transhumanist group will continue to organize events under the lead of other core members.

I wish to encourage you to consider joining the Order of Cosmic Engineers and the Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life. The SL group is not open for public join, but please IM me (Eschatoon Magic or Giulio Perhaps) or one of the other members and we will invite you to the group.

If you wish to come on board, please request to join also the:

Cosmic Engineers mailing list http://groups.google.com/group/cosmic-engineers/

Cosmic Engineers Facebook Group http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17135408557 if you are on Facebook

Cosmic Engineers Guild in World of Warcraft if you are on WoW

The Magic Word

The Magic Word exists in every language: AND, e, et, y… It can be reinforced by ALSO, anche, aussi, también… Your way, and also my way. My way, and also your way. Women, and also men. Nature, and also technology. Gays, and also straights. Non smokers, and also smokers. Immersionists in Second Life, and also augmentationists. The forest, and also the trees. Fun, and also work. Work, and also fun. Save the planet, and also move to space. Furries in Second Life, and also business people. Social fairness, and also personal freedom. Socially responsible transhumanists, and also visionaries and dreamers. Artists, and also accountants. Academicians in ivory towers, and also people in the street. Zen, and also motorcycle maintenance. Daily reality, and also cosmic visions. Humans, and also conscious Artificial Intelligences. Her lifestyle, and also his lifestyle. Fleshers, and also mind uploads. Sense of wonder, and also common sense. Stability, and also change. Safety, and also adventures. Churches, and also McDonalds, and also sex clubs, and also zoos and theaters and football and museums and drugs and whatever makes you happy without harming others.

The Magic Word can lead to A Magic World, complex, fractal, colored, interesting and beautiful. Forgetting The Magic Word leads to a dull black-and-white world, holy wars, and mass murder. I have no right to tell you what you should like and want, and you have no right to tell me what I should like and want. Or perhaps you do, but I have the right not to listen. I have no right to tell you what you should do or not do, and you have no right to tell me what I should do or not do, unless other persons can be concretely harmed as a result. Every reasonable person knows that conflicts are inevitable and there must be some degree of nonviolent conflict management (also called politics, regulations, or ethics), but these things should be accepted as a necessary evil rather than worshiped as holy icons, and practiced with some common sense rather than with Us Against Them self-righteous fury.  I am for letting a transfinite aleph number of flowers bloom in all spheres of human activity, I am for distributed decision making at all levels, and I am against all central authorities in charge of deciding What Is Right.

Chat with R. Geraci on transhumanism, religion and cosmic engineers in VR

I had the honor and the pleasure of being interviewed by Robert Geraci for his new book about the ways in which Virtual Worlds operate as sacred spaces for many people (a growing number), also dealing with various religious ideas and groups operative in Second Life to discuss how those might affect conventional religious life. Robert is the author of a Survey on Second Life and Religious Thought/Practice. I invited him to the beautiful Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi in Second Life, which provided an inspiring setting for an inspiring chat. Seeing the frescos, Robert pointed me to the book Pearly gates of cyberspace, which I definitely must read.

We talked of transhumanism, religion, the relevance and impact of virtual worlds for both, the many transhumanist organizations (too many? No. I am for let many flowers bloom, small is beautiful, and I am very much against all kinds of centralization, so I certainly do not think there are too many transhumanist organizations). We discussed many transhumanist organizations and in particular the Society for Universal Immortalism, the Mormon Transhumanist Association and, of course, the Order of Cosmic Engineers, and discussed our plans for the growth of the Order of Cosmic Engineers once it goes out of stealth mode in a few weeks. I told him that, in my opinion, the Order’s program makes a lot of sense as a cosmic engineering program for the future, but also as a memetic engineering program for here and now: showing people how to find again a sense of wonder, a feeling of happiness and a vision of one’s own place in a universe-wide cosmic engineering project, that used to be offered by traditional religions, but without renouncing reason and science.

Ben Goertzel at The Future and You

Ben Goertzel, noted scientist, author, futurist and pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, was the featured guest of the August 13, 2008 Episode of The Future and You. Topics he discusses include: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the singularity, transhumanism, human immortality and how long he expects to live, and why (like the show’s host Stephen Euin Cobb) he is a founding member of the Order of Cosmic Engineers. The Future and You (Wikipedia) is an award-winning podcast hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb. The show’s host interviews a variety of authors, scientists, celebrities and “pioneers of the future” as to what they believe both the near future and distant future will be like for individuals as well as for humanity in general. See also the coverage at IEET.

Direct link to the MP3 podcast

Highlights of the interview include: The mechanism of human empathy seems to have been identified, and so can be reproduced in AI; even AI that is radically different in its thinking from human beings. Doctor Goertzel explains that this empathy is not based on emotion, and he emphasizes that he does not want to create an AI which is governed by its emotions.

He stresses that the human mind does not qualify as a completely ‘General Intelligence’ but lies somewhere on the spectrum between AGI on one end and ‘Narrow AI’ on the other. This is one of several reasons why he does not expect AGI to be achieved by mimicking the workings of the human brain.

He describes how our brains fool us into believing that we understand our actions and decisions when we don’t. And why modeling an AI too closely on the human brain might make it too, vulnerable to false notions.

He also says, ‘I think virtual worlds are going to be absolutely critical to the development of Artificial General Intelligence.’ As well as ‘Right now connecting AI’s to virtual worlds is probably the best way to get an AI to have a general human-like embodied experience.’

The New God Argument at Sunstone 2008

I am awed by The New God Argument at Sunstone 2008 by Lincoln Cannon and Joseph West of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. Mormon Transhumanists, and to some extent all Mormons, don’t insist on a supernatural God outside the universe and are quite open to the possibility of a natural God existing and evolving within the physical universe described by science. Mormon transhumanists demonstrate the possibility of peaceful coexistence of science and religion, and I only wish some of those who come from the science camp would show a similar openness of mind.

Don’t miss the Document, the Handouts and the Slides. Lincoln and Joseph argue that we should ”trust that an advanced civilization more benevolent than us probably created our world”. Not supernatural creation, but engineering work: the authors make many references to the fact that, as we advance toward the capability to create synthetic worlds populated by sentient beings, more and more thinkers are beginning to seriously consider the possibility that we, ourselves, may be sentient beings in a reality computationally created by a higher level of reality.

Their argument is basically similar to the argument given by Nick Bostrom in Are You Living In a Computer Simulation?, with more assumptions on the motivations of our “creators”, for example: ”If any advanced civilization probably creates many worlds like those in its past then any advanced civilization that created our world probably acts toward us with at least as much benevolence as it expects any advanced civilization that created its world should act toward it”. Note: “creates many worlds like those in its past” is used mainly the sense of computational simulations of past history, with sentient inhabitants, but also in a more general sense, including for example Jurassic Park -like recreations of past history in physical reality. In both cases, the sysops would have godlike powers over our reality, and perhaps they would remember to make periodic backups.

I don’t relate well to arguments based on guessing the motivations of unknown and perhaps unguessable others, but I think the really strong argument is this: ”As the computing power available to us continues to advance exponentially, it seems reasonable to suppose that one of the things we might do is run increasingly detailed simulations of our world and worlds like it. As the level of detail increases and the user interface improves, it would become ever more difficult to discern any difference between our world and the simulated worlds, to the point that, for all practical purposes, “simulation” or “virtual” would no longer accurately describe those worlds or the apparently sentient persons in them. Furthermore, if an advanced civilization simulates many such worlds, indistinguishable in degree of detail from its own world, then the advanced civilization itself is much more likely to be one of many simulated worlds than it is to be the only hypothetical non- simulated world. In other words, an advanced civilization that simulates many worlds like those in its past is almost certainly not the first or only to do so, and thus is probably simulated itself”.

Perhaps the argument can be made even simpler: let’s assume that physical reality is one, and that physical reality permits the creation of synthetic worlds populated by sentient beings. There is no reason to assume that there can be only one synthetic world, so the number of synthetic worlds can be higher, perhaps much higher, than the number of “real” worlds (one, by assumptions). It seems reasonable to think that the number of simulated sentient beings can be (much) larger than the number of “real” sentient beings, hence you and I are probably living in a simulation (but the conclusion, or assumption, on the benevolence of our creators is lost. Or something like that. However, I suspect that there is no fundamental difference between physical and simulated realities: our matter and energy may be “their” bits and cellular automata.

In Nano Veritas

I will give a talk on nanotechnology at the In Nano Veritas conference of the THINK BIG - MEDEF Summer University, on August 28. I plan to focus on the mid / long term impact of nanotechnology and its migration from military and industrial megalabs to a grassroots social technology, as outlined in my article on Globalization and Open Source Nano Economy: ”Some of the problems of today’s globalized world could be eliminated or reduced by developing operational worldwide molecular design and manufacturing capabilities. Instead of shipping physical objects, their detailed design specification in a “Molecular Description Language” (MDL) will be transmitted over a global data grid evolved from today’s Internet and then physically “printed” by “nano printers” at remote sites. This would allow communities wishing to remain independent to retain their autonomy”.

I think matter compiling will have a huge importance, not only in scientific and technological terms, but also and especially in social and political terms. I will discuss current related developments in future consumer technology, things happening here and now that will take us closer to the diamond age of matter compiling.

One of the best online sources of information on nanotechnology is the website of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. On the CRN blog CRN analysts have often written about today’s poor man’s primitive baby steps toward matter compiling. Positive Expectations, one of their recent professional-quality scenarios of a near-future world, is a roadmap: ”2008: ¡Fabbers Libre!  When the first “late beta” version of RepRap -the “replicating rapid-prototyper"- is released in early 2008, critics have a field day. It’s slow. It’s clumsy-looking. It can’t actually replicate itself without adding a few key commercial parts. But where critics see an ugly duckling, design students, DIY hackers, and open source enthusiasts see a swan-in-the-making. By the summer, dozens of novel fabber projects emerge (some forked from RepRap, but most based on original designs), and by the fall, some have actually produced devices that an adventurous home user could play with. Forward-looking strategists at mega-retailers and mass manufacturers feel a distinct chill run up their collective spine. The open fabber era had begun, and through the end of the decade, free and open source software hackers around the world turn their attention to hardware… By the time molecular manufacturing applications do mature at the nanoscale, Openfabs are a ubiquitous fact of global life. It’s not surprising, then, that the first atomically-precise devices are designed with Openfab-standard interconnects for integration into the existing open world standard for human-scale production infrastructures”.

Not Drexlerian replicant assemblers and molecular manufacturing yet, but just wait one or two decades.

Voire en Grand - Think Big

In Nano Veritas

August 28, 2008, 15h - 17.30

What if one of the solutions to see big lays in the infinitely small?
What is nanotechnology? Which areas, which applications? What costs? What risks?
Between science and fiction, where is our future?
Does Europe have the wish and the means to become a leader in this area?
In the quest for the Grail, are patents sufficient?
From the lab to the table, will nanotechnology invade the food industry?
What about cosmetics, computers, medicine, military?
Will nanotechnology wchange the economic rules?
Privilege of large enterprises or fertile ground for SMEs?
After the digital divide, the nanotechnology gap?
After the nuclear deterrence, the invention of nanotechnology deterrence?
Should we trivialize the use of nanotechnology? What about ethics?
How to manage the development of artificial intelligence?
Will synthetic brains ensure they survival of the human species?
Are we sorcerer’s apprentices?

Speakers:

Claude Birraux, deputy of Haute-Savoie, President of the Parliamentary Office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices
Jean-Frederic Clerc, director of CEA-DPSE
Christian Colette, director of R & D of Arkéma
Benedict Croguennec, project manager at AFNOR
Alain Fontaine, director of the NEEL institute, director of research at CNRS Grenoble
Alain Grimfeld, president of the National Consultative Ethics Committee
Paul Jacquet, director general of INP France
Paul Lannoye, co-founder of Grappe ASBL
Jean-Claude Mialocq, researcher in molecular chemistry, CEA
Giulio Prisco, director of metafuturing SL

Moderator: Jacques Hebert, journalist and communications consultant.

New editor: Eschatoon

My newest multimetaversal avatar, Eschatoon, takes over as main editor of this blog. From our introduction at the Conference: The Future of Religions - Religions of the Future - June 4, 5, 2008:

A personal note. I am Giulio Prisco, also known as Giulio Perhaps in Second Life. I do not keep my RL and SL identities separate, and I am more of an “augmentationist” than an “immersionist”. SL is still a very primitive VR world compared to future VR worlds, and I cannot take seriously this PC screen with toons as an alternate reality. Yet.

This is the first public appearance of Eschatoon Magic, and I could not have chosen a better audience. My other avatar looks more or less like Giulio Prisco: old, fat and plain. But _I_ look like Giulio would like to look. Future technologies may give us options to choose our physical bodies, or migrate to VR and live in virtual bodies as conscious software. Future generations may roam the universe as immortal uploads, or “souls”, and perhaps _create and become_ “gods”.

Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop, Terasem Island, Second Life, July 20

Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop to explore: 
What Geoethical Management, if any, is Appropriate for the Nanotechnology Necessary for Cryonic Revival and/or Downloaded Cyberconsciousness?

Public Invited to Lunar Landing Anniversary Event on July 20th
1pm—4PM est

Monday, July 14, 2008, Melbourne Beach, FL—Terasem Movement, Inc. announced today its Fourth Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology will be held Sunday, July 20, 2008 to honor the 39th anniversary of the first human lunar landing. The Workshop, accessible to the general public via virtual meeting at the Terasem Island Amphitheatre in Second Life at: http://secondlife.com, will explore nanotechnologies thought to be essential for cryonic revival. Geoethical Nanotechnology is atom-by-atom assembly techniques that are subject to a consensual review, approval and audit process.

The Workshop proceedings as well as question and answer sessions are open to the public via Second Life and will be subsequently archived online for free public access. The public is invited to watch, listen, and ask questions from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST. 

Each Workshop presentation is designed for a 15-20 minute delivery, followed by a 20 minute formal question and answer period, during which time questions from the worldwide audience will be invited. Presentations will also be available on the Workshop’s website at http://www.geonano2008.com/.

This year’s non-affiliated speakers by order of presentation are: Nanotechnology Author & Journalist, Douglas Mulhall; Executive Director, European Foresight Institute, Philippe Van Nedervelde; and General Manager, Suspended Animation, Inc., Catherine Baldwin.

For additional information, please contact: Loraine Rhodes at 321-676-3690, ext 100, or . 

About the Terasem Movement

Terasem Movement, Inc. is a 501c3 not-for-profit charity endowed for the purpose of educating the public on the practicality and necessity of greatly extending human life, consistent with diversity and unity, via geoethical nanotechnology and personal cyberconsciousness; concentrating in particular on facilitating revivals from biostasis. Terasem focuses on preserving, evoking, reviving and downloading human consciousness.

Terasem accomplishes its objectives by convening publicly accessible symposia, publishing explanatory analyses, conducting demonstration projects, issuing grants and encouraging public belief in a positive technologically-based future.

For more information, please visit http://www.terasemcentral.org.

PROGRAM

TERASEM MOVEMENT, INC.

Fourth Annual Virtual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology

Terasem Island, Second Life
Sunday, July 20, 2008
July 20, 2008 1PM—4PM EST

What Geoethical Management, if any, Is Appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for Cryonic Revival and/or Downloaded Cyberconsciousness?

1:00—1:10pm—Welcome by Conference Convener

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.
President, Terasem Movement, Inc.

1:10—1:30pm—“What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats”

Doug Mulhall
Nanotechnology Author & Journalist
Canada

1:30—1:50pm—Formal Interaction

1:50—2:10pm—“Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers”

Philippe Van Nedervelde
Executive Director, European Foresight Institute
Belgium

2:10—2:30pm—Formal Interaction

2:30—2:50pm—“Lawyers, Guns and Money:  Lessons for Cryonics, from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution”

Catherine Baldwin
General Manager, Suspended Animation, Inc.
Florida

2:50—3:10pm—Formal Interaction

3:10—3:30pm—“Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves”

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.
Founder & President, Terasem Movement, Inc.,
Florida

3:30—3:50pm—Formal Interaction

3:50—4:00pm—Conclusion

Awaken The Universe - Presentation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in Second Life, GN4 workshop

On July 20 Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and a Founding Member and Architect of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, will give a talk in Second Life on “Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers” at the Terasem 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology.

The workshop will explore what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness.

Reconstitution of human consciousness through cryonic revival or downloading cyber-consciousness into bio-nano bodies and similar vessels comes with its technological issues and problems. In addition to these technological issues, there are legal and oversight concerns related to the use of these yet-to-be defined technologies. The level of management and oversight required for these technologies are the focus of these sessions.

This virtual workshop will be held July 20th on Terasem Island in Second Life, an on-line virtual community, beginning at 1:00 PM and concluding at 4:00 PM EST. All workshop proceedings are open to the public via real-time webcasting and are subsequently archived online for free public access. The public is invited to attend. Click here for the Second Life teleport location. In the picture above, the 4 statues representing the 4 NBIC convergence pillars and the golden infinity sign on the Terasem island.

Speakers: Doug Mulhall - What Happened to the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of the Application to Next Generation Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Threats?; Philippe Van Nedervelde - Awaken The Universe—Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers; Catherine Baldwin - Lawyers, Guns and Money: Lessons for Cryonics from the Military and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complexes in Technology Development and Distribution; Martine Rothblatt - Geoethics for Cryonic Revival Nanotech & BioNano Sleeves. Each workshop presentation will last 15-20 minutes followed by a 20 minute formal question and answer period during which questions from the worldwide audience will be addressed.

Transhumanist talk in Bilbao, VR talk in Ibiza

I will give a talk on transhumanism in the Auditorium of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on Tuesday 17, and a talk on VR worlds and technology / business trends in Ibiza on Saturday 21. In the image, I am in a Qwaq Forum showing a slide that I will use in both talks. I will also discuss the Order of Cosmic Engineers at both talks. Then I will stay a few days on the beach reading books of Bill Bainbridge, Charlie Stross and Richard Morgan that I just received. I will be thinking of the future of this blog, perhaps I will merge my transhumanist blog and my VR and IT blog in a new blog named Eschatoon at eschatoon.com.

Silvermoon Meeting: Launch of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in World of Warcraft

The Order of Cosmic Engineers, pre- announced at The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future conference in Second Life on June 5, 2008, was launched yesterday June 14, 2008, at the Silvermoon Meeting in World of Warcraft. Read the Prospectus of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, collaboratively authored by the Order’s founding members. See also Bainbridge’s Cosmic Engineers wiki. A picture of the event is above, there are more picture and a chatlog here.

I am very pleased to see that the first top blogger to comment on the launch of the Order has been one of my favorite writers. In an article about the Singularity, Charlie Stross writes:

Now the rapture-nerds have indeed begun to codify their beliefs. Allow me to introduce you to the Order of Cosmic Engineers. It is their intention to “joyfully set out to permeate our universe with benign intelligence, building and spreading it from inner space to outer space and beyond.” And they explain:

There’s a lot more where this came from — indeed there’s a whole huge prospectus, awaiting release next Sunday (which will be accessible here); Their formal launch event will be hosted by the Science Guild in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST. I’ve seen an early draft of the prospectus, and it is indeed something special. Let’s just say for now that I await its publication with interest: it’s bad manners to critique an early draft of divine scripture before it’s launched.

See also the very interesting comments thread. Note that Charlie’s own comments are not so positive at this moment.

Order of Cosmic Engineers - Launch event in World of Warcraft, June 14,

The foundation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers was announced at The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future conference in Second Life on June 5, 2008. There will be a launch event in World of Warcraft on June 14, 2008, at noon EST, hosted by Bainbridge’s WoW Science Guild. The Prospectus of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, collaboratively authored by the Order’s founding members, and other parts of the Order’s website, will be online on June 15, 2008.

See Bainbridge’s convergentsystems wiki for information on the Order’s launch at the Silvermoon Meeting, Saturday, June 14 noon server time. Please see the Earthen Ring US page for information on how to set up your WoW character to attend the event. In summary: you must choose the the North American server, Earthen Ring US, and your character must belong to the Horde. Europeans see here.

Max More in Second Life on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism”

Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism
Sunday June 8, 2008, SL-Transhumanists @ Extropia Core

Max More‘s talk was a key milestone, not only for transhumanism in VR worlds, but for transhumanism in general. We want to see much More of Max, and I hope this has been only the first of many appearances of Max in SL and other VR worlds, webcasts etc. I and other SL-Transhumanists are honored to have contributed to the organization of this event. As always, Max is a really excellent public speaker able to convey his message simply, clearly and effectively.

In his first public appearance in Second Life, the founder of contemporary transhumanism gave to his audience of more than 50 avatars a monster talk of two hours and discussed unsolved problems within the movement:
- Communication Strategy: How can we communicate ideas most effectively and rationally, overcoming the typical tension between the two? How does this relate to constrained and unconstrained visions of transhumanism (in Thomas Sowell’s terms)?
- Visionary Horizon: How far should we focus on offering solutions to current problems vs. envisioning longer-term solutions and visions?
- Visionary vs. Practical: To what extent should transhumanists try to be a movement that is organized, integrated, and directed? Should the movement or transhumanist activity concern itself primarily with ideas or practice or both, and should it include a major component that is a practical guide to self-transformation?
- Bridging the Knowing-doing Gap: Both as movement and as individuals, how can be do better to practice what we espouse?
- Organizing: How can we better organize and converse, using the best available knowledge to do so?
- Historical Accuracy and Continuing Honesty: Establishing and maintaining an accurate history of transhumanism; combating Orwellian rewriting of the past.

Max took questions after each point, which is a good technique that certainly helps reducing the questions clutter in a SL event and ensuring that each question is answered or at least noticed. A short videoclip with sound track is available here. Unfortunately both official volunteers could not record the full audio track as planned due to technical problems. The punishment, which will consist of encrypting their upload mindfiles with a one-time-pad that will be immediately thrown away, will be administered in due time. I hope someone recorded the audio of this great talk, please get in touch with us if you did. Breaking news: thanks to Danila (see the comment thread below) we have the

Full (well, almost) audio recording of the talk - right click to download.

On the last point, Max expressed a certain disappointment due to his impression that his work, and the work of other Extropians, is not acknowledged as it deserves. Without commenting on the infighting between different transhumanist factions that, I hope, is a thing of the past, I wish to ensure Max that I, and as far as I am aware a vast majority of transhumanists, do consider him as the founder of modern transhumanism. Max’ writings were my first introduction to transhumanism, and they immediately put my mind on fire. Of course the Web is open to everyone and nobody can, or should, be prevented from publishing her or his own account of the history of the transhumanist movement, but I hope Max himself, who has been sort of MIA in the last few years, will resume his level of activity and public writing of ten years ago to make his points loud and clear. If this Second Life event will mark the beginning of the full return of Max to the transhumanist scene, I and all other transhumanist organizers in virtual realities will think that our time has been _very_ well spent and rewarded.

The unedited text chat log follows. See above for the voice recording.

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Order of Cosmic Engineers

Associazione Italiana Transumanisti

Transumanar is a transhumanist blog - online magazine on science, technology, politics and culture, edited by Eschatoon. See About (English) and Introduzione (Italiano).

Transumanar e' un blog - rivista online transumanista di scienza, tecnologia, politica e cultura, curato da Eschatoon. Vedi Introduzione (Italiano) e About (English).

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Cosmic Engineers in Second Life

metaXLR8 - acceleration in the metaverse

Most recent entries

• Parallels and Convergences: Mormon Thought and Engineering Vision
• My talk at In Nano Veritas
• The Cosmic Engineers mailing list is now open
• Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life
• The Magic Word
• Chat with R. Geraci on transhumanism, religion and cosmic engineers in VR
• Ben Goertzel at The Future and You
• The New God Argument at Sunstone 2008
• In Nano Veritas
• 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology by Terasem, in Second Life
• New editor: Eschatoon
• Fourth Annual Geoethical Nanotechnology Workshop, Terasem Island, Second Life, July 20
• Awaken The Universe - Presentation of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in Second Life, GN4 workshop
• Transhumanist talk in Bilbao, VR talk in Ibiza
• Silvermoon Meeting: Launch of the Order of Cosmic Engineers in World of Warcraft

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