Friday, June 22, 2012

Transhumanism, Buddhism, and the Self

Here is a really humorous and enlightening talk on Buddhism and Transhumanism by Dr. J.

Click this link to Changesurfer Radio

Also, as an olive branch to my new friend and "Crooked House" collaborator Valerie Bane, who recently did a blog on the subject of multiple selves (The Multiple Self ), I wanted to add this link to an article that asks the question:  In the future, will human beings LITERALLY have multiple selves, in the forms of androids and/or virtual reality extensions.

To quote the article, "We are heading into a world where the self is expanding and multiplying. Are “you” just “you”? Where does your body begin or end? What philosophy/theology of property makes you think that? Are “you” what you’re born as, or is it what you are capable of? If you can operate five androids simultaneously, are they all you? Is in invalid therefore not a self at all?"

You can read the rest of the article here: Will we have multiple "Selves" in the future?


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Why Am I Writing This Blog?

Transhumanism, abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming thehuman condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. This blog is meant to follow developments in this most important area of evolution, and to dissolve some of the myths and needless fears that surround it.

In addition, this blog is part of an experiment in which six very different individuals, all of whom live (or more accurately WILL live at some point in the future) in the same house, and...uh...I'm not sure what the plan is, but it was called "The Crooked Circle" but now it's called "Her Crooked House" and the name may change again. I don't really see how I can "collaborate" with the others, given that my views on most things are radically different and my interests are technological rather than "artistic," but I'm told this blog should also be about the "collision between different projects and different points of view."

*Cough* Yeah, whatever that means.