Transbeman, the era of CyberConsciousness (or the Death of Death?)

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending a private screening of Transbeman, a techno-fable film produced by Martine Rothblatt, that explores ethical, legal, and social implications of techno-immortality. I've asked for a clip/teaser to post, so that our readers can get a flavor for the film, but I can tell you that it is thoughtful, provocative, and raises many questions that would be a lot of fun to discuss in law classes or bioethics classes.

In an interview with We magazine, we get a peek into Martine's motivation: trying to make the world a better place. The problem, she explains is not that we are not smart enough, but that we are not empathetic, or kind, or compassionate enough, and the film explores that issue, masterfully. (And in the interest of full disclosure, Martine and I share a common passion -- to expand traditional notions of personhood.) The film has many wonderful archetypal references to the concept of dying to be reborn, but I don't want to reveal more, until the movie is officially released -- the producers, Transformer Films, are still looking a distributor, but once they find one, I have feel we'll be seeing a lot more of Transbeman, both in popular culture and in the classrooms of higher education. And considering that ABC news is doing their own research and special on the continuing evolution of the human race, it is a timely topic.

Stay tuned for more as this film and others like it, are released -- I look forward to the discourse!
[Mia, the first transbeman, developed by Qualia Robotics, depicted in the film]

The Singularity and Machines of Loving Grace

For those of you who are interested in the Singularity (the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence) here is a very interesting NPR podcast about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and a portion of an unreservedly optimistic poem by Richard Brautigan quoted in the podcast:

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Food for thought, indeed.

International Human Rights Day and the Terasem Colloquium

International Human Rights Day

Recognized by Terasem Movement, Inc.’s Third Annual Colloquium on the Law of Transbeman Persons

Public Invited Via Conference Call on December 10, 2007

Monday, December 3, 2007, SPACE COAST, FL -- Terasem Movement, Incorporated announced today that its Third Annual Colloquium on the Law of Transbeman Persons, in celebration of International Human Rights Day, will be held December 10, 2007 along Florida’s Space Coast. A transbeman is a bio-electronic human transitioning between flesh and computerized substrate.

The colloquia are open to the public via real-time conference call and blogging and will be archived online for free public access. The public is invited to call a toll-free conference-call dial-in line from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST. Callers within the continental US and Canada may dial 1-877-879-6207; other countries: (00+1) 1-719-325-4775 or access the blog at: http://acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/.

Colloquium presentations are designed for a 15-20 minute delivery, followed by a 20-minute discussion period amongst attendees. Additional questions from the worldwide audience will also be invited. Presentations will also be available on the Colloquium’s website at http://www.terasemcentral.org/TL/2007ColloquiumProgram.html.

Some of this year’s speakers include Dr. Marvin Minsky, MIT, Author: The Emotion Machine; David R. Koepsell, J.D., Ph.D., Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics; and William Sims Bainbridge, Ph.D., National Science Foundation and others.

Real-time blogging provided by Michael Anissimov, Lifeboat Foundation’s North American Fundraising Director. www.lifeboat.com.

For additional information, please contact: Loraine J. Rhodes at 321-676-3690, ext 100, or lori@terasemcentral.org.

About the Terasem Movement

The Terasem Movement, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) 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. The Terasem Movement 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 www.terasemcentral.org or http://terasemfoundation.org.

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Big Blue and the Simulated Brain

Sounds like the title of children's book, doesn't it? -- But seriously, Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (part of the National Center for Competence in Research) is aiming to simulate the structures and functions of the brain, neuron by neuron.

A few years ago, the novel The Footprints of God, by Greg Iles, explored some of the ethical issues associated with re-creation or simulation a human brain and since then, we actually do now have the technology to monitor and reproduce brain activity at the quantum level. Some of the interesting questions include whose brain should be used as a "model" and what differences in the male and female brain will this technology reveal? Will this simulation have its own "mind" -- we don't really understand how consciousness arises, so will this give us some insight?

This is definitely a development to follow....