Futurism  

The Frontiers in Research: Our Post-Human Future conference explored the questions of the post-human in light of developments in the fields of genetics, neuroscience and prosthetics, and their social, political, economic, ethical and religious implications.

During the past decade, human perfection and even immortality have become topics of renewed interest due to groundbreaking scientific advancements, and are now much more tangible and potentially achievable goals.

The quest for human improvement through biomedical means appears to be unstoppable in the developed world. But this drive towards the "post-human" has also given rise to discussion, debate, conflict and a great deal of research on where to take the human species.

The conference, Frontiers in Research: Our Post-Human Future explored these questions in light of developments in the fields of genetics, neuroscience and prosthetics, and their social, political, economic, ethical and religious implications.

The talks at the conference (in the video above) were:

• "Even Evolution Evolves" by Andrew Hessel, Singularity University

• "Virtual Humans and Social Robots: Our Upcoming Partners" by Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann, University of Geneva

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• "The Future of Screening Baby 2.0" by Fiona Miller, University of Toronto

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• "Conversation on the Body and Prosthetics" with Gregor Wolbring, University of Calgary and John Hockenberry, award-winning journalist

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• Moderated Discussion: "Can technology be governed?" with Arthur Carty, Andrew Hessel, Michèle S. Jean

The full 2011 University of Ottawa-hosted conference with Silverlight slides is available at: http://bit.ly/1dQpGZB

SOURCE  Situating Science

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 Transhumanism  

The British Institute of Posthuman Studies (BIOPS) investigate three dominant areas of transhumanism: super longevity, super intelligence and super wellbeing, in a new short film about the subject.

In a well-made short film, the British Institute of Posthuman Studies (BIOPS) investigate three dominant areas of transhumanism: super longevity, super intelligence and super wellbeing, and briefly cover the ideas of thinkers Aubrey de Grey, Ray Kurzweil and David Pearce.

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PostHuman: An Introduction to Transhumanism is the first of the institute's planned video series on transhumanism, titled PostHuman.

Writers Marco Vega and Peter Brietbart have shared a passion for philosophy since they first met at Sussex University five years ago. Over time, they became frustrated with the classical, removed armchair philosophy, and began to look for philosophically sophisticated ideas with real human impact.

"Transhumanism stood out as a practical, far-seeing, radical and urgent field, informed by science and guided by moral philosophy."

If you like the video, you can help to make others like it happen. See BIOPS Kickstarter at http://kck.st/Huitjs



SOURCE  British Institute of Posthuman Studies

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