Archive 2008

I regularly read the blog of Wesley Smith, an intelligent and good-natured antagonist of Transhumanism. Today he wrote about the “futility of the immortality movement.” Below are my thoughts in response. That which is analogous to death will always be part of existence. With that I agree. However, skeptics really ... Read the article →

LDS Church President Gordon Hinckley died today. There’s a Deseret News announcement, which contains some biographical information. In some ways, for me, Hinckley has always been the leader of the LDS Church. Formally, of course, members of the Church recognize Christ as our leader. And I’ve been alive long enough ... Read the article →

The Holy Spirit is an esthetic that emerges from our environment through our anatomy and into us as individuals and communities. As we resonate with it, it informs our ethics, which in turn directs our works as we seek to shape the world. Faith, trust in, and will toward this ... Read the article →

For family home evening, we watched the movie, “NeverEnding Story.” It’s the one from the ’80s with a boy who discovers, while reading a book, that he’s creating a wondrous fantasy world. I remember enjoying the movie as a child. But did not recognize at the time how the story ... Read the article →

It’s time to get back to my review of Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion. In this post, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on chapter four, entitled “Why there Almost Certainly is No God.” As before, I feel it is important to begin by expressing my opinion that Dawkins is ... Read the article →

Some of you requested more information about the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. According to its web site, it is the foremost collection of genetic genealogy data in the world. The data will enable genealogists to trace the deep ancestry of humanity, and, as articulated by founder James Sorenson prior to ... Read the article →

How predictable are we? When God or a neohuman (choose your favorite word) looks at a group of persons like us, how much does she see? Already, with our presumably-primitive technology, we are creating computer models to provide better intelligence for the military, enabling improved prediction of trends in (apparently) ... Read the article →

According to CNN, the gunman who shot 21 and killed six students at Northern Illinois University was “‘an outstanding student’ who reportedly stopped taking medication recently”. If it has not become obvious already, we should allow this latest example to persuade us that our good and evil behaviors have anatomical ... Read the article →

Nanotechnology or molecular engineering (precision manufacturing at the atomic level) will enable us to produce dirt-cheap supercomputers, ubiquitous 100% pure water, highly cost-efficient solar energy collectors, and myriads of other world-changing technologies that we probably have not even imagined. Most of us are not aware of advances in miniaturization technology ... Read the article →

At the IEET, a Transhumanist think tank, Russell Blackford has posted on “Religion and Nanotechnology”. He notes that support for nanotechnology correlates in western countries with secularism, and the United States comes in much lower than other western countries both in support for nanotechnology and secularism. He then advocates “a ... Read the article →

Although there may be a general positive correlation between education and secularism, among Mormons there appears to be a positive correlation between education and religiosity. This observation was perhaps first made formally by Richard Wootton in the 1950s. Wootton’s study, updated in recent years to be based on sixty years ... Read the article →

Tired of the mouse? Get ready to control your computer with your thoughts! Later this year, you should be able to buy an EEG headset for only $299. This is, most likely, just the beginning of generally-available brain-computer interfacing technology. In time, we should be able not only to output ... Read the article →

I wrote recently about the positive correlation between Mormonism and education. As it turns out, not only are Mormons interested in education, but educators are becoming increasingly interested in Mormons. The Boston Globe and various blogs have reported in recent days that Harvard has introduced a course on Mormonism. And ... Read the article →

I’ve mentioned before, but want to make more explicit here, the idea that there seems to be no reason to distinguish between a computed world and the neohuman (or posthuman) computing it. As the Simulation Argument goes, if ever we create a significant number of computed worlds then we are ... Read the article →

I just finished putting my three-year-old son to bed. When first entering his bedroom, I couldn’t see him. Knowing, though, that he likes to hide, I wondered aloud whether he was hiding. There was no sound. It was almost too quiet. But I thought I’d look behind the large chair ... Read the article →

Arthur C Clarke, science fiction writer and science popularizer, died in Sri Lanka earlier this week. He leaves with us an extraordinary legacy of entertainment and inspiration. In a final public message, available for you to view below, he mentioned that the power of our technology does not displace the ... Read the article →

Dale Carrico, a lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California Berkeley, is an intelligent and articulate antagonist of Transhumanism. He interacts regularly with some influential Transhumanists, and is well acquainted with the ideology – better acquainted than any other antagonist that I know of. I’ve recently ... Read the article →

Brent Allsop, a director of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, describes himself as a Mormon atheist. You may be wondering (along with Aubrey de Grey, I’ve been told) whether that’s some kind of joke. Well, no. It’s not a joke. Brent is entirely serious about both his Mormonism and his atheism. ... Read the article →

Clones are evil! At least, that’s what we’re often told. Popular media generally portrays clones in a negative light, such as the many copies of anthropomorphic human-hunting Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the mindlessly obedient squadrons of emperial soldiers in Star Wars. In some academic circles, bioconservatives clamor about the ... Read the article →

Next week, I’ll have the opportunity to meet with several Mormon scholars to discuss parallels between Mormon thought and engineering vision. The meeting has been organized by Scott Howe, of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on behalf of Richard Bushman, who is the Claremont Colleges Howard W Hunter Chair of ... Read the article →

Clark Goble, at his Mormon Metaphysics blog (which I highly recommend), recently posted on the question, “Brains like Computers?” In his post, he references an article written some time ago by Chris Chatham, at Developing Intelligence, on “10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers.” In this post, I’ll share my ... Read the article →

I just came across an excellent article written by James Hughes, who is a director of the World Transhumanist Association. The article is entitled “Millennial Tendencies in Responses to Apocalyptic Threats”. Here is the abstract: Popular discussion of utopian possibilities and apocalyptic risks from new technologies is sometimes dismissed as ... Read the article →

I participated today in a conference call among several Mormon scholars on the subject of parallels between Mormon thought and engineering vision. As mentioned previously, the call was organized by Scott Howe, of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on behalf of Richard Bushman. Richard is the Claremont Colleges Howard W ... Read the article →

I’d like to echo a sentiment expressed today in a press release from the LDS Church. Mormonism, at its best, respects the diversity of views, both religious and non-religious, held by good persons throughout the world. We are together working for a better world, and bitter sectarian division is counter-productive ... Read the article →

I’ve blogged time and again about the Simulation Argument, formulated by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom. Basically, the argument holds that either (a) we’re almost certainly living in an ancestor simulation or (b) we’ll almost certainly never create many ancestor simulations. The first half, “a”, of the disjunct (we’re almost certainly ... Read the article →

The World Informer blog characterizes Transhumanism as “The Last Temptation of Mankind”. The appeal, of course, is to hubris in the will to use technology to extend human capabilities. To say the least, there is a great deal of irony in these sorts of attacks on Transhumanism. To begin with, ... Read the article →

Transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom contributed a recent Technology Review article, entitled “Where Are They?” In it, he writes: “I hope that our Mars probes discover nothing. It would be good news if we find Mars to be sterile. Dead rocks and lifeless sands would lift my spirit.” His reasoning is ... Read the article →

My oldest son recently won the science fair with his project on Moore’s Law and accelerating technological change. He and I spent a lot of time collecting price and performance information about historic computers, discussing how we can try to predict the future based on projections of historic trends, and ... Read the article →

Thanks to a post from Michael Anissimov, today I came across an interesting article that proposes some definitions for and distinctions among forms of nanotechnology, by Michael Berger on the Nanowerk web site. Although the entire article is worth reading, the part that intrigued me most was its explanation of ... Read the article →

Many of us perceive a certain morality in allowing primitive humans to live without interaction with the broader human civilization. Some of us even go so far as to work to protect such persons from incursions, including basic communication. The concern, of course, is that interaction with us may hurt ... Read the article →

On the Mormon blog, By Common Consent, in a post entitled “Towards a Mormon Darwinism”, Steven P asked how readers reconcile evolution with various aspects of Mormonism, and wondered whether we could do so while preserving notions of God’s creation, Adam’s fall and Christ’s atonement. Of course, I think we ... Read the article →

The Book of Mormon contains an intriguing story about a man named Lehi, who in ancient times seeks guidance from God while journeying in the desert with his family to find a new home. One morning, upon opening the door of his tent, he discovers on the ground a fine ... Read the article →

Thanks to David Frischknecht at LDS Media Talk, we have news that the next issue of the LDS Church magazine, “The Ensign”, will feature on its cover an article entitled “Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet.” It is an adaptation of a talk given by Elder M Russell Ballard, who ... Read the article →

In response to an article by transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom, I wrote recently about the significance of finding basic life forms on another planet, such as Mars. In summary, if basic life forms are probable in the universe then advanced life forms must also be probable or we’re probably doomed. ... Read the article →

I often have the opportunity to present to groups interested in learning about parallels between Mormon and Transhumanist views of the future. Below is a summary of how I understand Mormon metaphysics, theodicy, eschatology and soteriology in relation to contemporary science and technology. Metaphysics Mormon metaphysics (a description of the ... Read the article →

I recently came across an interesting blog post entitled “An Alien God,” by Eliezer Yudkowsky, who is a transhumanist AI researcher. In the post, Eliezer describes biological evolution and compares it to various ideas of God. In the end, he concludes that evolution is much more like Azathoth, a blind ... Read the article →

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest Mormon denomination, today released a press release on “The Grand Enterprise of Mormonism”, which is to erase “the separations and deprivations that time and place have imposed on humanity”, linking together “the unborn, the living, and the dead” in “mutual ... Read the article →

Recently, a Mormon blogger, R Gary, claimed that “Science [is] not always a good bet” when considering the feasibility of futures anticipated by prophetic vision. However, science does enable us to predict how futures similar to those he described may be possible, particularly given long-standing trends in technology. Lambs and ... Read the article →

The Mormon Transhumanist Association received the following email from a site visitor today: “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.” Soren Aabye Kierkegaard The return address on the email did not work. So I’ll respond here in my blog. While I agree heartily ... Read the article →

Abstract: If basic life forms are probable then we should trust that advanced civilizations are probable. If any advanced civilization probably has increased in destructive capacity faster than defensive capacity, and if any advanced civilization probably creates many worlds like those in its past, then we should trust that an ... Read the article →

I am sometimes disturbed by the observation that our religious tradition, Mormonism, is not unified in faith that we can and should become God. Too many of us have capitulated to the violent dogmatism of traditional Christianity, particularly in its evangelical forms. Too many of us only hear whisperings of ... Read the article →

This is a transcript of the original presentation of the New God Argument by Chris Bradford, Joseph West, and Lincoln Cannon at the Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake City on 9 August 2008. “I want to ask this congregation, every man, woman and child, to answer the question in their ... Read the article →

Sunstone has announced that Dan Wotherspoon, executive director and editor of Sunstone magazine and symposiums, will be stepping down to pursue a new opportunity. On behalf of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, I would like to thank Dan for the many ways that he has assisted us with sharing our message ... Read the article →

I’m sitting in the Houston airport, returning from a family vacation – you know, relaxing from all that hard work on the New God Argument. Just a moment ago, a recorded voice stated: “We would like to remind you that any jokes or inappropriate remarks about security may result in ... Read the article →

Congratulations, both to Barack Obama and to us collectively, for his nomination as the presidential candidate of the United States Democratic party. This is not an endorsement, either of the candidate or the party, but rather acknowledgement of the historical significance of his nomination, as a person of African ancestry. ... Read the article →

Will works save you? Some Christians enjoy debating whether good works are necessary for salvation, with responses ranging from the extremes of Calvinism (we can make absolutely no effort, spiritual or physical, toward salvation) to the extremes of Pelagianism (salvation depends almost entirely on our efforts, spiritual and physical). Most ... Read the article →

Leading evangelical Christian, Albert Mohler, has a history of poor reasoning when it comes to Transhumanism. He recently wrote a blog entry entitled “New God or No God? The Peril of Making God Plausible.” Its publication was coincident with my recent presentation of the New God Argument. In Mohler’s blog ... Read the article →

The New York Times reports that remembering may be like reliving, from the perspective of the neurons doing the remembering. Remembering neurons appear to behave like they did when first experiencing whatever is being remembered. I wonder, if our brains could quickly store more information in a readily accessible manner, ... Read the article →

Professionally, I’m a software engineering manager, and the area in which I’ve done the most work is systems integration, particularly between systems management platforms, which enable network administrators to monitor and control many computers without moving away from their desks. To integrate between systems management platforms, we write some software ... Read the article →

On my way out to a soccer game, my wife anxiously showed me some clips of Dieter Uchtdorf, in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, speaking to the Relief Society. He expressed some simple powerful ideas that merit regular emphasis: 1) Two primary characteristics of God are creation and ... Read the article →

Several memories of my father have, over the years, grown in importance to me. I’ll share a couple that come to mind with particular force. I imagine I’ve embellished them to suit the situations of my life. And my retelling of events will reveal at least as much about me ... Read the article →

Californians will soon be voting on proposition 8, which would amend their state constitution to define “marriage” as being between one man and one woman, exclusively. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest Mormon denomination and the church of which I am a member, is ... Read the article →

I recently received a letter, written neatly by hand and sent through the post (yes, that still happens), from a kind friend with a question regarding the New God Argument. The question and answer are worth sharing here. So, with names removed to protect the innocent, here’s the letter, with ... Read the article →

Alan Leigh pointed out to me an interesting PC Magazine review of Web Surfers Evolving into Superior Humans, a book by neuroscientist Gary Small. In the book, Small argues that contemporary infotech is affecting human evolution. That’s because it provides social selection advantages to persons adept at using technologies such ... Read the article →

Today, I came across a blog post at Mormon Matters, posing the question, “Is the Internet a Urim & Thummim?” This sounds strange to the point of near nonsense, I’m sure, to those of you who are not Mormon. But it does have meaning for Mormons, whose scriptures contain this ... Read the article →

Congratulations again to Barack Obama, who will be the next President of the United States of America. This is an historic moment, both for African Americans and all other Americans, in that it illustrates how far we have come as a people in overcoming the lingering influence of ancient racial ... Read the article →

Observing trends in information technology, some researchers conclude that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually surpass the brightest human minds and take control of its own evolution. Assuming these researchers are correct, it is in our interest to ensure that we design AI to be friendly from the beginning. Whether AI ... Read the article →

I’m at the Convergence 08 unconference in Mountain View, California. The first session is focusing on artificial intelligence. While waiting for the session to begin, I had a conversation with Peter Milford of Parallel Rules. He told me that his interests are in practical near-term applications of the ideas on ... Read the article →

This afternoon, I’ve been bouncing around among unconference sessions at Convergence 08 in Mountain View, California. First, I attended a session on balancing spirituality with technology. It had a lot of potential and several interesting persons attended. But the discussion was turned too often to the discussion leader’s marketing of ... Read the article →

Paul Saffo was the keynote speaker on Saturday at Convergence 08 in Mountain View, California. Paul endeavored to share some principles of forecasting. He began by distinguishing between futurists and forecasters, defining the former as active advocates and the latter as passive observers. He observed that persons looking to the ... Read the article →

This morning, the Convergence 08 conference in Mountain View, California, continued with a panel of experts on synthetic life. One of the panel members observed that genetic engineering is almost as accessible as computer programming in the early 80s, when teenagers were able to become involved inexpensively. Another panel member ... Read the article →

Like yesterday afternoon, this afternoon I participated in unconference sessions at Convergence 08 in Mountain View, California. First, I attended a session with PJ Manney on empathy and technology. The session began by focusing primarily on how to promote empathy through video games, by encouraging persons to take on roles ... Read the article →

I recently came across a document by Margaret A Somerville, which presents “The Case Against ‘Same-Sex Marriage’”. This is, to date, the best argument I’ve read from opponents of gay marriage. It accounts for the importance of religious perspectives, but does not argue from them, and instead appeals to secular ... Read the article →

Mormon prophetic tradition includes the idea that humans (and perhaps other animals) will no longer eat other animals when the Earth attains its millennial or terrestrial glory. For example, see this recent post at the Mormon blog, Times and Seasons. Some have interpreted these prophecies to support vegetarianism. Others may ... Read the article →

I am Santa Claus. Yes. Whether you believe it or not, and whether you like it or not, I am. Some snort apathetically or with mild amusement. Some insist I’m changing the definitions of words. Most, though, get it. We understand: Santa Claus does exist and always has. Maybe we ... Read the article →

In celebration of the new year, here’s a look at the top five Mormon science and technology events from 2008. Happy new year! 5) More Mormon Science and Technology Websites Here are 18 Mormon web sites that focus on science or technology: convergencesciencereligion.org evolution.nfshost.com ldscio.org ldsmediatalk.com ldsscience.blogspot.com ldstech.org libertypages.com/cgw moregoodfoundation.org ... Read the article →