Archive 2009

Christian Schumann-Curtis dropped me a note to point out an article on Slate, which reports that the United States Department of Defense is working on software that simulates dead soldiers. The purpose is to enable their children to interact with them for emotional support. This is just one more data ... Read the article →

In a short paper entitled “What is a Singleton?”, Nick Bostrom defines “singleton” as a world order with a single decision-making entity at the highest level, and briefly describes a variety of possible singletons. Of particular interest, the paper notes the following: “A singleton that is a superintelligent machine might ... Read the article →

Today, the United States of America celebrated the inauguration of President Barack Obama. While we may each identify various reasons to join in the celebration, there are a few that may stand out for Mormon Transhumanists. First, as I mentioned when congratulating him for his nomination and election, Obama’s station ... Read the article →

Absolutely nothing if not sublimely eloquent, Dale Carrico criticizes transhumanism as necessarily superlative – depending on exaggerations, absolutes, extremes, determinisms, and so forth. I’ve commented previously on his criticism of transhumanism. I agree with his criticism of superlativity as nonsensical and practically detrimental. However, I disagree with his assessment of ... Read the article →

Mormons almost universally acknowledge that we have a moral obligation and capacity to participate in the work of God, to bring about the immortality and eternal life of humanity. This acknowledgement focuses primarily on the advance of spiritual salvation, particularly through missionary and temple work. Such a focus is important, ... Read the article →

This is a transcript of my presentation at the Mormonism Engineering conference at Claremont Graduate University on 7 March 2009. The paper, authored by Scott Howe and I, will soon be available. How often have we heard that question: are science and religion compatible? And yet, how many of us ... Read the article →

Each night, Christ is willingly wounded for our sins, hammered to the cross with fresh nails from the eternal conflict of desires, wills and laws. Seeking no vengeful punishment or sacrifice, except the repentent apology of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he again satisfies justice in freely chosen ... Read the article →

This is a transcript of a talk I gave to my local Mormon congregation on the subject of the Atonement of Christ. As among Christians generally, there are many interpretations of the Atonement among Mormons. In my experience, the interpretation I share here has considerable practical power for transforming the ... Read the article →

Susan Blackmore gave a TED Talk on memes in February 2008. I agree with her application of the evolution paradigm to replicators beyond genes. However, I disagree with the way she interprets the ramifications. First, when she says (or quotes from someone else) that memes, like genes, result in design ... Read the article →

I’ve begun watching Shelly Kagan’s lectures on the “Philosophy of Life and Death” via Academic Earth, which links to thousands of video lectures from the world’s top scholars. In this set of lectures, Shelly argues for the following perspective: “I’m going to try to convince you that there is no ... Read the article →

In this lecture, Shelly Kagan talks about life and death, as well as persons, in black-and-white terms. However, are there degrees of life and death? Are there degrees of consciousness? Are there degrees of identity? He also talks about the death process in linear terms. He seems to suggest that ... Read the article →

At a recent LDS Church meeting for young adults, Elder David A Bednar commented on technology, and implied that spirit is information. Here is an approximate transcript of a portion of his talk: “We live in a time when technology can be used to replicate reality, to augment reality, and ... Read the article →

A couple months ago, my wife and I started taking resveratrol. It’s a dietary supplement that appears to be effecting significantly extended and healthier life spans in mice and monkeys. Results have not yet been verified in humans. Recently, 60 Minutes published a related video segment that may intrigue you. ... Read the article →

Some have criticized Mormon Transhumanists, or even scientific- and technologically-leaning Mormons generally, as “looking beyond the mark” and not relying enough on faith, grace, priesthood, revelation, spirituality, God or something else presupposed to be at odds with science and technology. This criticism is entirely inconsistent with Mormonism, as I discuss ... Read the article →

In his third lecture on the philosophy of life and death, Shelly Kagan begins presenting and refuting arguments for the existence of a supernatural or immaterial soul. He calls this the “dualist perspective.” He explains that one argument for the dualist perspective is that a supernatural or immaterial soul is ... Read the article →

Slate Magazine recently featured a series of articles investigating the question, “How Is America Going To End?” One of the articles responded, “The Catholic Church helped preserve Roman civilization. Can Mormonism do the same for America?” The author speculates that Mormons’ strong communal cohesion, emergency preparedness, and general sense of ... Read the article →

A friend directed me to this video that shows the results of pointing the Hubble telescope at an apparently empty spot in the night sky. Whether you’re a traditional theist or not, perhaps you feel, as I feel, something beckoning us to a future in those stars. Maybe it’s a ... Read the article →

Religion is a controversial topic among transhumanists. Although the majority identify as atheists and agnostics, a substantial minority find transhumanism to be complementary with or even inherent in their spiritual or religious views. Of course, this results in friction, which in turn generates both some traction of contructive debate and ... Read the article →

While listening to the LDS Church General Conference today, I was reminded by one of the speakers that the world is becoming an increasingly evil place. I disagree. Certainly all is not well in Zion, so to speak, but we should acknowledge and celebrate our successes in addition to identifying ... Read the article →

In Sunday School today, we discussed Mormon ideas and doctrines related to the salvation of the dead. The focus, as usual, was on the contemporary practice of performing religious rituals, such as baptisms, on behalf of dead persons (by proxy, with no corpses involved, of course). The primary value I ... Read the article →

Dan Dennett is among my favorite atheists. I imagine some may not think that much of a compliment, coming from a theist. But, unlike many (perhaps most) theists, I actually don’t assume atheists to be evil by default, and even have the fortune of counting some atheists among my friends. ... Read the article →

Who would have guessed that the LDS Church has been providing charitable funding for prosthetics? This is a welcome discovery, and indeed a gift, as identified by the LDS Newsroom article. We should embrace the perspective of prosthetics and drugs as grace, and as tools for making better persons and ... Read the article →

Wow! This is strange. In my news reader, I just received a press release from the LDS Church about support for nondiscrimination ordinance. However, the link is dead. And the article appears to have been removed. “Church Supports Nondiscrimination Ordinances - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ... Read the article →

Last night, 60 Minutes ran a segment on the cost of dying. The segment identifies various economic and social costs associated with the last months of a typical person’s life in the United States. And it argues that a substantial portion of the cost is frivolous, with “no meaningful impact.” ... Read the article →

A well-meaning anonymous fellow Mormon once chastised me, encouraging more focus on the powers of prayer and priesthood and less focus on the powers of technology. He argued that it will be the traditional religious mechanisms that will save us. I responded with a question: why does the Church use ... Read the article →

No surprise to learn that neuroscientists at Duke University have found evidence that popular music can be predicted based on harmonics characteristic of human speech. Of course, the link between anatomy and esthetics goes far deeper than this. We are our esthetics, radiating from the structures and patterns of our ... Read the article →

While listening to speakers at church today, I considered my internal reactions to the various ideas and feelings expressed. At times I was inspired, at times indifferent, and on occasion annoyed. Consideration led me mostly to familiar explanations, ranging from degree of shared perspective to volume of persons near me, ... Read the article →

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This passage of text from the Gospel of John calls to mind the power of language and reason. The Greek word from which “Word” was translated is “logos”, which is the root of ... Read the article →

Despite the clamor of Bible literalists, there is not objective evidence that a worldwide flood occurred a few thousand years ago, as suggested by some popular interpretations of the Noah story. On the other hand, perhaps megafloods that occurred a few million years ago impressed our early ancestors sufficiently to ... Read the article →

Can our thoughts, meditation, and prayers change the world? Of course, for starters, they can change the way we speak and act, thereby indirectly changing the world. Beyond that, some speculate that our minds may be able to change the world more directly. According to this study, for example, the ... Read the article →