Archive 2011

I wrote a short fictional/exegetical article entitled “‘Look!’ and Live: Meditation on 3 Nephi 28” for the December 2010 issue of Sunstone Magazine. Before sharing the text of the article, I’d like to share some thoughts that complement the article. 3 Nephi 28 is particularly interesting to Mormons with Transhumanist ... Read the article →

Christians purportedly look to Jesus as the principal example of the kind of person we should be. In some cases, however, we’ve clearly failed to read, understand, or internalize the descriptions of Jesus in the New Testament. So, instead of comforting those who mourn, some of us heckle those who ... Read the article →

In response to the New God Argument, an anonymous commenter requested my thoughts on the following David Pearce quote. David is a Transhumanist philosopher who I respect a great deal, despite some differences of perspective. He calls into question the benevolence of posthumans: “Of all the immense range of alternative ... Read the article →

This is a response to a critique of Christian Transhumanism from Cris Putnam. Cris summarizes his critique as follows: “… promoters of Christian transhumanism are driven by an unbiblical anthropology, a Pelegian view of sin, and a profound misunderstanding of the Christian life characteristic of theological liberalism.” One aspect of ... Read the article →

Previously, I responded to Cris Putnam’s criticism of Christian Transhumanism. He has now responded to me. He begins by telling his audience that I am neither Christian nor a Bible believer. These are half truths, reflecting old half truths expressed for nearly 200 years by fundamentalist Christians when describing Mormons. ... Read the article →

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and entered the temple courts. He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both ... Read the article →

Some people don’t like ideological labels. They don’t like their perspectives being categorized, for whatever reason, good or bad. I’m not one of them. I’m comfortable with labels. And I don’t mind being categorized. Of course, it’s a mistake to think any label perfectly describes my perspectives or those of ... Read the article →

2011 is a good year to watch “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “2010: The Year We Make Contact” for the first time, one year after the second and ten years after the first was supposed to have transpired. I enjoyed both films and recommend them to anyone that likes science ... Read the article →

Regularly, in both professional and personal settings, I have the opportunity to discuss accelerating technological change. For the most part, the persons I talk with have heard of Moore’s Law and agree that technology is advancing rapidly. But few demonstrate an appreciation of the ramifications. Often, in a single sentence, ... Read the article →

In her article entitled “Transhumanism and Children”, Nikki Olson touches on the greatest weakness of secular transhumanism: poor esthetics. As Nikki rightly points out, children may find it difficult to understand or care much for transhumanist ideas because the ideas tend to be delivered with weak or absent story. The ... Read the article →

Matthew Bailey writes for H+ Magazine, provoking attention with the title “The Technological Singularity as Religious Ideology” and then quickly stating that “The Technological Singularity is NOT a Religion!” I agree with Matthew both that the technological singularity, in itself, is not a religion; and that it is compatible with ... Read the article →

In a recent post to his blog, Sam Harris asks, “Should we be Mormons in the Matrix?” Sam is (in)famous for his atheism and anti-religiosity. He has authored bestselling books The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, and has commented in the past that “Mormonism is objectively ... Read the article →

I identify as a libertarian. Unfortunately, though, most persons understand “libertarian” only in the corporatist right-libertarian sense, with which I identify pretty much not at all. Conceptually, corporations imply the risks of government, and often realize the risks of feudalism. Corporatists typically appeal to free market efficiencies and randians to ... Read the article →

I’m excited to tell you that I’ll be attending the FutureMed executive program of Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley next week, from 10 to 15 May. Singularity University was co-founded by Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, as well as corporate founders including big names like ... Read the article →

For some computer programs, we can know in advance how they will run, when they will stop, and what results they will return. However, there are other computer programs that are undecidable halting problems: we cannot know, without actually running them, whether they will ever stop running, let alone what ... Read the article →

Judgment day is in ten days, on 21 May 2011, according to a group of Christian fundamentalists that run the eBible Fellowship web site. At that time, the rapture will begin. Those who read the Bible and pray for mercy will be saved, while the rest of us will be ... Read the article →

The Singularity University FutureMed executive program was a fun and fast-paced opportunity to refresh knowledge and connect with some of the best minds in emerging medical technology. The program was held at the NASA Ames research park in California. Topics ranged from exponential technology generally to its specific manifestations in ... Read the article →

I’m pretty sure Harold Camping’s judgment day rapture isn’t happening. No. I’m not basing that on the fact that I’m still here to post this message. Rather, apart from the sadly-usual 150k persons that died today of mostly aging-related causes, apparently everyone is sticking around. It may be that the ... Read the article →

Several friends and I had the opportunity to attend the Singularity Summit in Salt Lake City last Saturday. The event was organized by the Singularity Institute and Robert Brazell. The Singularity Institute is an affiliate of Humanity+, which is also affiliated with the Mormon Transhumanist Association. The topic was emerging ... Read the article →

While camping in Zion National Park last week, some friends and I discussed prediction capacities and limitations, considering cases such as weather forecasting and prophecy. One friend argued that, due to weather forecasting limits, we will never be able to predict weather beyond a couple weeks. As we try to ... Read the article →

In his book, Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku outlines six roadblocks to the Singularity. The roadblocks are at least as speculative as the technological singularity, and we can reasonably speculate our way around them. Below are Michio’s proposed roadblocks, indented, followed by my thoughts. First, the dazzling advances in ... Read the article →

Neuroscientist David Linden challenges the timeline (but not the feasibility) of Ray Kurzweil’s predictions, and argues that “The Singularity is Far.” I’m skeptical. David explains that our understanding of brain processes is progressing at a linear rate. I agree with that – in any case, he would know this better ... Read the article →

The Mormonism that has inspired me from childhood is the ecumenical Mormonism. It doesn’t pretend to exclusive access to God. And it welcomes truth from any source, whether it be Mormon, non-Mormon, or non-religious. Too many Mormons, like many persons of most other religions, are sectarian in their outlook. They ... Read the article →

On the “Mormon Transhumanist Association Response” website, Vblogger, who is a Mormon, questions why Mormon Transhumanists think we should try to use science and technology as means for transfiguration and resurrection to immortality. He demonstrates that the scriptures teach that God has already transfigured or resurrected persons in the past. ... Read the article →

On the Mormon Transhumanist Association Response blog, Vblogger asks how the pursuit of science, if not limited, can be reconciled with faith in Jesus Christ. Do we need the grace of God? If we can figure things out on our own, why do we need Christ? In the strictest sense, ... Read the article →

I’ve been watching the “Closer to Truth” videos on the subject of God. Thanks to Matthew Price for pointing them out to me. The videos follow a series of questions. While I don’t entirely agree with all the answers suggested in the videos, I have found them thought-provoking. Here are ... Read the article →

At a recent conference on transhumanism and spirituality, I spoke on Transfigurism and proposed the following thought experiment: Imagine a posthuman historian. Using the tools of quantum archeology, she traces backwards through time and space from effects to causes. Sampling a sufficiently large portion of her present, she attains a ... Read the article →

In the comments on an H+ Magazine article on “Why Christianity and Transhumanism are not Enemies,” Max More disagreed with my assessment of the inevitability of faith. Here’s the exchange, including an opening comment from someone named “Ben.” Ben: “Christianity is based on FAITH. Transhumanism is based on SCIENCE. What ... Read the article →

Below are thoughts I composed some time ago, as I read the introduction to “Postgenderism: Beyond the Gender Binary” by James Hughes and George Dvorsky. The authors respond to some of these criticisms in the body of their paper, but I composed these thoughts to illustrate what the idea of ... Read the article →

Like others before him, Paul Allen says that the “singularity is not near.” We will not anytime soon engineer computers superior to human brains, he argues. His argument is based on the observation that human biology, neurology and cognition are highly complex, and he concludes we will need to understand ... Read the article →

Thanks to Hank Pellissier for the opportunity to share my views on the subject of Mormonism and politics, and for the candor in his closing remarks on the article, “A Mormon? For President? Who are these people?”. I have many friends who are atheists, and although I’m a theist, their ... Read the article →

It is common, particularly in conservative circles, to hear that the world is becoming worse. However, the evidence indicates that the world is not going to hell. To the contrary, the world is becoming a better place: less violent, less poor and longer lived, and better educated. Sometimes when discussing ... Read the article →

Each morning as I merge on to the freeway to commute to work, I pass a billboard that asks me, “Where are you going? Heaven or Hell.” That’s so completely the wrong question, and the religious fundamentalism that provokes funding of these billboards is so completely evil. Yes. You read ... Read the article →

This is a transcript of my talk at the Turing Church Workshop 2011, today. The text is an early (and incomplete) draft of a paper I hope to publish at some point. I look forward to your feedback. Like others today, I’m going to call your attention to the subject ... Read the article →