News
From Order of Cosmic Engineers
The News page contains news relevant for members and friends of the Order of Cosmic Engineers.
Religion for a Galactic Civilization 2.0, by William Sims Bainbridge
Terasem Movement’s 5th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology
Ben Goertzel’s Cosmist Manifesto - Ben Goertzel has written a Cosmist Manifesto which I consider as a seminal document, and recommend to everyone. He has included a short summary on Ten Cosmist Convictions based on an earlier draft of mine which was discussed on the Cosmic Engineers mailing list. Needless to say, Ben’s edits, which include many improvements to 1-7 and the new points 8-10, have made my original draft much better. Thanks Ben!
Transvision Nexus in Second Life - The Transvision Nexus island in Second Life is dedicated to transhumanist outreach, conferences, seminars and social events. It is managed by several transhumanist groups, including the Cosmic Engineers and the Italian Transhumanists. The sim will also host the Second Life part of the Transvision 2010 conference, organized by the Italian Transhumanist Association.
The launch of the Singularity University, of the most interesting initiatives of the first decade of the third millennium, indicates that a wave of disruptive change beyond imagination, enabled by next generation technologies, is on the horizon.
Transhumanism in Flux, a new high profile science magazine -- As one of the founders of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, ‘a new transhumanistic organization that (amongst other things) aims to give people a scientifically sound ‘warm, accessible’ alternative to the ‘emotional chill’ that has arisen due to the disappearance of religion’, Philippe Van Nedervelde offers a mind boggling cosmic vision:
Transhumanists think that humanity is destined for the universe. We will be able to leave our biological substrate within the foreseeable future. We will then transfer our consciousness and intelligence to other matter. Compare it with buying a new car when your old one begins to rattle. Our transhuman matter will be intelligent and conscious and will spread by degrees throughout the universe. Perhaps civilizations elsewhere in this universe will go the same way. Ultimately, after a long, long time, all the matter in the cosmos will be intelligent and conscious. A metaconsciousness or new universal entity will gradually reach maturity. Christians would deem this being God. It could indeed be a natural god, but not a supernatural one. What will happen then? We may become part of a gigantic cosmic merry-go-round, possibly even a simulation, and then everything will start all over again either on the same level or a higher one each time around.
The Baltimore Sun, Virtual immortality: Martine Rothblatt envisions you uploading a digital version of yourself that could live forever online. It's not her first far-out idea.
Whole brain emulation (WBE) is the possible future one-to-one modelling of the function of the human brain. It represents a formidable engineering and research problem, yet one which appears to have a well-defined goal and could, it would seem, be achieved by extrapolations of current technology. Since the implications of successful WBE are potentially very large the Future of Humanity Institute hosted a workshop in Oxford on 26-27 May, 2007. Invited experts from areas such as computational neuroscience, brain-scanning technology, computing, and neurobiology presented their findings and discussed the possibilities, problems and milestones that would have to be reached before WBE becomes feasible. The result of the workshop is the following Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap.
Author Anders Sandberg will give a talk on Emulating brains: silicon dreams or the next big thing? at the next Extrobritannia meeting scheduled for Saturday November the 22nd 2008; 2:00pm - 4:00pm. There are plans to webcast the event in a video streaming format also compatible with Second Life, watch for news.
The Terasem Journal of Geoethical Nanotechnology has an article on Awaken the Universe -- Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers, by Philippe Van Nedervelde. This article was adapted from a lecture given by Philippe Van Nedervelde, MA Comm., FLF, co-founder of the Order of Cosmic Engineers (OCE), during the 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology on July 20, 2008 at the Terasem Island Amphitheatre in Second Life. Philippe discusses the benefits and methods to developing the technologies purported to enhance, thus expand, human health and life spans.
Two articles about the Order of Cosmic Engineer in Italian, on the transhumanist e-zine Estropico: Tecnosalvazione, transumanismo e religione and a previous article on Transumanesimo e religione: l'Ordine degli Ingegneri Cosmici.
Cosmic Engineers meetings in Second Life are now IRC-enabled. The #cosmeng IRC channel is linked to the chat area in Second Life by a Second Life - IRC gateway developed by David aka Lucifer. The weekly meeting of October 26 (see Chat Logs/2008-10-26) was the first IRC-enabled meeting with the participation of people not in SL.
Next Cosmic Engineers meeting in Second Life: Discussion of CTRL-ALT-R: REBAKE YOUR REALITY - with Extropia DaSilva: A mind boggling ride in the mindscape of wild ideas about the fabric of our reality, fueled by analogies with VR worlds and our best theories of fundamental physics. We are beginning to build synthetic worlds, of which Second Life is only one of the first examples. Soon our synthetic worlds will be sensorially indistinguishable from physical reality, and populated by intelligent beings - artificial intelligences and uploaded copies of ourselves. What does this tell us about the ultimate nature of our reality? Sunday October 12 at 10am PST/SLT (1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm Continental EU). MORE: Extropia speaks to Cosmic Engineers in Extropia - See also my CA Resurrection movie and article with excerpts from writings of Moravec, who was probably the first thinker to articulate the reality-as-simulation theory and its "resurrection-by-AI" part in its modern formulation.
News for September 24: This wiki has been ported to MediaWiki 1.13.1. We have created a new public wiki, freely editable by everyone. There are some very interesting discussions on the Cosmic Engineers mailing list. We have created an Intranet @ Google Apps, initially for members of the the College of Architects. Cosmic Engineers will meet regularly in Second Life on Sundays at 10am PST/SLT (1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm Continental EU). The Cosmic Engineers Second Life meeting point is on the Extropia Core sim - you can use this SLURL to teleport. Depending on those present, some Sunday meetings will be informal social or organizational chats, and others will be mainly dedicated to communicating our cosmic transhumanist vision to visitors. On occasions the Sunday meeting will morph into a seminar with one or more keynote speaker(s) and be announced in Current events on the Cosmic Engineers website. The first regular meeting will take place on Sunday September 28.
The Port Moravec sim, adjacent to the Cosmic Engineers @ Extropia Core parcel:
The Cosmic Engineers mailing list of the Order of Cosmic Engineers is now open. Unmoderated posting by list subscribers is now enabled, with the objective to make this the best and most useful information source and discussion space for all things related to Transhumanism and Cosmic Engineering. Please request to join the Cosmic Engineers mailing list if you wish to participate. If appropriate, please request to join also the Cosmic Engineers Facebook Group, the Cosmic Engineers SL Group in Second Life, and the Cosmic Engineers Guild in World of Warcraft. Most requests will be approved.
The Order of Cosmic Engineers has its own Wikipedia entry, which is being edited by several Architects and supporters. Of course, some Wikipedia administrators alreday wish to delete the entry. NOTE: The page was deleted by unfriendly administrators. Here is a recent backup.
David Pearce, the British philosopher, activist and co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association, was the featured guest of the August 27, 2008 episode of The Future and You.. Topics include: Wireheading, recreational drugs, chewing coca leaves for micro-doses of cocaine, the abolition of suffering in all sentient life, veganism verses vegetarianism, why he is a founding member of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, the journal Medical Hypotheses, how he learned that he was a transhumanist, and how this lead to his co-founding of the World Transhumanist Association.
After a reorganization of websites I put the article Shadows and the concept of self, that Richard L. Miller and I wrote in 2005, on this wiki. Quantum self, entanglement, Everett's MWI, many-minds, ESP etc.
Sent from Eschatoon to members of SL-Transhumanists:
Please note that, beginning in September, I and other core members of SL-Transhumanists will organize future activities in Second Life as part of the initiatives of the Order of Cosmic Engineers http://cosmeng.org/ in SL and other VR worlds. I have also assigned the land at Extropia Core to the Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life. The parcel will be shared between the two groups. The SL-Transhumanist group will continue to organize events under the lead of other core members.
I wish to encourage you to consider joining the Order of Cosmic Engineers and the Cosmic Engineers group in Second Life. The SL group is not open for public join, but please IM me (Eschatoon Magic or Giulio Perhaps) or one of the other members and we will invite you to the group.
If you wish to come on board, please request to join also the:
Cosmic Engineers mailing list http://groups.google.com/group/cosmic-engineers/
Cosmic Engineers Facebook Group http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17135408557 if you are on Facebook
Cosmic Engineers Guild in World of Warcraft if you are on WoW
Ben Goertzel, noted scientist, author, futurist and pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, was the featured guest of the August 13, 2008 Episode of The Future and You. Topics he discusses include: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the singularity, transhumanism, human immortality and how long he expects to live, and why (like the show's host Stephen Euin Cobb) he is a founding member of the Order of Cosmic Engineers. The Future and You (Wikipedia) is an award-winning podcast hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb. The show's host interviews a variety of authors, scientists, celebrities and "pioneers of the future" as to what they believe both the near future and distant future will be like for individuals as well as for humanity in general. See also the coverage at IEET. Direct link to the MP3 podcast
On July 20, 2008, Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director of the European Foresight Institute and one of the founding members of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, gave a presentation on Awaken The Universe -- Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers, at the 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology. The workshop took place at the Terasem Amphitheater in Second Life and explored what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness. Click here for detailed information, full text, PPT and video coverage.
Image: Sculpture "Converging Aspirations" by Philippe Van Nedervelde on Terasem island, Second Life. Larger Version.
New: Lively chatrooms
Article "Courting Controversy: Out of the Mainstream" on Science Careers: "Bainbridge continues to explore topics further from the mainstream than most other scientists are comfortable with. For example, he is spearheading a multidisciplinary effort to achieve the science-fiction dream of uploading human personalities in digital form. "Our bodies are too frail for space travel," says Bainbridge, "so this will be the only way we can truly visit other stars." Aside from speculative articles, he is using the tools of psychology to try to better define what personality is. With his study of players in Azeroth, he hopes to get hard measurements of how flexible our identities really are. "This brings my interests full circle," Bainbridge says. "I foresee a future battle for survival between religion and science-based technologies of immortality."
Awaken The Universe -- Introducing the Order of Cosmic Engineers
Philippe Van Nedervelde, Executive Director, European Foresight Institute
4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology, July 20, Terasem Island, Second Life
Terasem Movement invites you to attend its 4th Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology to be held on Sunday, July 20, 2008. The workshop will take place at the Terasem Amphitheater in Second Life.
The workshop will explore what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness. Click here for detailed information.
Cosmic Engineers by Simak was published in 1950 by Gnome Press in an edition of 6,000 copies, of which 1,000 were bound in paperback for an armed forces edition. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1939. Review: "The cosmic scope provides the sense of wonder that is the hallmark of good science fiction".
I (Eschatoon) am very pleased to see that the first top blogger to comment on the launch of the Order has been one of my favorite writers. In an article about the Singularity, Charlie Stross writes:
Now the rapture-nerds have indeed begun to codify their beliefs. Allow me to introduce you to the Order of Cosmic Engineers. It is their intention to "joyfully set out to permeate our universe with benign intelligence, building and spreading it from inner space to outer space and beyond." And they explain:
The Order is, at the same time, a transhumanist association, a space advocacy group, a spiritual movement, a literary salon, a technology observatory, an idea factory, a virtual worlds development group, and a global community of persons willing to take an active role in building, in realizing a sunny future. As engineers, we aim to build what cannot be readily found. Adopting an engineering approach and attitude, we aim to turn this universe into a "magical" realm.
There's a lot more where this came from — indeed there's a whole huge prospectus, awaiting release next Sunday (which will be accessible here); Their formal launch event will be hosted by the Science Guild in World of Warcraft on June 14 at noon EST. I've seen an early draft of the prospectus, and it is indeed something special. Let's just say for now that I await its publication with interest: it's bad manners to critique an early draft of divine scripture before it's launched.
See also the very interesting comments thread.
4th ANNUAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON GEOETHICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY
TERASEM MOVEMENT, INC.
TERASEM ISLAND, SECOND LIFE
JULY 20, 2008
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST
WHO: All professionals with an interest in nanotechnology, cryonic revival, and cyber-consciousness.
WHAT: The Virtual Workshop offers a forum to exchange of scholarly views regarding what geoethical management, if any, is appropriate for the nanotechnology necessary for cryonic revival and/or embodiment of downloaded cyber-consciousness.
WHEN: July 20, 2008 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST – the 39th Anniversary of the first lunar launch.
WHERE: Terasem Island in SecondLife at http://www.secondlife.com (Teleport to one of the following coordinates: 121.155.30)
WHY: To develop an optimal body of policy in advance of the immediate need for such when scientists and entrepreneurs present society with immortalizing nanotechnology.
HOW: Submit a title and 100-word abstract for a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation to lori@terasemcentral.org no later than June 20, 2008. Accepted presenters will be notified by July 1, 2008. Each presenter will be provided with 20 minutes to make their PowerPoint presentation to the workshop attendees (all of whom are presenters), as well as to the general public via webcasting. In between each presentation a further 20 minute period is provided for discussion. All presentations and discussions will be transcribed and submitted to each presenter for his/her approval. Once a presenter approves his/her transcript, it will be posted on the workshop website and may also be published in the Online Journal of Geoethical Nanotechnology.
For further information contact:
Lori Rhodes at: 321-676-3690 ext. 100
Or
lori@terasemcentral.org
