[extropy-chat] Extropy Institute Newsletter

Thu Jul 15 00:35:12 UTC 2004

Extropy Institute Newsletter
July News (07-14-04)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings!

We are featuring four topics in this month's Exponent 
Newsletter. First is the new article by R.U. 
Sirius in NeoFiles on Max More. "R.U. 
Sirius is co-
founder of MONDO 
2000, vocalist-and-lead theoretician for MONDO. 
R.U. co-authored two books with former 
MONDO 2000 Senior Editor St. Jude, How to 
Mutate 
and Take Over the World (fiction, Ballantine Books, 
fall, 
1995) and Cyberpunk Handbook: The Real 
Cyberpunk 
Fake Book (humor, Random House, fall, 1995)."

Also in this <i>Exponent</i> is the announcement of 
the new meeting hall for the <i><b>Transhumanist 
Cooperative Colloquium</b></i>, for 
better communication amongst transhumanist 
organizations.<p>

Another point of interest is space architect John 
Spencer and his new 
book, Space Tourism: Do You Want To Go?
. 
John has been an early advocate of 
transhuman ideas in Los Angeles since way back in the 
early
1980s. He is also on ExI's 
Executive Advisory Team (EAT).

Lastly, and with a finger on a rapid pulse, is a reminder 
to register for the TransVision 2004 Conference 
to be held in Toronto, Canada from August 6 - 8th.<p>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the News:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* R.U. Sirius Talks with Max More
* <b>"Transhumanist Mainman" in NeoFiles</b>
* <b>Transhumanist Cooperative Colloquium</b>
* John Spencer - Space Architect - <b>"Welcome Aboard"</b> to Space!
* Register for <b>TransVision 2004</b> - Toronto, Canada   August 6-8, 2004

R.U. Sirius Talks with Max More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read R.U. Sirius's NeoFiles Article here - >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.wsx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.life-enhancement.com%2FNeoFiles%2Fdefault.asp%3FID%3D39

"Transhumanist Mainman" in NeoFiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max More: Transhumanist Mainman 
Max In Conversation With R.U. - an excerpt from the 
article.

NF: One thing both the precautionary and Proactionary 
principles have in common is that they are based 
largely on foresight and prediction. These are ultimately 
subjective thought processes, even when factually 
based, true? How do we develop forecasting to the 
highest level of possible accuracy?

"MM: Thank you, RU, for such a vital closing question. 
If 
we're going to avoid costly, even deadly, errors of 
judgment, and if we're to make the most of the future, 
we must improve our forecasting abilities. Human brains 
really stink when it comes to forecasting; they evolved 
to enhance survival under radically different, simpler 
circumstances. The challenge just keeps mounting as 
the social-technological environment becomes more 
complex. Information technology, as we all know, is 
accelerating the transmission of ideas, practices, and 
responses. Various human biases and tendencies, such 
as our imitative behavior, is generating faster and 
faster cycles, greater instability, and higher levels of 
uncertainty (at least over short periods of time).

And further  -  

"MM: Now, I'm not sure that forecasting and prediction 
are 
always or necessarily "ultimately subjective thought 
processes." Forecasting methods can be tested. Scott 
Armstrong has done amazing work in this area. The 
book he produced in collaboration with many others, 
The Principles of Forecasting should be in the library of 
neophiles of every stripe. As Armstrong and others 
have demonstrated, some forecasting methods are 
more reliable than others, or work better in particular 
kinds of situations. Scott especially likes role-playing, 
and has shown that it routinely beats out other 
methods such as expert opinions.

"MM: We neophiles now have a large toolkit of 
forecasting 
and decision-making methods available to us. We need 
to be aware of the options, and learn how to choose 
the right tool for the job, then use that tool carefully. 
I've written quite a bit about this, most recently 
summarizing a major chunk of the challenge 
in "Debugging Executive Decision Making." Simply 
finding forecasting methods that reduce subjectivity in 
judgment is easy. There are plenty of them: Scenario 
planning, role playing, agent-based modeling, idea 
futures markets, prospective hindsight, Delphi Survey, 
peripheral sensing and scanning, reference-class 
forecasting, sensemaking software, even the emerging 
fields of neuroeconomics and psychomarketing, or the 
tongue-twisting, Nobel Prize-winning tool of 
autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity. Far more 
challenging is the task of choosing the most effective 
and fitting method."

Read more ... >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.wsx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.life-enhancement.com%2FNeoFiles%2Fdefault.asp%3FID%3D39

Transhumanist Cooperative Colloquium
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The TransColloquium is a meeting place for futurist 
organizations in our community to come together, 
calendar events, leverage our joint knowledge and 
capabilities, discuss issues, and exchange ideas 
concerning our shared transhumanist culture. Since our 
community has grown over the years, it is time that we 
have a forum where no one organization dominates, and 
one which provides a fluid, shared space for our 
community.

The first meeting will be held in the online meeting room 
from August 22 through 24, 2004.

Each meeting will be chaired by a different organization. 
That organization will set the agenda, accepting 
suggestions from the Colloquium community.

Extropy Institue will be chairing the first meeting and  
Foresight Institute has been selected to moderate.

Transhumanist Cooperative Colloquium >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.6sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.transcolloquium.org

John Spencer - Space Architect - "Welcome Aboard" to Space!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Space Tourism: Do You Want To Go?

"The Space Tourism Quest is the first book published in 
the United States on the space tourism theme. It was 
written and designed by one of the worlds leading 
authorities and pioneers in the growing field of space 
tourism, space architect, John Spencer. Founder and 
president of the Space Tourism Society, (STS) 
www.spacetourismsociety.org.

"In it he premieres his vision, the "Destiny" orbital super 
yacht design and master development industry plan for 
expanding the space tourism movement and creating 
the long-term space tourism industry.

"His plan offers opportunities for non-rocket scientists 
to participate today, to make a difference, and to have 
a wonderful time in the process."

- We asked John says he would like to participate as a 
space architect in an Extro Conference <i>Designing 
the Future</i> in 2005/2006. All go and thumbs-up to a 
positive and resounding, "Yes I would!"

John Spencer has been making a difference ever since 
he started his first space architecture firm in Hollywood 
in the late 1970s.  Keeping one foot in front of the 
other and practicing his space walk, he will pioneer 
what he calls "the design frontier."

<p>John sees us (transhumans) in a highly positive 
light with "limitless opportunities to improve our 
species in a consicous and meaningfull way."

In doing so, he says that we need to find 
the  "Simplest 
solutions and do that again and again until it all looks 
so obviously simple that everyone will say 'Anyone 
could design that, and they will 
never know what you went through, how much 
[<i>God</i>] 
went through before developing 
his hydrogen atoms and blades of grass and eggs.'" 
Buckminster Fuller, April 18, 1974

Check it out on Amazon - >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.5sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Ftg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F1894959086%2Fqid%3D1089829613%2Fsr%3D1-13%2Fref%3Dsr_1_13%2F002-0090227-5260007%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks

Register for <b>TransVision 2004</b> - Toronto, Canada   August 6-8, 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't forget to register for TransVision 2004!

Register Now! >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.4sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.transhumanism.org%2Ftv%2F2004%2Fregistration.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extropy Institute >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.ysx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fnew.extropy.org%2F
The Proactionary Principle >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.zsx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fproactionaryprinciple.htm
How do I join ExI? >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.9sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Fmembership.htm
Subscribe to Extropy-Chat email list? >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.8sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extropy.org%2Femaillists.htm
Go to Transhumanist Arts & Culture to Exhibit your Digital Arts at TransVision 2004! >> http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=kfo7m8n6.rmatvyn6.7sx7n8n6.yb4rxun6.2058&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.transhumanist.biz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: info at extropy.org
voice: 512 263-2749
web: http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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