[ExI] Max More is back! Talk on “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism” in Second Life , June 8

[Bryan Bishop]

On Monday 26 May 2008, Giu1i0 Pri5c0 wrote:
> Max More is back. In his first public Second Life appearance, the
> founder of contemporary transhumanism will discuss unsolved problems
> within the movement:

For what it's worth, I think all of these problems are solved, but their 
solutions have not received widespread proliferation yet.

> - Communication Strategy: How can we communicate ideas most
> effectively and rationally, overcoming the typical tension between
> the two? How does this relate to constrained and unconstrained
> visions of transhumanism (in Thomas Sowell's terms)?

Let's communicate by showing people the goods. As for the more "far out" 
ideas, that's just done by countering assumptions when people start to 
question 'how will your way of life work out, what about money' etc.

> - Visionary Horizon: How far should we focus on offering solutions to
> current problems vs. envisioning longer-term solutions and visions?
>
> - Visionary vs. Practical: To what extent should transhumanists try
> to be a movement that is organized, integrated, and directed? Should
> the movement or transhumanist activity concern itself primarily with
> ideas or practice or both, and should it include a major component
> that is a practical guide to self-transformation?

The practical guide to self transformation (see below) is already in 
progress. But the trick is the presentation of how to approach it. 
Maybe literally handing people with discs of information and 
instructions for specific problem solutions might be worth it, for 
example "I might have xyz disease, what do I do?" and then hand them 
off some medical information. It's estimated that 10,000 pages are 
enough for a typical four-year undergraduate degree, and there are 
billions of pages on the internet, a good number of them of high 
quality. Just making a case.

> - Bridging the Knowing-doing Gap: Both as movement and as
> individuals, how can be do better to practice what we espouse?

Perhaps a community-driven knowledgebase of self-transformation and 
making things, both for the body and mind. Like food, or nootropics, or 
even making new tools: http:/oscomak.net/

> - Organizing: How can we better organize and converse, using the best
> available knowledge to do so?

Follow debian's example.
http://heybryan.org/exp.html
http://debian.org/

This provides a very easy way to download information and software that 
can be used to automate an increasing number of life's subtle aspects 
that really, frankly, we don't have to deal with, so that we can focus 
on what matters most to us.

> As always, Dr. More welcomes feedback on his thinking.
>
> Join us in Second Life on Sunday, June 8, at 10:00am 12:00 PST -
> 12:00 2:00pm CST - 1:00pm 3:00pm EST - 6:00pm 8:00pm UK - 7:00pm
> 9:00pm Continental Europe. The talk will be hosted by
> SL-Transhumanists @ Extropia Core. SLURL

Sounds good.

- Bryan
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http://heybryan.org/