[ExI] NBIC - CONTECS Final Report

Natasha Vita-More natasha at natasha.cc
Tue Oct 7 16:23:06 UTC 2008


Bty, here are the links and my thoughts:
 
Converging Technologies US report
http://www.wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/  
CONTECS Euro Final Report   <http://www.contecs.fraunhofer.de/>
http://www.contecs.fraunhofer.de/ 
 
The CONTECS report was not visionary (as G. said)  but a response to the US
report in analyzing its substance/claims.  I enjoyed reading it.  I wasn't
looking for visionary ideas - I have been around them for decades. I wanted
as close to an objective analysis as possible and I think CONTECS delivered
on this point.  I found that it valued the US report and was attempting to
discover a place for Europe in the NBIC arena.  Even though it mentioned
transhumanist on one hand, which surprised me, and the precautionary
principle on the other, it did not diss Transhumanism or human performance
enhancements -- it simply claims social issues of greater value.
 
In sum, I found CONTECS a weak means for Europe to get in the game and to
piece-meal out an area which it can claim as territory and a knowledge
source.  I was impressed that (even though it said US report was
reductionist, etc. and didn't want to be bothered with Transhumanism), it
did not ignore NBIC and found substantial value in it -- enough to compete
for knowledge/evidence/value/.
 

Nlogo1.tif  <http://www.natasha.cc/> Natasha Vita-More

 

  _____  

From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Natasha
Vita-More
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 10:05 AM
To: 'ExI chat list'; extrobritannia at yahoogroups.com; 'World Transhumanist
Association Discussion List'
Subject: [ExI] NBIC - CONTECS Final Report


I was just reading "Converging Technologies and Their Impact on the Social
Sciences and Humanities" (CONTECS) report (May 2008) and its views
concerning the US NBIC directives on one hand and the European directives on
the other.

The report claims the US has a reductionist and technodeterministic
approach, while the European approach claims to be transdiciplinary and
concerned with society rather than human enhancement, per se.

There is far more to the report than this observation. But I was wondering
if anyone has read this report and what do you think about it? 

Nlogo1.tif  <http://www.natasha.cc/> Natasha Vita-More

 
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