[ExI] Book & Transhumanism Knowledge & Media Center - Science, Tech, Arts, Culture, Philosophy

[Natasha Vita-More]

Friends,

 

Max More and I have been working with our publisher Wiley-Blackwell to
produce what we hope will be a valuable contribution to transhumanism: The
Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science,
Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future, which contains 40 essays by
seminal thinkers. This book brings together the visionary zeal of extropy
and the analytics of scholarship. 

 

Here is what is being said: 

-Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick for Wired: "We are in the process of upgrading
the human species, so we might as well do it with deliberation and
foresight. A good first step is this book, which collects the smartest
thinking available concerning the inevitable conflicts, challenges and
opportunities arising as we re-invent ourselves. It's a core text for anyone
making the future."

-Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of
Oxford:"Transhumanism has moved from a fringe concern to a mainstream
academic movement with real intellectual credibility. This is a great taster
of some of the best emerging work. In the last 10 years, transhumanism has
spread not as a religion but as a creative rational endeavor."

-Edward Keller, Director, Center for Transformative Media, Parsons The New
School for Design: "The Transhumanist Reader is an important, provocative
compendium critically exploring the history, philosophy, and ethics of
transhumanism. The contributors anticipate crucial biopolitical, ecological
and planetary implications of a radically technologically enhanced
population."

-Sonia Arrison, Best-selling author of 100 Plus: How The Coming Age of
Longevity Will Change Everything: "This important book contains essays by
many of the top thinkers in the field of transhumanism. It's a must-read for
anyone interested in the future of humankind."

To accompany this book, we are building a knowledge center that covers the
book's content and links to the many great works of arts and culture. I
think it will have a strong position in the arts community (and with Michael
Masucci (who is here on this list!) and EZTV, Parsons, UAT, Singularity
University, and some of the major international arts festivals like GOGBOT,
Ars Electronica, Siggraph, etc. and the human-computer interaction (HCI)
events.

 

This knowledge and media center offers the simple yet poignant question: If
transhumanism, then what?  The possibilities of this question can spin our
minds into all sorts of extropic visions and into the depths of our
imagination. 

 

Onward!

Natasha

 

 

Natasha Vita-More, PhD

Professor, University of Advancing Technology

Chairman, Humanity+

Co-Founder, Institute for Transhumanism

 

 

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