[ExI] MEDIA: TransVision 2007 - Chicago July 23-26, 2007

[Natasha Vita-More]

Greetings!

I hope to see you at TransVision 2007 in Chicago!

______________________________________________________________________

               *** MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

WILLIAM SHATNER, ED BEGLEY JR., RAY KURZWEIL AND AUBREY DE GREY TO KEYNOTE
NINTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL TRANSVISION 2007 CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO

Inventor, Author and Futurist Ray Kurzweil To Be Awarded The H.G. Wells Award
For Technological Contributions To Humanity At Gala Awards Dinner

WHO: The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) is 
hosting the ninth annual TransVision conference, 
a leading international gathering of science, 
technology and policy leaders, and will hold this 
year’s event at Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel from 
July 24 - 26, 2007.  It is only the second time 
that the TransVision conference will be held in 
the United States.  This year’s theme is 
“Transhumanity Saving Humanity: Inner Space to 
Outer Space” with keynotes by internationally 
renowned visionaries William Shatner, Emmy award 
winning actor, environmentalist; Ed Begley Jr., 
actor and environmentalist; Ray Kurzweil, 
inventor, author and futurist; and Aubrey de 
Grey, acclaimed longevity scientist.

Confirmed presenters include: Peter Diamondis, 
XPrize Foundation; Max More, strategic 
philosopher and author of philosophy of 
transhumanism; James Gardner, author; Marvin 
Minsky, the father of artificial intelligence; 
Jerome C. Glenn, Millenium Project; Martine 
Rothblatt, founder, Terasem Movement;  Natasha 
Vita-More, artist and author of  Transhuman 
Statement; Nick Bostrom, Director of the Oxford 
Future of Humanity Institute; James Hughes, 
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and 
Emerging Technologies; Sky Marsen, Ph.D., 
Semiotics Expert, Linguistics and Cognitive 
Science, University of London; Ron Bailey, 
Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine; Ralph 
Merkle, Alcor Foundation, Michael Weiner, 
President, Biophan Technologies; Michael 
Ekstract, Editor, Verdant Magazine; Barbara Marx 
Hubbard, Foundation for Conscious Evolution; 
Giorgio Gaviraghi, Mars Society Italia; and Dr. 
Andrew Rosenson, Heartscan Chicago.

WHAT: Speakers will address how emerging 
technology will give our societies the ability to 
solve the grand challenges facing humanity. 
Global health, the environment and space 
development will be addressed. The conference 
will consist of three days of intensive briefings 
by some of the most influential futurists, 
innovators, policy leaders and celebrities from 
the U.S. and around the globe.

·         Day 1: Inner Space: Transforming 
Ourselves -- Aging, Life Extension, Nanotech, 
Nanomedicine, Bionics, Biotech, Strategies for 
Engineered Negligible Senescence, Cryonics
·         Day 2: Meta Space: Transforming 
Humanity -- Environment, Global Warming, 
Sustainable Housing, Alternative Energy, 
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality
·         Day 3: Outer Space: Beyond the Planet 
-- Future Humans, Colonizing Outer space, Space Tourism, Future Civilizations

In addition, inventor, author and futurist Ray 
Kurzweil will be awarded the prestigious H.G. 
Wells Award, named after Herbert George Wells, a 
19th and 20th Century English futurist and 
writer.  The WTA will honor Ray Kurzweil for 
outstanding technical contributions made to 
humanity, at the Gala awards dinner reception on 
Thursday, July 26 at the Fairmont Hotel, Chicago. 
As one of the leading inventors of our time, Ray 
was the principal developer of the first CCD 
flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical 
character recognition, the first print-to-speech 
reading machine for the blind, the first 
text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music 
synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano 
and other orchestral instruments, and the first 
commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech 
recognition. Ray Kurzweil also has written five 
books, four of which have been national best 
sellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been 
translated into 9 languages and was the #1 best 
selling book on Amazon in science. Ray’s latest 
book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York 
Times best seller, and has been the #1 book on 
Amazon in both science and philosophy.

WHEN:
·         Monday, July 23, 2007: Opening night 
reception at Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel
·         Tuesday, July 24 – Thursday, July 26, 2007: Conference sessions
·         Thursday, July 26, 2007: Gala awards 
dinner reception Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel

WHERE: Fairmont Hotel, 200 North Columbus Drive 
Chicago, Illinois; Tel: (312) 565-8000; Fax: (312) 856-1032

HOW: To register for TransVision 2007 ($575 until 
June 30; $175 for students; $125 for Gala 
dinner); visit <http://www.transvision2007.com/>www.transvision2007.com

MEDIA INTERVIEWS: For interviews with conference 
speakers and TransVision 2007 Conference Chair, 
contact Emanuela Cariolagian, 323.644.2111 or 
<mailto:press at transvision2007.com>press at transvision2007.com


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