Kurt Saxon – Survivalism, Survivalists

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Many people take safety measures in order to be prepared in the case of an emergency, such as storing bottled water, canned food, flashlights, batteries and whatnot. Survivalists, however, go one, or rather, many steps farther by basing their entire lifestyle on an ongoing preparation for major social and political disruptions. Some of the events that survivalists fear, or even expect, will happen are clusters of natural and/or nuclear disasters; war; collapse of society due to shortage or unavailability of electricity, fuel, food, water; economic collapse, a sudden pandemic; and basically any other panorama of the end times.

Survivalism is believed to have originated in the 1960s, when the threat of a nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia was latent, and even though the movement has gone somewhat dormant, events in every decade have brought new waves of survivalism, for instance the 1973 crisis, the renewed US-USSR arm race in the 80s, the Y2K computer bug in 1999, and the 9/11 events.

Categories of survivalists, which may overlap each other, include safety preparedness oriented (learns principles and techniques for surviving such common calamities as structure fires, dog attacks, physical confrontations, snake bites, lightning strikes, car breakdowns, bear encounters, flash floods, home invasions, train wrecks and others that can occur anywhere at any time), wilderness survival emphasis (is concerned with thirst, hunger, climate, terrain, health, stress and fear in cases of plane crashes, shipwrecks, being lost in the woods), self defense driven (personal protection, martial arts, self defense tactics), brief natural disasters (tornado, hurricane, flood, wildfire, earthquake or heavy snowfall), long natural disasters (unusually long and cold or warm periods), indefinite natural disaster (global warning or cooling), bio chem scenario (spread of diseases through biological agents), malthusian (uncontrolled human population growth), monetary disasters investors (preparing for paper money to become worthless through hyperinflation), and others.

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Kurt Saxon - Survivalism, Survivalists

Dr. Charles Kay Egoism – Wofford College

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Egoism is a teleological theory of ethics that sets as its goal the benefit, pleasure, or greatest good of the oneself alone. It is contrasted with altruism, which is not strictly self-interested, but includes in its goal the interests of others as well. There are at least three different ways in which the theory of egoism can be presented:

Psychological Egoism This is the claim that humans by nature are motivated only by self-interest . Any act, no matter how altruistic it might seem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of the agent (e.g., desire for reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness). This is a descriptive claim about human nature. Since the claim is universalall acts are motivated by self interestit could be proven false by a single counterexample.

It will be difficult to find an action that the psychological egoist will acknowledge as purely altruistic, however. There is almost always some benefit to ourselves in any action we choose. For example, if I helped my friend out of trouble, I may feel happy afterwards. But is that happiness the motive for my action or just a result of my action? The psychological egoist must demonstrate that the beneficial consequences of an action are actually the motivation of of all of our actions. But why would it make me happy to see my friend out of trouble if I didn't already care about my friend's best interest? Wouldn't that be altruism?

Ethical Egoism This is the claim that individuals should always to act in their own best interest. It is a normative claim. If ethical egoism is true, that appears to imply that psychological egoism is false: there would be no point to saying that we ought to do what we must do by nature.

But if altruism is possible, why should it be avoided? Some writers suggest we all should focus our resources on satisfying our own interests, rather than those of others. Society will then be more efficient and this will better serve the interests of all. By referring to the interests of all, however, this approach reveals itself to be a version of utilitarianism, and not genuine egoism. It is merely a theory about how best to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.

An alternative formulation of ethical egoism states that I ought to act in my own self-interesteven if this conflicts with the values and interests of otherssimply because that is what I value most. It is not clear how an altruist could argue with such an individualistic ethical egoist, but it is also not clear that such an egoist should choose to argue with the altruist. Since the individualistic egoist believes that whatever serves his own interests is (morally) right, he will want everyone else to be altruistic. Otherwise they would not serve the egoist's interests! It seems that anyone who truly believed in individualistic ethical egoism could not promote the theory without inconsistency. Indeed, the self-interest of the egoist is best served by publicly claiming to be an altruist and thereby keeping everyone's good favor.

Minimalist Egoism When working with certain economic or sociological models, we may frequently assume that people will act in such a way as to promote their own interests. This is not a normative claim and usually not even a descriptive claim. Instead it is a minimalist assumption used for certain calculations. If we assume only self-interest on the part of all agents, we can determine certain extreme-case (e.g., maximin) outcomes for the model. Implicit in this assumption, although not always stated, is the idea that altruistic behavior on the part of the agents, although not presupposed, would yield outcomes at least as good and probably better.

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Dr. Charles Kay Egoism - Wofford College

Psychological Egoism – University of Idaho

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Psychological Egoism

Definition. Individuals naturally act in their own interest; i.e., act to increase their own good or benefit.

Some of the Strongest Arguments in Favor

1. Many examples of such behavior, a known, sufficient, representative number of cases to allow induction.

2. Explanations of counter-examples as actually instances of egoism. A person desires some kind of good or benefit whether fame, being well-liked, or eternal life. Even someone who gives away most of their money to charity anonymously gets a sense of satisfaction---even if there is no other reward. Even a soldier who jumps on a grenade to save the lives of her buddies is actually doing action for own good or benefit.

Some of the Strongest Arguments Against Psychological Egoism:

1. Counter-examples of altruism, especially if these are "natural" impulses. (E.g., Mencius passerby who rescues a child from falling into a well.) Note: One does not have to demonstrate that persons always act altruistically--only that this has happened at least once.

2. Responses to psychological egoist claims that any counter-example is actually an example of egoism:

a) Is satisfaction or a good feeling the same as self-interest?

b) A person can have multiple motives, only one of which is self-interest. Often altruism and egoism co-exist and are compatible.

c) Whatever counter-examples opponents offer, psychological. egoists will always explain them as boiling down to self-interest. Therefore, psychological. egoism is an A priori premise, a closed argument, not an empirically demonstrable thesis.

3. Free will/determinism.

For more detailed arguments see article on "Egoism" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/ , the article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/egoism.htm ,, and on e-reserve Tom L. Beauchamp, Philosophical Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy, 56-66.

Ethical egoism.

Definition. Individuals ought to act in their own interest; i.e., act to increase their own good or benefit. They have a choice. They should choose to act in their own interest.

Some of the Strongest Arguments in Favor.

a. Each person most knowledgeable judge.

b. Adam Smiths "Invisible Hand" type of argument (called "conditional egoism" in the IEP web reading listed below.)

c. To criticisms of egoism as causing unacceptable harm to others: replies that caring for others and cooperation are actually in each individuals long run best interest.

Some of the Strongest Arguments Against.

a. Universalism: Should everyone be an ethical egoist? Related to b.

b. Conflict of Interests - no way to resolve

c. Actually, in many cases an argument for utilitarianism as with Smith.

d. Humans have a social character that ethical egoism may cause them to seek to buck. .

For more detailed arguments see the article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/the article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/egoism.htm , and on e-reserve Tom L. Beauchamp, Philosophical Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy, 56-66.

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Psychological Egoism - University of Idaho

Psychological Egoism – Philosophy Home Page

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Abstract: Psychological egoism, the view that people act solely in their own interest, is defined and shown not to be a meaningful ethical philosophy.

I. The distinction between psychological egoism and ethical egoism reflects the contrast of "is" verses "ought," "fact" verses "value," or "descriptive" verses "prescriptive."

II. By way of clarification of relevant terms, James Rachels, among others, points out common confusion concerning selfishness and self-interest.

III. The Refutation of Psychological Egoism: arguments to the conclusion that the generalization everyone acts from the motive of self-interest is false.

IV.Interestingly enough, the same objections can be raised against the view termed, "psychological altruism": all persons act from the motive of helping others, and all actions are done from other-regarding motives. (Psychological altruism is a view advanced only from the position of a "devil's advocate.")

V. As a final note, it should be mentioned that psychological egoism can't be saved by psychoanalytic theory. I.e., Freud's notion of the unconscious raises the possibility that we have unconscious desires and can act against our conscious inclinations. If it is argued that we always unconsciously seek our self-interest, then this view is untestable and circular as well.

Consider the following passage from Freud's Interpretations of Dreams*:

"A contradiction to my theory of dream produced by another of my women patients (the cleverest of all my dreamers) was resolved more simply, but upon the same pattern: namely that the nonfulfillment of one wish meant the fulfillment of another. One day I had been explaining to her that dreams are fulfillments of wishes. Next day she brought me a dream in which she was traveling down with her mother-in-law to the place in the country where they were to spend their holidays together. Now I knew that she had violently rebelled against the idea of spending the summer near her mother-in-law and that a few days earlier she had successfully avoided the propinquity she dreaded by engaging rooms in a far distant resort. And now her dream had undone the solution she had wished for; was not this the sharpest contradiction of my theory that in dreams wishes are fulfilled? No doubt; and it was only necessary to follow the dreams logical consequence in order to arrive at its interpretation. The dream showed that I was wrong. Thus it was her wish that I might be wrong, and her dream showed that wish fulfilled (italics original)"

*Sigmund Freud, The Interpretations of Dreams (New York: Avon, 1966), 185.

Recommended Sources

"We Are Not Always Selfish": (this site) A classic discussion of the many facets of ethical egoism in notes on James Rachel's work.

Altruism "in-built" in humans: BBC report of discovery of altruistic behavior in infants summarized from the journal Science.

"Studies Show Chimps to Be Collaborative.": A summary of an article from Science News describing research indicating that chimpanzees cooperate without the expectation of reward.

"Egoism": Explanation of egoism and altruism with a brief summary of refutations and defenses excerpted from Richard Kraut's "Egoism" in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Ethical Egoism: (this site) The various forms of ethical egoism are defined. Standard objections to ethical egoism are evaluated, and the conclusion is drawn that ethical egoism is incomplete.

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Psychological Egoism - Philosophy Home Page

Nihilism Wikipedia

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Nihilism (frn latinets nihil; ingenting) r en filosofisk position som argumenterar fr att existensen r utan objektiv mening eller intrinsikalt vrde (egenvrde, inneboende vrde). Nihilister anser generellt att moral inte existerar, allts finns inga moraliska vrden med vilka man kan upprtthlla en regel eller logiskt fredra en handling framfr en annan. Nihilister som argumenterar fr att det inte finns ngon objektiv moral kan hvda att existensen inte har ngon intrinsikal (inneboende) hgre mening eller ml. De kan ocks hvda att det inte finns ngot rationellt bevis eller argument fr att en hgre makt eller skapare skulle existera, samt att om en hgre makt skulle existera s har mnskligheten nd ingen moralisk skyldighet att avguda den.

Termen nihilism anvnds ibland synonymt med anomi fr att beskriva en generell knsla av hopplshet och meningslshet i existensen.[1] Rrelser ssom futurism och dekonstruktion,[2] bland andra, har identifierats av kommentatorer som "nihilistiska" i olika tidsperioder med olika kontext. Ofta betyder detta att den som anklagar en annan vill f sina egna sikter att framst som mer substantiella eller sanningsenliga, medan motstndarpartens sikter framhvs som nihilistiska, drmed jmfrbara med "inget" (eller helt enkelt destruktivt amoralistiska).

Nihilism r ocks ett karaktrsdrag som har satts p olika tidsperioder, till exempel har Jean Baudrillard och andra kallat postmodernismen fr en nihilistisk epok,[3] och vissa kristna teologer och personer med religis auktoritet har hvdat att postmodernismen[4] och mnga aspekter av moderniteten[2] representerar frnsttandet av Gud, och drfr r nihilistiska.

Nihilism (ryska nigilizm) r ven en frldrad, godtyckligt vald beteckning fr de politiska ytterlighetsrrelserna i Ryssland, srskilt p 1860- och 1870-talen. I den ryska litteraturen anvndes ordet frsta gngen av kritikern Nikolaj Nadezjdin[5] i betydelsen skeptiskt frnekande, men fick sin egentliga ryktbarhet genom Bazarov, den mot all auktoritetstro och allt bestende hnsynslst opponerande studenten i Ivan Turgenjevs roman Fder och sner. P 1880-talet frsvann detta p konservativt litterrt hll brukade slagord ur den ryska litteraturen, men fanns lnge kvar i den europeiska pressen och folkuppfattningen som gemensam benmning p ryska revolutionra rrelser och den ryska anarkistiska emigrantlitteraturen i allmnhet.[6][7]

Uttrycket lr i sin moderna anvndning komma frn rysk litteratur och d i betydelsen "om Gud inte existerar s r allt tilltet" (ofta felaktigt tillskrivet Dostojevskijs roman "Brderna Karamazov", men egentligen hrstammar detta uttalande frn Jean-Paul Sartre). Den ryska bonderrelsens narodniker och attentatsmn kallades ocks fr nihilister, men d i en verfrd betydelse.

Den svenska frfattaren Anne Charlotte Leffler skrev 1879 tragedin Nihilisterna, men kom av oknd anledning aldrig att fullborda detta verk.[8]

Framstende filosofer som tagit upp mnet r bland andra Friedrich Nietzsche och Martin Heidegger. Nietzsche beskrev kristendomen som en nihilistisk religion eftersom den konstant undviker utmaningen att hitta en mening med jordelivet och som i stllet har skapat en andlig projektion (himmelriket) dr moral och lidande inte existerar. Han ansg att nihilism var resultatet av Guds dd. Heidegger beskrev nihilism som det tillstnd dr "det inte finns ngot existerande kvar".

Nihilismen finns som skolastisk term, som ftt sitt namn av att Petrus Lombardus framstllde satsen att Guds sons mnniskoblivande inte varit ett egentligt ingende i mnskligheten, utan bara ett antagande av mnsklig gestalt, och att han fljaktligen vid intrdet i mnskligheten intet blivit. sikten frkastades p flera synoder (1163 och 1179).

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Nihilism Wikipedia

Posthumanismus Wikipedia

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Posthumanismus ist eine Philosophie, die darauf ausgerichtet ist traditionelle Konzeptionen des Menschseins neu zu berdenken. Das Konzept des "Posthumanen" eine berwindung des gegenwrtigen menschlichen Stadiums ist dabei eng verknpft mit der Denkrichtung des Transhumanismus.[1]

Im Gegensatz zum klassischen Humanismus wird dabei die besondere Stellung des Menschen negiert und er als eine unter vielen natrlichen Spezies dargestellt. Daraus wird u.a. geschlussfolgert, dass der Mensch auch nicht das Recht hat, die Natur zu zerstren oder sich selbst als ethisch hherwertig zu betrachten. Die Einschrnkungen und die Fehlbarkeit des Menschen werden verdeutlicht.

Trotz aller unterschiedlichen Argumentationen der Posthumanisten vereint diese der Gedanke, dass die biologische Menschheit den Gipfel ihrer Evolution bereits erreicht hat und die nchste Entwicklung von intelligentem Leben in den Hnden der knstlichen, computergesttzten Intelligenz liegt, die in vielen Bereichen dem Menschen berlegen sein knnte.

Der Posthumanismus beschreibt also ein Entwicklungszeitalter nach der Menschheit. Da dies naturgem in der Zukunft liegt, gibt es darber zunchst nur Spekulationen und Thesen. Allerdings versucht der Posthumanismus auch eine Beschreibung des posthumanen Menschen als hypothetisches zuknftiges Wesen, dessen Fhigkeiten die eines heutigen Menschen bei weitem bersteigen. Ein posthumanes Wesen kann also auch als Kreatur beschrieben werden, die durch eine Erweiterung der physischen und psychischen Fhigkeiten entsteht. Posthuman kann allerdings auch bedeuten, dass eine Einheit von menschlicher und knstlicher Intelligenz geschaffen wird und dass das Bewusstsein in einen fremden Krper oder Computer geladen wird.[2] Beispiele dafr knnen eine Vernderung des menschlichen Organismus durch Nanotechnologie oder einer Kombination von Gentechnik, Psychopharmakologie, lebensverlngernde Manahmen, neurale Schnittstellen, gedchtniserweiternde Drogen und tragbare oder implantierte Computertechnologie sein.

Ob der Transhumanismus als eine Spezialform des Posthumanismus angesehen werden sollte oder ob es sich um zwei unterschiedliche kulturelle Traditionen handelt wurde in den Jahren 2009 und 2010 in einigen Artikeln und einer Sonderausgabe der Zeitschrift "Journal of Evolution and Technology" errtert. Im Rahmen dieser Diskussion hat sich herausgestellt, dass es Grnde gibt davon auszugehen, dass Friedrich Nietzsche sowohl als Ahnherr des Trans- als auch des Posthumanismus angesehen werden kann.[3] Allerdings hatte er Vorlufer wie Guy de Maupassant, der in seiner Novelle Der Horla in hnlicher Weise sowohl die Unzulnglichkeiten des Menschen betonte, als auch auf ein Wesen, das ihn ersetzen werde, hinwies.

Im Bereich der Science-Fiction beschftigen sich u.a. folgende Autoren (explizit oder implizit) in ihren Werken mit Posthumanitt:

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Posthumanismus Wikipedia

Lhyperhumanisme contre le posthumanisme : article – Revue …

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Un texte de Herv Fisher Dossier : Humanisme et technique Thmes : Humanisme, Science, Socit, Technique Numro : vol. 6 no. 2 Printemps-t 2004

Le fantasme du posthumanisme ne mrite pas la rfrence lhumanisme quil invoque, car il en nie lide mme. Il nest quun antihumanisme de plus, qui obit la logique de la technoscience pour nier ce qui est le propre de lhumanit: son nigme dfinitive, sa fragilit, son irrductibilit la matire. Le posthumanisme est une ide dingnieur en informatique, qui trouve son ordinateur plus intelligent et meilleur que lui. Et cest triste dire, mais peut-tre a-t-il raison, tant cette vision tmoigne dune navet et dune inculture philosophique navrantes.

Faut-il mme citer ces noms de gourous vous loubli, dont les bestsellers daroport se vendent pourtant bien sous couvertures gaufres? Soyons clairs: nous ne serons jamais des cyborgs. Lintelligence artificielle na pas grand-chose voir avec lintelligence du cerveau humain. Lre du silicium ne surpassera jamais lextraordinaire puissance de cration et dadaptation de la biosphre modestement fonde sur le carbone. La question ne mrite mme pas le temps dy rpondre.

Ce qui est plus intressant, cest danalyser limaginaire social et les mythes qui resurgissent dans ce phantasme de lge du numrique.

Il semble que constamment les hommes aient imagin des intelligences suprieures, quils ont le plus souvent divinises, pour expliquer les origines et les finalits de la vie, et quils se soient agenouills devant elles dans un trange esprit de soumission. Ils ont ainsi dress des temples la Nature, dote dune sagesse suprieure, aux dieux, puis Dieu, qui ils ont attribu la toute-puissance, incluant lintelligence du vrai, du beau et du bien et lternit. Du temps de Voltaire, Dieu est devenu un gnial horloger suisse, aujourdhui Grand Informaticien de lternel, et la technoscience semble dsormais ddie corps et me au dchiffrage du Grand Algorithme de lUnivers. Le grand Ordonnateur est devenu le Grand Ordinateur. Il est central, omniprsent, il sait tout et dirige tout selon une sagesse suprieure qui a inspir lironie dAldous Huxley et les cauchemars de la science-fiction du type soap-opera de tlvision.

Il ne manquait plus que des ingnieurs lectroniciens de pianos et quelques philosophes brumeux pour caresser nos fantasmes de soumission dans le sens du poil et nous annoncer les grands lendemains qui chantent et dchanteraient du posthumain, sous la forme hybride dun eugnisme gntique ml dinformatique plus rapide que la lumire.

Comment peut-on saveugler ce point avec une telle dvotion lutopie technologique numrique, au point de nier lextraordinaire complexit et crativit de la vie biologique et mentale? Tant de navet fera sourire avant peu. Et je suis trop fascin par lextraordinaire aventure de lge du numrique pour ne pas en dnoncer vigoureusement les dviances aussi funestes. En comparaison, les utopies politiques du xixe sicle sont des chefs-duvre dintelligence, de prudence et de ralisme. Et nous savons ce quil en est advenu

Comment peut-on attendre toutes les solutions des vertus de la vitesse de la pense, sur le modle de la cyberntique, et renvoyer un stade archaque et infrieur de lhumanit la mditation philosophique, ncessairement lente?

Il est vrai que lhomme a toujours tent dchapper sa biologie. Le chamanisme, la religion ont exalt son rapport un monde suprieur, magique ou religieux, dont le lien mme le valoriserait. Les croyances des socits archaques attribuaient chaque corps dhomme un esprit qui lui survivrait et qui pourrait mme revenir tracasser les vivants. Icare sest envol avec des ailes de cire et la chaleur du Soleil la prcipit au sol. Les religions judo-chrtiennes ont invent une audacieuse vision dun homme dot dune me qui le relie directement Dieu et qui lui permet de participer ainsi de ltre de Dieu, au prix, videmment, dune dvalorisation du corps renvoy la matrialit triviale et propice au pch. Linvention de lme tait ncessairement ce prix, encore que ces religions aient conu aussi une rsurrection finale des corps limage de Dieu! La technologie numrique nous est prsente aujourdhui comme un supplment de puissance et dme du corps.

Quant au corps, comment peut-on croire tout comprendre des modes de reproduction de la vie, et vouloir en prendre le contrle bio-informatique, alors que le dchiffrage du gnome ne touche encore quun niveau trs superficiel de la vie? Nous voyons bien que nous partageons presque la totalit du gnome des chimpanzs, et pourtant nous notons quelques diffrences despce qui relvent dautres complexits.

Contrairement la conception cartsienne de la simplification, nous devons aujourdhui admettre que plus cest simple, plus cest complexe et mystrieux. Ce nest pas avec le langage a, c, t, g des acides nucliques, que nous allons matriser un eugnisme prometteur, comme on amliore les performances dun ordinateur chaque anne!

Le fantasme mme des animaux-machines parat bien faible! Pourtant cette chimre mi-chair, mi-lectronique des cyborgs nest quune nouvelle dclinaison de cette ide danimaux-machines. Devrions-nous y aspirer pour nous surpasser? Ce serait le prochain stade dune rvolution anthropologique vers laquelle nous conduirait la technoscience? Allons donc! entendre ce genre de vu, il faudrait reconnatre que le progrs de lesprit humain demeure une hypothse plus quincertaine

Mais pourquoi ce fantasme de lanimal-machine? Quy aurait-il donc de suprieur dans la machine, par rapport la chair vivante? Tant de dmarches de chercheurs scientifiques et dartistes nous font rver aujourdhui non seulement dintelligence artificielle, mais aussi de vie artificielle considre comme un progrs! Il est vrai que la chair peut faire souffrir, autant quelle peut faire jouir. Et nous sommes soumis langoisse de sa mort inluctable, alors que la machine ne semble pas avoir dangoisse, nous donne des satisfactions et des pouvoirs, est facilement rparable et surtout, remplaable! En outre, le progrs de la machine est incontestable, tandis que celui du corps humain est plus incertain, malgr les avances de la mdecine qui en prolonge le confort et la longvit. Je peux changer frquemment dordinateur ou de tlphone mobile, pour un modle nouveau, plus la mode et plus puissant. Je change mes pneus de voiture plus facilement que mes pieds La machine se remplace en rajeunissant, tandis que le corps ne peut que vieillir. Voil une immense diffrence qui, bien y rflchir, peut me faire envier inconsciemment la machine. Celle-ci, par sa propre substitution, rajeunit et se perfectionne sans cesse. Si, par lhybridit de la chair et de la machine, je pouvais participer ce mouvement inverse de mon exprience de vieillissement, ne serait-ce pas un immense progrs pour lespce humaine? Mieux, je jette avec un certain plaisir la machine use ou dsute, pour en acqurir une nouvelle, trs suprieure: voil une exprience bien plus agrable lesprit que celle de la maladie, de la dgnrescence, de la mort et de lenterrement. Et leffet est peut-tre double: car je survis la machine que je jette et remplace. Voil une apparence de logique qui offre une grande sduction pour les esprits simples.

Et ce nest pas tout: la machine est lexpression instrumentale de mon pouvoir. Les publicits dans les magazines pour les derniers modles de tlphones mobiles le proclament mes yeux admiratifs. Le nouveau Nokia 6600, qui a mang un ordinateur, dit la pub, runit toutes les fonctions en seulement 125g, qui tiennent dans ma main comme un anneau magique: communication sans fil, connexion Internet, messages crits, appareil photo et camra vido numriques intgrs, information boursire, contrle Bluetooth de tous les quipements domestiques de ma maison intelligente, rception en streaming immdiat de films, haut-parleurs mains libres, radioreprage pour ma scurit, affichage en couleur du plan du quartier de la ville o je cherche une adresse, album photo, agenda, jeux et indicateurs dalerte sur ma sant physiologique et boursire. Le modle Sharp offre la mme chose avec un cran couleur haute dfinition, tandis que Orange lance le treo 600, le premier mobile avec palm intgr et que Nec invente la surf machine. Mieux: Siemens lance le mc60 sexy rvolutionnaire. On me promet puissance et plaisir. Si javale le tlphone mobile qui a aval un ordinateur, un tlcopieur, un appareil photo et une camra numrique, les atlas et plans des villes, etc., deviendrai-je un cyborg puissant et heureux comme un demi-dieu?

En faut-il plus pour tre convaincu que lhomme des civilisations du Nord investit aujourdhui ses fantasmes de puissance dans la miniaturisation lectronique, laquelle prfigurerait lintgration de puces et de nanotechnologies dans la chair mme du corps humain? Et partir de cette rverie, notre primate semble basculer volontiers dans lide quil sera un humain suprieur en fusionnant avec la machine.

Le commerce y trouve son compte, mais lhumanisme et la philosophie gure Jy vois plutt une rgression de lintelligence et de la psych humaines. Un danger? Gure, tant ce fantasme est infantile et inconsistant dun point de vue raliste. Il nous distrait plutt de la conscience de nos limites et de nos faiblesses. Qui na pas dj observ le plaisir de ceux qui sadonnent pour quelques sous des jeux darcades et soudain se prennent pour des hros, parce quils tuent sans relche sur lcran des monstres menaant comme autant de sentiments de leur propre impuissance dans le monde rel?

Faut-il pour autant attribuer la puissance de la technoscience tous les maux du fait que nous y investissons tant de fantasmes de pouvoir en raction la mdiocrit dclare de notre condition humaine? Certes pas: ce nest pas la technique qui est en cause, mais bien la nature rgressive de la psych humaine et les usages, bons ou mauvais, que les hommes en font. Dans CyberPromthe, jai analys de prs cet investissement imaginaire compensatoire que nous oprons dans la technoscience, o nous cultivons lillusion de dpasser nos limites et de complter notre tre irrductiblement inachev. De la science occidentale, qui a pris la relve de la religion, nous attendons donc lintelligence de lUnivers; et de la technoscience, nous pensons obtenir le pouvoir instrumental de procrer lavenir de lespce humaine abandonne en cours de route par Dieu. Et puisque Dieu nexiste plus, ce sont les Hommes qui seront des dieux, grce la technoscience. Voil un vieil imaginaire qui a resurgi.

Il faut dire que la voie semble libre pour dcliner ces ides. Lhumanisme bourgeois est assez dsuet et discrdit pour laisser surgir comme une nouvelle solution ou un nouvel espoir la barbarie du posthumanisme. Certes, les discours vertueux sur le principe dhumanit ne peuvent plus grand-chose pour nous, si lon en juge par les barbaries modernes. Une pense anglique ne fait pas de mal, mais elle ne constitue pas une analyse. Comment adapter notre vision de lhumanit et comment caractriser nos valeurs dhumanisme lge du numrique? Il semble que nous soyons assez dsesprs des hommes et de la nature, au point de vouloir modliser un ersatz magique.

Au posthumanisme, nous prfrons opposer lide dun hyperhumanisme. En sinspirant de la nouvelle logique des liens qui semble fonder lpistmologie numrique des sciences actuelles, nous pouvons tenter de repenser les liens humains, la sociologie comme la psychologie. Le passage de lhumanisme lhyperhumanisme signifie une volont commune dvolution du culte bourgeois de lunicit diffrentielle la clbration des liens entre les hommes, de lexploitation agressive de la nature son respect, du conflit la convivialit. Lhumanisme classique se fondait sur le caractre unique et irrductible de chaque tre humain. Et il a de fait cultiv lindividualisme plus que lhumanisme. Ainsi cette conception moderne a-t-elle abouti lre du soupon et lexistentialisme gocentr de Sartre qui prtendait pourtant en faire un humanisme! affirmant: Lenfer, cest les autres. Lhyperhumanisme, cest plutt la conception de lhomme de la classe moyenne, conscient de son appartenance la masse, et des liens qui en associent les atomes, et qui la font plutt agir et voluer comme un banc de poissons ou un vol de perroquets, que comme des prdateurs solitaires. Et cest bien dans le paradigme des statistiques, dans la manipulation cyberntique, que la classe moyenne trouve son reflet, et non plus dans le drame du thtre bourgeois ou du roman psychologique stendhalien, qui cultivaient les exceptions.

Lhyperhumanisme ne sinscrit donc pas dans lespace social par la confrontation, la manire dun Rastignac face Paris quil veut conqurir. Lhomme hyper sy positionne plutt au carrefour des rseaux qui le traversent et lintgrent. Et il est conscient de la multiplicit des espaces et des temps sociaux auxquels il appartient. Il sait quil volue dans lhybridit, dans un contexte ouvert, un agrgat de beaucoup de mondes simultans, ventuellement discontinus, ventuellement conflictuels ou incohrents entre eux. lchelle de la plante, il semble aussi que le temps des grands blocs politiques soit rvolu et laisse plutt place une tendance la fragmentation, quilibre par des zones dinterdpendance conomique et institutionnelle.

De faon gnrale, lhyperhumanisme ne tend plus la confrontation, mais plutt aux ensembles commerciaux, lconomie communautaire, aux rseaux dchanges. Il ne valorise pas la distance, mais bien le rapprochement, non pas la monade individualiste, la solitude psychologique, mais bien louverture et les liens interindividuels.

Lhyperhumanisme marque le passage de la solitude la solidarit. Il affirme la valeur de linterdpendance entre les hommes, entre les nations et entre les hommes et lUnivers.

Notre peur dune catastrophe finale apparemment invitable qui est la base du sentiment du tragique actuel nous incite chercher notre salut dans laccroissement dune thique de la responsabilit partage. Le sens de la responsabilit nat de la conscience des liens entre nous et les autres, entre nos actes et leurs consquences. Lhyperhumanisme entrane un degr lev de conscience de notre implication humaine, loppos de la drive gotiste ou goste de lhumanisme classique, centr sur une certaine exacerbation de lindividualisme. Toute responsabilit individuelle bien comprise tend ncessairement la conscience de la responsabilit collective laquelle elle est lie. Ce sentiment de responsabilit nat de la conscience des liens.

Lhyperhumanisme que nous opposons au posthumanisme implique donc plus dhumanisme et plus de conscience des liens que nous partageons, donc plus de conscience de limportance dune morale collective de la responsabilit.

Avec la monte en puissance de CyberPromthe, lavenir nous parat paradoxalement de plus en plus imprvisible, voire improbable. Nous jouons avec le feu numrique, alors que notre psych humaine na fait aucun progrs depuis lge des cavernes. Certains thoriciens ont mme pu prtendre quelle avait rgress. Et beaucoup de populations aborignes en sont convaincues, qui se dsolent de devoir frayer avec nous.

Au moment o la science intgre le principe dincertitude dans son paradigme pistmologique, il semble plus vident que jamais quon ne peut sen remettre aux progrs exponentiels et de plus en plus incontrlables de la technoscience comme la puissance et la sagesse dune nouvelle religion.

Puisque lespace et le temps semblent infinis et multiples, le seul point fixe et encore! autour duquel on puisse faire tourner lUnivers, cest lhomme, dans le respect de sa diversit.

Du point de vue de la religion, lhomme est au centre du monde que Dieu cr pour lui. Du point de vue de lastronomie, Copernic a suggr et Galile a confirm que cest le Soleil qui est au centre de lUnivers. Puis la mme astronomie nous dit aujourdhui que le Soleil se situe dans une galaxie banale aux confins dun Univers infini.

Nous proposons un recentrage humaniste, l o Copernic nous imposa de renoncer au gocentrisme. La querelle que nous faisons Copernic et Galile, nous la concevons dans le mme esprit qui opposa Gthe Newton. Newton avait coup sr raison du point de vue de loptique physique. Mais il ngligeait au nom de loptique lessentiel de la relation humaine aux couleurs, symbolique, subjective, vitaliste, sentimentale, y compris jusque dans ses illusions, plus vraies que la physique du prisme.

Aprs Galile, Darwin a achev cette entreprise de dsenchantement du rel en nous situant dans une chane volutionniste, qui nous fait descendre des batraciens, voire des bactries. Il fallait trouver le chanon manquant entre le singe et lhomme! On sait aujourdhui, si je puis dire, que lhomme est descendu de larbre, mais pas du singe

La modernit, ce fut laffirmation de la solitude de lhomme dans lUnivers, spar de la nature et abandonn dans les marges. Et voil que les prophtes daujourdhui annoncent la fin de lhumain et lavnement des cyborgs! Cest assurment trop!

Du point de vue de lpistmologie actuelle, nous devons tourner le dos la rvolution copernicienne. Il faut plutt rtablir lhumanit au centre de lUnivers, car tout ce que nous savons de lUnivers dpend des liens que lhumanit a tabli avec lui. Mis part un big crash apocalyptique, tout ce qui adviendra de lhumanit dpendra de lhumanit. Et cest bien l que se situe lhyperhumanisme.

Du point de vue du temps, puisque nous vivons nouveau dans un temps vertical, qui semble tenir en quilibre comme une toupie qui tournoie sur elle-mme comme la Terre, et jusqu un certain point, comme llectron (spin)! , sans capacit de prvoir les changements, et mme dans une multitude de temps verticaux simultans, cest encore et toujours lhomme, la diversit actuelle des hommes, qui apparat comme le pivot du temps, sa mesure et la source de la multiplicit de sens quelle lui confre.

Puisque selon lastrophysique actuelle lUnivers na pas de centre, la rvolution copernicienne tombe dans le non-sens. De quelque ct quon regarde, il est donc ncessaire de nous considrer nouveau, nous, tres humains, comme le centre de cet Univers alinant, de rtablir notre place dominante au cur de cet Univers qui de toute faon, en dclinant lenvers une expression clbre, na nul autre centre que nous-mmes, nulle autre circonfrence que celle de lesprit humain.

Lhypothse de Copernic et les calculs de Galile taient courageux. Astronomiquement, leur vision tait correcte, certes, mais lastronomie est une science antihumaniste. Elle dvalorise lhomme et le dresponsabilise ou laline dans une vision dsesprante. Galile a interprt lUnivers en le considrant lenvers, comme un mcanisme optique. Il faut reconnatre que Galile a contribu une libration de lesprit face lalination religieuse, mais ce fait tant aujourdhui acquis et vers son crdit, il est temps de ractiver une vision anti-galilenne, de sengager dans une inversion de la rvolution copernicienne, qui se limitait au champ de lastrophysique, alors quil nous faut considrer une cosmologie humaine. Ce fut le premier principe de lhumanisme, tel qunonc par Marsile Ficin et Pic de la Mirandole la Renaissance. Mais quoi nous a servi de nous tre librs de lanimisme, puis de la croyance en Dieu, si ce fut pour retomber dans une nouvelle alination, astrophysique cette fois? Lglise affirmait, en accord avec la Gense, que lhomme a reu de Dieu le commandement de dominer la nature et non dtre domin par elle, de soumettre la terre et dominer les animaux. La thorie copernicienne tait donc hrtique. Et dailleurs, nest-ce pas ce commandement qua raffirm Descartes aprs Francis Bacon et que proclame la technoscience actuelle?

Cest sur cette Terre que nous habitons lUnivers. Pour nous, cet Univers ne sera jamais rien sans lhomme, moins que nous y dcouvrions quelque part un jour une autre forme de vie et dintelligence gale ou suprieure la ntre, ce qui changerait totalement notre conscience et crerait une nouvelle cosmogonie. En attendant, lhumanit est le centre de lUnivers. loppos du paradigme copernicien, il faut rtablir lhomme au cur de lpistm dont il est lunique sujet et instrument.

La plante devient hyper. Mais doit-on se rsoudre transformer lhomme en simple point nodal dintersection dans des rseaux et aplatir ce point la psych? Le marxisme avait ni lhomme au nom des classes sociales et des processus historiques; Althusser a labor un structuralisme marxiste intenable, excluant en dernire instance toute libert individuelle. Nous avons renonc ces ides. Serait-ce pour les reprendre selon une nouvelle mtaphore, avec les mmes abus de pense et risques dalination, en levant les rseaux numriques au niveau de nouveaux dieux et en niant lhomme? Comment ne pas percevoir dans cette ide de fragmentation rhizomique de ltre humain un antihumanisme possible, qui nous invite miser dautant plus sur les liens constructifs de solidarit et de responsabilit de lhyperhumanisme? Dautant plus que la surface, mme en rhizome, nexiste pas plus que la profondeur. Ce ne sont que deux mtaphores opposes! Les interrelations humaines ne spuisent pas en images spatiales, quelles soient de surface ou de profondeur. Reconnaissons limportance des connexions, mais redonnons aussi aux intriorits et aux autonomies individuelles le rle actif, constitutif qui est le leur, sans se voiler la face au nom dun nouveau structuralisme numrique dsesprant.

Lhyperhumanisme nest conciliable ni avec un Althusser, ni avec un Lvi-Strauss du numrique, ni avec aucune hypostase ou rification des processus, des structures ou des changes, qui ne sont, l encore, que des mtaphores dont il faut faire un usage prudent.

Si nous proposons de replacer lhomme la place qui est la sienne, au centre de lUnivers, ce nest pas pour lmietter en fragments lectroniques dans des rseaux numriques! Il faut trouver le point dquilibre entre les liens et les autonomies qui caractrisent chacun de nous. Cest, comme toujours, dans la complexit que nat la cration individuelle et le mouvement social.

Pourtant, en nous librant des alinations religieuses et politiques, sans nous soumettre lalination de lutopie de la technoscience, nous pourrions redcouvrir notre libert cyberpromthenne de procrateurs de notre univers. Lhyperhumanisme, ce pourrait tre aussi ce renforcement de notre conscience et de notre volont de choisir notre avenir, de donner un sens humain lUnivers en assumant les risques de la technoscience, les risques de notre libert nouvelle, et en construisant une thique collective capable dassurer notre scurit et notre progrs sur la base non plus de la lutte entre les individus et les peuples, mais de la solidarit (des liens) entre les hommes et dun sens plus lev de nos responsabilits.

Ne nous y trompons pas: lthique passe avant la logique de la technoscience. Sinon, o allons-nous? LUnivers perd tout sens. Lhyperhumanisme, cest laffirmation de limportance dune thique de la responsabilit plantaire, qui est devenue la condition de notre avenir, de notre survie, et le moteur possible de notre volution, bien davantage que la technoscience. Mais malheureusement, la technoscience est beaucoup plus puissante que lthique et risque den venir bout, si nous ny prtons garde. Nest-ce pas dj devenu un constat quotidien? Le dbat sur le clonage, sur la manipulation des gnes ou des cellules souches, la rsolution des conflits par la violence guerrire ne donnent-ils pas constamment la prsance aux logiques de la science et de la technologie sur les valeurs thiques les plus fondamentales?

Les morales individuelles, religieuses ou civiles ne suffiront pas contenir les puissantes tendances la catastrophe humaine qui sont en germe dans ce contexte nouveau. Nous avons besoin dsormais dune morale plantaire interculturelle, une charte universelle hyperhumaniste, qui dicte des codes de conduite collective, tatique et internationale ad minima, au nom de laquelle une institution internationale puisse intervenir pour interdire des pratiques scientifiques mettant en danger les valeurs de la vie, des pratiques de cybersurveillance contredisant les droits et liberts humains, des actions industrielles susceptibles de ruiner les quilibres cologiques dont nous dpendons tous globalement, des actions armes, violentes, menaant des populations avec des armes de destruction massive miniaturises. Le respect de la vie, de lenvironnement, de la libert, de la dmocratie et de la paix, la raffirmation juridique de droits humains intangibles et imprescriptibles, sont des valeurs universelles minimales qui ne peuvent tre mises en cause sans que toute la plante en soit menace.

Mais attention: une thique plantaire ne saurait reposer sur une culture plantaire uniformise. Cette thique plantaire est ncessairement globale, mais ne peut se fonder que sur le respect des consensus locaux et des diversits culturelles. Les hommes et les socits doivent sentendre sur un commun dnominateur minimal de survie de tous par un abandon mesur, mais ncessaire, dun fragment de la souverainet de chacun. On ne fera pas ici de discours moraux! On parlera seulement selon les exigences de linstinct de survie que nous sommes bien obligs de partager dsormais! Cest la mme problmatique, lchelle plantaire, dun quilibre entre les droits et les liberts, que nous recherchons constamment lchelle locale et sociale. En ce troisime millnaire, cette recherche est devenue un incontournable, mais aussi un redoutable dfi, dans la mesure o cette recherche dun consensus traverse des diversits culturelles et identitaires complexes et doit acqurir une lgitimit plantaire permettant un autre incontournable: la ncessit darmer cette thique pour obtenir quelle soit respecte, comme toute morale sociale lmentaire. (Nous ne parlons videmment pas ici des morales individuelles qui, elles, sont dun tout autre ordre.) Le mpris de lonu, des accords internationaux comme celui de Kyoto, ou de linstitution dune cour pnale internationale exprim par les tats-Unis sous le rgne de Bush fils, qui prtendraient rgir le monde selon leur seule volont impriale, donne bien la mesure de la difficult de ce projet pourtant essentiel pour lavenir de lhumanit. Il semble que nous soyons encore dans un ge primitif de lhumanit, alors que nous disposons dun pouvoir technologique qui crot exponentiellement. Nous sommes lre de tous les dangers.

Herv Fischer*

NOTES

* Artiste-philosophe, Herv Fischer a publi Mythanalyse du futur (2000, disponible sur le site http://www.hervefischer.ca), Le choc du numrique (Montral, vlb, 2001), Le romantisme numrique (Saint-Laurent, Fides, 2002), CyberPromthe (Montral, vlb, 2003) et La plante hyper. De la pense linaire la pense en arabesque (Montral, vlb, 2004), o il prsente sa thse sur lhyperhumanisme et lthique de la responsabilit lge du numrique.

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Roman Gods And Pantheism – AllAboutHistory.org

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Roman Gods - Early Pantheism Roman gods originated in the ancient "village" of Rome as the faceless and formless deities that supported farmers in their efforts with the land. The large number of Roman gods can most likely be explained by the pantheistic belief of "numen," which holds that gods and spirits inhabit places, objects and living things. The early Romans believed that everything in nature was inhabited by numina.

Even though the early Romans placed little importance on the personalities of their gods, they did care about their functions. The early Romans integrated their worship of gods into all aspects of their personal and public lives. Nothing better exhibits the extent of this worship in every day life as in the household cult of the Dii Familiaris. In this system, every family had a guardian spirit known as the Lar Familiaris. This spirit was honored at all family functions, including sacrifices at funerals. The creative force that engenders an individual and allows him or her to grow, learn and act morally was known as the Genius for men and the Luna for women. This spirit stayed with an individual until death. The worship of Roman gods in Dii Familiaris went as far as to assign a protector spirit to different areas of the house. For instance, Forculus protects the door, Limentinus the threshold, Cardea the hinges, and Vesta the hearth.

Roman Gods - Later Expansion Roman gods began taking on the forms that we would recognize today during the dynasty of the Etruscan kings that ruled the city of Rome in the 6th century BC. During this period, the Romans adapted a group of three Etruscan gods as the focus of state worship. These gods were worshiped at the grand temple on the Capitoline Hill, and, as such, became known as the Capitoline triad. The triad consisted of Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), and Minerva (Athena). Once the rule of the Etruscan dynasty ended in 509 BC, Rome became a republic. The Roman Republic was ruled by two chief magistrates, each of whom was elected to a one-year term. During this period, the Capitoline temple became the focus of public worship.

As Rome's power grew and its sphere of influence expanded, the Roman Empire encountered the older and richer religious beliefs of the Greeks. The Romans also came into contact with the beliefs of other eastern Mediterranean Sea cultures. As a result, Romans began to adopt various foreign gods and religious customs. In many cases, gods and heroes from foreign cultures were given temples in Rome. The acceptance of Greek gods had the biggest influence on Roman religion. The earliest Greek gods adopted by the Romans were Castor and Polydeuces in 484 BC. Later in the 5th century BC, the Greek god Apollo was introduced. Apollo would eventually symbolize Roman virtue and austerity. Other Roman gods that took on Greek characteristics included Diana (Artemis), Mercury (Hermes), Neptune (Poseidon), Venus (Aphrodite), and Vulcan (Hephaestus).

As Rome continued to expand its political and geographic influence, Rome continued to assimilate a wider variety of religious beliefs and customs. In some cases, the assimilation of a foreign god was done to fit a particular role in Rome's expansion. This was the case for the goddess Cybele, whose worship was the direct result of the threat that Hannibal posed towards Rome. Even though Hannibal was eventually defeated, the worship of Cybele continued. The Romans also began to assimilate the belief in savior-gods from so called "mystery" religions. One of these was the Persian religion of Mithrasism. The Persian god Mithra (god of light and wisdom) offered salvation through the belief in an immortal soul. These religions became popular since they offered a greater sense of community than strict pantheism.

Roman Gods - Divine Emperors The nature of Roman gods expanded again as the Roman Empire came into contact with the belief of divine kingship. At first, the Romans rejected the idea that a human ruler should be worshiped as a god. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar permitted a statue of himself with the inscription, "The unvanquished god," and declared himself dictator for life. That same year, Julius Caesar was killed by citizens who wanted to see Rome return to its earlier republican ideas. Caesar's heir, Octavian (Augustus), made himself the first emperor of Rome. However, he avoided any claim to being divine. In fact, the notion that the emperor was divine was ridiculed throughout much of the 1st century AD.

However, as the government of the Roman Empire became more autocratic and gave rulers almost unlimited power, emperors eventually accepted divine honors. This belief in the emperor's divine authority eventually led to the requirement of a sacrifice to the emperor as a sign of loyalty. The requirement of a sacrifice to the emperor became a significant source of conflict with early Christians. Christians refused to worship the emperor as god, and therefore, would not sacrifice to him. This led to persecution of the Christians by the Roman political authorities that enforced the practice. The period of worshiping Roman emperors as gods continued until the 4th century AD, when Emperor Constantine the Great became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. In 392 AD, Emperor Theodosius I banned the practice of pagan religions in Rome altogether.

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The Presence of God The Holy Spirit and Pantheism

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The bible speaks of the presence of God as the Spirit of God. In Psalms 51 when David was talking about the presence of God he compared it with the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

The reason for this article is because of some of the major misunderstandings regarding His presence that have been coming about, especially some pantheistic views that have come from these misunderstandings.

In John 14 Jesus explained that God was going to send the comforter to his disciples after he left.

John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

In this passage Jesus tells us that the comforter is dwelling with them. We should note that it is Jesus himself dwelling with them, and telling them that he is the one that shall be in you. In verse 18 he continues:

John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

We understand this to be our hope of glory. In Colossians 1 we read the words Christ in you the hope of glory. (Col 1:27). This is no small matter to understand. We also read that the comforterEven the Spirit of truth is likened to the experience of being born into the family of God.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body

You are the temple of God the bible tells us, and it tells us that because you are that temple, then God dwells in you. You cant be a member of Gods church without this.

2Co 6:16 ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God inside of the believer. It is not only Christ who comes to dwell in the believer, but it is also the Father who will dwell in them.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

The Father and Son will come to us, we are Gods house, building, temple, etc.., this is our hope of glory. But the question is how do they come to us. For instance when you pray, do you pray and say My Father who dwells in brother Joe. No, we say Our Father, which art in heaven (Matt 6:9)

My Father is dwelling in my brother Joe, but not physically, materially, bodily, intelligently or consciously. The bible says that we have the mind of Christ. (Phi 2:5) Some have gone to extremes in assuming that they were Christ because they have his mind. They come to believe that since they have the mind of Christ they must therefore have his thoughts and intelligence. Gods thoughts are a little higher than our thoughts. He is so smart that even just speaking can be creative. We have but a small measure of His spirit. Misunderstanding this leads to the danger of worshipping the man himself or the creation.

In the early 1900s Adventism went through something similar, and this is what we will look at in some of the quotes below from the Spirit of prophecy. John Harvey Kellogg was promoting pantheistic theories especially in his book Living Temple and Ellen White gave a number of warnings. She said:

Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people. I knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into controversy over the presence and personality of God (Ellen White Selected Messages Book 1-Page 203)

The point of interest and focus in this study has to do with the presence of God. For a study on the Omega and the personality of God. SeeHERE. But before you do, please read this one through. Ellen said:

I saw what was coming in, and I saw that our brethren were blind. They did not realize the danger. Our young people, especially, were in danger. They delighted in the beautiful representationGod in the flower, God in the leaf, God in the tree. But if God be in these things, why not worship them? {Ellen White 1 Sermons and Talks 344}

Ellen was definitely against the teaching that God is in the tree. But WAIT one second. Notice the following, she said:

The Lord puts His own Spirit into the seed, causing it to spring into life. Under His care the germ breaks through the case enclosing it and springs up to develop and bear fruit. (Ellen White 8 Testimonies, p. 326)

Knowing that the Holy Spirit is the presence of God, if we were quick to read this we could conclude that Ellen was teaching that God was in the seed. But let us stop right there. Just because the Spirit is in the seed, this does not imply that God is in the seed. Unless you believe in a doctrine such as God the Holy Spirit.

God is not physically or consciously in the seed. You cannot pray to the seed and say Our Father who dwells in the seed, hallowed be thy name. But yet the spirit of God is in the seed. In fact God is everywhere present by His Spirit, yet he is a personal being who dwells at His throne. We need to understand that God is not everywhere present physically, or consciously. God is at His throne in heaven. And when we pray we address Him In heaven. Here are but a few quotes from the bible on this matter:

Mat_5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Mat_5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Mat_5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Mat_6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Mat_6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat_7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Mat_7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat_10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Mat_10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Mat_12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Mat_16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

And that is just a few verses from Jesus in the book of Matthew. Clearly the Father is in heaven. We will look at how the words of heaven, which are spirit and life reach us. But we should take careful note.

He[Christ] represented God not as an essence that pervaded nature, but as a God who has a personality. (Ellen White MS 24, 1891)

As we can see above, God is not pervading nature, he is not everywhere around us, we dont address our Father as Dear Father, who art in the air we breathe. But we address Him as our Father which art in heaven.

Yet, we need to be clear, His Spirit is in the seed, but He is not in the seed physically or consciously. His Spirit is in the born again Christian, but He is not inside the man in a physical or conscious way. If you wanted to talk to your Father, you wouldnt go to a brother who you perceive has the Holy Spirit and start praying to Him saying Well the bible says that my Father is in you. You wouldnt pray to yourself because you believe your Father is inside of you.

One may object and say that the bible does say that God is everywhere. In Psalms 139 we read about it:

Psalms 139:7-9 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there

In this passage we are told that God is everywhere present by his spirit. Therefore the conclusion of some is that He is everywhere. But we must understand that only by His Spirit He is everywhere.

Notice what Paul says about his own spirit and being present in other places.

1 Cor 5:3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit

Paul was present in the spirit. Pauls spirit was his presence. But yet Paul was physically not with the brethren. Nor was Paul consciously with the brethren. Yet, Pauls presence was with them. Some may object and say that God is physically and consciously everywhere. And I understand that this teaching is very prominent.

But I will recommend as did Ellen White that we distinguish between God in the flower and the Spirit in the flower. She wrote:

Christ could not be in every place personally He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. (Ellen White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, pages 23, 24; written February 18 and 19, 1895)

Christ is at His throne in heaven right now interceding. He is not everywhere personally in any way other than by his Holy Spirit. In this sense only is Christ omnipresent.

So what does it mean to have Christ in you. It means you have His spirit, which is his life, his power, his character, his love, joy, peace, long suffering, etc. You also have precious gifts such as the gift of prophecy. We have Christ absent in body, but present in spirit. To deny that Christ is in you is an antichrist doctrine. (1 John 4:2-4)

Christ is in us by the Holy Spirit.

So if Christ is at his throne, how then does he speak to us? In John 16 we are told:

John 16:13-14 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Notes regarding the comforter or spirit of truth: 1. He will not speak of himself. 2. He will glorify and speak of Christ. 3. He must be someone else other than Christ. 4. He will show things to come.

So who is this? John was given a message that was to speak of Christ. It is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ. We notice that this Revelation was to shew you things to come.

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

The order here is seen: 1. God 2. Christ 3. Angel 4. John 5. Servants

Dont miss it. Who came to give John the message? The angel. Did the angel speak about himself? No, He was giving the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Did the angel show John things to come? Absolutely, the very word Revelation means revealing of things which must shortly come to pass. (Rev 1:1) Angels have the spirit of prophecy,(Rev 19:10, 22:8) and therefore, like the prophets are vessels by which God gives His words, which if we allow to be written in us on our heart are spirit and life.(John 6:63): Thus God lives through us.

Furthermore, we see the seven messages to the churches being given to seven angels which stand before the throne. At the end of each message to each church we hear the words He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22) Who is the spirit? The angel. It is Christ speaking through the angel. At the beginning of every message to each church we read the words Thus saith then a description of Christ is given. So the spirit is speaking, but in reality it is God through Christ, to the angel, to us.

And in that sense this is the spirit of truth that was to teach us things to come, guide us into all truth, would not speak of himself, etc. There is much more to be said on this point from scriptures, but for lack of space, let me conclude with a few quotes from Ellen White regarding the angels and the Holy Spirit.

How many blessings come through Christ by the angels? Answer: Every blessing

The angels of God are ever passing from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth. The miracles of Christ for the afflicted and suffering were wrought by the power of God through the ministration of the angels. And it is through Christ, by the ministration of His heavenly messengers, that every blessing comes from God to us. In taking upon Himself humanity, our Saviour unites His interests with those of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, while through His divinity He grasps the throne of God. And thus Christ is the medium of communication of men with God, and of God with men. {DA 143.1}

When the Holy Spirit comes down as the representative of Christ, who is sent? Answer: More Than angels.

All the intelligences of heaven are in this army. And more than angels are in the ranks. The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain of the Lords host, comes down to direct the battle. Our infirmities may be many, our sins and mistakes grievous; but the grace of God is for all who seek it with contrition. The power of Omnipotence is enlisted in behalf of those who trust in God. [Ellen White Desire of Ages 352]

How is the Spirit imparted to humanity? Through the angels.

From the two olive trees, the golden oil was emptied through golden pipes into the bowl of the candlestick, and thence into the golden lamps that gave light to the sanctuary. So from the holy ones that stand in Gods presence, His Spirit is imparted to human instrumentalities that are consecrated to His serviceAs the olive trees empty themselves into the golden pipes, so the heavenly messengers seek to communicate all that they receive from God. The whole heavenly treasure awaits our demand and reception; and as we receive the blessing, we in our turn are to impart it. Thus it is that the holy lamps are fed, and the church becomes a light-bearer in the world.[Ellen White The Review and Herald, March 2, 1897]

God spoke to Cain. How did God speak to him? Didnt He come down and speak Himself? (Gen 4:6, 9, 13) Answer: Yes, Through his angel.

God condescends to send an angel to Cain to converse with him. [Ellen White Story of Redemption page 53]

When they built the tower of Babel, God said Let us go down, and there confound their language(Gen 11:7) Who did God send to confound their language? Answer: His Angels

They had built their tower to a lofty height, when the Lord sent two angels to confound them in their work. The angels confounded their language.[Ellen White The Spirit of Prophecy 1: 92, 93]

He confused their tongues at Babel through the angels. Now on Pentecost, how did he give them the gift of tongues, the gift of His Spirit? Answer: Through the angels. We read again:

When the truth in its simplicity is lived in every place, then God will work through His angels as He worked on the day of Pentecost, and hearts will be changed so decidedly that there will be a manifestation of the influence of genuine truth, as is represented in the descent of the Holy Spirit. [Ellen White My Life Today 58]

We need to truly understand how God is working for us. That the spirit is not a person like the Father and Son. That it is not God the spirit that dwells in the plant, yet His spirit is in the plant, or in the seed. (EGW 8T 326) That God himself is a personal being and that the spiritual view destroys our understanding of the throne in heaven and the personality of God in heaven, and our understanding what the bible means when speaking of the presence of God.

We need to be careful to understand that the angels are the channel through which the spirit is given, the vessels which contain the spirit. The spirit itself is imparted unto the angels as well. The spirit is not limited to the angels. The spirit is the testimony, the word. And this spirit is clearly seen even in the things that are made. (Rom 1:20) The seed, etc.

One thing must be clear though, that is that the theory that God is an essence pervading all nature is one of Satans most subtle devices. (Ellen White 8 Testimonies Page 291)

God is not pervading nature. However, His Spirit ispervading all nature. As we read The Lord puts His own Spirit into the seed We read:

A mysterious life pervades all naturea life that sustains the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, that lives in the insect atom which floats in the summer breezeFrom Him all life proceeds Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action alife sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised in harmony with the Creators will. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place ones self out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin. [Ellen White Education Page 99]

What life is this that pervades all nature? From Him all life proceeds. From his throne proceeds the river of life. (Rev 22:1) Though temporary life for those who refuse it, eternal life to those who accept it. It is the Holy spirit, the life of Christ.

the Holy Spirit is the life of Christin the soul. (Ellen White,Review & Herald, October 26, 1897)

For more on this issue, please read the book: The Omega of Deadly Heresies.

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The Presence of God The Holy Spirit and Pantheism

How many gods? | Atheism | Fandom powered by Wikia

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How many gods don't you believe in?

Those above are just a small sample of gods and goddesses you don't believe in.

It may be of interest to atheists to know how many gods they don't believe in. Let's call the number N.

There are a lot of issues in determining N.

It is estimated that there are 6,700,000,000 people currently living on the Earth and the total number of people who ever lived is 102,000,000,000 (102 billion or 102 thousand million depending on where you come from). It could be argued that everyone's idea of god is different, so this is N. Or, at least, this could be used as an upper bound for N, except that many people were (or are) polytheists. However, if we accept there would be (sometimes quite large) groupings of people with essentially the same religious beliefs, this would lower the estimate for N.

If these two effects roughly cancel each other out, then N = 102,000,000,000 may be a good starting estimate.

Adherents.com claims to have figures for 4,200 religious groups currently existing on Earth.

Using the ratio of current population to the total number of people who have ever lived, we get an estimate of 63,000 religious groups throughout human history. (Only Homo sapiens' religions are being considered. It may well be that other hominids believed in god or gods, but it would be pure guesswork to estimate the number of gods they believed in.)

The modern dominant (that is, have the most adherents) religions are monotheistic, but they are few in number. Wikipedia lists 309 Hindu deities. The ancient Hittites claimed to have 1000 deities in their pantheon. So for a rough estimate of the average number of deities per religion, we'll take the average of these 3 figures, giving 440 deities per religion.

This gives an estimate of N = 28,000,000.

For monotheists, the number of gods they don't believe in will be N-1, which, of course, will be very close to N. If the estimate above is correct, then (in some sense) atheists and monotheists only differ by 0.000036% in their beliefs.

In fact, working to 2 significant figures, even for the ancient Hittites this figure is the same.

Read more here:

How many gods? | Atheism | Fandom powered by Wikia

Transhumanism and the Technological Singularity

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Put simply Transhumanism is the belief that technology can allow us to improve, enhance and overcome the limits of our biology. More specifically, transhumanists such as Max More, Natasha Vita-More and Ray Kurzweil believe that by merging man and machine via biotechnology, molecular nanotechnologies, and artificial intelligence, one day science will yield humans that have increased cognitive abilities, are physically stronger, emotionally more stable and have indefinite life-spans. This path, they say, will eventually lead to "posthuman" intelligent (augmented) beings far superior to man - a near embodiment of god.

Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More

Transhumanism is both misunderstood and feared. Ignorant people with an ideological agenda have gone as far as labeling it "the most dangerous idea." I thought that it is time to bring some basic intellectual clarity on the topic and who is better prepared to help us do that but "the first female philosopher of transhumanism"!?

Max More - The Singularity and Transhumanism

Some of the main issues here are:

Can humanity continue to survive and prosper by embracing technology or will technology eventually bring forth the end of the human race altogether?

Will humanity get polarized into neo-luddite technophobes (such as Samuel Butler and Ted Kaczynski) or transhumanist technophiles (such as Max More, Natasha Vita-More, Ray Kurzweil, Hans Moravec and Nick Bostrom)?

Does that mean that wide spread global conflict may be impossible to avoid?

Is transhumanism turning into a new "religion" for certain scientists? (with "prophets" such as Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge) Or, is it a viable scientific hypothesis?

Who will be the dominant species?

What is the essence of being human?

Do you agree or disagree with the content of this page? Do you want to improve it? Do you want to post some great singularity content of your own? Why not share it here at Singularity Symposium?!

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Transhumanism and the Technological Singularity

PRISM (surveillance program) – Wikipedia

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PRISM is a clandestine[1]surveillance program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from at least nine major US internet companies.[2][3][4] Since 2001 the United States government has increased its scope for such surveillance, and so this program was launched in 2007.

PRISM is a government code name for a data-collection effort known officially by the SIGAD US-984XN.[5][6] The PRISM program collects stored internet communications based on demands made to internet companies such as Google Inc. under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms.[7] The NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that telecommunication filtering systems discarded earlier,[8][9] and to get data that is easier to handle, among other things.[10]

PRISM began in 2007 in the wake of the passage of the Protect America Act under the Bush Administration.[11][12] The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court, or FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).[13] Its existence was leaked six years later by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who warned that the extent of mass data collection was far greater than the public knew and included what he characterized as "dangerous" and "criminal" activities.[14] The disclosures were published by The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 6, 2013. Subsequent documents have demonstrated a financial arrangement between NSA's Special Source Operations division (SSO) and PRISM partners in the millions of dollars.[15]

Documents indicate that PRISM is "the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports", and it accounts for 91% of the NSA's internet traffic acquired under FISA section 702 authority."[16][17] The leaked information came to light one day after the revelation that the FISA Court had been ordering a subsidiary of telecommunications company Verizon Communications to turn over to the NSA logs tracking all of its customers' telephone calls.[18][19]

U.S. government officials have disputed some aspects of the Guardian and Washington Post stories and have defended the program by asserting it cannot be used on domestic targets without a warrant, that it has helped to prevent acts of terrorism, and that it receives independent oversight from the federal government's executive, judicial and legislative branches.[20][21] On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, stated that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people."[22]

PRISM was publicly revealed when classified documents about the program were leaked to journalists of The Washington Post and The Guardian by Edward Snowden at the time an NSA contractor during a visit to Hong Kong.[2][3] The leaked documents included 41 PowerPoint slides, four of which were published in news articles.[2][3]

The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the PRISM program, including Microsoft in 2007, Yahoo! in 2008, Google in 2009, Facebook in 2009, Paltalk in 2009, YouTube in 2010, AOL in 2011, Skype in 2011 and Apple in 2012.[23] The speaker's notes in the briefing document reviewed by The Washington Post indicated that "98 percent of PRISM production is based on Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft".[2]

The slide presentation stated that much of the world's electronic communications pass through the U.S., because electronic communications data tend to follow the least expensive route rather than the most physically direct route, and the bulk of the world's internet infrastructure is based in the United States.[16] The presentation noted that these facts provide United States intelligence analysts with opportunities for intercepting the communications of foreign targets as their electronic data pass into or through the United States.[3][16]

Snowden's subsequent disclosures included statements that government agencies such as the United Kingdom's GCHQ also undertook mass interception and tracking of internet and communications data[24] described by Germany as "nightmarish" if true[25] allegations that the NSA engaged in "dangerous" and "criminal" activity by "hacking" civilian infrastructure networks in other countries such as "universities, hospitals, and private businesses",[14] and alleged that compliance offered only very limited restrictive effect on mass data collection practices (including of Americans) since restrictions "are policy-based, not technically based, and can change at any time", adding that "Additionally, audits are cursory, incomplete, and easily fooled by fake justifications",[14] with numerous self-granted exceptions, and that NSA policies encourage staff to assume the benefit of the doubt in cases of uncertainty.[26][27][28]

Below are a number of slides released by Edward Snowden showing the operation and processes behind the PRISM program.

Slide showing that much of the world's communications flow through the U.S.

Details of information collected via PRISM

Slide listing companies and the date that PRISM collection began

Slide showing PRISM's tasking process

Slide showing the PRISM collection dataflow

Slide showing PRISM case numbers

Slide showing the REPRISMFISA Web app

Slide showing some PRISM targets.

Slide fragment mentioning "upstream collection", FAA702, EO 12333, and references yahoo.com explicitly in the text.

FAA702 Operations, and map

FAA702 Operations, and map. The subheader reads "Collection only possible under FAA702 Authority". FAIRVIEW is in the center box.

FAA702 Operations, and map. The subheader reads "Collection only possible under FAA702 Authority". STORMBREW is in the center box.

Tasking, Points to Remember. Transcript of body: Whenever your targets meet FAA criteria, you should consider asking to FAA. Emergency tasking processes exist for [imminent /immediate ] threat to life situations and targets can be placed on [illegible] within hours (surveillance and stored comms). Get to know your Product line FAA adjudicators and FAA leads.

The French newspaper Le Monde disclosed new PRISM slides (See Page 4, 7 and 8) coming from the "PRISM/US-984XN Overview" presentation on October 21, 2013.[29] The British newspaper The Guardian disclosed new PRISM slides (see pages 3 and 6) in November 2013 which on the one hand compares PRISM with the Upstream program, and on the other hand deals with collaboration between the NSA's Threat Operations Center and the FBI.[30]

Wikimedia Commons keeps copies of the leaked PowerPoint slides, and other associated documents.

PRISM is a program from the Special Source Operations (SSO) division of the NSA, which in the tradition of NSA's intelligence alliances, cooperates with as many as 100 trusted U.S. companies since the 1970s.[2] A prior program, the Terrorist Surveillance Program,[31][32] was implemented in the wake of the September 11 attacks under the George W. Bush Administration but was widely criticized and challenged as illegal, because it did not include warrants obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.[32][33][34][35][36] PRISM was authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.[16]

PRISM was enabled under President Bush by the Protect America Act of 2007 and by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which immunizes private companies from legal action when they cooperate with U.S. government agencies in intelligence collection. In 2012 the act was renewed by Congress under President Obama for an additional five years, through December 2017.[3][37][38] According to The Register, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 "specifically authorizes intelligence agencies to monitor the phone, email, and other communications of U.S. citizens for up to a week without obtaining a warrant" when one of the parties is outside the U.S.[37]

The most detailed description of the PRISM program can be found in a report about NSA's collection efforts under Section 702 FAA, that was released by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) on July 2, 2014.[39]

According to this report, PRISM is only used to collect internet communications, not telephone conversations. These internet communications are not collected in bulk, but in a targeted way: only communications that are to or from specific selectors, like e-mail addresses, can be gathered. Under PRISM, there's no collection based upon keywords or names.[39]

The actual collection process is done by the Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) of the FBI, which on behalf of the NSA sends the selectors to the US internet service providers, which were previously served with a Section 702 Directive. Under this directive, the provider is legally obliged to hand over (to DITU) all communications to or from the selectors provided by the government.[39] DITU then sends these communications to NSA, where they are stored in various databases, depending on their type.

Data, both content and metadata, that already have been collected under the PRISM program, may be searched for both US and non-US person identifiers. These kinds of queries became known as "back-door searches" and are conducted by NSA, FBI and CIA.[40] Each of these agencies has slightly different protocols and safeguards to protect searches with a US person identifier.[39]

Internal NSA presentation slides included in the various media disclosures show that the NSA could unilaterally access data and perform "extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information" with examples including email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP chats (such as Skype), file transfers, and social networking details.[3] Snowden summarized that "in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc. analyst has access to query raw SIGINT [signals intelligence] databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want."[14]

According to The Washington Post, the intelligence analysts search PRISM data using terms intended to identify suspicious communications of targets whom the analysts suspect with at least 51 percent confidence to not be U.S. citizens, but in the process, communication data of some U.S. citizens are also collected unintentionally.[2] Training materials for analysts tell them that while they should periodically report such accidental collection of non-foreign U.S. data, "it's nothing to worry about."[2][41]

According to The Guardian, NSA had access to chats and emails on Hotmail.com, Skype, because Microsoft had "developed a surveillance capability to deal" with the interception of chats, and "for Prism collection against Microsoft email services will be unaffected because Prism collects this data prior to encryption."[42][43][44]

Also according to The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald even low-level NSA analysts are allowed to search and listen to the communications of Americans and other people without court approval and supervision. Greenwald said low level Analysts can, via systems like PRISM, "listen to whatever emails they want, whatever telephone calls, browsing histories, Microsoft Word documents.[31] And it's all done with no need to go to a court, with no need to even get supervisor approval on the part of the analyst."[45]

He added that the NSA databank, with its years of collected communications, allows analysts to search that database and listen "to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you've entered, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future."[45] Greenwald was referring in the context of the foregoing quotes to the NSA program X-Keyscore.[46]

Unified Targeting Tool

Shortly after publication of the reports by The Guardian and The Washington Post, the United States Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, on June 7, 2013 released a statement confirming that for nearly six years the government of the United States had been using large internet services companies such as Facebook to collect information on foreigners outside the United States as a defense against national security threats.[18] The statement read in part, "The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies."[48] He went on to say, "Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States."[48] Clapper concluded his statement by stating, "The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans."[48] On March 12, 2013, Clapper had told the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the NSA does "not wittingly" collect any type of data on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.[49] Clapper later admitted the statement he made on March 12, 2013 was a lie,[50] or in his words "I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner by saying no."[51]

On June 7, 2013 U.S. President Barack Obama, referring to the PRISM program[citation needed] and the NSA's telephone calls logging program, said, "What you've got is two programs that were originally authorized by Congress, have been repeatedly authorized by Congress. Bipartisan majorities have approved them. Congress is continually briefed on how these are conducted. There are a whole range of safeguards involved. And federal judges are overseeing the entire program throughout."[52] He also said, "You can't have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. You know, we're going to have to make some choices as a society."[52] In separate statements, senior Obama administration officials (not mentioned by name in source) said that Congress had been briefed 13 times on the programs since 2009.[53]

On June 8, 2013, Director of National Intelligence Clapper made an additional public statement about PRISM and released a fact sheet providing further information about the program, which he described as "an internal government computer system used to facilitate the government's statutorily authorized collection of foreign intelligence information from electronic communication service providers under court supervision, as authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) (50 U.S.C. 1881a)."[54][55] The fact sheet stated that "the surveillance activities published in The Guardian and the Washington Post are lawful and conducted under authorities widely known and discussed, and fully debated and authorized by Congress."[54] The fact sheet also stated that "the United States Government does not unilaterally obtain information from the servers of U.S. electronic communication service providers. All such information is obtained with FISA Court approval and with the knowledge of the provider based upon a written directive from the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence." It said that the Attorney General provides FISA Court rulings and semi-annual reports about PRISM activities to Congress, "provid[ing] an unprecedented degree of accountability and transparency."[54] Democratic Senators Udall and Wyden, who serve on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, subsequently criticized the fact sheet as being inaccurate.[clarification needed] NSA Director General Keith Alexander acknowledged the errors, stating that the fact sheet "could have more precisely described" the requirements governing the collection of e-mail and other internet content from U.S. companies. The fact sheet was withdrawn from the NSA's website around June 26.[56]

In a closed-doors Senate hearing around June 11, FBI Director Robert Mueller said that Snowden's leaks had caused "significant harm to our nation and to our safety."[57] In the same Senate NSA Director Alexander defended the program.[further explanation needed] Alexander's defense was immediately criticized by Senators Udall and Wyden, who said they saw no evidence that the NSA programs had produced "uniquely valuable intelligence." In a joint statement, they wrote, "Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods."[57][58]

On June 18, NSA Director Alexander said in an open hearing before the House Intelligence Committee of Congress that communications surveillance had helped prevent more than 50 potential terrorist attacks worldwide (at least 10 of them involving terrorism suspects or targets in the United States) between 2001 and 2013, and that the PRISM web traffic surveillance program contributed in over 90 percent of those cases.[59][60][61] According to court records, one example Alexander gave regarding a thwarted attack by al Qaeda on the New York Stock Exchange was not in fact foiled by surveillance.[62] Several senators wrote Director of National Intelligence Clapper asking him to provide other examples.[63]

U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told various news outlets that by June 24 they were already seeing what they said was evidence that suspected terrorists had begun changing their communication practices in order to evade detection by the surveillance tools disclosed by Snowden.[64][65]

In contrast to their swift and forceful reactions the previous day to allegations that the government had been conducting surveillance of United States citizens' telephone records, Congressional leaders initially had little to say about the PRISM program the day after leaked information about the program was published. Several lawmakers declined to discuss PRISM, citing its top-secret classification,[66] and others said that they had not been aware of the program.[67] After statements had been released by the President and the Director of National Intelligence, some lawmakers began to comment:

Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), member of Senate Intelligence Committee and past member of Homeland Security Committee

Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), principal sponsor of the Patriot Act

Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), a Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO)

Representative Todd Rokita (R-IN)

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Following these statements some lawmakers from both parties warned national security officials during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee that they must change their use of sweeping National Security Agency surveillance programs or face losing the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that have allowed for the agency's mass collection of telephone metadata.[77] "Section 215 expires at the end of 2015, and unless you realize you've got a problem, that is not going to be renewed," Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., author of the USA Patriot Act, threatened during the hearing.[77] "It's got to be changed, and you've got to change how you operate section 215. Otherwise, in two and a half years, you're not going to have it anymore."[77]

Leaks of classified documents pointed to the role of a special court in enabling the government's secret surveillance programs, but members of the court maintained they were not collaborating with the executive branch.[78]The New York Times, however, reported in July 2013 that in "more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation's surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks."[79] After Members of the U.S. Congress pressed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to release declassified versions of its secret ruling, the court dismissed those requests arguing that the decisions can't be declassified because they contain classified information.[80]Reggie Walton, the current FISA presiding judge, said in a statement: "The perception that the court is a rubber stamp is absolutely false. There is a rigorous review process of applications submitted by the executive branch, spearheaded initially by five judicial branch lawyers who are national security experts, and then by the judges, to ensure that the court's authorizations comport with what the applicable statutes authorize."[81] The accusation of being a "rubber stamp" was further rejected by Walton who wrote in a letter to Senator Patrick J. Leahy: "The annual statistics provided to Congress by the Attorney General [...]frequently cited to in press reports as a suggestion that the Court's approval rate of application is over 99%reflect only the number of final applications submitted to and acted on by the Court. These statistics do not reflect the fact that many applications are altered to prior or final submission or even withheld from final submission entirely, often after an indication that a judge would not approve them."[82]

The U.S. military has acknowledged blocking access to parts of The Guardian website for thousands of defense personnel across the country,[83] and blocking the entire Guardian website for personnel stationed throughout Afghanistan, the Middle East, and South Asia.[84] A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve "network hygiene" and prevent any classified material from appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.[83] Access to the Washington Post, which also published information on classified NSA surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden, had not been blocked at the time the blocking of access to The Guardian was reported.[84]

The former head of the Austrian Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, Gert-Ren Polli, stated he knew the PRISM program under a different name and stated that surveillance activities had occurred in Austria as well. Polli had publicly stated in 2009 that he had received requests from US intelligence agencies to do things that would be in violation of Austrian law, which Polli refused to allow.[85][86]

The Australian government has said it will investigate the impact of the PRISM program and the use of the Pine Gap surveillance facility on the privacy of Australian citizens.[87] Australia's former foreign minister Bob Carr said that Australians shouldn't be concerned about PRISM but that cybersecurity is high on the government's list of concerns.[88] The Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop stated that the acts of Edward Snowden were treachery and offered a staunch defence of her nation's intelligence co-operation with America.[89]

Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, responded by cancelling a planned October 2013 state visit to the United States, demanding an official apology, which by October 20, 2013, hadn't come.[90] Also, Rousseff classified the spying as unacceptable between more harsh words in a speech before the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2013.[91] As a result, Boeing lost out on a US$4.5 billion contract for fighter jets to Sweden's Saab Group.[92]

Canada's national cryptologic agency, the Communications Security Establishment (CSEC), said that commenting on PRISM "would undermine CSE's ability to carry out its mandate." Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart lamented Canada's standards when it comes to protecting personal online privacy stating "We have fallen too far behind" in her report. "While other nations' data protection authorities have the legal power to make binding orders, levy hefty fines and take meaningful action in the event of serious data breaches, we are restricted to a 'soft' approach: persuasion, encouragement and, at the most, the potential to publish the names of transgressors in the public interest." And, "when push comes to shove," Stoddart wrote, "short of a costly and time-consuming court battle, we have no power to enforce our recommendations."[93][94]

On 20 October 2013 a committee at the European Parliament backed a measure that, if it is enacted, would require American companies to seek clearance from European officials before complying with United States warrants seeking private data. The legislation has been under consideration for two years. The vote is part of efforts in Europe to shield citizens from online surveillance in the wake of revelations about a far-reaching spying program by the U.S. National Security Agency.[95] Germany and France have also had ongoing mutual talks about how they can keep European email traffic from going across American servers.[96]

On October 21, 2013 the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, summoned the U.S. Ambassador, Charles Rivkin, to the Quai d'Orsay in Paris to protest large-scale spying on French citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Paris prosecutors had opened preliminary inquiries into the NSA program in July, but Fabius said, " obviously we need to go further" and "we must quickly assure that these practices aren't repeated."[97]

Germany did not receive any raw PRISM data, according to a Reuters report.[98]German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "the internet is new to all of us" to explain the nature of the program; Matthew Schofield of McClatchy Washington Bureau said, "She was roundly mocked for that statement."[99] Gert-Ren Polli, a former Austrian counter-terrorism official, said in 2013 that it is "absurd and unnatural" for the German authorities to pretend not to have known anything.[85][86] The German Army was using PRISM to support its operations in Afghanistan as early as 2011.[100]

In October 2013, it was reported that the NSA monitored Merkel's cell phone.[101] The United States denied the report, but following the allegations, Merkel called President Obama and told him that spying on friends was "never acceptable, no matter in what situation."[102]

Israeli newspaper Calcalist discussed[103] the Business Insider article[104] about the possible involvement of technologies from two secretive Israeli companies in the PRISM programVerint Systems and Narus.

After finding out about the PRISM program, the Mexican Government has started constructing its own spying program to spy on its own citizens. According to Jenaro Villamil a writer from Proceso (magazine), CISEN, Mexico's intelligence agency has started to work with IBM and Hewlett Packard to develop its own data gathering software. "Facebook, Twitter, Emails and other social network sites are going to be priority."[105]

In New Zealand, University of Otago information science Associate Professor Hank Wolfe said that "under what was unofficially known as the Five Eyes Alliance, New Zealand and other governments, including the United States, Australia, Canada, and Britain, dealt with internal spying by saying they didn't do it. But they have all the partners doing it for them and then they share all the information."[106]

Edward Snowden, in a live streamed Google Hangout to Kim Dotcom and Julian Assange alleged that he had received intelligence from New Zealand, and the NSA has listening posts in New Zealand[107]

At a meeting of European Union leaders held the week of 21 October 2013, Mariano Rajoy, Spain's prime minister, said that "spying activities aren't proper among partner countries and allies". On 28 October 2013 the Spanish government summoned the American ambassador, James Costos, to address allegations that the U.S. had collected data on 60 million telephone calls in Spain. Separately, igo Mndez de Vigo, a Spanish secretary of state, referred to the need to maintain "a necessary balance" between security and privacy concerns, but said that the recent allegations of spying, "if proven to be true, are improper and unacceptable between partners and friendly countries".[108]

In the United Kingdom, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which also has its own surveillance program Tempora, had access to the PRISM program on or before June 2010 and wrote 197 reports with it in 2012 alone. But after 2014, the Tempora lost its access to the PRISM programme.[citation needed] The Intelligence and Security Committee of the UK Parliament reviewed the reports GCHQ produced on the basis of intelligence sought from the US. They found in each case a warrant for interception was in place in accordance with the legal safeguards contained in UK law.[109]

In August 2013, The Guardian newspaper's offices were visited by agents from GCHQ, who ordered and supervised the destruction of the hard drives containing information acquired from Snowden.[110]

The original Washington Post and Guardian articles reporting on PRISM noted that one of the leaked briefing documents said PRISM involves collection of data "directly from the servers" of several major internet services providers.[2][3]

Corporate executives of several companies identified in the leaked documents told The Guardian that they had no knowledge of the PRISM program in particular and also denied making information available to the government on the scale alleged by news reports.[3][111] Statements of several of the companies named in the leaked documents were reported by TechCrunch and The Washington Post as follows:[112][113]

In response to the technology companies' denials of the NSA being able to directly access the companies' servers, The New York Times reported that sources had stated the NSA was gathering the surveillance data from the companies using other technical means in response to court orders for specific sets of data.[18]The Washington Post suggested, "It is possible that the conflict between the PRISM slides and the company spokesmen is the result of imprecision on the part of the NSA author. In another classified report obtained by The Post, the arrangement is described as allowing 'collection managers [to send] content tasking instructions directly to equipment installed at company-controlled locations,' rather than directly to company servers."[2] "[I]n context, 'direct' is more likely to mean that the NSA is receiving data sent to them deliberately by the tech companies, as opposed to intercepting communications as they're transmitted to some other destination.[113]

"If these companies received an order under the FISA amendments act, they are forbidden by law from disclosing having received the order and disclosing any information about the order at all," Mark Rumold, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told ABC News.[116]

On May 28, 2013, Google was ordered by United States District Court Judge Susan Illston to comply with a National Security Letter issued by the FBI to provide user data without a warrant.[117] Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an interview with VentureBeat said, "I certainly appreciate that Google put out a transparency report, but it appears that the transparency didn't include this. I wouldn't be surprised if they were subject to a gag order."[118]

The New York Times reported on June 7, 2013, that "Twitter declined to make it easier for the government. But other companies were more compliant, according to people briefed on the negotiations."[119] The other companies held discussions with national security personnel on how to make data available more efficiently and securely.[119] In some cases, these companies made modifications to their systems in support of the intelligence collection effort.[119] The dialogues have continued in recent months, as General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has met with executives including those at Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Intel.[119] These details on the discussions provide insight into the disparity between initial descriptions of the government program including a training slide which states, "Collection directly from the servers"[120] and the companies' denials.[119]

While providing data in response to a legitimate FISA request approved by the FISA Court is a legal requirement, modifying systems to make it easier for the government to collect the data is not. This is why Twitter could legally decline to provide an enhanced mechanism for data transmission.[119] Other than Twitter, the companies were effectively asked to construct a locked mailbox and provide the key to the government, people briefed on the negotiations said.[119] Facebook, for instance, built such a system for requesting and sharing the information.[119] Google does not provide a lockbox system, but instead transmits required data by hand delivery or ssh.[121]

In response to the publicity surrounding media reports of data-sharing, several companies requested permission to reveal more public information about the nature and scope of information provided in response to National Security requests.

On June 14, 2013, Facebook reported that the U.S. government had authorized the communication of "about these numbers in aggregate, and as a range." In a press release posted to its web site, the company reported, "For the six months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including criminal and national security-related requests) was between 9,000 and 10,000." The company further reported that the requests impacted "between 18,000 and 19,000" user accounts, a "tiny fraction of one percent" of more than 1.1 billion active user accounts.[122]

That same day, Microsoft reported that for the same period, it received "between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from U.S. governmental entities (including local, state and federal)" which impacted "a tiny fraction of Microsoft's global customer base."[123]

Google issued a statement criticizing the requirement that data be reported in aggregated form, stating that lumping national security requests with criminal request data would be "a step backwards" from its previous, more detailed practices on its website's transparency report. The company said that it would continue to seek government permission to publish the number and extent of FISA requests.[124]

Cisco Systems saw a huge drop in export sales because of fears that the National Security Agency could be using backdoors in its products.[125]

On September 12, 2014, Yahoo! reported the U.S. Government threatened the imposition of $250,000 in fines per day if Yahoo didn't hand over user data as part of the NSA's PRISM program.[126] It is not known if other companies were threatened or fined for not providing data in response to a legitimate FISA requests.

The New York Times editorial board charged that the Obama administration "has now lost all credibility on this issue,"[127] and lamented that "for years, members of Congress ignored evidence that domestic intelligence-gathering had grown beyond their control, and, even now, few seem disturbed to learn that every detail about the public's calling and texting habits now reside in a N.S.A. database."[128] It wrote with respect to the FISA-Court in context of PRISM that it is "a perversion of the American justice system" when "judicial secrecy is coupled with a one-sided presentation of the issues."[129] According to the New York Times, "the result is a court whose reach is expanding far beyond its original mandate and without any substantive check."[129]

James Robertson, a former federal district judge based in Washington who served on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court for three years between 2002 and 2005 and who ruled against the Bush administration in the landmark Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case, said FISA court is independent but flawed because only the government's side is represented effectively in its deliberations. "Anyone who has been a judge will tell you a judge needs to hear both sides of a case," said James Robertson.[130] Without this judges do not benefit from adversarial debate. He suggested creating an advocate with security clearance who would argue against government filings.[131] Robertson questioned whether the secret FISA court should provide overall legal approval for the surveillance programs, saying the court "has turned into something like an administrative agency." Under the changes brought by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, which expanded the US government's authority by forcing the court to approve entire surveillance systems and not just surveillance warrants as it previously handled, "the court is now approving programmatic surveillance. I don't think that is a judicial function."[130] Robertson also said he was "frankly stunned" by the New York Times report[79] that FISA court rulings had created a new body of law broadening the ability of the NSA to use its surveillance programs to target not only terrorists but suspects in cases involving espionage, cyberattacks and weapons of mass destruction.[130]

Former CIA analyst Valerie Plame Wilson and former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, writing in an op-ed article published in The Guardian, said that "Prism and other NSA data-mining programs might indeed be very effective in hunting and capturing actual terrorists, but we don't have enough information as a society to make that decision."[132]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an international non-profit digital-rights group based in the U.S., is hosting a tool, by which an American resident can write to their government representatives regarding their opposition to mass spying.[133]

The Obama administration's argument that NSA surveillance programs such as PRISM and Boundless Informant had been necessary to prevent acts of terrorism was challenged by several parties. Ed Pilkington and Nicholas Watt of The Guardian said of the case of Najibullah Zazi, who had planned to bomb the New York City Subway, that interviews with involved parties and U.S. and British court documents indicated that the investigation into the case had actually been initiated in response to "conventional" surveillance methods such as "old-fashioned tip-offs" of the British intelligence services, rather than to leads produced by NSA surveillance.[134] Michael Daly of The Daily Beast stated that even though Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who conducted the Boston Marathon bombing with his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, had visited the Al Qaeda-affiliated Inspire magazine website, and even though Russian intelligence officials had raised concerns with U.S. intelligence officials about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, PRISM did not prevent him from carrying out the Boston attacks. Daly observed that, "The problem is not just what the National Security Agency is gathering at the risk of our privacy but what it is apparently unable to monitor at the risk of our safety."[135]

Ron Paul, a former Republican member of Congress and prominent libertarian, thanked Snowden and Greenwald and denounced the mass surveillance as unhelpful and damaging, urging instead more transparency in U.S. government actions.[136] He called Congress "derelict in giving that much power to the government," and said that had he been elected president, he would have ordered searches only when there was probable cause of a crime having been committed, which he said was not how the PRISM program was being operated.[137]

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman defended limited government surveillance programs intended to protect the American people from terrorist acts:

Yes, I worry about potential government abuse of privacy from a program designed to prevent another 9/11abuse that, so far, does not appear to have happened. But I worry even more about another 9/11. ... If there were another 9/11, I fear that 99 percent of Americans would tell their members of Congress: "Do whatever you need to do to, privacy be damned, just make sure this does not happen again." That is what I fear most. That is why I'll reluctantly, very reluctantly, trade off the government using data mining to look for suspicious patterns in phone numbers called and e-mail addressesand then have to go to a judge to get a warrant to actually look at the content under guidelines set by Congressto prevent a day where, out of fear, we give government a license to look at anyone, any e-mail, any phone call, anywhere, anytime.[138]

Political commentator David Brooks similarly cautioned that government data surveillance programs are a necessary evil: "if you don't have mass data sweeps, well, then these agencies are going to want to go back to the old-fashioned eavesdropping, which is a lot more intrusive."[139]

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer worried less about the legality of PRISM and other NSA surveillance tools than about the potential for their abuse without more stringent oversight. "The problem here is not constitutionality. ... We need a toughening of both congressional oversight and judicial review, perhaps even some independent outside scrutiny. Plus periodic legislative revisionsay, reauthorization every couple of yearsin light of the efficacy of the safeguards and the nature of the external threat. The object is not to abolish these vital programs. It's to fix them."[140]

In a blog post, David Simon, the creator of The Wire, compared the NSA's programs, including PRISM, to a 1980s effort by the City of Baltimore to add dialed number recorders to all pay phones to know which individuals were being called by the callers;[141] the city believed that drug traffickers were using pay phones and pagers, and a municipal judge allowed the city to place the recorders. The placement of the dialers formed the basis of the show's first season. Simon argued that the media attention regarding the NSA programs is a "faux scandal."[141][142] Simon had stated that many classes of people in American society had already faced constant government surveillance.

Political theorist, and frequent critic of U.S. government policies, Noam Chomsky argued, "Governments should not have this capacity. But governments will use whatever technology is available to them to combat their primary enemy which is their own population."[143]

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted June 11 through 13 found that 66% of Americans generally supported the program.[144][145][Notes 1] However, a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 28 through July 8 found that 45% of registered voters think the surveillance programs have gone too far, with 40% saying they do not go far enough, compared to 25% saying they had gone too far and 63% saying not far enough in 2010.[146] Other polls have shown similar shifts in public opinion as revelations about the programs were leaked.[147][148]

In terms of economic impact, a study released in August by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation[149] found that the disclosure of PRISM could cost the U.S. economy between $21.5 and $35 billion in lost cloud computing business over three years.[150][151][152][153]

Sentiment around the world was that of general displeasure upon learning the extent of world communication data mining. Some national leaders spoke against the NSA and some spoke against their own national surveillance. One national minister had scathing comments on the National Security Agency's data-mining program, citing Benjamin Franklin: "The more a society monitors, controls, and observes its citizens, the less free it is."[154] Some question if the costs of hunting terrorists now overshadows the loss of citizen privacy.[155][156]

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Crimson Circle > Library > The Channel Library …

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IMPORTANT NOTE: This information is probably not for you unless you take full responsibility for your life and creations.

TransHuman Series is presented and recorded at the Crimson Circle monthly meetings. The first channel of this series was presented on August 6, 2016 and will continue until July 2017. By Clicking on one of the following Shoud links, you can go to the text, audio or video version of each Channel (Shoud), or you can listen to or download the audio file of each.

Shouds available to download

Shoud 1: "Transhuman Series" - August 7, 2016

Welcome and Shaumbra News

With Geoff and Linda Hoppe

A review of recent and upcoming activities and worldwide Shaumbra news and information.

Monthly Shoud

With Adamus Saint-Germain, channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe

The latest information from Adamus on current energies, world events and the evolution of human consciousness.

Shoud 2: "Transhuman Series" - October 1, 2016

Welcome and Shaumbra News

With Geoff and Linda Hoppe

A review of recent and upcoming activities and worldwide Shaumbra news and information.

Monthly Shoud

With Adamus Saint-Germain, channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe

The latest information from Adamus on current energies, world events and the evolution of human consciousness.

Shoud 3: "Transhuman Series" - November 5, 2016

Welcome and Shaumbra News

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Crimson Circle > Library > The Channel Library ...

Nano-Bots, Mind Control & Trans-Humanism – The Future of …

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Christina Sarich, Staff Writer Waking Times

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind ofoptical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion isa kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.~ Albert Einstein

You cannot discuss the nano-technology being used in todays world without understanding something about the transhumanist movement. Within this tight group of technological autocrats, no pun intended, human beings, as created by God, or evolution, take your pick, can be vastly improved upon. We are meant to be immortal. So while I applaud the technology that allows a veteran to replace a lost limb, I certainly dont plan on cutting off my right hand toreplace it with a cyber-hand. Even thehuman brain should be reverse-engineeredby 2030 according to some. It may sound fantastical, but this is the world that transhumanists imagine. It is at the root of GMO crops, eugenics, and eerily, mirrors the plot of the famous Matrix movies developed by the Wachoski brothers.

Never send a human to do a machines job. ~ Agent Smith, The Matrix

In an article published inDiscoverymagazine, and written by Kyle Munkittrick, seven conditions for becoming trans-human are aptly outlined. This is a very immense subject which could not possibly be covered in a single article, and the technology behind it develops rapidly, and is also heavily guarded. Below is my take on the movement as succinctly put as possible:

2.We will begin to treat aging as a disease instead of a normal function of the cycle of life: i.e., a seed grows into a plant, a plant prospers and grows, a plant dies, it becomes fertilizer for the next generation of plants.

3.Politicians will remove rights from humans increasingly as they become more like machines. Our sentience is being stolen from us already, and once it is suppressed sufficiently (though true awareness is Universal and cannot be destroyed) we will be easier to control, like remote-controlrobots.

4.Neuro-implants and other prosthetics will replace the current biology as a normal and accepted paradigm. Genetic engineering is already altering the human genome drastically. Currently they aretesting out their mad science on animals and plants, but humans, are next.

5.Artificial intelligence will replace human cognition, integrated into our nano-bot matrix within the biological system. This will in turn develop into an AR (augmented reality) which can be controlled at the will of persons deciding what is acceptable action and what is not for a trans-human to engage in.

6.Our average age will exceed 120, but we will take with us the same perceptions of the world that have created the current mess we are in. Without an abrupt halt to these maniacal technological plans the subtlety of human personality will be destroyed. While the ego is inflated to serve an elite class, the lesser-cultivated ideals of love, harmony, balance within nature, etc. will be destroyed. So who cares, really if we live longer?

7.Reproduction will only take place through assisted reproductive technologies. Natural sex, and birthing will become an outdated, historical phenomenon.

8.Legal structures will be put into place to support Ones genetic make-up, neurological composition, prosthetic augmentation, and other cybernetic modifications will be limited only by technology and ones owndiscretion.

9.Our rights as humanity will be completely replaced with the rights of personhood, and then an arbitrary change in the definition of a person who can then be treated as a cyber-slave.

So is this something you want to participate in, enthusiastically? To become more than human? It doesnt matter if you arent on board. You are already being transformed into a cyber-human without your agreement. It starts withforced vaccines through Bill Gates and the US militarys technology.Nano-patchesare already delivering many vaccines.

TheEuropean Coalition Against Covert Harassmentestimates that more than 80% of the population has already been infected with nano-technology, via chemtrails, vaccines, and dental procedures, to control our minds and behavior. The ECACH has already put forth a document to the EU Parliament requesting the cessation of:

. . . weapons systems operating on new physics principles used to torture or inflict other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment including electronic weapons, electromagnetic weapons, magnetic weapons, directed energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, frequency weapons, genetic weapons, scalar weapons, psychotronic weapons, chemtrail aerosol weapons, implant weapons, nanotechnology weapons, high frequency active aural high altitude ultra low frequency weapons,[and]information technology weapons.

Collectively these are called new physics torture weapons. So it seems, the war for your consciousness really is playing out on the world stage. Apparently, nano-bots in aerosol chemtrails can identify their host via a chemical signature.

Under development since 1995, the militarys goal is to install microprocessors incorporating gigaflops computer capability into smart particles the size of a single molecule. One might ask why are they doing this? The answer maybe as simple as, they can. Its all about control. The power to control everything.

Apparently these nano-particles are being made of mono-atomic gold particles, and they are just an augmentation of the militarys drone paradigm. This is no joke. As the air is filled with nano-particles of smart fibers, something calledBEAGLE Application Programming Interface and High-Performance Computing Library for Statistical Phylogenetics which can compute every move you make, and every single bodily function, including your heart rate, breath rate, hormonal activity, and so forth for what purpose? Well, there is aGamervideo clip which hides the truth in plain sight. Reference at about min 1 and 14 seconds.

You can also see a video that shows nano-bots, though not in their smallest form,here. Our entire DNA has been scheduled fornano-bot overhaul:

Recently, scientists Anirban Bandyopadhyay and Somobrata Acharya from the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, have built the first ultra-tiny, ultra-powerful brains for nanobots.The brains just two billionths of a meter across act as tiny computer transistors. But instead of carrying out just one operation at a time, like a normal transistor, the new devices can simultaneously perform 16 operations at once. In other words, the devices use parallel processing like the human brain rather than serial processing like a normal computer. The researchers call this ability one-to-many communication.

The tiny machines are composed of 17 duroquinone molecules that act as logic gates. The researchers arranged 16 of these molecules in a wheel, and placed the last molecule in the middle, which acts as the control center. The entire wheel was constructed on a gold substrate.

Just think Minority Report utilizingnano-tech BioAPI, where your coherent thoughts areread and sampledby a supercomputer in real time, you can be controlled before you even act on your desire to overthrow a government or host a sit-in outside Monsantos annual shareholder meeting.

No one has to take this lying down. The soft-kill, and technological stealth which would allow the powers that be to take over our very humanitycanbe eradicated.Youare in control of your consciousness not the government, no matter how hard they try to manipulate you with their advanced technology. There are ways to become super-human without losing our humanity. In recent reports from Science Daily, it was proven that human DNA can be changed with meditation.Gene expression is totally altered with just a few hours practice. Why is this not a more accepted paradigm in our world? Likely because reports like this are swept aside while you stay locked in Fukushima and false flag fear.

Meditate, and you will see past all illusion, including the mind-prisons they would keep you within. Nano-bots may be the tiny, evil soldiers of a eugenicist class, but our collective will is stronger:

If by this superhuman concentration one succeeded in converting or resolving the two cosmoses with all their complexities into sheer ideas, he would then reach the causal world and stand on the borderline of fusion between mind and matter.There one perceives all created things solids, liquids, gases, electricity, energy, all beings, gods, men, animals, plants, bacteria as forms of consciousness, just as a man can close his eyes and realize that he exists, even though his body is invisible to his physical eyes and is presentonly as an idea. ~Paramahansa Yogananda Ch. 43 The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar

Christina Sarichis a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studyingLao Tzu,Paramahansa Yogananda,Rob Brezny,Miles Davis, andTom Robbinsinto interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, andSee the Big Picture. Her blog isYoga for the New World. Her latest book isPharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. Its okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

~~ HelpWaking Timesto raise the vibration by sharing this article with the buttons below

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World Stem Cell Summit

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Cellular Dynamics

Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a FUJIFILM company, is a leading developer and manufacturer of human cells used in drug discovery, toxicity testing, stem cell banking, and cell therapy development. The Company partners with innovators from around the world to combine biologically relevant human cells with the newest technologies to drive advancements in medicine and healthier living. CDIs technology offers the potential to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from anyone, starting with a standard blood draw, and followed by the powerful capability to develop into virtually any cell type in the human body. Our proprietary manufacturing system produces billions of cells daily, resulting in inventoried iCell products and donor-specific MyCell Products in the quantity, quality, purity, and reproducibility required for drug and cell therapy development. Founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research, Cellular Dynamics is based in Madison, Wisconsin, with a second facility in Novato, California. For more information, please visit http://www.cellulardynamics.com, and follow us on Twitter @CellDynamics. FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including: healthcare, with medical systems, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; graphic systems; highly functional materials, such as flat panel display materials; optical devices, such as broadcast and cinema lenses; digital imaging; and document products. These are based on a vast portfolio of chemical, mechanical, optical, electronic, software and production technologies. In the year ended March 31, 2015, the company had global revenues of $20.8 billion, at an exchange rate of 120 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: http://www.fujifilmholdings.com.

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World Stem Cell Summit

Regenerative Medicine Conferences | Tissue Engineering …

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Sessions/Tracks

The 7th International Conference on Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine which is going to be held during October 02-04, 2017 at Barcelona, Spain will bring together world-class personalities working on stem cells, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to discuss materials-related strategies for disease remediation and tissue repair.

Tissue Regeneration

In the field of biology, regeneration is the progression of renewal, regeneration and growth that makes it possible for genomes, cells, organ regeneration to natural changes or events that cause damage or disturbance.This study is carried out as craniofacial tissue engineering, in-situtissue regeneration, adipose-derived stem cells for regenerative medicine which is also a breakthrough in cell culture technology. The study is not stopped with the regeneration of tissue where it is further carried out in relation with cell signaling, morphogenetic proteins. Most of the neurological disorders occurred accidental having a scope of recovery by replacement or repair of intervertebral discs repair, spinal fusion and many more advancements. The global market for tissue engineering and regeneration products such as scaffolds, tissueimplants, biomimetic materials reached $55.9 billion in 2010 and it is expected to reach $89.7 billion by 2016 at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4%. It grows to $135 billion by 2024.

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7th InternationalConference on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine October 02-04, 2017 Barcelona, Spain; 6th International Conference onCell and Gene Therapy Mar 2-3, 2017 Madrid, Spain; 2nd International Conference on Tumor & Cancer Immunology and ImmunotherapyJuly 17-19, 2017 Chicago, USA; 13th European Cardiology Conference December 05-06, 2016 Madrid, Spain; InternationalConference on Molecular BiologyOctober 13-15, 2016 Dubai, UAE; 8th World Congress on Molecular Pathology June 26-28, 2017 San Diego, USA; 2nd International Conference on Tumor & Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy July 17-19, 2017 Chicago, USA ;9th Annual Conference on Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Sep 05-06, 2017 Paris, France; International Conference on Restorative & Alternative Medicine October 24-25, 2016 Chicago, Illinois, USA; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition on Tissue Preservation and Biobanking August 23-24, 2017 San Francisco, USA; 2nd Annual Conference and Expo on Biomaterials March 27-28, 2017 Madrid, Spain; 2nd International Conference on Tumor & Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy July 17-19, 2017 Chicago, USA; 2nd World Congress on Connective Tissue Diseases Sep 27-29, 2017 Chicago, USA; International Conference on Cell Signalling and Cancer Therapy Aug 20-22, 2017 Paris, France; 14th International Conference on Clinical & Experimental Cardiology November 14-16, 2016 Orlando, Florida, USA

Designs for Tissue Engineering

The developing field of tissue engineering aims to regenerate damaged tissues by combining cells from the body withbioresorbablematerials, biodegradable hydrogel, biomimetic materials, nanostructures andnanomaterials, biomaterials and tissue implants which act as templates for tissue regeneration, to guide the growth of new tissue by using with the technologies. The global market for biomaterials, nanostructures and bioresorbable materials are estimated to reach $88.4 billion by 2017 from $44.0 billion in 2012 growing at a CAGR of 15%. Further the biomaterials market estimated to be worth more than 300 billion US Dollars and to be increasing 20% per year.

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Organ Engineering

This interdisciplinary engineering has attracted much attention as a new therapeutic means that may overcome the drawbacks involved in the current artificial organs and organtransplantationthat have been also aiming at replacing lost or severely damaged tissues or organs. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is an exciting research area that aims at regenerative alternatives to harvested tissues for organ transplantation with soft tissues. Although significant progress has been made in thetissue engineeringfield, many challenges remain and further development in this area will require ongoing interactions and collaborations among the scientists from multiple disciplines, and in partnership with the regulatory and the funding agencies. As a result of the medical and market potential, there is significant academic and corporate interest in this technology.

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7th InternationalConference on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine October 02-04, 2017 Barcelona, Spain; 6th International Conference onCell and Gene Therapy Mar 2-3, 2017 Madrid, Spain; 2nd International Conference on Tumor & Cancer Immunology and ImmunotherapyJuly 17-19, 2017 Chicago, USA; 13th European Cardiology Conference December 05-06, 2016 Madrid, Spain; InternationalConference on Molecular BiologyOctober 13-15, 2016 Dubai, UAE; 8th World Congress on Molecular Pathology June 26-28, 2017 San Diego, USA; Tumor & Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy July 17-19, 2017 Chicago, USA; 2nd World Congress on Connective Tissue Diseases Sep 27-29, 2017 Chicago, USA; International Conference on Cell Signalling and Cancer Therapy Aug 20-22, 2017 Paris, France; 14th International Conference on Clinical & Experimental Cardiology November 14-16, 2016 Orlando, Florida, USA

Cancer Stem Cells

The characterization of cancer stem cell is done by identifying the cell within a tumor that possesses the capacity to self-renew and to cause theheterogeneous lineagesof cancer cells that comprise the tumor. This stem cell which acts as precursor for the cancer acts as a tool against it indulging the reconstruction of cancer stem cells, implies as the therapeutic implications and challenging the gaps globally. The global stem cell market will grow from about $5.6 billion in 2013 to nearly $10.6 billion in 2018, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6% from 2013 through 2018. The Americas is the largest region of globalstem cellmarket, with a market share of about $2.0 billion in 2013. The region is projected to increase to nearly $3.9 billion by 2018, with a CAGR of 13.9% for the period of 2013 to 2018. Europe is the second largest segment of the global stem cell market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% reaching about $2.4 billion by 2018 from nearly $1.4 billion in 2013.

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Bone Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering ofmusculoskeletal tissues, particularly bone and cartilage, is a rapidly advancing field. In bone, technology has centered on bone graft substitute materials and the development of biodegradable scaffolds. Recently, tissue engineering strategies have included cell and gene therapy. The availability of growth factors and the expanding knowledge base concerning the bone regeneration with modern techniques like recombinant signaling molecules, solid free form fabrication of scaffolds, synthetic cartilage, Electrochemical deposition,spinal fusionand ossification are new generated techniques for tissue-engineering applications. The worldwide market for bone and cartilage repairs strategies is estimated about $300 million. During the last 10/15 years, the scientific community witnessed and reported the appearance of several sources of stem cells with both osteo and chondrogenic potential.

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Scaffolds

Scaffolds are one of the three most important elements constituting the basic concept of regenerative medicine, and are included in the core technology of regenerative medicine. Every day thousands of surgical procedures are performed to replace or repair tissue that has been damaged through disease or trauma. The developing field of tissue engineering (TE) aims to regeneratedamaged tissuesby combining cells from the body with highly porous scaffold biomaterials, which act as templates for tissue regeneration, to guide the growth of new tissue. Scaffolds has a prominent role in tissue regeneration the designs, fabrication, 3D models, surface ligands and molecular architecture, nanoparticle-cell interactions and porous of thescaffoldsare been used in the field in attempts to regenerate different tissues and organs in the body. The world stem cell market was approximately 2.715 billion dollars in 2010, and with a growth rate of 16.8% annually, a market of 6.877 billion dollars will be formed in 2016. From 2017, the expected annual growth rate is 10.6%, which would expand the market to 11.38 billion dollars by 2021.

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Tissue Regeneration Technologies

Guided tissue regeneration is defined as procedures attempting to regenerate lost periodontal structures through differential tissue responses. Guidedbone regenerationtypically refers to ridge augmentation or bone regenerative procedures it typically refers to regeneration of periodontal therapy. The recent advancements and innovations in biomedical and regenerative tissue engineering techniques include the novel approach of guided tissue regeneration and combination ofnanotechnologyand regenerative medicine.

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Regeneration and Therapeutics

Regenerative medicinecan be defined as a therapeutic intervention which replaces or regenerates human cells, tissues or organs, to restore or establish normal function and deploys small molecule drugs, biologics, medical devices and cell-based therapies. It deals with the different therapeutic uses like stem cells for tissue repair, tissue injury and healing process, cardiacstem cell therapyfor regeneration, functional regenerative recovery, effects of aging on tissuerepair/regeneration, corneal regeneration & degeneration. The global market is expected to reach $25.5 billion by 2011 and will further grow to $36.1 billion by 2016 at a CAGR of 7.2%. It is expected to reach $65 billion mark by 2024.

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Regenerative medicine

Regenerative medicine is a branch oftranslational researchin tissue engineering and molecular biology which deals with the process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function. The latest developments involve advances in cell and gene therapy and stem cell research, molecular therapy, dental and craniofacial regeneration.Regenerative medicineshave the unique ability to repair, replace and regenerate tissues and organs, affected due to some injury, disease or due to natural aging process. These medicines are capable of restoring the functionality of cells and tissues. The global regenerative medicine market will reach $ 67.6 billion by 2020 from $16.4 billion in 2013, registering a CAGR of 23.2% during forecast period (2014 - 2020). Small molecules and biologics segment holds prominent market share in the overall regenerative medicine technology market and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 18.9% during the forecast period.

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Applications of Tissue Engineering

The applications of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are innumerable as they mark the replacement of medication andorgan replacement. The applications involve cell tracking andtissue imaging, cell therapy and regenerative medicine, organ harvesting, transport and transplant, the application of nanotechnology in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and bio banking. Globally the research statistics are increasing at a vast scale and many universities and companies are conducting events on the subject regenerative medicine conference like tissue implants workshops, endodontics meetings, tissue biomarkers events, tissue repair meetings, regenerative medicine conferences, tissue engineering conference, regenerative medicine workshop, veterinary regenerative medicine, regenerative medicine symposiums, tissue regeneration conferences, regenerative medicine congress.

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Regenerative Medicine Market

There are strong pricing pressures from public healthcare payers globally as Governments try to reduce budget deficits. Regenerative medicine could potentially save public health bodies money by reducing the need for long-term care and reducing associated disorders, with potential benefits for the world economy as a whole.The global market fortissue engineeringand regeneration products reached $55.9 billion in 2010, is expected to reach $59.8 billion by 2011, and will further grow to $89.7 billion by 2016 at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4%. It grows to $135 billion to 2024. The contribution of the European region was 43.3% of the market in 2010, a value of $24.2 billion. Themarketis expected to reach $25.5 billion by 2011 and will further grow to $36.1 billion by 2016 at a CAGR of 7.2%. It grows to $65 billion to 2024.

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Regenerative Medicine Europe

Leading EU nations with strong biotech sectors such as the UK and Germany are investing heavily in regenerative medicine, seeking competitive advantage in this emerging sector. The commercial regenerative medicine sector faces governance challenges that include a lack of proven business models, an immature science base and ethical controversy surrounding hESC research. The recent global downturn has exacerbated these difficulties: private finance has all but disappeared; leading companies are close to bankruptcy, and start-ups are struggling to raise funds. In the UK the government has responded by announcing 21.5M funding for the regenerative medicine industry and partners. But the present crisis extends considerably beyond regenerative medicine alone, affecting much of the European biotech sector. A 2009 European Commission (EC) report showed the extent to which the global recession has impacted on access to VC finance in Europe: 75% of biopharma companies in Europe need capital within the next two years if they are to continue their current range of activities.

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Embryonic Stem Cell

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are able to grow (i.e. differentiate) into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm. In other words, they can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body as long as they are specified to do so. Embryonic stem cells are distinguished by two distinctive properties: their pluripotency, and their ability to replicate indefinitely. ES cells are pluripotent, that is, they are able to differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm. These include each of the more than 220 cell types in the adult body. Pluripotency distinguishes embryonic stem cells from adult stem cells found in adults; while embryonic stem cells can generate all cell types in the body, adult stem cells are multipotent and can produce only a limited number of cell types. Additionally, under defined conditions, embryonic stem cells are capable of propagating themselves indefinitely. This allows embryonic stem cells to be employed as useful tools for both research and regenerative medicine, because they can produce limitless numbers of themselves for continued research or clinical use.

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Stem Cell Transplant

Stem cell transplantation is a procedure that is most often recommended as a treatment option for people with leukemia, multiple myeloma, and some types of lymphoma. It may also be used to treat some genetic diseases that involve the blood. During a stem cell transplant diseased bone marrow (the spongy, fatty tissue found inside larger bones) is destroyed with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy and then replaced with highly specialized stem cells that develop into healthy bone marrow. Although this procedure used to be referred to as a bone marrow transplant, today it is more commonly called a stem cell transplant because it is stem cells in the blood that are typically being transplanted, not the actual bone marrow tissue.

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Market Analysis Report:

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and life sciences toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ. Regenerative medicine is not one discipline. It can be defined as a therapeutic intervention which replaces or regenerates human cells, tissues or organs, to restore or establish normal function and deploys small molecule drugs, biologics, medical devices and cell-based therapies

Currently it has emerged as a rapidly diversifying field with the potential to address the worldwide organ shortage issue and comprises of tissue regeneration and organ replacement. Regenerative medicine could potentially save public health bodies money by reducing the need for long-term care and reducing associated disorders, with potential benefits for the world economy as a whole.The global tissue engineering and regeneration market reached $17 billion in 2013. This market is expected to grow to nearly $20.8 billion in 2014 and $56.9 billion in 2019, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3%. On the basis of geography, Europe holds the second place in the global market in the field of regenerative medicine & tissue engineering. In Europe countries like UK, France and Germany are possessing good market shares in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Spain and Italy are the emerging market trends for tissue engineering in Europe.

Tissue engineering is "an interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and life sciences toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ. Currently it has emerged as a rapidly diversifying field with the potential to address the worldwide organ shortage issue and comprises of tissue regeneration and organ replacement. A novel set of tissue replacement parts and implementation strategies had shown a great revolution in this field. Cells placed on or within the tissue constructs is the most common methodology in tissue engineering.

Regenerative medicine is not one discipline. It can be defined as a therapeutic intervention which replaces or regenerates human cells, tissues or organs, to restore or establish normal function and deploys small molecule drugs, biologics, medical devices and cell-based therapies

This field continues to evolve. In addition to medical applications, non-therapeutic applications include using tissues as biosensors to detect biological or chemical threat agents, and tissue chips that can be used to test the toxicity of an experimental medication. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine is the major field in Medicine, which is still under research and the advancements are maximizing day to day.

Regenerative Medicine-2016 is an engrossed a vicinity of cognizant discussions on novel subjects like Tissue Regeneration, Materials & Designs for Tissue Engineering, Stem CellTools to Battle Cancer, Bioreactors in Tissue Engineering, Regeneration & Therapeutics, Cord Blood & Regenerative Medicine and Clinical Medicine, to mention a few. The three days event implants a firm relation of upcoming strategies in the field of Tissue Science & Regenerative Medicine with the scientific community. The conceptual and applicable knowledge shared, will also foster organizational collaborations to nurture scientific accelerations.We bring together business, creative, and technology leaders from the tissue engineering, marketing, and research industry for the most current and relevant.

Meet Your Target MarketWith members from around the world focused on learning about Advertising and marketing, this is the single best opportunity to reach the largest assemblage of participants from the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine community. The meeting engrossed a vicinity of cognizant discussions on novel subjects like Tissue Regeneration, Materials & Designs for Tissue Engineering, Stem CellTools to Battle Cancer, Bioreactors in Tissue Engineering, Regeneration & Therapeutics, Cord Blood & Regenerative Medicine and Clinical Medicine, to mention a few. The three days event implants a firm relation of upcoming strategies in the field of Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine with the scientific community. The conceptual and applicable knowledge shared, will also foster organizational collaborations to nurture scientific accelerations.Conduct demonstrations, distribute information, meet with current and potential customers, make a splash with a new product line, and receive name recognition.

International Stem Cell Forum (ISCF)

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)

UK Medical Research Council (MRC)

Australian Stem Cell Center

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Euro Stem Cell (ACR)

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Clare A. Dykewicz, M.D., M.P.H. Harold W. Jaffe, M.D., Director Division of AIDS, STD, and TB Laboratory Research National Center for Infectious Diseases

Jonathan E. Kaplan, M.D. Division of AIDS, STD, and TB Laboratory Research National Center for Infectious Diseases Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention --- Surveillance and Epidemiology National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention

Clare A. Dykewicz, M.D., M.P.H., Chair Harold W. Jaffe, M.D. Thomas J. Spira, M.D. Division of AIDS, STD, and TB Laboratory Research

William R. Jarvis, M.D. Hospital Infections Program National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC

Jonathan E. Kaplan, M.D. Division of AIDS, STD, and TB Laboratory Research National Center for Infectious Diseases Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention --- Surveillance and Epidemiology National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC

Brian R. Edlin, M.D. Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention---Surveillance and Epidemiology National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC

Robert T. Chen, M.D., M.A. Beth Hibbs, R.N., M.P.H. Epidemiology and Surveillance Division National Immunization Program, CDC

Raleigh A. Bowden, M.D. Keith Sullivan, M.D. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, Washington

David Emanuel, M.B.Ch.B. Indiana University Indianapolis, Indiana

David L. Longworth, M.D. Cleveland Clinic Foundation Cleveland, Ohio

Philip A. Rowlings, M.B.B.S., M.S. International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry/Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Robert H. Rubin, M.D. Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, Massachusetts and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts

Kent A. Sepkowitz, M.D. Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, New York

John R. Wingard, M.D. University of Florida Gainesville, Florida

John F. Modlin, M.D. Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, New Hampshire

Donna M. Ambrosino, M.D. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, Massachusetts

Norman W. Baylor, Ph.D. Food and Drug Administration Rockville, Maryland

Albert D. Donnenberg, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pierce Gardner, M.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, New York

Roger H. Giller, M.D. University of Colorado Denver, Colorado

Neal A. Halsey, M.D. Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland

Chinh T. Le, M.D. Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center Santa Rosa, California

Deborah C. Molrine, M.D. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, Massachusetts

Keith M. Sullivan, M.D. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, Washington

CDC, the Infectious Disease Society of America, and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation have cosponsored these guidelines for preventing opportunistic infections (OIs) among hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. The guidelines were drafted with the assistance of a working group of experts in infectious diseases, transplantation, and public health. For the purposes of this report, HSCT is defined as any transplantation of blood- or marrow-derived hematopoietic stem cells, regardless of transplant type (i.e., allogeneic or autologous) or cell source (i.e., bone marrow, peripheral blood, or placental or umbilical cord blood). Such OIs as bacterial, viral, fungal, protozoal, and helminth infections occur with increased frequency or severity among HSCT recipients. These evidence-based guidelines contain information regarding preventing OIs, hospital infection control, strategies for safe living after transplantation, vaccinations, and hematopoietic stem cell safety. The disease-specific sections address preventing exposure and disease for pediatric and adult and autologous and allogeneic HSCT recipients. The goal of these guidelines is twofold: to summarize current data and provide evidence-based recommendations regarding preventing OIs among HSCT patients. The guidelines were developed for use by HSCT recipients, their household and close contacts, transplant and infectious diseases physicians, HSCT center personnel, and public health professionals. For all recommendations, prevention strategies are rated by the strength of the recommendation and the quality of the evidence supporting the recommendation. Adhering to these guidelines should reduce the number and severity of OIs among HSCT recipients.

In 1992, the Institute of Medicine (1) recommended that CDC lead a global effort to detect and control emerging infectious agents. In response, CDC published a plan (2) that outlined national disease prevention priorities, including the development of guidelines for preventing opportunistic infections (OIs) among immunosuppressed persons. During 1995, CDC published guidelines for preventing OIs among persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and revised those guidelines during 1997 and 1999 (3--5). Because of the success of those guidelines, CDC sought to determine the need for expanding OI prevention activities to other immunosuppressed populations. An informal survey of hematology, oncology, and infectious disease specialists at transplant centers and a working group formed by CDC determined that guidelines were needed to help prevent OIs among hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT)* recipients.

The working group defined OIs as infections that occur with increased frequency or severity among HSCT recipients, and they drafted evidence-based recommendations for preventing exposure to and disease caused by bacterial, fungal, viral, protozoal, or helminthic pathogens. During March 1997, the working group presented the first draft of these guidelines at a meeting of representatives from public and private health organizations. After review by that group and other experts, these guidelines were revised and made available during September 1999 for a 45-day public comment period after notification in the Federal Register. Public comments were added when feasible, and the report was approved by CDC, the Infectious Disease Society of America, and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. The pediatric content of these guidelines has been endorsed also by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The hematopoietic stem cell safety section was endorsed by the International Society of Hematotherapy and Graft Engineering.

The first recommendations presented in this report are followed by recommendations for hospital infection control, strategies for safe living, vaccinations, and hematopoietic stem cell safety. Unless otherwise noted, these recommendations address allogeneic and autologous and pediatric and adult HSCT recipients. Additionally, these recommendations are intended for use by the recipients, their household and other close contacts, transplant and infectious diseases specialists, HSCT center personnel, and public health professionals.

For all recommendations, prevention strategies are rated by the strength of the recommendation (Table 1) and the quality of the evidence (Table 2) supporting the recommendation. The principles of this rating system were developed by the Infectious Disease Society of America and the U.S. Public Health Service for use in the guidelines for preventing OIs among HIV-infected persons (3--6). This rating system allows assessments of recommendations to which adherence is critical.

HSCT is the infusion of hematopoietic stem cells from a donor into a patient who has received chemotherapy, which is usually marrow-ablative. Increasingly, HSCT has been used to treat neoplastic diseases, hematologic disorders, immunodeficiency syndromes, congenital enzyme deficiencies, and autoimmune disorders (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus or multiple sclerosis) (7--10). Moreover, HSCT has become standard treatment for selected conditions (7,11,12). Data from the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and the Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry indicate that approximately 20,000 HSCTs were performed in North America during 1998 (Statistical Center of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry, unpublished data, 1998).

HSCTs are classified as either allogeneic or autologous on the basis of the source of the transplanted hematopoietic progenitor cells. Cells used in allogeneic HSCTs are harvested from a donor other than the transplant recipient. Such transplants are the most effective treatment for persons with severe aplastic anemia (13) and offer the only curative therapy for persons with chronic myelogenous leukemia (12). Allogeneic donors might be a blood relative or an unrelated donor. Allogeneic transplants are usually most successful when the donor is a human lymphocyte antigen (HLA)-identical twin or matched sibling. However, for allogeneic candidates who lack such a donor, registry organizations (e.g., the National Marrow Donor Program) maintain computerized databases that store information regarding HLA type from millions of volunteer donors (14--16). Another source of stem cells for allogeneic candidates without an HLA-matched sibling is a mismatched family member (17,18). However, persons who receive allogeneic grafts from donors who are not HLA-matched siblings are at a substantially greater risk for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (19). These persons are also at increased risk for suboptimal graft function and delayed immune system recovery (19). To reduce GVHD among allogeneic HSCTs, techniques have been developed to remove T-lymphocytes, the principal effectors of GVHD, from the donor graft. Although the recipients of T-lymphocyte--depleted marrow grafts generally have lower rates of GVHD, they also have greater rates of graft rejection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, invasive fungal infection, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (20).

The patient's own cells are used in an autologous HSCT. Similar to autologous transplants are syngeneic transplants, among whom the HLA-identical twin serves as the donor. Autologous HSCTs are preferred for patients who require high-level or marrow-ablative chemotherapy to eradicate an underlying malignancy but have healthy, undiseased bone marrows. Autologous HSCTs are also preferred when the immunologic antitumor effect of an allograft is not beneficial. Autologous HSCTs are used most frequently to treat breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease (21). Neither autologous nor syngeneic HSCTs confer a risk for chronic GVHD.

Recently, medical centers have begun to harvest hematopoietic stem cells from placental or umbilical cord blood (UCB) immediately after birth. These harvested cells are used primarily for allogeneic transplants among children. Early results demonstrate that greater degrees of histoincompatibility between donor and recipient might be tolerated without graft rejection or GVHD when UCB hematopoietic cells are used (22--24). However, immune system function after UCB transplants has not been well-studied.

HSCT is also evolving rapidly in other areas. For example, hematopoietic stem cells harvested from the patient's peripheral blood after treatment with hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors (e.g., granulocyte colony-stimulating factor [G-CSF or filgastrim] or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor [GM-CSF or sargramostim]) are being used increasingly among autologous recipients (25) and are under investigation for use among allogeneic HSCT. Peripheral blood has largely replaced bone marrow as a source of stem cells for autologous recipients. A benefit of harvesting such cells from the donor's peripheral blood instead of bone marrow is that it eliminates the need for general anesthesia associated with bone marrow aspiration.

GVHD is a condition in which the donated cells recognize the recipient's cells as nonself and attack them. Although the use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in the routine management of allogeneic patients was common in the past as a means of producing immune modulation among patients with GVHD, this practice has declined because of cost factors (26) and because of the development of other strategies for GVHD prophylaxis (27). For example, use of cyclosporine GVHD prophylaxis has become commonplace since its introduction during the early 1980s. Most frequently, cyclosporine or tacrolimus (FK506) is administered in combination with other immunosuppressive agents (e.g., methotrexate or corticosteroids) (27). Although cyclosporine is effective in preventing GVHD, its use entails greater hazards for infectious complications and relapse of the underlying neoplastic disease for which the transplant was performed.

Although survival rates for certain autologous recipients have improved (28,29), infection remains a leading cause of death among allogeneic transplants and is a major cause of morbidity among autologous HSCTs (29). Researchers from the National Marrow Donor Program reported that, of 462 persons receiving unrelated allogeneic HSCTs during December 1987--November 1990, a total of 66% had died by 1991 (15). Among primary and secondary causes of death, the most common cause was infection, which occurred among 37% of 307 patients (15).**

Despite high morbidity and mortality after HSCT, recipients who survive long-term are likely to enjoy good health. A survey of 798 persons who had received an HSCT before 1985 and who had survived for >5 years after HSCT, determined that 93% were in good health and that 89% had returned to work or school full time (30). In another survey of 125 adults who had survived a mean of 10 years after HSCT, 88% responded that the benefits of transplantation outweighed the side effects (31).

During the first year after an HSCT, recipients typically follow a predictable pattern of immune system deficiency and recovery, which begins with the chemotherapy or radiation therapy (i.e., the conditioning regimen) administered just before the HSCT to treat the underlying disease. Unfortunately, this conditioning regimen also destroys normal hematopoiesis for neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages and damages mucosal progenitor cells, causing a temporary loss of mucosal barrier integrity. The gastrointestinal tract, which normally contains bacteria, commensal fungi, and other bacteria-carrying sources (e.g., skin or mucosa) becomes a reservoir of potential pathogens. Virtually all HSCT recipients rapidly lose all T- and B-lymphocytes after conditioning, losing immune memory accumulated through a lifetime of exposure to infectious agents, environmental antigens, and vaccines. Because transfer of donor immunity to HSCT recipients is variable and influenced by the timing of antigen exposure among donor and recipient, passively acquired donor immunity cannot be relied upon to provide long-term immunity against infectious diseases among HSCT recipients.

During the first month after HSCT, the major host-defense deficits include impaired phagocytosis and damaged mucocutaneous barriers. Additionally, indwelling intravenous catheters are frequently placed and left in situ for weeks to administer parenteral medications, blood products, and nutritional supplements. These catheters serve as another portal of entry for opportunistic pathogens from organisms colonizing the skin (e.g., . coagulase-negative Staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida species, and Enterococci) (32,33).

Engraftment for adults and children is defined as the point at which a patient can maintain a sustained absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of >500/mm3 and sustained platelet count of >20,000, lasting >3 consecutive days without transfusions. Among unrelated allogeneic recipients, engraftment occurs at a median of 22 days after HSCT (range: 6--84 days) (15). In the absence of corticosteroid use, engraftment is associated with the restoration of effective phagocytic function, which results in a decreased risk for bacterial and fungal infections. However, all HSCT recipients and particularly allogeneic recipients, experience an immune system dysfunction for months after engraftment. For example, although allogeneic recipients might have normal total lymphocyte counts within >2 months after HSCT, they have abnormal CD4/CD8 T-cell ratios, reflecting their decreased CD4 and increased CD8 T-cell counts (27). They might also have immunoglobulin G (IgG)2, IgG4, and immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiencies for months after HSCT and have difficulty switching from immunoglobulin M (IgM) to IgG production after antigen exposure (32). Immune system recovery might be delayed further by CMV infection (34).

During the first >2 months after HSCT, recipients might experience acute GVHD that manifests as skin, gastrointestinal, and liver injury, and is graded on a scale of I--IV (32,35,36). Although autologous or syngeneic recipients might occasionally experience a mild, self-limited illness that is acute GVHD-like (19,37), GVHD occurs primarily among allogeneic recipients, particularly those receiving matched, unrelated donor transplants. GVHD is a substantial risk factor for infection among HSCT recipients because it is associated with a delayed immunologic recovery and prolonged immunodeficiency (19). Additionally, the immunosuppressive agents used for GVHD prophylaxis and treatment might make the HSCT recipient more vulnerable to opportunistic viral and fungal pathogens (38).

Certain patients, particularly adult allogeneic recipients, might also experience chronic GVHD, which is graded as either limited or extensive chronic GVHD (19,39). Chronic GVHD appears similar to autoimmune, connective-tissue disorders (e.g., scleroderma or systemic lupus erythematosus) (40) and is associated with cellular and humoral immunodeficiencies, including macrophage deficiency, impaired neutrophil chemotaxis (41), poor response to vaccination (42--44), and severe mucositis (19). Risk factors for chronic GVHD include increasing age, allogeneic HSCT (particularly those among whom the donor is unrelated or a non-HLA identical family member) (40), and a history of acute GVHD (24,45). Chronic GVHD was first described as occurring >100 days after HSCT but can occur 40 days after HSCT (19). Although allogeneic recipients with chronic GVHD have normal or high total serum immunoglobulin levels (41), they experience long-lasting IgA, IgG, and IgG subclass deficiencies (41,46,47) and poor opsonization and impaired reticuloendothelial function. Consequently, they are at even greater risk for infections (32,39), particularly life-threatening bacterial infections from encapsulated organisms (e.g., Stre. pneumoniae, Ha. influenzae, or Ne. meningitidis). After chronic GVHD resolves, which might take years, cell-mediated and humoral immunity function are gradually restored.

HSCT recipients experience certain infections at different times posttransplant, reflecting the predominant host-defense defect(s) (Figure). Immune system recovery for HSCT recipients takes place in three phases beginning at day 0, the day of transplant. Phase I is the preengraftment phase (<30 days after HSCT); phase II, the postengraftment phase (30--100 days after HSCT); and phase III, the late phase (>100 days after HSCT). Prevention strategies should be based on these three phases and the following information:

Preventing infections among HSCT recipients is preferable to treating infections. How ever, despite recent technologic advances, more research is needed to optimize health outcomes for HSCT recipients. Efforts to improve immune system reconstitution, particularly among allogeneic transplant recipients, and to prevent or resolve the immune dysregulation resulting from donor-recipient histoincompatibility and GVHD remain substantial challenges for preventing recurrent, persistent, or progressive infections among HSCT patients.

Preventing Exposure

Because bacteria are carried on the hands, health-care workers (HCWs) and others in contact with HSCT recipients should routinely follow appropriate hand-washing practices to avoid exposing recipients to bacterial pathogens (AIII).

Preventing Disease

Preventing Early Disease (0--100 Days After HSCT). Routine gut decontamination is not recommended for HSCT candidates (51--53) (DIII). Because of limited data, no recommendations can be made regarding the routine use of antibiotics for bacterial prophylaxis among afebrile, asymptomatic neutropenic recipients. Although studies have reported that using prophylactic antibiotics might reduce bacteremia rates after HSCT (51), infection-related fatality rates are not reduced (52). If physicians choose to use prophylactic antibiotics among asymptomatic, afebrile, neutropenic recipients, they should routinely review hospital and HSCT center antibiotic-susceptibility profiles, particularly when using a single antibiotic for antibacterial prophylaxis (BIII). The emergence of fluoquinolone-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Es. coli (51,52), vancomycin-intermediate Sta. aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are increasing concerns (54). Vancomycin should not be used as an agent for routine bacterial prophylaxis (DIII). Growth factors (e.g., GM-CSF and G-CSF) shorten the duration of neutropenia after HSCT (55); however, no data were found that indicate whether growth factors effectively reduce the attack rate of invasive bacterial disease.

Physicians should not routinely administer IVIG products to HSCT recipients for bacterial infection prophylaxis (DII), although IVIG has been recommended for use in producing immune system modulation for GVHD prevention. Researchers have recommended routine IVIG*** use to prevent bacterial infections among the approximately 20%--25% of HSCT recipients with unrelated marrow grafts who experience severe hypogamma-globulinemia (e.g., IgG < 400 mg/dl) within the first 100 days after transplant (CIII). For example, recipients who are hypogammaglobulinemic might receive prophylactic IVIG to prevent bacterial sinopulmonary infections (e.g., from Stre. pneumoniae) (8) (CIII). For hypogammaglobulinemic allogeneic recipients, physicians can use a higher and more frequent dose of IVIG than is standard for non-HSCT recipients because the IVIG half-life among HSCT recipients (generally 1--10 days) is much shorter than the half-life among healthy adults (generally 18--23 days) (56--58). Additionally, infections might accelerate IgG catabolism; therefore, the IVIG dose for a hypogammaglobulinemic recipient should be individualized to maintain trough serum IgG concentrations >400--500 mg/dl (58) (BII). Consequently, physicians should monitor trough serum IgG concentrations among these patients approximately every 2 weeks and adjust IVIG doses as needed (BIII) (Appendix).

Preventing Late Disease (>100 Days After HSCT). Antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended for preventing infection with encapsulated organisms (e.g., Stre. pneumoniae, Ha. influenzae, or Ne. meningitidis) among allogeneic recipients with chronic GVHD for as long as active chronic GVHD treatment is administered (59) (BIII). Antibiotic selection should be guided by local antibiotic resistance patterns. In the absence of severe demonstrable hypogammaglobulinemia (e.g., IgG levels < 400 mg/dl, which might be associated with recurrent sinopulmonary infections), routine monthly IVIG administration to HSCT recipients >90 days after HSCT is not recommended (60) (DI) as a means of preventing bacterial infections.

Other Disease Prevention Recommendations. Routine use of IVIG among autologous recipients is not recommended (61) (DII). Recommendations for preventing bacterial infections are the same among pediatric or adult HSCT recipients.

Preventing Exposure

Appropriate care precautions should be taken with hospitalized patients infected with Stre. pneumoniae (62,63) (BIII) to prevent exposure among HSCT recipients.

Preventing Disease

Information regarding the currently available 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine indicates limited immunogenicity among HSCT recipients. However, because of its potential benefit to certain patients, it should be administered to HSCT recipients at 12 and 24 months after HSCT (64--66) (BIII). No data were found regarding safety and immunogenicity of the 7-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine among HSCT recipients; therefore, no recommendation regarding use of this vaccine can be made.

Antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended for preventing infection with encapsulated organisms (e.g., Stre. pneumoniae, Ha. influenzae, and Ne. meningitidis) among allogeneic recipients with chronic GVHD for as long as active chronic GVHD treatment is administered (59) (BIII). Trimethoprim-sulfamethasaxole (TMP-SMZ) administered for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis will also provide protection against pneumococcal infections. However, no data were found to support using TMP-SMZ prophylaxis among HSCT recipients solely for the purpose of preventing Stre. pneumoniae disease. Certain strains of Stre. pneumoniae are resistant to TMP-SMZ and penicillin. Recommendations for preventing pneumococcal infections are the same for allogeneic or autologous recipients.

As with adults, pediatric HSCT recipients aged >2 years should be administered the current 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine because the vaccine can be effective (BIII). However, this vaccine should not be administered to children aged <2 years because it is not effective among that age population (DI). No data were found regarding safety and immunogenicity of the 7-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine among pediatric HSCT recipients; therefore, no recommendation regarding use of this vaccine can be made.

Preventing Exposure

Because Streptococci viridans colonize the oropharynx and gut, no effective method of preventing exposure is known.

Preventing Disease

Chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis is a potential source of Streptococci viridans bacteremia. Consequently, before conditioning starts, dental consults should be obtained for all HSCT candidates to assess their state of oral health and to perform any needed dental procedures to decrease the risk for oral infections after transplant (67) (AIII).

Generally, HSCT physicians should not use prophylactic antibiotics to prevent Streptococci viridans infections (DIII). No data were found that demonstrate efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics for this infection. Furthermore, such use might select antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and in fact, penicillin- and vancomycin-resistant strains of Streptococci viridans have been reported (68). However, when Streptococci viridans infections among HSCT recipients are virulent and associated with overwhelming sepsis and shock in an institution, prophylaxis might be evaluated (CIII). Decisions regarding the use of Streptococci viridans prophylaxis should be made only after consultation with the hospital epidemiologists or infection-control practitioners who monitor rates of nosocomial bacteremia and bacterial susceptibility (BIII).

HSCT physicians should be familiar with current antibiotic susceptibilities for patient isolates from their HSCT centers, including Streptococci viridans (BIII). Physicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for this infection among HSCT recipients with symptomatic mucositis because early diagnosis and aggressive therapy are currently the only potential means of preventing shock when severely neutropenic HSCT recipients experience Streptococci viridans bacteremia (69).

Preventing Exposure

Adults with Ha. influenzae type b (Hib) pneumonia require standard precautions (62) to prevent exposing the HSCT recipient to Hib. Adults and children who are in contact with the HSCT recipient and who have known or suspected invasive Hib disease, including meningitis, bacteremia, or epiglottitis, should be placed in droplet precautions until 24 hours after they begin appropriate antibiotic therapy, after which they can be switched to standard precautions. Household contacts exposed to persons with Hib disease and who also have contact with HSCT recipients should be administered rifampin prophylaxis according to published recommendations (70,71); prophylaxis for household contacts of a patient with Hib disease are necessary if all contacts aged <4 years are not fully vaccinated (BIII) (Appendix). This recommendation is critical because the risk for invasive Hib disease among unvaccinated household contacts aged <4 years is increased, and rifampin can be effective in eliminating Hib carriage and preventing invasive Hib disease (72--74). Pediatric household contacts should be up-to-date with Hib vaccinations to prevent possible Hib exposure to the HSCT recipient (AII).

Preventing Disease

Although no data regarding vaccine efficacy among HSCT recipients were found, Hib conjugate vaccine should be administered to HSCT recipients at 12, 14, and 24 months after HSCT (BII). This vaccine is recommended because the majority of HSCT recipients have low levels of Hib capsular polysaccharide antibodies >4 months after HSCT (75), and allogeneic recipients with chronic GVHD are at increased risk for infection from encapsulated organisms (e.g., Hib) (76,77). HSCT recipients who are exposed to persons with Hib disease should be offered rifampin prophylaxis according to published recommendations (70) (BIII) (Appendix).

Antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended for preventing infection with encapsulated organisms (e.g., Stre. pneumoniae, Ha. influenzae, or Ne. meningitidis) among allogeneic recipients with chronic GVHD for as long as active chronic GVHD treatment is administered (59) (BIII). Antibiotic selection should be guided by local antibiotic-resistance patterns. Recommendations for preventing Hib infections are the same for allogeneic or autologous recipients. Recommendations for preventing Hib disease are the same for pediatric or adult HSCT recipients, except that any child infected with Hib pneumonia requires standard precautions with droplet precautions added for the first 24 hours after beginning appropriate antibiotic therapy (62,70) (BIII). Appropriate pediatric doses should be administered for Hib conjugate vaccine and for rifampin prophylaxis (71) (Appendix).

Preventing Exposure

HSCT candidates should be tested for the presence of serum anti-CMV IgG antibodies before transplantation to determine their risk for primary CMV infection and reactivation after HSCT (AIII). Only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed or approved tests should be used. HSCT recipients and candidates should avoid sharing cups, glasses, and eating utensils with others, including family members, to decrease the risk for CMV exposure (BIII).

Sexually active patients who are not in long-term monogamous relationships should always use latex condoms during sexual contact to reduce their risk for exposure to CMV and other sexually transmitted pathogens (AII). However, even long-time monogamous pairs can be discordant for CMV infections. Therefore, during periods of immuno-compromise, sexually active HSCT recipients in monogamous relationships should ask partners to be tested for serum CMV IgG antibody, and discordant couples should use latex condoms during sexual contact to reduce the risk for exposure to this sexually transmitted OI (CIII).

After handling or changing diapers or after wiping oral and nasal secretions, HSCT candidates and recipients should practice regular hand washing to reduce the risk for CMV exposure (AII). CMV-seronegative recipients of allogeneic stem cell transplants from CMV-seronegative donors (i.e., R-negative or D-negative) should receive only leukocyte-reduced or CMV-seronegative red cells or leukocyte-reduced platelets (<1 x 106 leukocytes/unit) to prevent transfusion-associated CMV infection (78) (AI). However, insufficient data were found to recommend use of leukocyte-reduced or CMV-seronega tive red cells and platelets among CMV-seronegative recipients who have CMV-seropositive donors (i.e., R-negative or D-positive).

All HCWs should wear gloves when handling blood products or other potentially contaminated biologic materials (AII) to prevent transmission of CMV to HSCT recipients. HSCT patients who are known to excrete CMV should be placed under standard precautions (62) for the duration of CMV excretion to avoid possible transmission to CMV-seronegative HSCT recipients and candidates (AIII). Physicians are cautioned that CMV excretion can be episodic or prolonged.

Preventing Disease and Disease Recurrence

HSCT recipients at risk for CMV disease after HSCT (i.e., all CMV-seropositive HSCT recipients, and all CMV-seronegative recipients with a CMV-seropositive donor) should be placed on a CMV disease prevention program from the time of engraftment until 100 days after HSCT (i.e., phase II) (AI). Physicians should use either prophylaxis or preemptive treatment with ganciclovir for allogeneic recipients (AI). In selecting a CMV disease prevention strategy, physicians should assess the risks and benefits of each strategy, the needs and condition of the patient, and the hospital's virology laboratory support capability.

Prophylaxis strategy against early CMV (i.e., <100 days after HSCT) for allogeneic recipients involves administering ganciclovir prophylaxis to all allogeneic recipients at risk throughout phase II (i.e., from engraftment to 100 days after HSCT). The induction course is usually started at engraftment (AI), although physicians can add a brief prophylactic course during HSCT preconditioning (CIII) (Appendix).

Preemptive strategy against early CMV (i.e., <100 days after HSCT) for allogeneic recipients is preferred over prophylaxis for CMV-seronegative HSCT recipients of seropositive donor cells (i.e., D-positive or R-negative) because of the low attack rate of active CMV infection if screened or filtered blood product support is used (BII). Preemptive strategy restricts ganciclovir use for those patients who have evidence of CMV infection after HSCT. It requires the use of sensitive and specific laboratory tests to rapidly diagnose CMV infection after HSCT and to enable immediate administration of ganciclovir after CMV infection has been detected. Allogeneic recipients at risk should be screened >1 times/week from 10 days to 100 days after HSCT (i.e., phase II) for the presence of CMV viremia or antigenemia (AIII).

HSCT physicians should select one of two diagnostic tests to determine the need for preemptive treatment. Currently, the detection of CMV pp65 antigen in leukocytes (antigenemia) (79,80) is preferred for screening for preemptive treatment because it is more rapid and sensitive than culture and has good positive predictive value (79--81). Direct detection of CMV-DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (82) is very sensitive but has a low positive predictive value (79). Although CMV-DNA PCR is less sensitive than whole blood or leukocyte PCR, plasma CMV-DNA PCR is useful during neutropenia, when the number of leukocytes/slide is too low to allow CMV pp65 antigenemia testing.

Virus culture of urine, saliva, blood, or bronchoalveolar washings by rapid shell-vial culture (83) or routine culture (84,85) can be used; however, viral culture techniques are less sensitive than CMV-DNA PCR or CMV pp65 antigenemia tests. Also, rapid shell-viral cultures require >48 hours and routine viral cultures can require weeks to obtain final results. Thus, viral culture techniques are less satisfactory than PCR or antigenemia tests. HSCT centers without access to PCR or antigenemia tests should use prophylaxis rather than preemptive therapy for CMV disease prevention (86) (BII). Physicians do use other diagnostic tests (e.g., hybrid capture CMV-DNA assay, Version 2.0 [87] or CMV pp67 viral RNA [ribonucleic acid] detection) (88); however, limited data were found regarding use among HSCT recipients, and therefore, no recommendation for use can be made.

Allogeneic recipients <100 days after HSCT (i.e., during phase II) should begin preemptive treatment with ganciclovir if CMV viremia or any antigenemia is detected or if the recipient has >2 consecutively positive CMV-DNA PCR tests (BIII). After preemptive treatment has been started, maintenance ganciclovir is usually continued until 100 days after HSCT or for a minimum of 3 weeks, whichever is longer (AI) (Appendix). Antigen or PCR tests should be negative when ganciclovir is stopped. Studies report that a shorter course of ganciclovir (e.g., for 3 weeks or until negative PCR or antigenemia occurs) (89--91) might provide adequate CMV prevention with less toxicity, but routine weekly screening by pp65 antigen or PCR test is necessary after stopping ganciclovir because CMV reactivation can occur (BIII).

Presently, only the intravenous formulation of ganciclovir has been approved for use in CMV prophylactic or preemptive strategies (BIII). No recommendation for oral ganciclovir use among HSCT recipients can be made because clinical trials evaluating its efficacy are still in progress. One group has used ganciclovir and foscarnet on alternate days for CMV prevention (92), but no recommendation can be made regarding this strategy because of limited data. Patients who are ganciclovir-intolerant should be administered foscarnet instead (93) (BII) (Appendix). HSCT recipients receiving ganciclovir should have ANCs checked >2 times/week (BIII). Researchers report managing ganciclovir-associated neutropenia by adding G-CSF (94) or temporarily stopping ganciclovir for >2 days if the patient's ANC is <1,000 (CIII). Ganciclovir can be restarted when the patient's ANC is >1,000 for 2 consecutive days. Alternatively, researchers report substituting foscarnet for ganciclovir if a) the HSCT recipient is still CMV viremic or antigenemic or b) the ANC remains <1,000 for >5 days after ganciclovir has been stopped (CIII) (Appendix). Because neutropenia accompanying ganciclovir administration is usually brief, such patients do not require antifungal or antibacterial prophylaxis (DIII).

Currently, no benefit has been reported from routinely administering ganciclovir prophylaxis to all HSCT recipients at >100 days after HSCT (i.e., during phase III). However, persons with high risk for late CMV disease should be routinely screened biweekly for evidence of CMV reactivation as long as substantial immunocompromise persists (BIII). Risk factors for late CMV disease include allogeneic HSCT accompanied by chronic GVHD, steroid use, low CD4 counts, delay in high avidity anti-CMV antibody, and recipients of matched unrelated or T-cell--depleted HSCTs who are at high risk (95--99). If CMV is still detectable by routine screening >100 days after HSCT, ganciclovir should be continued until CMV is no longer detectable (AI). If low-grade CMV antigenemia (<5 positive cells/slide) is detected on routine screening, the antigenemia test should be repeated in 3 days (BIII). If CMV antigenemia indicates >5 cells/slide, PCR is positive, or the shell-vial culture detects CMV viremia, a 3-week course of preemptive ganciclovir treatment should be administered (BIII) (Appendix). Ganciclovir should also be started if the patient has had >2 consecutively positive viremia or PCR tests (e.g., in a person receiving steroids for GVHD or who received ganciclovir or foscarnet at <100 days after HSCT). Current investigational strategies for preventing late CMV disease include the use of targeted prophylaxis with antiviral drugs and cellular immunotherapy for those with deficient or absent CMV-specific immune system function.

If viremia persists after 4 weeks of ganciclovir preemptive therapy or if the level of antigenemia continues to rise after 3 weeks of therapy, ganciclovir-resistant CMV should be suspected. If CMV viremia recurs during continuous treatment with ganciclovir, researchers report restarting ganciclovir induction (100) or stopping ganciclovir and starting foscarnet (CIII). Limited data were found regarding the use of foscarnet among HSCT recipients for either CMV prophylaxis or preemptive therapy (92,93).

Infusion of donor-derived CMV-specific clones of CD8+ T-cells into the transplant recipient is being evaluated under FDA Investigational New Drug authorization; therefore, no recommendation can be made. Although, in a substantial cooperative study, high-dose acyclovir has had certain efficacy for preventing CMV disease (101), its utility is limited in a setting where more potent anti-CMV agents (e.g., ganciclovir) are used (102). Acyclovir is not effective in preventing CMV disease after autologous HSCT (103) and is, therefore, not recommended for CMV preemptive therapy (DII). Consequently, valacyclovir, although under study for use among HSCT recipients, is presumed to be less effective than ganciclovir against CMV and is currently not recommended for CMV disease prevention (DII).

Although HSCT physicians continue to use IVIG for immune system modulation, IVIG is not recommended for CMV disease prophylaxis among HSCT recipients (DI). Cidofovir, a nucleoside analog, is approved by FDA for the treatment of AIDS-associated CMV retinitis. The drug's major disadvantage is nephrotoxicity. Cidofovir is currently in FDA phase 1 trial for use among HSCT recipients; therefore, recommendations for its use cannot be made.

Use of CMV-negative or leukocyte-reduced blood products is not routinely required for all autologous recipients because most have a substantially lower risk for CMV disease. However, CMV-negative or leukocyte-reduced blood products can be used for CMV-seronegative autologous recipients (CIII). Researchers report that CMV-seropositive autologous recipients be evaluated for preemptive therapy if they have underlying hematologic malignancies (e.g., lymphoma or leukemia), are receiving intense conditioning regimens or graft manipulation, or have recently received fludarabine or 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (CDA) (CIII). This subpopulation of autologous recipients should be monitored weekly from time of engraftment until 60 days after HSCT for CMV reactivation, preferably with quantitative CMV pp65 antigen (80) or quantitative PCR (BII).

Autologous recipients at high risk who experience CMV antigenemia (i.e., blood levels of >5 positive cells/slide) should receive 3 weeks of preemptive treatment with ganciclovir or foscarnet (80), but CD34+-selected patients should be treated at any level of antigenemia (BII) (Appendix). Prophylactic approach to CMV disease prevention is not appropriate for CMV-seropositive autologous recipients. Indications for the use of CMV prophylaxis or preemptive treatment are the same for children or adults.

Preventing Exposure

All transplant candidates, particularly those who are EBV-seronegative, should be advised of behaviors that could decrease the likelihood of EBV exposure (AII). For example, HSCT recipients and candidates should follow safe hygiene practices (e.g., frequent hand washing [AIII] and avoiding the sharing of cups, glasses, and eating utensils with others) (104) (BIII), and they should avoid contact with potentially infected respiratory secretions and saliva (104) (AII).

Preventing Disease

Infusion of donor-derived, EBV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes has demonstrated promise in the prophylaxis of EBV-lymphoma among recipients of T-cell--depleted unrelated or mismatched allogeneic recipients (105,106). However, insufficient data were found to recommend its use. Prophylaxis or preemptive therapy with acyclovir is not recommended because of lack of efficacy (107,108) (DII).

Preventing Exposure

HSCT candidates should be tested for serum anti-HSV IgG before transplant (AIII); however, type-specific anti-HSV IgG serology testing is not necessary. Only FDA-licensed or -approved tests should be used. All HSCT candidates, particularly those who are HSV-seronegative, should be informed of the importance of avoiding HSV infection while immunocompromised and should be advised of behaviors that will decrease the likelihood of HSV exposure (AII). HSCT recipients and candidates should avoid sharing cups, glasses, and eating utensils with others (BIII). Sexually active patients who are not in a long-term monogamous relationship should always use latex condoms during sexual contact to reduce the risk for exposure to HSV as well as other sexually transmitted pathogens (AII). However, even long-time monogamous pairs can be discordant for HSV infections. Therefore, during periods of immunocompromise, sexually active HSCT recipients in such relationships should ask partners to be tested for serum HSV IgG antibody. If the partners are discordant, they should consider using latex condoms during sexual contact to reduce the risk for exposure to this sexually transmitted OI (CIII). Any person with disseminated, primary, or severe mucocutaneous HSV disease should be placed under contact precautions for the duration of the illness (62) (AI) to prevent transmission of HSV to HSCT recipients.

Preventing Disease and Disease Recurrence

Acyclovir. Acyclovir prophylaxis should be offered to all HSV-seropositive allogeneic recipients to prevent HSV reactivation during the early posttransplant period (109--113) (AI). Standard approach is to begin acyclovir prophylaxis at the start of the conditioning therapy and continue until engraftment occurs or until mucositis resolves, whichever is longer, or approximately 30 days after HSCT (BIII) (Appendix). Without supportive data from controlled studies, routine use of antiviral prophylaxis for >30 days after HSCT to prevent HSV is not recommended (DIII). Routine acyclovir prophylaxis is not indicated for HSV-seronegative HSCT recipients, even if the donors are HSV-seropositive (DIII). Researchers have proposed administration of ganciclovir prophylaxis alone (86) to HSCT recipients who required simultaneous prophylaxis for CMV and HSV after HSCT (CIII) because ganciclovir has in vitro activity against CMV and HSV 1 and 2 (114), although ganciclovir has not been approved for use against HSV.

Valacyclovir. Researchers have reported valacyclovir use for preventing HSV among HSCT recipients (CIII); however, preliminary data demonstrate that very high doses of valacyclovir (8 g/day) were associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura/hemolytic uremic syndrome among HSCT recipients (115). Controlled trial data among HSCT recipients are limited (115), and the FDA has not approved valacyclovir for use among recipients. Physicians wishing to use valacyclovir among recipients with renal impairment should exercise caution and decrease doses as needed (BIII) (Appendix).

Foscarnet. Because of its substantial renal and infusion-related toxicity, foscarnet is not recommended for routine HSV prophylaxis among HSCT recipients (DIII).

Famciclovir. Presently, data regarding safety and efficacy of famciclovir among HSCT recipients are limited; therefore, no recommendations for HSV prophylaxis with famciclovir can be made.

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Guidelines for Preventing Opportunistic Infections Among ...

The Education of a Libertarian | Cato Unbound

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I remain committed to the faith of my teenage years: to authentic human freedom as a precondition for the highest good. I stand against confiscatory taxes, totalitarian collectives, and the ideology of the inevitability of the death of every individual. For all these reasons, I still call myself libertarian.

But I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. By tracing out the development of my thinking, I hope to frame some of the challenges faced by all classical liberals today.

As a Stanford undergraduate studying philosophy in the late 1980s, I naturally was drawn to the give-and-take of debate and the desire to bring about freedom through political means. I started a student newspaper to challenge the prevailing campus orthodoxies; we scored some limited victories, most notably in undoing speech codes instituted by the university. But in a broader sense we did not achieve all that much for all the effort expended. Much of it felt like trench warfare on the Western Front in World War I; there was a lot of carnage, but we did not move the center of the debate. In hindsight, we were preaching mainly to the choir even if this had the important side benefit of convincing the choirs members to continue singing for the rest of their lives.

As a young lawyer and trader in Manhattan in the 1990s, I began to understand why so many become disillusioned after college. The world appears too big a place. Rather than fight the relentless indifference of the universe, many of my saner peers retreated to tending their small gardens. The higher ones IQ, the more pessimistic one became about free-market politics capitalism simply is not that popular with the crowd. Among the smartest conservatives, this pessimism often manifested in heroic drinking; the smartest libertarians, by contrast, had fewer hang-ups about positive law and escaped not only to alcohol but beyond it.

As one fast-forwards to 2009, the prospects for a libertarian politics appear grim indeed. Exhibit A is a financial crisis caused by too much debt and leverage, facilitated by a government that insured against all sorts of moral hazards and we know that the response to this crisis involves way more debt and leverage, and way more government. Those who have argued for free markets have been screaming into a hurricane. The events of recent months shatter any remaining hopes of politically minded libertarians. For those of us who are libertarian in 2009, our education culminates with the knowledge that the broader education of the body politic has become a fools errand.

Indeed, even more pessimistically, the trend has been going the wrong way for a long time. To return to finance, the last economic depression in the United States that did not result in massive government intervention was the collapse of 192021. It was sharp but short, and entailed the sort of Schumpeterian creative destruction that could lead to a real boom. The decade that followed the roaring 1920s was so strong that historians have forgotten the depression that started it. The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians have rendered the notion of capitalist democracy into an oxymoron.

In the face of these realities, one would despair if one limited ones horizon to the world of politics. I do not despair because I no longer believe that politics encompasses all possible futures of our world. In our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its forms from the totalitarian and fundamentalist catastrophes to the unthinking demos that guides so-called social democracy.

The critical question then becomes one of means, of how to escape not via politics but beyond it. Because there are no truly free places left in our world, I suspect that the mode for escape must involve some sort of new and hitherto untried process that leads us to some undiscovered country; and for this reason I have focused my efforts on new technologies that may create a new space for freedom. Let me briefly speak to three such technological frontiers:

(1) Cyberspace. As an entrepreneur and investor, I have focused my efforts on the Internet. In the late 1990s, the founding vision of PayPal centered on the creation of a new world currency, free from all government control and dilution the end of monetary sovereignty, as it were. In the 2000s, companies like Facebook create the space for new modes of dissent and new ways to form communities not bounded by historical nation-states. By starting a new Internet business, an entrepreneur may create a new world. The hope of the Internet is that these new worlds will impact and force change on the existing social and political order. The limitation of the Internet is that these new worlds are virtual and that any escape may be more imaginary than real. The open question, which will not be resolved for many years, centers on which of these accounts of the Internet proves true.

(2) Outer space. Because the vast reaches of outer space represent a limitless frontier, they also represent a limitless possibility for escape from world politics. But the final frontier still has a barrier to entry: Rocket technologies have seen only modest advances since the 1960s, so that outer space still remains almost impossibly far away. We must redouble the efforts to commercialize space, but we also must be realistic about the time horizons involved. The libertarian future of classic science fiction, la Heinlein, will not happen before the second half of the 21st century.

(3) Seasteading. Between cyberspace and outer space lies the possibility of settling the oceans. To my mind, the questions about whether people will live there (answer: enough will) are secondary to the questions about whether seasteading technology is imminent. From my vantage point, the technology involved is more tentative than the Internet, but much more realistic than space travel. We may have reached the stage at which it is economically feasible, or where it soon will be feasible. It is a realistic risk, and for this reason I eagerly support this initiative.

The future of technology is not pre-determined, and we must resist the temptation of technological utopianism the notion that technology has a momentum or will of its own, that it will guarantee a more free future, and therefore that we can ignore the terrible arc of the political in our world.

A better metaphor is that we are in a deadly race between politics and technology. The future will be much better or much worse, but the question of the future remains very open indeed. We do not know exactly how close this race is, but I suspect that it may be very close, even down to the wire. Unlike the world of politics, in the world of technology the choices of individuals may still be paramount. The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism.

For this reason, all of us must wish Patri Friedman the very best in his extraordinary experiment.

Editors Note:Mr. Thiel has further elaborated on the question of suffrage here. We copy these remarks below as well:

I had hoped my essay on the limits of politics would provoke reactions, and I was not disappointed. But the most intense response has been aimed not at cyberspace, seasteading, or libertarian politics, but at a commonplace statistical observation about voting patterns that is often called the gender gap.

It would be absurd to suggest that womens votes will be taken away or that this would solve the political problems that vex us. While I dont think any class of people should be disenfranchised, I have little hope that voting will make things better.

Voting is not under siege in America, but many other rights are. In America, people are imprisoned for using even very mild drugs, tortured by our own government, and forced to bail out reckless financial companies.

I believe that politics is way too intense. Thats why Im a libertarian. Politics gets people angry, destroys relationships, and polarizes peoples vision: the world is us versus them; good people versus the other. Politics is about interfering with other peoples lives without their consent. Thats probably why, in the past, libertarians have made little progress in the political sphere. Thus, I advocate focusing energy elsewhere, onto peaceful projects that some consider utopian.

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The Education of a Libertarian | Cato Unbound

Dawn Mission | Mission

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Dawn delves into the unknown and achieves what's never been attempted before. A mission in NASA's Discovery Program, Dawn orbited and explored the giant protoplanet Vesta in 2011-2012, and now it is in orbit and exploring a second new world, dwarf planet Ceres.

Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of its earliest history by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta reside in the main asteroid belt, the extensive region between Mars and Jupiter, along with many other smaller bodies. Each followed a very different evolutionary path, constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution. When Dawn visits Ceres and Vesta, the spacecraft steps us back in solar system time.

December 8 - Dawn Collecting Science Data in New Ceres Science Orbit

Dawn is healthy and making cosmic ray measurements in its new science orbit. (The November Dawn Journal explains the objective of these measurements.)

This sixth Ceres science orbit is elliptical, and navigators' initial measurements show that it ranges in altitude between 4,670 miles (7,520 kilometers) and 5,810 miles (9,350 kilometers).

Want to know how far away Dawn is, or how fast it is traveling? These questions have multiple answers since the answer depends on what you use as a reference frame. Each simulation gives the answer to both of these questions with respect to the Sun, Ceres, Earth, and Vesta.

The Dawn spacecraft combines innovative state-of-the-art technologies pioneered by other recent missions with off-the-shelf components and, in some cases, spare parts and instrumentation left over from previous missions.

Dawn's futuristic, hyper-efficient ion propulsion system allows Dawn to go into orbit around two different solar system bodies, a first for any spacecraft. Meeting the ambitious mission objectives would be impossible without the ion engines.

Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., of Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The framing cameras were provided by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany, with significant contributions by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer was funded and coordinated by the Italian Space Agency and built by SELEX ES, with the scientific leadership of the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy, and is operated by the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Rome, Italy. The gamma ray and neutron detector was built by Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, and is operated by the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona.

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Dawn Mission | Mission

Collaborative mind mapping, concept mapping and outlining

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Educate tomorrow's thinkers today

To create mind maps, students explore information and decide for themselves what's important and how it connects with what they already know. This is how they develop their critical thinking.

We built several features which will make it very easy for the professor and its students to use Mindomo in the classroom. Such features are: creating mind map assignments, setting up groups for students, accessing students' maps, etc.

Use mind maps to understand facts, issues and ideas revolving around a central topic. Use concept maps to see how multiple concepts are connected. Use outlines to refine your maps and save them in a linear way.

It's very simple to add and use Mindomo from the school's Google Apps or Office365 account. Also, our LTI integrations provide a single click access to Mindomo from the most popular LMSs: Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn, itslearning, Schoology, etc.

From all the mind mapping tools out there, we are the most focused on providing the best solution for teachers and students.

The 'Presenter' feature lets students turn their maps into slide-by-slide presentations. This way they can show others their thought process as they developed the maps.

iPad and Android native apps for mind mapping both online and offline while using a smooth, simplified interface.

Our playback mode lets you keep track of all the changes each student makes on a mind map: added topics, new connections, uploaded images and videos, etc.

Students can make their maps more engaging by searching web images directly from the map and adding them with just one click.

To explain certain topics better, add related videos from the web or audio record your explanation directly in the mind map.

To introduce students to mind mapping, use our predefined mind map templates or create your own. It will be easier for them to get familiar with mind maps.

Collaborative mind map assignments

Google Apps for Education integration

Integrations with the most popular LMSs: Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, itslearning, Schoology

Exporting maps in a great variety of formats: .pdf, .rtf, .ppt, .txt, .opml, .mpx, .html, .zip, .png.

Exporting mind maps into other mind mapping tools

Importing mind maps from other mind mapping tools

Android and iPad native apps

Creating students accounts without email

Turning mind maps into presentations

Text formatting inside topics

Adding hyperlinks and attachments

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Collaborative mind mapping, concept mapping and outlining