Category Archives: Posthuman

Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman, Polity, 2013, 229 pp., 14.99 (pbk.), ISBN 9780745641584

Francesca Ferrando, Universit di Roma Tre

Rosi Braidottis The Posthuman sheds much needed light on a movement which, due to its relative novelty, is often misunderstood. The Posthuman is thematically divided into four chapters, each focusing on a specific connotation of the posthuman shift.

The first chapter, Post-Humanism: Life beyond the Self', develops a criticism of humanism through different but related Western models, such as Protagoras sense of man as the measure of all things, the ideal of bodily perfection in Leonardos Vitruvian man, and the myth of progress and rationality in the Enlightenment. Such models are based on implicit practices of universalization and homogenization. Their subject is male and white, among other terms; the others, such as women or slaves, are the excluded, the pejorative terms diverging from the norm, the less than human. To use Braidottis words, in this type of cultural episteme difference spells inferiority (p. 15). In contrast, difference is the kernel of posthumanism, which recognizes humans in all of their varieties; the human is not one, but many. The openness of the posthuman deconstructs the fixity and permanence of the notion of the human itself; the human is no longer defined in a strict dualism against the non-human realm. Posthumanism is thus a post-anthropocentrism (the subject of the second chapter), which places the human species among and not above other non-human species, and implies a critical approach to humanistic hierarchical values.

It is important to note that Braidotti is not only a pioneer of the posthuman approach, but also one of the key thinkers of new materialism the term itself was coined independently by Rosi Braidotti and Manuel De Landa in the mid nineties.

With its natural-cultural continuum, Braidottis posthumanism is also a becoming-machine. Inspired by Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari, as well as by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varelas notion of autopoiesis, such a becoming raises issues of bio-genetics, information technologies and technobodies. Highly critical of technological reductionism, Braidotti is particularly interested in technologically mediated sites of embodied practices. Her

Achille

January 23, 2014

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Plurilogue: The Posthuman

Volume 2, February 2005

ISSN 1552-5112

an international and interdisciplinary journal

of postmodern cultural sound, text and image

Robert Pepperell

1. It is now clear that humans are no longer the most important things in the universe. This is something the humanists have yet to accept.

2. All technological progress of human society is geared towards the transformation of the human species as we currently know it.

3. In the posthuman era many beliefs become redundant not least the belief in human beings.

4. Human beings, like gods, only exist inasmuch as we believe them to exist.

5. The future never arrives.

6. All humans are not born equal, but it is too dangerous not to pretend that they are.

7. In the posthuman era, machines will no longer be machines.

8. It is a deficiency of humans that they require others to tell them what they already know. It is only then they will believe it.

9. Posthumanists do not fall into the trap of imagining a society where everything works well. Economic and political theories are as futile as long-range weather predictions.

10. Surf or die. You cant control a wave, but you can ride it.

11. We now realise that human knowledge, creativity and intelligence are ultimately limited.

12. Complex machines are an emerging form of life.

13. A complex machine is a machine whose workings we do not fully understand or control.

14. As computers develop to be more like humans, so humans develop to like computers more.

15. If we can think of machines then machines can think; if we can think of machines that think, then machines can think of us.

If consciousness is a property that emerges from a specific set of conditions, in order to synthesise it we do not need to re-model it from the top-down. We only need to recreate the conditions from which it might emerge. This requires an understanding of what those conditions are.

1. Consciousness is not exclusively restricted to the brain.

2. Consciousness is the function of an organism, not an organ.

3. One does not understand consciousness by studying the brain alone.

4. The mind and the body act together to produce consciousness. If one is absent consciousness ceases. There is no pure thought isolated from a body. In order to function the brain must be connected to a body, even if the body is artificial. Consciousness is an effect that arises through the co-operation of a brain and body; we think with our whole body.

5. Consciousness can only be considered as an emergent property. In this sense it is like boiling: given sufficient heat, gravity and air pressure the water in a kettle will start to boil. We can see what boiling is, we can recognise it as something to which we give a name, we do not consider it mysterious, yet we cannot isolate it from the conditions which produced it. Likewise, consciousness is a property that emerges from a given set of conditions.

6. To say that conscious thought is not exclusively a function of the brain does not deny that the brain has a significant part to play.

7. Human bodies have no boundaries.

8. No finite division can be drawn between the environment, the body and the brain. The human is identifiable, but not definable.

9. Consciousness (mind) and the environment (reality) cannot be separated; they are continuous.

10. There is nothing external to a human, because the extent of a human cannot be fixed.

11. If we accept that the mind and body cannot be absolutely separated, and that the body and the environment cannot be absolutely separated, then we are left with the apparently absurd yet logically consistent conclusion that consciousness and the environment cannot be absolutely separated.

12. First we had God, humans and nature. The rationalists dispensed with God, leaving humans in perpetual conflict with nature. The posthumanists dispense with humans leaving only nature. The distinctions between God, nature and humanity does not represent any eternal truth about the human condition. It merely reflects the prejudices of the societies that maintained the distinctions.

13. Idealistic and materialistic philosophical views both assume a division between the thing that thinks and the thing that is thought about between the internal mind (brain) and external reality (environment). Remove this division and both views become redundant.

14. The idealists think that the only things that exist are ideas; the materialists think that the only thing that exists is matter. It must be remembered that ideas are not independent of matter and that matter is just an idea.

15. Most philosophical problems are debates about language. They arise because of the mistaken assumptions a. that language is consistent and b. that because a word exists there must exist a thing that it represents and c. that the things that are represented should, in themselves, be consistent.

16. Logic is an illusion of human imagination. Truth and falsity do not exist in nature other than in human thought.

1. Science will never achieve its aim of comprehending the ultimate nature of reality. It is a futile quest, although many scientists do not acknowledge this yet. The universe(s) will always be more complex than we will ever understand.

2. The posthuman abandons the search for the ultimate nature of the universe and its origin (thus saving a lot of money in the process).

3. The posthuman realises that the ultimate questions about existence and being do not require answers. The answer to the question Why are we here? is that there is no answer.

4. To know the ultimate nature of the universe would require knowing everything about the universe, everything that has happened and everything that will happen. If one thing were not known it would imply that all knowledge of the universe is partial, potentially incomplete and, therefore, not ultimate

5. No scientific model can ever be complete, but will always be partial and contingent. For any model to be complete it would have to take all influential factors into account, no matter how insignificant. Since this is impossible the scientist must make an arbitrary decision about which ones to ignore. Having ignored some factors their model is incomplete, although this does not mean it isnt useful.

6. The posthuman accepts that humans have a finite capacity to understand and control nature.

7. All origins are ends and all ends are origins. Chaos theory has often been illustrated with the image of a butterflys wing-flap causing a thunderstorm on the opposite side of the globe. Whilst this might illustrate the sensitivity of systems to initial states, it does not take into account what caused the butterfly to flap its wings a gust of wind?

8. Logic that seems consistent at the human scale cannot necessarily be applied to the microcosmic or the macrocosmic scale.

9. Our knowledge about the universe is constrained by the level of resolution with which we are able to view it. Knowledge is contingent on data data varies with resolution.

10. Scientists give privile
ge to order over disorder on the assumption that they are gradually discovering the essential laws of nature. This is a fundamental error; nature is neither essentially ordered or disordered. What we perceive as regular, patterned information we classify as order; what we perceive as irregular, unpatterned information we classify as disorder. The appearance of order and disorder implies more about the way in which we process information than the intrinsic presence of order or disorder in nature.

11. Science works on the basis of an intrinsic universal order. It assumes that all phenomena are subject to physical laws and that some of those laws are well understood, some partially understood, and some unknown. The posthuman accepts that laws are not things that are intrinsic to nature, nor are they things which arise purely in the mind and are imposed on nature. This would reinforce the division between the mind and reality which we have already abandoned. The order that we commonly perceive around us, as well as the disorder, is not a function exclusively of either the universe or our consciousness, but a combination of both, since they cannot really be separated.

12. Everything that exists anywhere is energy. Beside the fact that all material processes are energetically driven, energy has two major properties:

a. It manifests in an infinite variety of ways

b. It perpetually transforms

13. The appearance of matter is an illusion generated by interactions among energetic systems at the human level of resolution.

14. Humans and the environment are different expressions of energy; the only difference between them is the form that energy takes.

15. The posthuman is entirely open to ideas of paranormality, immateriality, the supernatural, and the occult. The posthuman does not accept that faith in scientific methods is superior to faith in other belief systems.

1. Order and disorder are relative, not absolute, qualities. The proof that order and disorder are relative qualities lies in the fact that they define each other.

2. Anything we perceive can be considered to contain different degrees of order and disorder. The perception of order and disorder in something is contingent on the level of resolution from which it is viewed.

3. What we perceive as ordered and disordered is often culturally determined. Logicians will assert that there are mathematical ways of defining disorder, entropy and complexity ways that are independent of human subjectivity. Whilst these definitions may be useful in certain applications they remain open to relativistic interpretation.

4. In posthuman terms, the apparent distinctions between things are not the result of innate divisions within the structure of the universe, but rather are jointly a product of:

a. the way in which the sensual processes in living entities operate.

b. the variety of ways in which energy is manifested in the universe.

5. The ways in which energy manifestations are perceived by an observer can always be described with two simple qualities continuity and discontinuity. Continuity is non-interruption of space-time. Discontinuity is a rupture in space-time. Both qualities can be discerned in all events depending upon how they are viewed. More importantly, they are both experienced simultaneously.

6. Energy manifestations should not be thought of as intrinsically continuous or discontinuous; that is, there are no absolute qualities of energy. Energetic states will appear as either continuous or discontinuous to an observer depending upon their viewing position. The quality of (dis)continuity is context sensitive.

7. What distinguishes things from one another is the perceived dis-continuities they display. The difference in manifestations of energy between a philosopher and a chair allows them each to be distinguished.

8. The level of complexity in a system cannot be defined in objective (that is, absolute) terms. Complexity is a function of human cognition, not an intrinsic property of anything we might look at.

As long as models about how the brain might work are defective (being based on fallacious assumptions), the creation of a synthetic consciousness will be impractical.

1. Human thought is something that occurs in co-operation with the human body. It is not necessary to identify precisely where it occurs because it does not occur precisely in any part.

2. It is tempting to think of thoughts as blocks of data in the brain. This would be a mistake since it reinforces a static view of mental activity. A thought is a path through the cognitive medium. Think of it like this: taking the London Underground map as an analogy of how the mind works, some people would say, Each of the stations on the map represents one of our thoughts and the lines represent the links between them. The lines are what enable us to get from thought to thought. The posthuman argues A thought is not a station on the map but the route from one station to another. That is, a thought is actuated in the process of traveling, rather than being a particular destination.

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The Posthuman Manifesto by Robert Pepperell, Kritikos V.2 ...

Hunted down by our mutant creations ...

You are one of the last human survivors, struggling to reach the human settlement known as The Fortress. The journey ahead will be hard: supplies are sparse and you're the target of both humans and mutants alike. Worse still, mutant encounters can make you mutate and switch sides. Will you cling to your humanity, or will you give in and join the Evolved?

Posthuman is a board game for 1 to 4 players. The goal is to complete 10 zones on a random tile-based map. Each zone contains either combat or story-based encounters which players must survive to progress. Mutant encounters can inflict scars, bringing players closer to becoming mutants themselves and switching sides. Players can help one another to stay alive, or go it alone. Mutant players work together to stop human players from reaching The Fortress.

The game features a flexible character development system and emergent gameplay ensuring no two games are ever the same.

Contents:

334 Mini-cards

30 Poker-sized Cards

50 Wooden Cubes

8 Wooden Meeples

72 Terrain Tiles

4 Character Sheets

60 Stat Tokens

60 Tile Completed Markers

48 Food Tokens

48 Ammo Tokens

20 XP Counters

16 Custom Dice

2 Six-Sided Dice

1 Central Board

Rulebook

Ages: 13+

Players: 1-4

Game Length: 30 minutes/player

Read the rest here:
Posthuman NewArrival - Miniature Market

No longer a science fiction, we the human race are on the cusp of human genetic engineering.

Humans have altered the genomes of species for thousands of years through artificial selection. Over the past 40 years scientists have made amazing technological progress to improve natures crops and mammals through genetic modifications; recently science has mapped the entire human genome and begun to realise the potential for modifying us.

Abhominal, an archaic word meaning inhuman, is an exploratory weblog of the human form. The digital sculptures are a fusion of geometric, architectural and biological abstract forms a bleak evolutionary future where biotechnology has been used to make perfect posthuman beings.

To modify nature is our nature.

In April 2015 it was announced that the first human embryos had been modified by Chinese scientists. The team, led by Junjiu Huang at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, used a gene editing procedure called Crispr to correct a fault that causes beta-thalassaemia a life-threatening blood disorder. Prominent science journals Nature and Science refused to publish the research paper on ethical grounds. The work is outlined here: Protein and Cell Journal.

What does this all mean, why does it matter?

Simply that human genetic modification is no longer a science fiction but a reality. We are at the dawn of a new age, our future is now.

Limited edition prints available.

To be a model is the stuff young girls dreams, and to be size zero is to reach the height of fashion. With genetic tinkering we will no longer need to fuss over what we eat. This is a 6ft tall, super thin hexagonal lattice posthuman; with fifteen toes, two full breasts and four nipples.

Limited edition prints available.

Reconfigured human form. Bulbous and fleshy genetic mound elevated high on an integrated pedestal.

Modular biostructure for the growth of spare parts. Anodised aluminium supporting lattice with organic form.

Limited edition prints available.

Posthuman structure measuring 220cm cubed. Within its safe and self-supporting geometric boundaries the main body has plenty of room for further growth.

Some more free skin textures created in zbrush.

These are 800px files. I am selling seamless skin textures $5 for 10 4K maps.

Scroll down and share on social media to download for free: [sociallocker]

5ft 6in tall cylindrical hexagonal lattice structure of stainless steel, supporting modified flesh growth.

Posthuman form supported within a golden ratio structure.

Here are some skin textures taken from photos, I use them in conjunction with the skin textures I created.

I use them in ZBrush with alpha brushes to spray on colour and build up realistic skins textures for SSS Shaders such as VRay FastSSS.

Please like this website on social media if you find these useful:

Here are some of the skin textures created by me that I use for my monsters.

I use them in ZBrush to spray on colour to build up realistic skins textures for SSS Shaders such as VRay FastSSS.

See more here:
Posthuman Futures | abhominal | experimentations on the ...

Description

The Posthuman offers both an introduction and major contribution to contemporary debates on the posthuman. Digital 'second life', genetically modified food, advanced prosthetics, robotics and reproductive technologies are familiar facets of our globally linked and technologically mediated societies. This has blurred the traditional distinction between the human and its others, exposing the non-naturalistic structure of the human. The Posthuman starts by exploring the extent to which a post-humanist move displaces the traditional humanistic unity of the subject. Rather than perceiving this situation as a loss of cognitive and moral self-mastery, Braidotti argues that the posthuman helps us make sense of our flexible and multiple identities.

Braidotti then analyzes the escalating effects of post-anthropocentric thought, which encompass not only other species, but also the sustainability of our planet as a whole. Because contemporary market economies profit from the control and commodification of all that lives, they result in hybridization, erasing categorical distinctions between the human and other species, seeds, plants, animals and bacteria. These dislocations induced by globalized cultures and economies enable a critique of anthropocentrism, but how reliable are they as indicators of a sustainable future?

The Posthuman concludes by considering the implications of these shifts for the institutional practice of the humanities. Braidotti outlines new forms of cosmopolitan neo-humanism that emerge from the spectrum of post-colonial and race studies, as well as gender analysis and environmentalism. The challenge of the posthuman condition consists in seizing the opportunities for new social bonding and community building, while pursuing sustainability and empowerment.

Status

Available

Edition

First Edition

ISBN

9780745641577

ISBN10

0745641571

Publication Dates ROW:

Apr 2013

Publication Dates US:

Jun 2013

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

Apr 2013

Format

224 x 145 mm 8.80 x 5.68 in

Pages

180 pages

Status

Available

Edition

First Edition

ISBN

9780745641584

ISBN10

074564158X

Publication Dates ROW:

Apr 2013

Publication Dates US:

May 2013

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

Apr 2013

Format

216 x 141 mm 8.50 x 5.52 in

Pages

180 pages

Status

Available

Edition

First Edition

ISBN

9780745669960

ISBN10

0745669964

Publication Dates ROW:

Jul 2013

Publication Dates US:

Jul 2013

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

Jul 2013

Format

229 x 152 mm 9.02 x 5.98 in

Pages

200 pages

* Exam copies only available to lecturers for whom the book may be suitable as a course text. Please note: Sales representation and distribution for Polity titles is provided by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

"The Posthuman makes a vital contribution to feminist scholarship across disciplines Braidottis reading of contemporary issues is out of the box: challenging, encouraging and inspiring." Feminist Review

"An important and generative step toward new theories and scholarship and a welcome addition to Braidottis already formidable canon." H+ Magazine

"Shows remarkable clarity and concision even as it lays out highly technical, complexly theoretical, and deeply interdisciplinary concepts." Choice

''This is a rather startling work that requires heavy concentration on the part of the reader to follow the brilliant thinking of the author. Rosi Braidotti, a contemporary philosopher and feminist theoretician, `makes a case for an alternative view on subjectivity, ethics and emancipation and pitches diversity against the postmodernist risk of cultural relativism, while also standing against the tenets of liberal individualism.' Throughout her work, Braidotti asserts and demonstrates the importance of combining theoretical concerns with a serious commitment to producing socially and politically relevant scholarship that contributes to making a difference in the world.'' Grady Harp, Literary Aficionado

"This is an exciting and important text, full of intellectual brilliance and insight. It will make a major mark." Henrietta L. Moore, University of Cambridge

"Braidotti's exhilarating survey of the constellation of posthumanity is lucid, learned and provocative. It will be an essential point of reference in future debates about the central philosophical problem of our age." Paul Gilroy, Kings College London

"Debates over humanism and post-humanism have been fought over from feminist philosophy to literary theory and post-colonial studies. This latest work by Rosi Braidotti presents us with a clear-headed glimpse of some of the hard choices we have before us. Braidotti knows the philosophy, cares about the politics, and empathizes with those who have been shoved aside in these brutal last hundred years. She shows us how feminism, technoscientific infrastructure and political strands cross, sometimes with sparks." Peter Galison, Harvard University

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction 1

Chapter One: Post-humanism: Life beyond the Self 13

Chapter Two: Post-anthropocentrism: Life beyond the Species 55

Chapter Three: The Inhuman: Life beyond Death 105

Chapter Four: Posthuman Humanities; Life beyond Theory 143

Conclusion 186

References 198

Index 214

Read more here:
Book - Rosi Braidotti - The Posthuman

In mathematics, a singularity is a point at which a given mathematical object is not defined or not well-behaved, for example infinite or not differentiable. In the natural sciences, a point in spacetime where the laws of physics break down, for example where gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density and zero volume (as in a Black Hole). In transhumanism and futurism, the end of history as we know it, the point (Technological singularity) at which accelerating change and technological progress becomes so rapid, or alternatively that an exponential growth of artificial intelligence surpasses human levels of intelligence, so that it becomes impossible to predict the nature of any post-singularity intelligence or technological civilization; see Acceleration Watch website for more. Teilhard de Chardin's Omega Point and Sri Aurobindo's Supramental transformation are metaphysical equivalents. The following provides a short and no doubt incomplete potted history of the theme of evolution and transcendence. MAK110419

German Idealism: a movement in philosophy, started with Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism, centered in Germany. Many prominent exponents include Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. See also Naturphilosophie. A prequel to Darwinian evolution. (Wikipedia glossary)

In the 19th century, universal histories proliferated. Philosophers such as Kant, Schiller and Hegel, and political philosophers such as Marx, presented general theories of history that shared essential characteristics with the Biblical account: they conceived of history as a coherent whole, governed by certain basic characteristics or immutable principles. For example, Hegel presented the idea that progress in history is actually the progress not of humankind's material existence, but of humanity's spiritual development. Concomitantly, Hegel presented a developmental theory of how the human spirit progresses: through the dialectic of synthesis and antithesis. Marx's theory of dialectic materialism is essential to his general concept of history: that the struggle to dominate the means of production governs all historical development. (Wikipedia)

Russian cosmism: philosophical and cultural movement that developed in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century. It entailed a broad theory of natural philosophy combining elements of religion and ethics with a history and philosophy of the origin, evolution and future existence of the cosmos and humankind (including advanced technology and space exploration). Incorporated many ideas that would later be adapted by transhumanism. (MAK, Wikipedia)

Sri Aurobindo: (1872-1950) Indian evolutionary philosopher, yogi, and poet, who worked for freedom from British rule before giving up politics and developing his own vision of human progress and spiritual evolution. Together with his co-worker the French mystic Mirra Alfassa he taught the evolution of consciousness culminating in the emergence of a future supramental species and transformation of the world (in this context, the technological singularity is a naturalist equivalent). His ideas have some intriguing parallels with those of Teilhard de Chardin, and he integrated evolutionary thinking with Eastern philosophy the way Teilhard synthesised evolution with Christianity. Neither rejected Darwinism, although in contrast to theistic evolution, both understood evolution panentheistically as the emergence of the Divine out of matter (rather than separate from and above matter). MAK110419

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky: (1863-1945) Ukrainian interdisciplinary scientist; the father of Russian ecology. He helped establish the fields of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and of radiogeology. His ideas of noosphere were an important contribution to Russian cosmism. His 1926 book The Biosphere developed Eduard Suess' earlier 1885 concept of the biosphere into the idea of life as a geological force, similar to James Lovelock's Gaia theory. This is very different to the watered down biosphere of popular thought which is nothing but a mere envelope clinging to the surface of the planet (Teilhard also seems to describe the biosphere in this way, as an envelope). He also developed the idea of the noosphere, which he interpreted as the third stage in the earth's development, mind as a geological force; here we see obvious parallels with transhumanism. Vernadsky influenced Teilhard de Chardin and no doubt vice-versa, when they met in Paris when he Vernadsky was lecturing at the Sorbonne in Paris, although Vernadsky's theory of Earth evolution was purely materialistic, in contrast to Teilhard's Panentheism. (MAK, Wikipedia)

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre: (1881-1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard conceived the idea of the Omega Point and developed the concept of Noosphere. He came into conflict with the Catholic Church, and several of his books were censured. His primary work The Phenomenon of Man, set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He saw no contradiction between Darwinism and Theism, rejected traditional interpretations of a supernatural creator and creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of a panentheistic teleology. Teilhard envisaged the "within" (consciousness) and the "without" (matter) as complementary, each subject to its own evolutionary principle, which he called radial and tangential energy respectively. The former corresponds to the ascent of consciousness and evolution to divinity, the latter to evolution as described by Darwinian science. To this day, Teilhard remains one of the very few individuals whose work seamlessly integrates both evolutionary science and theistic religion, not in a dualistic supernatural context of theistic evolution, but in a holistic and pantheistic manner.

Although the two never met, and neither knew of the other's work, Teilhard's ideas have some intriguing parallels with those of Sri Aurobindo (although in terms of W.C. Snow's "Two Cultures", Teilhard arrives at spirituality from the perspective of the sciences, Aurobindo from the humanities). His ideas are also very similar to those of A. N. Whitehead, both beings strongly influenced by Henri Bergson. Seems to have been one of the very few who integrated the "Two Cultures". Teilhard's cosmology, but not his strict anthropocentrism, have been strongly influential in the New Age movement, Transhumanism, the Universe Story, Integral Theory, and other contemporary advocates of evolution of consciousness, while his term complexification has been adopted by contemporary systems science.

Omega point: in Teilhard de Chardin's pantheistic evolutionary theology, the personal and transcendent state of maximum complexification, towards which the Earth is evolving, and associated or identified with Christ; the end of history, or of history as we know it. Enormously influential (generally second or third hand) on the new age movement. Similar to Sri Aurobindo's independently arrived at but more radical concept of Supramental transformation, and the Transhumanist Singularity (perhaps direct or indirect influence re the history of ideas). The mathematical physicist and cosmologist Frank J. Tipler developed a materialistic "hard science" version of Teilhard's Omega Point.

Teilhard's work has been strongly criticised by Stephen Jay Gould. For Teilhard, evolution tends to greater complexity and consciousness; for Gould,
there is no such thing as ascent or progress, only random natural selection. While Teilhard's strong teleological approach is anathema to mainstream naturalist science (with a few exceptions such as Conway Morris) Gould's equally extreme but diametrically opposite blanket denial that evolution results in the emergence of greater complexity hasn't fared much better; as well as being contrary to the findings of systems theory it is mostly also rejected even by other evolutionists. MAK110419

Transhumanism is emergent philosophy analysing or favouring the use of science and technology, especially neurotechnology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, to overcome human limitations and improve the human condition. Dr. Robin Hanson describes it as "the idea that new technologies are likely to change the world so much in the next century or two that our descendants will in many ways no longer be 'human'." See also conscious evolution, singularity.(Wikipedia glossary)

Influences, precursors, and early developments can be found in the philosophy of Nietzche (the Superman who surpasses the current human species), the Russian Cosmism of Nikolai Fyodorov, the cosmology of Teilhard de Chardin, geneticist J.B.S. Haldane's 1923 essay Daedalus: Science and the Future, which predicted that great benefits would come from applications of advanced sciences to human biology, speculations on space colonization, bionic implants, and cognitive enhancement by J. D. Bernal, futurologist FM-2030, who taught "new concepts of the Human" at The New School of New York City in the 1960s, computer scientist Marvin Minsky, who wrote on relationships between human and artificial intelligence beginning in the 1960s, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation of California, which froze recently deceased subscribers in the 1980s in the hope they would be revived by a future ultra-tech civilization, and the work of Eric Drexler, who in 1986 published Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, which discussed the prospects for nanotechnology and molecular assemblers, and founded the Foresight Institute. In the late 1980s Max More and Tom Morrow (such eccentric names are not unusual here!) created his own particular transhumanist doctrine, called Extropianism and laid the foundation of modern transhumanism. Since then, many other forms of Transhumanism have emerged, including Posthumanism, Postgenderism, Singularitarianism, Technogaianism, Buddhist and Christian Transhumanism, and more. (From Wikipedia)

Integral to transhumanism is the idea of the Technological singularity, which refers to the postulated near-future emergence of greater-than human intelligence. The term was coined by mathematician and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, who argues that artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement or brain-computer interfaces could be possible causes for the singularity. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of technological singularity is seen as an intellectual event horizon, beyond which the future becomes difficult to understand or predict. Nevertheless, proponents of the singularity typically anticipate such an event to precede an "intelligence explosion", wherein superintelligences design successive generations of increasingly powerful minds. The concept is popularized by futurists like Ray Kurzweil and widely expected by proponents to occur in the early to mid twenty first century. (From Wikipedia)

Of course, it could be argued that in describing accelerating change, the transhumanists haven't taken into account the sigmoid shape of the logistic growth curve, as shown on the right (diagram from John Wilkins' Evolving Thoughts blog). However if the growth curve does indeed go all the way back to the Big Bang, I find it unlikely that after thirteen billion years it the curve would just coincidentally flatten out in the next few decades. A stronger objection is that these sort of exponential cosmic growth curves are simply an artifact of logarithmic time; the closer to the present an event is, the more we know of it, and hence the more information (and record of change) there is. However, even if this is the case, this still does not negate the fact that the cosmos seems to organise itself in progressively more complex configurations of matter and consciousness, as observed by Teilhard, Erich Jantsch, and others. MAK111014

The value of Transhumanism, Singularitanism, and other such speculations is that they point to a possible future direction that post-biological and post-human evolution might take, a new kingdom of life or threshold of increasable complexity. Such speculations are a popular element in contemporary science fiction, especially "hard science" writers such as Greg Egan, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross. Interestingly, these themes tie in with early twentieth century visionary metaphysical ideas such as the Omega Point of Teilhard de Chardin and the Supramental transformation of Sri Aurobindo. If 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution have brought us this far, this is a possible and very optimistic glimpse of the future. Of course, the human experiment might just as likely end with a whimper or a bang in an anthropogenic sixth extinction. (MAK110716)

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Singularity (Posthuman transcension) - Palaeos

Our aspiration to omnipotence has led to the enhancement of our capacities so far beyond our species' limits that we created our genetic successors. Inevitably, the evolved reached their first realization as a unified entity: the extinction of humanity as we know it.

Posthuman pits you as one of the last human survivors in a world where nature is reclaiming the planet and our evolved offspring are working to eradicate us. Will you resist mutation and survive, or give in to the inevitable and join the evolved?

In the game, players are humans on a solitary journey to a promised safe house. This journey takes them through ten zones, with the zones being tile-based and randomly generated. As they travel, they encounter each other, other humans, and posthuman mutants. Encounters with mutants may inflict scars, and the more scars players have, the less human they are and the more posthuman they become. Will they strive to cling to their humanity and make a run for the safe house, winning the game? Or will they give in to the ever more tempting mutation, join the posthuman, and deny the win from the rest of the humans?

Notre aspiration l'omnipotence nous a conduit l'amlioration de nos capacits bien au-del des limites de notre espce : nous avons cr nos successeurs gntiques. Invitablement, les volus sont parvenus leur premire ralisation en tant qu'entit unifie : l'extinction de l'humanit telle que nous la connaissons.

Posthuman fait de vous l'un des derniers survivants humains dans un monde o la nature reprend ses droits & notre progniture volue tente de nous radiquer. Allez-vous rsister la mutation & survivre, ou cder l'invitable & rejoindre les volus ?

Dans ce jeu, les joueurs sont des humains en voyage solitaire vers une terre promise. Ce voyage les fait traverser 10 zones base de tuiles poses de manire alatoire. Au cours de leur voyage, ils peuvent se croiser, rencontrer d'autres humains & des mutants "post-humains". Les rencontres avec des mutants peuvent laisser des cicatrices, & plus ils sont infects, moins ils sont humains & plus ils deviennent post-humains. Vont-ils chercher s'accrocher leur humanit & courir vers la forteresse, pour gagner la partie ? Ou vont-ils cder la mutation de plus en plus tentante, rejoindre les post-humains, et tre victorieux sur le reste des humains ?

Visit link:
Posthuman | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Our aspiration to omnipotence has led to the enhancement of our capacities so far beyond our species' limits that we created our genetic successors. Inevitably, the evolved reached their first realization as a unified entity: the extinction of humanity as we know it.

Posthuman pits you as one of the last human survivors in a world where nature is reclaiming the planet and our evolved offspring are working to eradicate us. Will you resist mutation and survive, or give in to the inevitable and join the evolved?

In the game, players are humans on a solitary journey to a promised safe house. This journey takes them through ten zones, with the zones being tile-based and randomly generated. As they travel, they encounter each other, other humans, and posthuman mutants. Encounters with mutants may inflict scars, and the more scars players have, the less human they are and the more posthuman they become. Will they strive to cling to their humanity and make a run for the safe house, winning the game? Or will they give in to the ever more tempting mutation, join the posthuman, and deny the win from the rest of the humans?

Notre aspiration l'omnipotence nous a conduit l'amlioration de nos capacits bien au-del des limites de notre espce : nous avons cr nos successeurs gntiques. Invitablement, les volus sont parvenus leur premire ralisation en tant qu'entit unifie : l'extinction de l'humanit telle que nous la connaissons.

Posthuman fait de vous l'un des derniers survivants humains dans un monde o la nature reprend ses droits & notre progniture volue tente de nous radiquer. Allez-vous rsister la mutation & survivre, ou cder l'invitable & rejoindre les volus ?

Dans ce jeu, les joueurs sont des humains en voyage solitaire vers une terre promise. Ce voyage les fait traverser 10 zones base de tuiles poses de manire alatoire. Au cours de leur voyage, ils peuvent se croiser, rencontrer d'autres humains & des mutants "post-humains". Les rencontres avec des mutants peuvent laisser des cicatrices, & plus ils sont infects, moins ils sont humains & plus ils deviennent post-humains. Vont-ils chercher s'accrocher leur humanit & courir vers la forteresse, pour gagner la partie ? Ou vont-ils cder la mutation de plus en plus tentante, rejoindre les post-humains, et tre victorieux sur le reste des humains ?

Visit link:
Posthuman | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Indie Superhero Film: 'The Posthuman Project' http://posthumanmovie.com

With the heart of a John Hughes film and the energy of X-Men, 'The Posthuman Project' is a feature-length independent superhero film which focuses on the roots of the teenage experience, capturing that careful mix of invulnerability and powerlessness that only youth can conjure.

TAGLINES: Graduating from the human race. Unleash your inner hero.

With over a year and a half of work on the project, Emmy nominated director Kyle Roberts and crew have literally poured blood sweat and tears making this project come to life! Follow us for the latest stills and production updates!

FACEBOOK http://facebook.com/posthumanfilm

INSTAGRAM http://instagram.com/posthumanprojct

TWITTER http://twitter.com/posthumanprojct

Production Companies who made this film Possible...

Reckless Abandonment Pictures http://ra-pictures.com

WeerNProduction https://www.facebook.com/pages/WeerNP...

How to Find this video: Geek Week, #GeekWeek Posthuman Trailer, The Posthuman Project, superheroes, avengers, x-men, The Breakfast Club, John Hughes, Days of Futures Past, The Wolverine, Iron Man 3, superheroes, Man of Steel, Independent Film, indie filmmaking, web series, superhero, teen movie, Kyle Roberts, Reckless Abandonment Pictures

See the article here:
The Posthuman Project: Official Trailer #1 - YouTube

Francis Fukuyama, the well-known author of The End of History and the Last Man, takes on a subject far from his usual field of international political economy: biotechnology. Yet, in his introduction, he shows that there is indeed a link: his 1989 book met with a great deal of criticism, and one argument he found impossible to refute was that there could be no end of history unless there was an end of science. This new book takes that concept further, and considers the impact of modern biology on the understanding of politics.

Being a child of the 1950s, Fukuyama cites two books that were not only decisive in forming his worldview, and that of others growing up in the same period, but which act as templates for examining how our world might evolve. George Orwells 1984, which posits a world of centralized control, never came to be as such, partly because the Internet which developed is the opposite of the centralized system shown in this dystopia. But Aldous Huxleys Brave New World still gives us food for thought, as the biotechnology revolution gets underway. In Huxleys world, drugs were made to ensure that peoples every need and desire be met, essentially abolishing human nature. Fukuyama argues that, Huxley was right, that the most significant threat posed by contemporary biotechnology is the possibility that it will alter human nature and move us into a posthuman stage of history.

Fukuyama seems worried more by the possibility that the biotech revolution will have political consequences rather than any specific effect on individuals. He sees the potential for class wars, as the rich have access to drugs and techniques that make them, and their children, smarter, stronger, and longer-living. This is indeed a different issue than the more basic moral questions than arise, and he is right to raise it. For what would happen in a world, which is already strongly polarized between haves and have-nots, when the haves not only enjoy better goods, food and living conditions, but also life, by purchasing extra years of living, new organs when the old ones break down, or by designing their children before their births.

As the floodgates of biotechnology open, there are several areas of exploration that, unfortunately, get conflated or confused. The main issues are not limited to human cloning, which has gotten by far the greatest amount of press. Other issues involve cognitive neuroscience, and the possibility of controlling behavior; neuropharmacology, and the creation of drugs that enhance certain emotions and repress others; genetic engineering, where new plants and animals can be created, or where humans can be modified; and the prolongation of life, either through the use of chemicals or transplants, or other, as yet undiscovered techniques.

What Fukuyama succeeds in showing in this book is the extent to which the biotechnology revolution can and will affect us. Far beyond the simple debate over human cloning and stem-cell research, which have led to distinct camps digging into the trenches, defending either scientific or religious beliefs, the myriad issues involvedsome of which are already present, others which may or may not exist, according to the success or failure of scientistswill have a great effect on the future of our civilization. But will the effect be greater than other revolutions, such as the agricultural and industrial revolutions? Fukuyama calls for common sense and the regulation of experiments and applications, so mistakes are not made through precipitation.

In short, this is an essential book, for two reasons. First, because its lucid, objective presentation of the issues and their context allows the reader to understand what is at stake without undue religious or racist leanings which have often, over the years, been lurking behind many of these questions. And second, because, like it or not, these issues exist, and choices will have to be made, and soon.

Kirk McElhearn

Kirk McElhearn (kirk@mcelhearn.com) is a freelance writer and translator living in a village in the French Alps. You can find out all about him at his web site, http://www.mcelhearn.com.

Read more:

Review of Our Posthuman Future