Tag Archives: Transhumanism

Alcor update from CEO Max More

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Aschwin de Wolf

The Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence blog features a short interview with new Alcor CEO Max More: Q: Where do you see cryonics in the future? We’ll look back on this 50 to 100 years from now — we’ll shake our heads … Continue reading →

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Non-existence is hard to do

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Aschwin de Wolf

A review of  contemporary antinatalist writings Originally published in Cryonics, 2nd Quarter, 2010 (PDF) “Coming into existence is bad in part because it invariably leads to the harm of ceasing to exist.” David Benatar “If they could get a corpse … Continue reading →

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Cryonics, trans-temporal communism and future squatters

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Aschwin de Wolf

Cryonics advocate Eugen Leitl puts forward some hard-hitting and thought-provoking observations about cryonics (reminiscent of Mike Darwin’s more recent thoughts on the subject): Cryonics, like Natural Selection, or the theories of General and Special Relativity, is core-smashing in character, and … Continue reading →

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Mind uploading, falsifiability and cryonics

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Aschwin de Wolf

On the cryonics discussion list Cryonet cryobiologist Brian Wowk weighed in on the topic of mind uploading in a post that merits quoting in its entirety: I read with interest Bob Ettinger’s recent remarks about Mark Gubrud’s piece in The … Continue reading →

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Biological enhancement and evolution

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Aschwin de Wolf

In the March 2010 issue of Reason magazine Tim Cavanaugh writes about the rift between transhumanists who favor biological enhancement versus those who favor non-biological “mechanical” enhancement: These days transhumanists talk a lot about subcutaneous data ports, permanent immersion in … Continue reading →

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Peter Thiel: Utopian Pessimist

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Aschwin de Wolf

Peter Thiel, one of the few original minds in the life extension and accelerating-technological-change community, is featured in a short interview at Wired. Thiel seems to be aware of the limitations of extrapolation of trends: We’ve been living in a … Continue reading →

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The singularity is not near

Posted on November 13, 2009 by Aschwin de Wolf

Singularity skeptic Mark Plus drew my attention to the following blog post. The author writes that: Chalmers’ (and other advocates of the possibility of a Singularity) argument starts off with the simple observation that machines have gained computing power at … Continue reading →

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Cryonics and philosophy of science

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Aschwin de Wolf

The 2008-3 issue of Alcor’s Cryonics Magazine contains a number of articles about the pitfalls of (excessive) scientific optimism and its potential adverse effects on the organizational and practical aspects of cryonics. My own contribution contrasts cryonics as medical conservatism … Continue reading →

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Cryonics and transhumanism

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Aschwin de Wolf

The association of cryonics with “transhumanism” seems inevitable but is problematic.  It seems inevitable because cryonics should be most attractive to people with a very positive perspective on the future capabilities of technology. Barring rapid advances in mitigating aging, cryonics  … Continue reading →

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Cryonics: why it has failed, and possible ways to fix it

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Aschwin de Wolf

From: ExtroBritannia Cryonics: Why it has failed, and possible ways to fix it – with Mike Darwin The next ExtroBritannia event is scheduled for Saturday August 2, 2008; 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Location to be announced asap. Lead Speaker: Mike Darwin, … Continue reading →

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Teaching futurism to children and teens

Posted on July 2, 2008 by Shannon Vyff

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” … Continue reading →

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Shannon Vyff on teaching children about the future, caloric restriction, and cryonics

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Aschwin de Wolf

Over the next three days Shannon Vyff will be guest blogging for Depressed Metabolism. Shannon Vyff is a practicing caloric restrictionist, Alcor member, and Methuselah Foundation supporter. Shannon also volunteers for her local Unitarian Universalist Church and La Leche League … Continue reading →

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Ev Cooper’s cryonics classic published online

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Chana de Wolf

Few, if any, cryonicists today can retrace their personal interest in cryonics to Evan Cooper. Despite the broader recognition of Robert Ettinger’s book, “The Prospect of Immortality,” which was commercially published in 1964, Cooper’s privately published 1962 manuscript, “Immortality: Physically, … Continue reading →

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