Artist/Theorist Micha Cárdenas will be speaking at TEDx Del Mar on April 29th. The theme of TEDx Del Mar 2012 is Envisioning Transhumanity. More info available at http://www.tedxdelmar.com/ .
About
A Transhuman studies conference on the future of our minds, bodies and societies, Sunday, 4/29/12 @ UCSD.
Description
We will discuss the potential promise and peril of coming technologies that will augment and radically transform our minds, bodies, and cultures. Many see these transformations as inevitable outcomes of accelerating technological development and global market conditions. The purpose of this conference is to emphasize Transhuman studies as an academic discipline, as well as establish a local community of students, scholars and entrepreneurs with the raised-consciousness and ambition to have a positive impact on our future.
We aim to discuss the following topics in a manner rigorous enough to satisfy university-educated scholars, but not so technical as to alienate the many people that are new to the subject matter:
Near and Far Cyborg World: What are the potential ramifications of visor cellphones and augmented reality, or the intimate cyborg interfaces developing across biotech, as well as in-silico life? What kinds of privacy rules should govern cellphone visors? Can there be limits preventing users from transforming the appearance of others? How are children to be safely hybridized with cyborg technologies? How will the increasing elderly react to cyborg technologies? What risks or better forms of life arise if individuality blurs when populations of cyborgs interconnect?
Current and Future Life-Enhancement: How effective is life-logging? How good are the best happiness, intelligence and fitness improvement apps and devices? What is the current state and prospects for physical and mental health enhancement technologies? What are the short term prospects for developing human potential and improving quality of life in San Diego for all groups, especially the worst-off?
Ethics, Economics, and Culture: What sociocultural and economic ramifications will transhumanist values have in the world, as well as transhuman technologies? Barring the destruction of civilization, is transhumanity inevitable?
The Market and Transhuman interests: To what degree do the market forces driving transhumanity diverge from the ends we ought to desire? What are the transhuman goals? How can we guide these transformations to optimize well being and freedom?
What is the Potential Impact of Accelerated Consciousness Raising?: How will we be changed by the explosion of knowledge and intelligence distributed between and within human minds?
Bio-Conservative Views: Are there bio-conservative arguments that haven’t been well-considered? What are the strongest arguments against human augmentation? Are there practical programs to prevent it?
Foresight in Augmentation: What’s next? Will there be a general order of development for human enhancement technologies? What are the technical limits of augmentation? What are the limits and prospects for cognitive, emotive, and empathetic augmentation?
Aging as Pathology: To what degree is it appropriate to treat aging as a single pathology? What are the prospects for life-extension, the costs, the availability, the state of the science of gene-therapy and pre-natal anti-aging interventions?
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world’s leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.
TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.
TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
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Becoming Dragon: an Epistemology of Transition (PDF 5.8MB)