NING is an open source social networking site. transhumanist.ning is for all the xhumanists out there. Join discussion...

A transdisciplinary approach to understanding the future. Join discussion...

An interview with one of the pillars of that nebulous and hard to define thing, the transhumanist community: I'd make a distinction between the "Transhumanist movement" and a larger group of people - many of whom probably read io9 (and Boing Boing, Slashdot, Wired, and on and on). There are lots of people out there who are fully cognizant of transhumanist views, and who are interested in - and possibly supportive of, or ambiguously curious about - say, cyborg body enhancements, or memory enhancement, or ending aging. And in fact, my friend Ramez Naam argues that anybody who wears glasses or takes birth control pills is a transhumanist and so he refuses the label as sort of banal. If you look around at the serious efforts to make progress in longevity science or other means of postponing permanent death, you'll find members of the transhumanist community involved and amongst the most vocal supporters: the Methuselah Foundation; Alcor and the Cryonics Institute; the Immortality Institute. Similarly in the fields of strong artificial intelligence and advanced nanotechnology - organizations like the Singularity Institute, the Future of Humanity Institute and the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology are outgrowths of the transhumanist community of the 80s and 90s. Collectively these organizations and others have raised tens of millions of dollars over the years. Join discussion...

Transhumanism News is provided by the Mormon Transhumanist Association, an international nonprofit organization that promotes practical faith in human exaltation through charitable use of science and technology, as outlined in the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation. We are affiliated with the World Transhumanist Association and support the Transhumanist Declaration. Join discussion...

What’s so amazing about this invention? For starters, each finger is powered by its own motor. This allows the wearer to individually move their fingers for more accurate manipulation of objects. It’s made of a high-strength plastic resulting in a prosthetic that is lightweight as well as appealing to the eyes. Maintenance of the hand is also very simple. “The modular construction of the i-LIMB Hand means that each individually powered finger can be quickly removed by simply removing one screw. This means that a prosthetist can easily swap out fingers that require servicing and patients can return to their everyday lives after a short clinic visit.” This way you can still have use of the hand while part of it is getting repaired. Join discussion...

Thoughtware.Tv, knowing that the future is not something that happens to us, but rather something we create, aims to spread knowledge and positive memes on future technological advancements in order to educate the public on the potential of positively enhancing the human condition. Join discussion...

Transcurve™ is an online transhumanist communication hub. The principles of Transcurve™ define a specific version or "brand" of transhumanist thinking. Like humanists, transhumanists favour reason, progress, and values centered on our well being rather than on an external religious authority. Transhumanists take humanism further by challenging human limits by means of science and technology combined with critical and creative thinking. Transcurve™ challenges the inevitability of aging and death, and we seek continuing enhancements to our intellectual abilities, our physical capacities, and our emotional development. We see humanity as a transitory stage in the evolutionary development of intelligence. We advocate using science to accelerate our move from human to a transhuman or posthuman condition. Join discussion...

In futures studies, computronium refers to a hypothetical material engineered to maximize its use as a computing substrate. While futurists usually use it to refer to hypothetical materials engineered on the molecular, atomic, or subatomic level by some advanced form of nanotechnology, the term can also be applied both to contemporary computing materials, and to constructs of theoretical physics that are unlikely to ever be practical to build. Many futurists speculate about futures where demand for computing power grows to the point where very large amounts of computronium are desired. Examples of applications include Jupiter brains, planet-sized constructs made of computronium, and matrioshka brains, concentric Dyson spheres designed to extract all possible energy from the host star for use towards computation. Join discussion...

Superintelligence (SI or S.I.) is an exceptionally large or powerful, superior intelligence when compared to the nearest (and only current) standard (human) level intelligence. Nick Bostrom 1998 states: “ By a ‘superintelligence’ we mean an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills. ” The concept has appeared on several occasions in science fiction. Join discussion...

was just informed by my good friend DC Spensley (aka Dancoyote Antonelli in Second Life) that the first edition of H+ Magazine is available. Download it here. DC Spensley is Art Director of H+ Magazine, edited by RU Sirius and published by Humanity+. Join discussion...