Word Transformed 2, Part 4: Humanity Transformed

By | July 20, 2011
1 Comment

We can only imagine that, some 6 million years ago, when hominids began to stand upright, there was a tremendous controversy amongst the proto- australopithecines as to whether assuming this new posture was “natural.” Weren’t Lucy and her ilk simply violating their most basic nature?

The debate has continued ever since, as humans have learned new skills and augmented their minds and bodies for reasons both aesthetic and practical. Today we live in an age of unprecedented human malleability — pacemakers, nose jobs, laser eye surgery, and other wonders. But that’s nothing compared to where we’re going next. We may soon be able to match the level of change that occurred in the six-million-year ascent from Australopithecus to modern human — only we’ll do it in a single human lifetime, or perhaps a matter of years, or maybe even faster than that.

What might we become?A panel of futurists join us to discuss the prospects for an expanded and improved definition of humanity.


Join us:

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
7 PM PDT / 10 PM EDT

Panelists:

Sonia Arrison

George Dvorsky

R. U. Sirius

  • Zandre Aiken

    I enjoyed the discussion of the anticipated augmentation of our internal and external self. I too look forward to this auspicious moment. I am new to this transhuman blogging site and only managed to listen all of the transformed 2 and 1.5 podcasts so I am not sure if the issue I about to pose is already addressed. I like the fact that transformed 2 narrowed the perspective to the individual but I was wondering if you planned to cover more about what each person can do in the next 5 years to assist in ushering in a friendly AI world. That is a topic that I have been chewing on over the past few years, trying to see how my professional and non-professional endeavors can be tweaked to support the transhuman movement. I would love to hear a podcast of simple ideas of what the common man and women can do to graduate from being a spectator to being a participant, if they so desire. Thank you all for making this valuable information more accessible; finally I can give my eyes a rest.