Ethical Enhancement Technologies

The first thing that I've noticed about a strong majority of the h+ movement, is that those that are writing a lot on the movement are bald. You would think that baldness would be conquered before global risks. But, global risks are politically empowering while the issue of balding is not.

Taking the IEET Serious

Three of the main artcles over at the IEET website that is headed by Bostrom, deal with the Republicans as evil, a comic book series who is overwriting the Bible as stories that happen all at the same time, but with different storylines. And, the end of capitalism.

The news over at on that site make it difficult to see this as a serious movement.

Human 1

I guess is if my effort is to synthesize Christianity with posthumanism, then to have a full construction of a belief of what a human is  - apart from just my theological construction - then I need to define a human before I go into transhuman.

Wikipedia breaks humanism down into some good catagories to look at.

* Sociology
* Sociobiology
* Psychology
* Philosophy
* Theology

Douglas Rushkoff - Testament

...grad student Jake Stern leads on an underground band... who use any means necessary to combat the growing threat to freedom.  In the process, he discovers a modern threat that has roots in the ancient tale of the Bible.

IEET's posting.

Comic book aiming at Christianity.

"The idea that the Bible is not something that occurred in some real moment in history, but rather in all moments of time. It's happening now - as the underlying narrative of human experience. And, even more importantly, it's hackable. The stories don't have to end the same way for us that they did for these characters."-Douglas Rushkoff

I'm having a hard time taking Rushkoff seriously.  I love Frontline documentary work, but this is fiction aimed at presenting itself as something that might be true to some extent.  Time theories are usually very Sci-fi, and not real science.

Again Rushkoff: "It's no secret that Judaism was invented in large part to get people to stop sacrificing their first born sons to the god Moloch. (It was terrible for a nation preparing for war, because all those sons were being killed.) But it was also really upsetting to people. So the Israelites came up with some substitutes, like sacrificing animals, or doing circumcisions, that didn't require the murder of babies. "

The problem is that animal sacrifices and circumcision predate the Moloch episodes.  If you are migrating out of tents, and it becomes hard to create a shrine for Moloch in areas that are not under ancient Israeli occupation at the time.  Even if you start with the premise that the Old Testament is myth, you still would ble able to see a chronological progression of events, or myth development.  Rushkoff by this statement that he hasn't studied what he's talking about.

"In theory, the Nephillum were parents to a lot of the people in our best Bible stories. I mean, how did barren Sarah get pregnant so suddenly after the visit by those angelic "strangers." She made them her special buns - a temple prostitute action - and everything."

Douglas, THIS STATEMENT IS IDIOTIC - WTF!  And, your transliteration of "Nephillum" is wrong.


Douglas' work is fiction, and what comes out of his mind is fanciful.  Movies produced today are sometimes built upon older movies structures.  Douglas is doing the same with the Bible stories.  The stories are good and timeless, it is hard to mess up good and proven material.  Most of Douglas' statements shows a lack of Torah knowledge (I don't know exactly what he means by Torah - the five books of the Law? I don't know.).

Onpedia - Second Coming

The direction of Christian Transhumanism needs to be thinking in the area of human nature and technology, and the modification that emergent technologies show potential in. Any Post, Pre, or Mid-Tribulation theologies that are so prevalently tied with the Singularity needs to be avoided. Christian prophecy and transhumanistic thinking becomes too fantastical. At this stage in technological development, the focus needs to be on human nature.
Post-human and Christianity are not compatible. The idea of the Rapture, or the Second Coming, or the consummation of all history in the return of Christ to rule the world is related to becoming Adamic, not posthuman.

John Rogers Searle - The Material and Mental

"Seen from the perspective of the last fifty years, the philosophy of mind, as well as cognitive science and certain branches of psychology, present a very curious spectacle. The most striking feature is how much of mainstream philosophy of the mind of the past fifty years seems obviously false... in the philosophy of mind, obvious facts about the mental, such as that we all really do have subjective conscious mental states and that these are not eliminable in favor of anything else, are routinely denied by many , perhaps most, of the advanced thinkers in the subject." - Searle

HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

Consciousness remains an indefinable concept, the exact way the mind and body react to human’s sensations, feelings, and emotions. Humans cannot fully master the definition of this.




I hold to Creationism, not Evolution. The arch of human existence for the Creationist - I hold to the belief that the Earth and our universe is ancient, I can accept billion years concepts into my Creationism – goes from the “image of God” creation of man, then into a declined state of existence. For the Evolutionist, the human existence arch is one from a decreased existence level, then to a continual incline towards a highly modified monkey, that at some point achieved this high degree of consciousness making them a human.



With the Evolutionist model of the human existence, anything that can progress into a level of high consciousness on par with a human (I’m really hitting at AI here), what does so needs to be treated with the ethics endowed to a human.

genome -book of life.

The Genetic Early Adopters

HUMAN NATURE BORROWED THOUGHT

When two or more groups of humans begin to be in contact with each other, each group is faced with a choice. They can decide to engage in destructive acts against each other for domination, which is costly; or the can develop a relationship of exchange and synthesis to a gain of both groups. Over time each of the choices will lead to a larger community where cultures begin to synthesize.

OF HUMAN NATURE

By the study and observation of our knowledge of ourselves as humans, what is the natural, universal state of all humans across time. Should we think that there are those that are naturally content at being enslaved by another human? Mental acceptance of this state might be one thing, and the finding of contentment within the status of slavery another, but it probably is not to be found that it is a natural state to any human.




Is there something in the natural order of our societies and cultures that give us direction as to what our nature is, or is our nature simply define by what the current academic consensus is? If the later is the case then human nature is simply what one can get his fellow human to agree to, but as divers and irrational as humans can be, then a consensus can never ultimately be formed.



At least one emotion that is generally universal to the state of being human is the fear of death. Some systems of belief may control this passion of humans, but the fear of death is innate, and if overcome, then it would be from some exterior pressure laid upon a human, whether the human accepts it or not.



A second layer of human nature in relation to the fear of death is the common trait of violence in society. A generally passive society even has to have some form of peace keeping structures, and war to societies across time and space is common.

Immovable System of Beliefs

The idea of the process of communicating the Church’s guiding beliefs to the next generation of believers seems as though the beliefs should be immovable and unchanging. Christianities beliefs are thought to be antiquated, hypothetically truth unchanging with time. This being the case, then it would seem that only heretical teachings of the church would be in motion. Coming about at various times and from different directions.

  
The problem of unchanging beliefs and beliefs changing in time leads a person to the study of writings of an historical theologian, or the decrees of a Church council. Source material and contextual meaning of the words used must be investigated. It is through investigation that a person can see the various assemblies through history having recognized a guiding system of beliefs.

Where Theologians Reside

From 100 to 600, the majority of theologians were bishops of cities. From 600 to 1500 the theologians remained mostly in monasteries. And, since the rise of the University system out of the monastic tradition, most theologians have been professors.

Pope Saint Gregory I was a monk before ascending to the position of the Bishop of Rome. (Died : 604)

Luther was a monk who became a professor. (Died: 1546)

It is through these occupations of theologians that the Church's understanding of what Jesus and the apostles taught, and it is primarily through these offices that the various Christian teachings have been passed on to each successive generation.

System of Belief

Christian synthesized system of beliefs is what is believed and taught within the various Christian assemblies. The study of the history of these belief systems focuses on the statements issued by authoritative ecclesiastical bodies.

Belief systems have developed over time. The areas of devotion, spirituality, and worship is taught from the understanding of Christian religious writings. Through the study of the Bible a church, or church branch, will conclude a belief, and then incorporate that belief into its religious confessions, public speakings in different forums like worship, and in the general thinking about God. With this being the case - whatever word you wish to use - every religious body will have a belief of heresy, whether confessed or not; and will begin to form some kind of apologetics around the body of beliefs held by the church.

Theologian and the Philosopher

The distinctive difference between a theologian and a philosopher is that the theologian understands himself to be a representative speaker of the Christian community. A theologian is responsible for what is taught or spoken in behalf of the Church. A theologian's confessions must be based on the understanding of what his studies produce from the religious writings.

A philosopher is free in his study, for he is not bound to a set of religious writings, and professor of an authority for them.

Explain Thinking

What the worshipers of Jesus the Messiah believes and teaches based on the writings that have been authorized as being inspired by God: this is Christian guidelines of belief.  Establishing guidlines for belief is not the only activity of the Christian assemblies.  The Christian assemblies are to worship God and serve their fellow human beings.  The worship and service transform individuals, and in turn transforms communities.  The act of loving is the greatest act over any other act that the assemblies of God engadge in.  It is not faith, nor is it the determining of guideline standards (doctrine).  The Assembly is more than a place to get teaching.  The Assembly's faith, hope, and love all express themselves in teaching and profession.  The meaning behind our religious ceremonies is greater than the ceremony itself.  Preaching avoids a focus on the Bible as old writings with dated information, and focuses on discovering what the writings teaches people.   The assemblies of Christ would not have any focus of direction unless it had set guidelines to follow for how it is to worship.

Christian beliefs are of the greatest importance, and should not be taken in a relaxed manner, because within them there is contained a knowledge that can give a person a means of avoiding an eternal state of death.  Christian teachings give an individual the knowledge to obtain a continuious life extention.

In Theological Terms

Because of the Cursings every conscience action of a human is methodical. Method must be applied to our actions because the environment of our existance is hostile to us. Most actions undertaken by us is under the danger of a degree of pain.

Essentually the exchange in the Garden was God imposing a condition upon Man. "You chose to be hostile towards Me, therefore, My creation will be hostile towards you." This hostility imposed will over a given amount of time lead to the termination of life.

In this is the Axiom: until there is a reversal on this imposed hostility, then over a given amount of time life will cease.

Inhuman Environment

Humans by their very nature develope a method to accomplish a targeted objective. The manner of the method developed to achieve is called a technique. When a tool is invented to help the technique, then it is called a device.

The majority of devices that humans use within modern societies are machines.

Transhumanism's Ultimate End

The ultimate end for transhumanism outside a centralized ultimate controls system would be the desolving of a distinctly human identity to where intellegent minds can alter themselves through continual choosing until some barrier abstructs the alteration action. Choice becomes random in any direction with no one to dictate the end objective.

Technicism

Technicism is an over reliance or overconfidence in technology as a benefactor of society.

News

Vaccine: is a biological preparation which is used to establish or improve immunity to a particular disease.

3.4 million grant from the United States Department of Defense1 to develop technology to advance vaccine research and development

Serco Group PLC of Britain on Wednesday said it has agreed to buy SI International Inc., a U.S. federal contractor

The UH-60M Upgrade will reduce pilot workload, increase lift, offer better protection and enhance survivability," said Pino. "The next generation of BLACK HAWK helicopters is ideally suited for its mission and will provide a safer, more responsive, deployable, versatile and effective weapon system for the Army.

Simulation Training Technology

Almost Anything Waterproof

Science and Civilisation in China: all great geniuses are slightly mad or that all great passion is chaotic.

Brief Statement

A lot of transhumanism is essentially a belief system that could be called a "Heaven Now" organization.

I personally am a lover of technology, and love seeing the advances of it - and know the dangers of it as well - it seems that we maybe arriving where Technology can provide the liberation from death. Once this becomes the real fundamental premise for pursuing technology, it does cross over into being a religion in that it becomes a savior model. Science fiction sometimes helps the advancement of mankind, but some elements remain simply fiction. Transhumanist are serious about making their fictional concepts a reality, and I am in agreement with some of their objectives. However, I really think that if technology advances to the levels that they want to see, that they will find themselves under an ultimate control force that is not democratic, but more totalitarian than any system of control that has emerged on earth. If this projection is the real trajectory of a lot of these ideas, then salvation from death, or salvation from an ultimate controlling force would have to come from something beyond the material world.

Milestone reached in search for deafness cure

"We're really far away from a cure for deafness," says Brigande, who began losing his own hearing aged 10 and now hears nothing out of his left ear and only poorly out of his right.

Rapture: How Biotech Became The New Religion

Rapture: How Biotech Became The New Religion

DEFINING TERMS:

Rapture: Comes from the latin word raptus, meaning to be seized. The "Rapture" is generally a Christian concept of being taken to heaven upon a second return of Jesus Christ to Earth.

Biotech: Short for biotechnology, is any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.

Religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

Christianity and Advanced Technologies

Here we go with another Christianity-related post. This one solicits Christian responses to issues brought up by technological advancement. Atheists, I know you might think there’s no point in asking these questions, and if so, there’s really no point in you commenting in this thread. Let me ask my questions without dismissive or bitter comments.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is meant to be pro-Christian or anti-Christian. I am just asking hypothetical questions. The views expressed in this post, if any, are not necessarily the position of any organization or individual associated with the author.

Questions:

1) If man was created in God’s image, would it be blasphemous for people to radically alter their body and brain as it becomes technologically possible, through genetic engineering or nanotechnology? (See “What I want to be when I grow up, is a cloud” by J. Storrs Hall.)

[I could postulate another scenario: If adultery is wrong, then would it be right for society to enact a law so that each individual would be engineered for sexual attraction and desire for their life-mate? The answer to Michael's question is, it depends on the direction of the alteration of their body and brain. Meaning, engineered in order to achieve what objective?]

2) Would it be a sin to extend someone’s lifespan indefinitely using anti-aging therapies, because that would forever prevent them from getting into Heaven? Or would indefinite life extension merely be God’s will, because if he wanted us to die anyway, he could easily make it happen at any time?

[While science (or science fiction) seems to point to eternal life through scientific means (life extension technologies); Christian canonized writings (the Bible) state that humans will annihilate themselves if Christ does not return. The Christian premise is that humans are innately bent towards destruction by their very nature. Eternal life extension is God's desire for humans, but Christ is the means through which that can be accomplished.]

3) Say that a brain chip is invented that makes its user more morally sophisticated and theologically insightful. Would this contradict the notion that good comes from God, and show that the “soul” is actually rooted in the biochemistry of the brain? Or would this signify the brain implant is somehow better tapping into the power of God? How would we tell the difference?

[If one reads through some Church theologians’ writings, some of them point out that people have a disposition to commit certain moral sins (e.g. overtly drinking, envy, out of control anger). I'm guessing that some people that were a Christian that had a lobotomy had certain personality traits alter with the procedure - your jack'en with the brain. A person that might have been prone to having an out-of-control temper might become mellow in all aspects of their behavior. My point, you alter one trait, another trait shows up. However the first "sin" recorded in the Bible came from a person's desire to replace God. The desire (even without an act) is a sin. Christianity doesn't really have an exact concept where the separation from the immaterial-self, and the material-self begin and end. There tends to be a reciprocal interaction that is not scientifically explained in known religious writings. Michael, your thinking on “good” and Christianity seem to not match up. In general all people can be “good,” but in Christian theological terms none truly good.]

4) Say that humans develop a technology to bring someone “back to life” a few hours after brain activity ceases. Could this be used to research possible visions of Heaven, such as those in “light at the end of the tunnel” and other near-death experience accounts? How would we distinguish between genuine visions of Heaven and hallucinations caused by neurological trauma?

[To my knowledge – as far as I can stretch my brain - there would be no verifiable test between hallucinations and brain trauma. A wise suggestion on this point would be to discuss the issue once we cross that bridge.]

5) Recently it was reported that the Vatican was encouraging local churches to hire more clergy adept at performing exorcisms. When a high-level Vatican official was interviewed on the topic by CNN and asked how he knew the difference between a possessed subject and one suffering from psychological problems. The priest responded, “you can see it in their eyes”. If this is true, could we determine this by taking pictures of different types of eyes and discovering distinguishing characteristics associated with possession?

[If I was a demon, and I didn’t want the general population to remain ignorant of the demonic netherworld, then would I be able to manifest inside a person at my choosing as to keep from revealing to the general population that I, or demons exist?]

Out of Touch with Biological Reality

Nearly every female Olympic record in speed, strength, and endurance events falls between the records set by the best American 14- and 15-year-old boys. link

Social destorted POV. We will have to see how h+ movements display their POV according to fact, or agenda.

To admit this one fact is culturally taboo.

Growing a Bulletproof Exoskelecton

Imagine being released into a war zone, running faster than Usain Bolt's 100 meters for over five miles to the next objective point, then your clothing becomes a bulletproof exoskelecton a microsecond before a bullet hits you.

Posthuman capability will be used by the military first. Always.

Hydrogels: Generate bones/soft tissues

Accelerating Future - 10 Christian Questions

More than 1.6 billion, or roughly a quarter of the planet’s people are Christians. It is the world’s largest religion. I had some questions about Christianity I thought I would ask any Christians that read this. (Non-Christians can ignore this post if they’d like.)

[My responses are in bold brackets]

1. Early Christians believe Christ would return quickly, within 1000 years or sooner [Probably every generation of Christians believe that Christ would return in their lifetime]. This is called millennialism [This definition of Christian millennialism is incorrect]. When do you believe Christ will return?[The Christian holy writings say that only the Father of the Godhead knows the time (time being relative in its scope)] Why is millennialism today associated with fundamentalism? [All strands of Christianity have a belief about the Millenniam, there are different strands of fundamentalism and therefore different beliefs concerning the Millennium.]

2. If God answers our prayers, shouldn’t it be easy to detect his presence by observing greater success in people achieving prayer-communicated desires over other desires? Can we design an experiment to confirm this? [If God were a machine, or responded to formulas, then the answer would be 'yes.' There are other theological concepts that come into play when petitioning God for a desired response to a request. He has the option to remain silent, or answer according to a timing preferred by him. You can run an experiment on predicting the patterns of wind and maybe get some degree of accuracy, but my best guess is that God's decision making is a little bit more complex.]


3. Are evil people, like Hitler or other serial killers, evil solely due to their own dispositions, or is there some involvement from Satan? [Could be their own disposition, or Satanic involvement mixed in as well.]

Are drug addictions and/or atheism due to Satan? [No, humans can pretty much get addicted to drugs in and of themselves. And, atheism is a lot of times people being angy with what life has thrown at them.]

Is there some test for determining the presence of Satan’s influence? [Is there a test for determing every scientific theory? Only hypothetically.]


4. Conversely, are people good solely due to inspiration from God and/or Jesus Christ? [No person is good/holy in and of themselves. A person is deemed holy in the sight of God when Christ's holiness is bestowed upon that person.]

Is it possible for an atheist, Jew, Muslim, etc. to have “holiness” even if they explicitly disavow your religion? [According to the biblical definition of "holiness," the answer is no. No human being other than Christ has ever been holy in and of themselves.]

Can they go to Heaven, even if they openly reject Jesus Christ? [Micha-el, you aren't that ignorant, you know the answer to some of these questions.]

5. I find the doctrine of original sin unfair. I do not feel accountable for what some ancient ancestor did. May I be absolved? [Well, I don't feel like paying for the national debt that's being accumulated. You think Uncle Sam will absolve me from paying it? Original Sin doesn't set too well with me either. I'm going to give Adam a good kick in the nuts when I get to heaven.]


6. Can God speak to us through our prayers? [He can communicate because of our prayers.]

How does he determine which people to speak to?[You got me.]

When someone claims they spoke to God, how do we know they are telling the truth? [We don't, unless they say something very specific, and it actually happens.]

7. Do you plan to meet God when you go to Heaven?[Uh, no. I'll be to busy looking for Adam to kick him in the nuts.]

If you have ever had a mental scenario of what might happen, please describe it. [I guess the cloud and harp image would be too interesting.]

8. Will God ever kill Satan? [Kill refers to a person that is inside a physical body. I guess the Anti-Christ might meet this requirement, so then the answer would be yes.]

9. Will a large gold palace (New Jerusalem) really descend from the sky? [Some take iterpret the writings of this event literally, and some view it as a figurative theological image. We will have to wait and see.]

If so, will non-Christians be allowed in? [Probably not.]
10. Would it really be ideal for the entire planet to become Christian?
[Yes it would be idea for every human to be a Christian, but that is for each person to decide for themselves what they believe abou t the afterlife.]

Would the world be a better place? [Hypothetically better, but not a perfect place.]

Remote Society

Intel, Yahoo to Offer Software for Web Access on TV

I walked into a TV repair shop this week. It was a small little store on the backside of a strip mall. I didn't know they existed anymore. Computer repair, yes. TV? On one of the shelves of the small shop was a small 12" TV. It had a on and off switch, volume, VHF knob, and UHF. No remote. It wasn't on, so I don't know if it was color or not.

Now we don't give remotes to TVs a second thought, or cordless phones. Everything is becoming remote, and so are our relationships with people. While there's an upside to all this tech advancements, there's a downside as well. You can get fire someone from their job by remote email now. People marry by finding their spouse by remote means.

Churches are no different. They are remote now. A large section of the Church will go in the direction of creating remote congregations. I think this is the way of the future that must be embraced by some (not all).

Christian Transhumanist Declaration

(1) Humans will be radically changed by the advances of technology as time progresses into the future. It is feasible that the human species will be able to alter their designs with every increasing ability. Actions such as extending life expectancy, intelligence of our own minds and those that we create, controlling psychology, and our life dependence on the planet earth, have the potential to be altered.

(2) A Christian perspective should be debated and formalized off of the developing social trends new technologies create. This should be done from sound scholastic research data and the framework of morality that the Christian Bible directs.

(3) Christian Transhumanists know that society will embrace new technologies that will create scenarios that will be difficult to reconcile with their religious teachings. Therefore, it is better to consider social alterations from technology, and come to a position that can handle correctly such changes.

(4) Christian Transhumanist promote technological development within the moral framework of the Christian Scriptures. Humans have the right to use technology to enhance their biological makeup to a certain extent. The extent to which redesigning one’s own biological makeup should be restrained within the line of thought of considering the well-being of one’s fellow human.

(5) It is most probably that latest advances of human enhancement technologies will be developed for military usage first before the private sector of a society acquires them. Cautious use of technological advancement needs to be considered, and prohibitions need to be set as best to protect human life.

(6) The direction of technology needs to be debated, and declarations of positive and negative usages of it need to be made.

The Church is Dead - R.I.P.

The church enters into simulated teleportation congregations. According to a Slate article The Chick-fil-A Church Pastor Stanley has implimented 3D holographic technology into teleporting himself into other locations than where his physical body is.

With this transition, and the development of satilite churches where the congregation goes to church to watch the pastor on a screen in a different location, the local church is not needed.

It is time to begin to build churches that are completely void of any facility gathering structure. If a pastor can now impliment a holographic video system for a substitute for actually being in person at the service, then the next step is to have 24/7 access to a sermon at any location a holographic video can be recieved.

There will be a backlash and an antitechnology trend in churches, but at the same time there will be pastors that move forward with holographic technology.

It is time to build holographic cyber churches.

For more information on holographic video systems, then read: Practical Holographic Video.

General Thoughts

- If anything positive happens in the lives of any person, it is always an act of kindness on the part of God, and not on account of personal merit.

- Leadership in churches face constant temptation to exchange what they know to be God's desire into a desire for personal ambition. The more impressive one's achievements, the greater the temptation for personal ambition to displace rightful acts.

Mosaic Authorization for Appointing a King

1. The tribes of Israel come to a point in which they desire a king.
2. God must do the choosing.
3. The king must be an Israelite.
4. The king is not allowed to use the monarchical office to increase his own supply of horses.
5. A relationship with Egypt cannot be established to increase the supply of horses.
6. The king is not to build a multitude of wives. The result will be that his actions will become corrupted.
7. The king is not to use the office to overtly create money for himself.
8. The king is to write out a copy of the law himself under the supervision of the Levitical priesthood.
9. The king is to study the law for his entire life, and to carefully implement it. This is to keep the king from thinking himself to be above his fellow countrymen, and the result of these actions will be beneficial for his descendents.

Future wars could see opponents attacking each other’s minds, according to a report for the US military

Landmines releasing brain-altering chemicals, scanners reading soldiers’ minds and devices boosting eyesight and hearing could all one figure in arsenals, suggests the study.

Around the Corner

Small Flying Robot

Technology and the Curse

Without going in to strict detail, the advancement, while not being a straight line in development, seems to be an innate characteristic of humans; and from the biblical perspective this seems to be the result of the “Fall”. I will explain.

To some extent - some people may be more dogmatic in this area than I am - the human mind is reflective of God. In the Old Testament some men were referred to as gods. Well, regardless of Christian thought anyways, everyone seems to agree that the human mind has an incredible power to think, some more than others. One characteristic that we know Adam to have had was immortality. So, we might assume that his mind was flawless, and stronger than any human mind since.

Do to the sin of Adam and Eve a curse was brought upon the man, the environment, the woman, and the snake. Alright, now with the curse being enacted, we have difficulties with all facets of life. The first thing that God did after kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden was to provide them with animal skins. Apart from an assortment of theological typologies that are contained in that act, the skins provide the now fallen first humans with a protective covering – whether it be from the sun or the cold. With this we have our first technological invention.

As the book of Genesis begins to kick off, we get tools and buildings starting to come about, and acknowledgement in the advancement of them. The human mind might not have had the Scientific Method at this time, but the desire to control and become more efficient at one’s work automatically led to technological advancements.
Difficulties that we experience in this life innately drives us to create technologies to protect and control the environment around us. Over the course of time we as humans will always increase our level of technology.

Teleassemble

With the new technology that exists today to interact between persons, there is now the opportunity to gather religious assemblies through long distances. Megachurches tend to form loose communities, and social ties are weak for a lot of people that try to integrate into these kinds of Christian churches.

A new form of church can now arise. The idea of the teleassembly is now possible. It is now time for the next generation of Christians around the world to begin to formulate assemblies within a digital environment to where the local church becomes something that does not necessarily have to exist.

There is no stipulation in the Bible that churches are to perform funerals or weddings, but it is rather out of 2000 years of tradition that these ceremonies are a function of churches. The only area in my thinking is in the way communion is taken, and baptisms are performed.
In general, the local church is no longer needed. Assemblies of believers can now congregate through teledigital means.

This does not mean the dissolution of local churches, but it also doesn't mean that they are required either. A broader communion of believers can now be formed without having to have a physical facility to house the worship that takes place.

Christian Transhuminist Declaration (6)

(6) The direction of technology needs to be debated, and declarations of positive and negative usages of it need to be made.

Christian Transhumanist Declaration (5)

(5) It is most probably that latest advances of human enhancement technologies will be developed for military usage first before the private sector of a society acquires them. Cautious use of technological advancement needs to be considered, and prohibitions need to be set as best to protect human life.

Christian Transhuminist Declaration (4)

(4) Christian Transhumanist promote technological development within the moral framework of the Christian Scriptures. Humans have the right to use technology to enhance their biological makeup to a certain extent. The extent to which redesigning one’s own biological makeup should be restrained within the line of thought of considering the well-being of one’s fellow human.

Christian Transhuminist Declaration (3)

(3) Christian Transhumanists know that society will embrace new technologies that will create scenarios that will be difficult to reconcile with their religious teachings. Therefore, it is better to consider social alterations from technology, and come to a position that can handle correctly such changes.

Christian Transhuminist Declaration (2)

(2) A Christian perspective should be debated and formalized off of the developing social trends new technologies create. This should be done from sound scholastic research data and the framework of morality that the Christian Bible directs.

Christian Transhuminist Declaration (1)

(1) Humans will be radically changed by the advances of technology as time progresses into the future. It is feasible that the human species will be able to alter their designs with every increasing ability. Actions such as extending life expectancy, intelligence of our own minds and those that we create, controlling psychology, and our life dependence on the planet earth, have the potential to be altered.

New conference examines what risks super intelligent robots might hold

A group of the international community's brightest research minds will meet Thursday at the four-day Global Catastrophic Risk Conference at Oxford University in England. The conference, the first of its kind, will aim to provide thought provoking discussion and analysis on how risks could lead to the end of human life or the end of our planet as we know it.http://www.dailytech.com/Conference+Examines+Man+and+Machine+Merging+How+Tech+Will+Make+Human+Brain+Obsolete/article12384.htm

Why doesn't anyone use the term apocalypse?

Dr. Nick Bostrom, director of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, host of the symposium, is fearful that mankind may eventually create such a machine, capable of destroying its creators. He states, "Any entity which is radically smarter than human beings would also be very powerful. If we get something wrong, you could imagine the consequences would involve the extinction of the human species."

I keep hearing this tag line thought from Dr. Bostrom, but if humans where to create machines smarter than humans, then the probability that these humans would have developed technology that enhances their intelligence over any machine that is built is a strong possibility as well.

Bostrom leads a movement known as transhumanism, which dually aims to watch for potential threats in emerging technologies and conversely adopt radical emerging technologies to enrich human life. Bostrom and other transhumanist hope that one day biotechnology, molecular nanotechnologies, and artificial intelligence will merge man with machine, yielding humans that have increased cognitive abilties, are physically stronger, and emotionally more stable. This path, they say will lead to "posthumans", augmented beings so superior to traditional man, they are separate entity.

Most fighter pilots are already transhuman in a rudamentary sense. It is just that their equipment that can enhance their senses can be removed after they finish flying.

Transhumanism Entry I

Where to begin? I think I will begin with the WTA’s FAQ section. I will read it and give my thoughts on areas of agreement and disagreement.

What is a transhumanist?

Is a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that humans currently do not represent a final stage of development but rather a rudimentary stage.

To fully develop this idea it is thought that there is an intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of improving the human condition in all areas of empirical existence.

And, the study of the results, progress and potential dangers of technologies that will enable humans to overcome fundamental limitations of its own species, and the relation of ethics to this kind of development within humans.

I basically agree with everything that is said in this statement above. However, I think the missing component is a recognition that humans are innately inclined into finding themselves in destructive behaviors, and that with the increased power of technology this innate characteristic will prove to be more destructive over the course of time. I applaud the effort to study the ethical use of technologies, but I think that the Christian perspective adds the component that over a given amount of time, though humans can act ethically with an increase in development, humans are predisposed to justify evil actions as being ethically right given enough time. I believe catastrophe is the final end, but can be averted for long spans of time through cautionary measures.

List of Emerging Technologies

*Artificial intelligence (AI) is both the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it.

*Genetic engineering is the direct manipulation of an organism's genes.

*Biofuel can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel derived from recently dead biological material.

*Nootropics, popularly referred to as "smart drugs", are a class of drugs that improve impaired human cognitive abilities.

*Life extension refers to an increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging.

*Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data.

*Nanotechnology is the concept of engineering functional mechanical systems at the molecular scale.

*Metamaterial is a material which gains its properties from its structure rather than directly from its composition.

Gradient Technology

- rising or descending by regular degrees of inclination.

The efficiency of human's tools, and the craft by which they use them, has risen and fallen over the course of history. In any circumstances, a human will generally use what is available to better perform an action to a specific end.

Christians believe that humans were created in a state of perfection (probably not a static state of perfection, but some form of perfection with no difficulty when performing an act towards a certain end). Through a decision of rebellion, the human race and their environment fell under a curse (the specifications of the pronounced curse is found in the beginning of the book of Genesis - most people know this). However far back in time the "Fall" happened is not known, but a slow development in technology has increased over the millenniums.

At the current moment in time (21st century), there does not seem to be any slowing down of the advancement of technology. Rather, technology seems to be increasing at a speed that is difficult to track. This being the case, it is not hard to imagine technologies coming into existence that will change the very material make-up of the human body. We cannot predict all the technologies that will come about, nor can we predict all the social changes that come about from the technology produced.

It is time for Christians to start thinking in terms of the changes going on, and the changes that may come ahead within the context of future technologies.

Transhumanism is a term often used as a synonym for "human enhancement", is an international, intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes, and overcome what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death.

This blog will move upon the lines of thought of how Christianity's moral directives should speak to the direction technology develops in its application to humans.