The Ethics of Exponential Life Extension Through Brain Preservation
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Against Transhumanism the Delusion of Technological Transcendence
Edition 1.0 Against Transhumanism The delusion of technological transcendence Richard A.L. Jones Preface About the author Richard Jones has written extensively on both the technical aspects of nanotechnology and its social and ethical implications; his book “Soft Machines: nanotechnology and life” is published by OUP. He has a first degree and PhD in physics from the University of Cam- bridge; after postdoctoral work at Cornell University he has held positions as Lecturer in Physics at Cambridge University and Profes- sor of Physics at Sheffield. His work as an experimental physicist concentrates on the properties of biological and synthetic macro- molecules at interfaces; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006 and was awarded the Institute of Physics’s Tabor Medal for Nanoscience in 2009. His blog, on nanotechnology and science policy, can be found at Soft Machines. About this ebook This short work brings together some pieces that have previously appeared on my blog Soft Machines (chapters 2,4 and 5). Chapter 3 is adapted from an early draft of a piece that, in a much revised form, appeared in a special issue of the magazine IEEE Spectrum de- voted to the Singularity, under the title “Rupturing the Nanotech Rapture”. Version 1.0, 15 January 2016 The cover picture is The Ascension, by Benjamin West (1801). Source: Wikimedia Commons ii Transhumanism, technological change, and the Singularity 1 Rapid technological progress – progress that is obvious by setting off a runaway climate change event, that it will be no on the scale of an individual lifetime - is something we take longer compatible with civilization. -
Attempts to Achieve Immortality
Attempts to achieve immortality Attempts to achieve immortality Author: Stepanka Boudova E-mail: [email protected] Student ID: 419572 Masaryk University Brno Course: Future of Informatics 1 Attempts to achieve immortality Table of Contents Attempts to achieve immortality......................................................................................................1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 Historical context.............................................................................................................................3 History of Alchemy.....................................................................................................................3 Religion and Immortality............................................................................................................ 5 Symbols of Immortality.............................................................................................................. 6 The future.........................................................................................................................................6 Mind Uploading.......................................................................................................................... 6 Cryonics.................................................................................................................................... 10 2 Attempts to achieve immortality Introduction -
Reverse-Engineering the Brain, Intersymp-2016, 1 August, 2016 RESU109-IS16
Jens Pohl: Reverse-Engineering the Brain, InterSymp-2016, 1 August, 2016 RESU109-IS16 Reverse-Engineering the Brain: The parts are as complex as the whole. Jens Pohl, PhD Professor of Architecture (Emeritus) California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Vice President, Engineering & Technology Tapestry Solutions (a Boeing Company) San Luis Obispo, California, USA Abstract The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of neuroscience research with a focus on what has been achieved to date in unraveling the mysteries of brain operations, major research initiatives, fundamental challenges, and potentially realizable objectives. General research approaches aimed at constructing a wiring diagram of the brain (i.e., connectome), determining how the brain encodes and computes information, and whole brain simulation attempts are reviewed in terms of strategies employed and difficulties encountered. While promising advances have been made during the past 50 years due to electron microscopy, the development of new experimental methods, and the availability of computer-enabled high throughput imaging systems, brain research is still greatly encumbered by inadequate monitoring and recording capabilities. Four hypotheses relating to comprehension through the assembly of parts, formation of memories, influence of genes, and synapse formation are described as plausible explanations even though they cannot be validated at this time. By assessing the feasibility of overcoming the principal problems that beleaguer brain research in comparison -
Neuroscience Thinks Big Bring Them Together in a Unified View
PERSPECTIVES VIEWPOINT new computing technologies. Neuroscience is like the infant brain — it is flooded with data and theories but lacks the ability to Neuroscience thinks big bring them together in a unified view. We pin our hopes on more and more data with- (and collaboratively) out realizing that experiments can only give us a small fraction of what we need. The Eric R. Kandel, Henry Markram, Paul M. Matthews, Rafael Yuste and attempt to reconstruct the human brain as a computer model can provide a new focus Christof Koch for neuroscience and for clinical and tech- Abstract | Despite cash-strapped times for research, several ambitious collaborative nological research. It will help us to ‘clean neuroscience projects have attracted large amounts of funding and media up’ conflicting reports and teach us how to apply knowledge from animal studies to attention. In Europe, the Human Brain Project aims to develop a large-scale understanding the human brain. Ultimately, computer simulation of the brain, whereas in the United States, the Brain Activity it will allow us to discover the fundamental Map is working towards establishing a functional connectome of the entire brain, principles governing brain structure and and the Allen Institute for Brain Science has embarked upon a 10‑year project to function and to predictively reconstruct understand the mouse visual cortex (the MindScope project). US President Barack the brain from fragments of experimental data. Without this kind of understanding, Obama’s announcement of the BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing we will continue to struggle to develop new Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative) in April 2013 highlights the political treatments and brain-inspired computing commitment to neuroscience and is expected to further foster interdisciplinary technologies. -
Transhumanism and the Meaning of Life
1 Transhumanism and the Meaning of Life Anders Sandberg Preprint of chapter in Transhumanism and Religion: Moving into an Unknown Future, eds. Tracy Trothen and Calvin Mercer, Praeger 2014 Transhumanism, broadly speaking,1 is the view that the human condition is not unchanging and that it can and should be questioned. Further, the human condition can and should be changed using applied reason.2 As Max More explained, transhumanism includes life philosophies that seek the evolution of intelligent life beyond its current human form and limitations using science and technology.3 Nick Bostrom emphasizes the importance to transhumanism of exploring transhuman and posthuman modes of existence. 4 This exploration is desirable since there are reasons to believe some states in this realm hold great value, nearly regardless of the value theory to which one subscribes.5 Transhumanism, in his conception, has this exploration as its core value and then derives other values from it. Sebastian Seung, an outsider to transhumanism, described it as having accepted the post-Enlightenment critique of reason, yet not giving up on using reason to achieve grand ends that could give meaning to life individually or collectively: The “meaning of life” includes both universal and personal dimensions. We can ask both “Are we here for a reason?” and “Am I here for a reason?” Transhumanism answers these questions as follows. First, it’s the destiny of humankind to transcend the human condition. This is not merely what will happen, but what should happen. Second, it can be a personal goal to sign up for Alcor6, dream about uploading, or use technology to otherwise improve oneself. -
Cryonics Magazine, September-October, 2012
September-October 2012 • Volume 33:5 Register for Alcor’s 40th Anniversary Conference Page 17 Symposium on Cryonics and Brain- Threatening Disorders Page 8 Book Review: Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are Page 12 ISSN 1054-4305 $9.95 Improve Your Odds of a Good Cryopreservation You have your cryonics funding and contracts in place but have you considered other steps you can take to prevent problems down the road? _ Keep Alcor up-to-date about personal and medical changes. _ Update your Alcor paperwork to reflect your current wishes. _ Execute a cryonics-friendly Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. _ Wear your bracelet and talk to your friends and family about your desire to be cryopreserved. _ Ask your relatives to sign Affidavits stating that they will not interfere with your cryopreservation. _ Attend local cryonics meetings or start a local group yourself. _ Contribute to Alcor’s operations and research. Contact Alcor (1-877-462-5267) and let us know how we can assist you. Take a look at the Your source for news about: ALCOR BLOG • Cryonics technology • Cryopreservation cases • Television programs about cryonics http://www.alcor.org/blog/ • Speaking events and meetings • Employment opportunities Alcor Life Connect with Alcor members and supporters on our Extension official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/alcor.life.extension. Foundation foundation is on Become a fan and encourage interested friends, family members, and colleagues to support us too. CONTENTS 5 Quod incepimus lume 33:5 -
The Human Brain Project: Winner of the of the Largest European Scientific Funding Competition
The Human Brain Project: winner of the of the largest European scientific funding competition MONTREAL - The European Commission has officially announced the selection of the Human Brain Project (HBP) as one of its two FET Flagship projects. The new project will federate European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain. The goal of the Human Brain Project is to pull together all our existing knowledge about the human brain and to reconstruct the brain, piece by piece, in supercomputer-based models and simulations. The models offer the prospect of a new understanding of the human brain and its diseases and of completely new computing and robotic technologies. On January 28, the European Commission supported this vision, announcing that it has selected the HBP as one of two projects to be funded through the new FET Flagship Program. Federating more than 80 European and international research institutions, the Human Brain Project is planned to last ten years (2013-2023). The cost is estimated at 1.19 billion euros. The project will also associate some important North American and Japanese partners. It will be coordinated at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, by neuroscientist Henry Markram with co- directors Karlheinz Meier of Heidelberg University, Germany, and Richard Frackowiak of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Canada’s role in this international project is through Dr. Alan Evans of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University. His group has developed a high-performance computational platform for neuroscience (CBRAIN) and multi-site databasing technologies that will be used to assemble brain imaging data across the HBP. -
Evidence-Based Cryonics
Evidence-Based Cryonics www.cryonics-research.org.uk www.evidencebasedcryonics.org João Pedro de Magalhães, Chair Aschwin de Wolf, Cofounder +44 151 7954517 [email protected] [email protected] Groundbreaking Scientific Results Show that the Proposition of Human Medical Biostasis has Potential and Needs to Be Brought into Mainstream Scientific and Medical Focus Recently we have seen evidence that long-term memory is not modified by cryopreservation in simple animal models (C. elegans nematode worms, see appendix). Other small animals can also be healthily revived after storage in liquid nitrogen at −196°C (O. jantseanus leech). It was previously known that in mammalian brain slices, viability, ultrastructure, and the electrical responsiveness of the neurobiological molecular machinery that elicits long-term potentiation, a mechanism of memory, can be preserved without significant damage following cryopreservation. Published transmission and scanning electron microscopic images from a whole brain cryopreserved through vitrification also indicate structural integrity. And now, a new cryobiological and neurobiological technique, aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC) today won the large mammal Brain Preservation Prize, announced in 2010 by the Brain Preservation Foundation (BFP). This provides strong evidence that large mammalian brains can be preserved well enough at low temperature for hundreds of years for neural connectivity and the connectome to be completely visualized. The connectome is believed to be an important encoding mechanism for memory and personal identity (i.e., where the mind lives) within the brain. Left Picture: Vitrified pig brain at - 135° Celsius (-211° Fahrenheit) – a temperature at which chemical and biological actively virtually has stopped and storage without any change or degradation is possible for centuries if not millennia. -
2020 Survey of Artificial General Intelligence Projects for Ethics, Risk, and Policy
http://gcrinstitute.org 2020 Survey of Artificial General Intelligence Projects for Ethics, Risk, and Policy McKenna Fitzgerald, Aaron Boddy, & Seth D. Baum Global Catastrophic Risk Institute Cite as: McKenna Fitzgerald, Aaron Boddy, and Seth D. Baum, 2020. 2020 Survey of Artificial General Intelligence Projects for Ethics, Risk, and Policy. Global Catastrophic Risk Institute Technical Report 20-1. Technical reports are published to share ideas and promote discussion. They have not necessarily gone through peer review. The views therein are the authors’ and are not necessarily the views of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute. Executive Summary Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is artificial intelligence (AI) that can reason across a wide range of domains. While most AI research and development (R&D) deals with narrow AI, not AGI, there is some dedicated AGI R&D. If AGI is built, its impacts could be profound. Depending on how it is designed and used, it could either help solve the world’s problems or cause catastrophe, possibly even human extinction. This paper presents a survey of AGI R&D projects that are active in 2020 and updates a previous survey of projects active in 2017. Both surveys attempt to identify every active AGI R&D project and characterize them in terms of relevance to ethics, risk, and policy, focusing on seven attributes: The type of institution in which the project is based Whether the project publishes open-source code Whether the project has military connections The nation(s) in which the project is based The project’s goals for its AGI The extent of the project’s engagement with AGI safety issues The overall size of the project The surveys use openly published information as found in scholarly publications, project websites, popular media articles, and other websites. -
Where Is the Brain in the Human Brain Project?
COMMENT SATELLITES A call for all Earth BIOLOGY Lewis Wolpert’s ENERGY Social sciences and OBITUARY Yoshiki Sasai, observations to be open survey of sex differences, humanities take their seats at stem-cell pioneer, access p.30 reviewed p.32 the table p.33 remembered p.34 NATURE ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS RYAN/ CHRIS BY ILLUSTRATION Where is the brain in the Human Brain Project? Europe’s €1-billion science and technology project needs to clarify its goals and establish transparent governance, say Yves Frégnac and Gilles Laurent. aunched in October 2013, the Human Contrary to public assumptions that the Many signatories are scientists in experi- Brain Project (HBP) was sold by HBP would generate knowledge about how mental and theoretical fields, and the list charismatic neurobiologist Henry the brain works, the project is turning into includes former HBP participants. The letter LMarkram as a bold new path towards under- an expensive database-management project incorporates a pledge of non-participation standing the brain, treating neurological dis- with a hunt for new computing architec- in a planned call for ‘partnering projects’ eases and building information technology. tures. In recent months, the HBP executive that must raise about half of the HBP’s total It is one of two ‘flagship’ proposals funded board revealed plans to drastically reduce its funding. This pledge could seriously lower by the European Commission’s Future and experimental and cognitive neuroscience the quality of the project’s final output and Emerging Technologies programme (see arm, provoking wrath in the European leave the planned databases empty. go.nature.com/icotmi). -
Whole Brain Emulation a Roadmap
Whole Brain Emulation A Roadmap (2008) Technical Report #2008‐3 Anders Sandberg* Nick Bostrom Future of Humanity Institute Faculty of Philosophy & James Martin 21st Century School Oxford University CITE: Sandberg, A. & Bostrom, N. (2008): Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap, Technical Report #2008‐3, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University URL: www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/reports/2008‐3.pdf (*) Corresponding author: [email protected] In memoriam: Bruce H. McCormick (1930 – 2007) 2 Contents Whole Brain Emulation............................................................................................................................1 A Roadmap ................................................................................................................................................1 In memoriam: Bruce H. McCormick (1930 – 2007)...........................................................................2 Contents..................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................5 Thanks to............................................................................................................................................6 The concept of brain emulation..........................................................................................................7 Emulation and simulation...............................................................................................................7 -
BRAIN in the SHELL Assessing the Stakes and the Transformative Potential of the Human Brain Project
7 BRAIN IN THE SHELL Assessing the Stakes and the Transformative Potential of the Human Brain Project Philipp Haueis and Jan Slaby Introduction The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a large-scale European neuroscience and com- puting project that is one of the biggest funding initiatives in the history of brain research.1 With a planned budget of 1.2 billion € over the next decade and building on the prior Blue Brain Project, the project initiated by Henry Markram pursues the ambitious goal of simulating the entire human brain – all the way from genes to cognition – with the help of exascale information and communication technology (ICT). The HBP hopes to thereby produce new, brain-like computing technologies, so-called neuromorphic computers, which would be both highly energy-efficient and usable by the general public. Despite the potentially enormous significance for both brain research and com- puter technology – as well as society and culture – the ambition and approach of the HBP has been a matter of substantial controversy from the beginning, both in the scientific community and the general public. Critics have claimed that the model-based bottom-up approach of the project is scientifically wrong-headed, have accused the project of not being managed transparently, and have attested that the aims of the HBP are too ambitious, such that the project is likely to waste valuable resources for research and infrastructure in Europe. It is currently – in mid-2015 – still a debated question whether the HBP in its current format and direction should be pursued at all (Bartlett, 2015). The controversy was fuelled in early 2014 by an open letter to the European Commission (EC) signed by over 750 European neuroscientists urging a reform of the HBP even before its operational phase was set to begin.