While AI’s progress has been slower than expected, neuro-science has gotten much more sophisticated in its understanding of how the brain works. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the 37 labs of MIT’s BCS Complex. Groups here are charting the neural pathways of most of the higher cognitive functions (and their disorders), including learning, memory, the organization of complex sequential behaviors, the formation and storage of habits, mental imagery, number management and control, goal definition and planning, the processing of concepts and beliefs, and the ability to understand what others are thinking. The potential impact of this research could be enormous. Discovering how the brain works — exactly how it works, the way we know how a motor works — would rewrite almost every text in the library. Just for starters, it would revolutionize criminal justice, education, marketing, parenting, and the treatment of mental dysfunctions of every kind. (Earl Miller is hoping the research done in his lab will aid in the development of therapies for learning disorders.)

I am currently working on a short experimental film for a class. I will be posting it here.

I’ll be creating Transhumanist works of art for your enjoyment from time to time in the form of digital films, photography, writings, music, etc.

If you want to avoid the hassle of checking back here just click on the big orange box on the left hand side to subscribe to the rss feed. If you don’t know what rss is that’s alright just shoot me an email so I can tell you how to get an rss feed reader.

I will also be posting a short story I am writing titled: Singularity¹

I will post this story on a members-only page. You can join here>>>

On a daily basis, I worry about my how my tax money is used(or abused), homework, paying bills, how much gas I can afford to put in my car, and dealing with my own personal demons. I don’t have to worry about being killed, my home being burned down, and my wife being raped by orders of the government. Fortunately, I just so happened to emerge a child of this Universe within the borders of the U.S.A. Within borders that don’t exist outside of our heads. They are figments of our imagination made real simply by thinking them up!

Well, there are millions of unfortunate souls born on the wrong side of the borders that make up this crazy world. It’s not enough that they live in huts within impoverished villages. No, they have wake up and worry whether or not their government is going to kill them, burn their hut down, and rape their mothers, sisters, and wives. These people live in Darfur, a place infected with another kind of ailment that doesn’t exist outside of the mind, that of extreme prejudice.

From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Website:

Since early 2003, Sudanese government soldiers and their proxy ethnic militia, known as the Janjaweed, have fought rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. The government and Janjaweed strategy has been to carry out systematic assaults against civilians from the same ethnic groups as the rebels: the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit. Rebel forces are responsible for some attacks against civilians, but overwhelmingly the Sudanese government and Janjaweed have perpetrated the violence.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have died from violence, disease, and starvation, and thousands of women have been raped. About 2,500,000 civilians have been driven from their homes, their villages torched and property stolen. Thousands of villages have been systematically destroyed. More than 200,000 Sudanese have escaped to the neighboring country of Chad, but most are trapped inside Darfur. Thousands more die each month from the effects of inadequate food, water, health care, and shelter in a harsh desert environment.

Darfur is home to over 30 ethnic groups, all African and all Muslim. The Janjaweed militas – recruited, armed, trained, and supported by the Sudanese government – are drawn from several small nomadic groups who claim an Arab identity. They have used racial slurs while attacking and raping the targeted groups, who are considered non-Arab. The ethnic and perceived racial basis of the violence has been well documented by the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, independent human rights organizations, and international journalists.

Government-sponsored actions include:

* INFLAMING ethnic conflict

* IMPEDING international humanitarian access, resulting in deadly conditions of life for displaced civilians

* BOMBING civilian targets with aircraft

* MURDERING and RAPING civilians

Because of substantial evidence that “acts of genocide or related crimes against humanity were occurring or immediately threatened,” in 2004 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum declared a Genocide Emergency for Darfur. That same year, the U.S. government determined that genocide had been committed in Darfur. In January 2005, the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that “crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed in Darfur and may be no less serious and heinous then genocide.”

The death toll now exceeds 300,000, and the lives of hundreds of thousands more hang in the balance today.

In order to understand the future, one must appreciate the past. When Gutenberg put his invention to use, the line of exponential growth began lifting from its seemingly flat trajectory. The era of the literate person had begun. A fundamental shift in what it means to be human had occurred. A human from then would barely recognize the world now, as we will barely recognize the world of the future. Take a moment to awe at one of the most important stepping-stones leading toward the Singularity HERE>>>

If you are new to the concept of the Singularity, do yourself a favor and listen to this NPR podcast featuring Vernor Vinge, who coined the term ‘Technological Singularity’ As an added bonus, you’ll learn how to pronounce his name! Listen to it HERE>>>

The inventor of the World Wide Web explains how the Semantic Web works and how it will transform how we use and understand data. See video here>>>

Computers can provide design variations that no human would have imagined. See video here>>>

I just saw some video clips of Reverend Phelps’ Crew on YouTube. Wow!

This is my first post in which I actually give an opinion! I don’t know why I have a hard time even possessing opinions let alone writing about the ones I do have. I suppose it comes from observing many people having opinions about things for no reason. That kind of annoys me. I guess it’s my opinion that people should not have arbitrary opinions.

For example, I was walking down the street with someone one day and out of nowhere they exclaimed,”I hate the color of that building!”

Why? Is it YOUR building? Does it affect you that much that you have to have such a strong opinion about it? It seems to me that people have opinions just for the sake of entertaining themselves and others, to create a sense of drama where none truly exists.

At the same time, I believe that opinions on important subjects need to be heard, and if you have one after reading this post, then I encourage you to voice yours by leaving a comment. Hey, I posted this on the Internet – it’s your blog too!

My mother and stepfather taught me how to enjoy foreign films and I really liked the Mexican film ‘Amorros Perros’ in the late 90′s.

I watched ‘The Crime of Padre Amaro’ last night with my wife(who is of Mexican descent, but not Catholic) and couldn’t believe my eyes. Here is a film, a product of Mexico, that brutally attacks the beloved Mexican Catholic church. In ‘The Crime of Padre Amaro’, a newly ordained priest is ordered to a small church in a small town in Mexico. He becomes a part of the corrupt diocese where priests who lie, take money from drug lords, and have sex with desperate women are rewarded while good priests who work with peasants in the countryside are excommunicated.

There is a single atheist family of that small town, a father and his journalist son. They use the newspaper to blow wide open the scandals surrounding their local parish. Of course, the bishop threatens to get advertising pulled if the paper doesn’t publish their rebuttal on the front page.

A girl leaves her boyfriend, the atheist journalist, because she has fallen for the new priest, who takes advantage of this fact and takes the girl to bed quite often. Well, she ends up pregnant and instead of leaving the ministry he takes her to get an abortion, which doesn’t turn out too well for the girl. She bleeds to death and the movie ends with him presiding over her funeral mass.

The reason this is interesting is the fact that the widely pervasive Catholic church in Mexico is losing its grip. Right now there is a bill before legislators in Mexico City that will decriminalize abortions. Mexico City is home to widespread poverty, and a lack of access to birth control has helped make it one of the most populous cities in the world. Many women die every year from botched abortions or are imprisoned for doing so. The Catholic church is trying to muscle the legislature into dropping the bill by gathering signatures for a referendum against it and promising to excommunicate any legislator that supports it.

Just like the crime of Padre Amaro, the church is responsible for so much suffering and is unable to solve grave problems facing humanity in the coming decades.

What will happen to religious belief when the seat of God is exposed for what it is? When consciousness is not only decoded, but resurrected (possibly) in an artificial form? What will happen to religion during the Singularity. Will believers just throw up their hands and say,”ok, we’re wrong!” Darwin did nothing to threaten religion like the Singularity could. If truly threatened, what will believers do? What lengths will they go to preserve the God Meme?

These are important questions and I hope to read some really good comments on the subject!

*Just a sidenote: Because many people seem to think it does, I’d like to note that the word ‘God’ does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. Think about it.

This will give newcomers to this concept a foothold with which to begin their journey of learning about the Singularity.

In the future (no pun intended!), I will have some great interviews for you. I promise that I will try to fill each podcast with informative and entertaining dialog.

This IS my very first podcast ever so be forgiving of the quality, it will only get better!

Remember:

Podcasting the Singularity IS the future!

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Just making sure there is a link on Blogging the Singularity to presentation videos from the 2006 Singularity Summit at Stanford. They are a great resource: You can find it HERE

Ted Berger in his USC laboratory, adjusting the wires that connect live brain tissue to an electronic chip

Savvy blog about all kinds of stuff…I just started reading and couldn’t stop…this guy has some cool ideas and talks about some things I haven’t heard about yet. Check it out: Promoting the Progress

All of this Singularity stuff is quite serious, but we all need a break every now and then right? That’s why Esplanade is today’s FEATURED BLOG! He gives me a laugh when I need it the most. For a good hearty chuckle, check it out.

And don’t forget! Tomorrow is Techno Tuesday! Check back here for a fresh techno-comic every Tuesday!