Memo19+--+Structuring+a+Project

Thomas Solley STSH 4980-01 Senior Thesis Costelloe-Kuehn 9/27/2014 10/1/2014

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__ Memo 19 -- Structuring a __ Project; " "Synchronic snapshot"" " This memo should identify the time period of your project (a decade, more or less), and chart forces that shape that period. The template for this is filled in for a dissertation project by Jason Patton focused on efforts to develop multimodal transportation in Oakland, California. "

Time-period; 1980-2002 (The "second wave" of transhumanism, which shaped and defined the Transhumanist Declaration used today by the humanity+ movement). Humanity+ is a re-naming of what used to be called The World [or Worldwide] Transhumanist Association.

Transhumanism itself was shaped in this period by theories into artificial intelligence from notable scientists such as Ray Kurzwheil and Hans Moravec -- whose work was in turn shaped by Alan Turing and the rise of technical computers from the 1950s. Harroway's work defining "cyborgs" also seems to have held influence in this time, as during the 1980s a movement began to coalesce around adopting technologies of the future, envisioning future lifestyles, and world views similar to what later became the "posthumanist" theory -- a view that does not necessarily see the world without humans per se, but one where homo sapiens sapiens is no longer the dominant species. As per the Wikipedia definition, " As with other species who [|speciate] from one another, both humans and posthumans could continue to exist." [posthumanity ref] During the early 1980s the "transhuman" movement exploded into the world of media, holding official meetings in California and sparking both film and literature on the subject of humans "breaking past" their limits of the body and of Planet Earth. Key figures in the history of transhumanism such as Max More, Natasha Vita-More, and others began publishing books urging readers to consider technologies and possibilities beyond what was available at the time -- technologies to broaden "human potential by overcoming aging, cognitive shortcomings, involuntary suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth" [declaration ref]. This led to the creation of the Extropy movement by Max More and Tom Morrow, a subset of transhumanism focused on "pushing ahead with every kind of technology as fast as possible" [extropian article ref], which became the most mainstream and media-recognized organization pushing the transhumanist agenda in politics until the creation of the Worldwide Transhumanist Association by Nick Bostrom and David Pierce. The WTA has remained in existence past the subsiding of the Extropy movement as a less-extreme creed, focused on legitimizing the transhumanist movement within scientific circles and public policy -- and now remains the public "standard" for transhumanist thought. Furthermore, and unlike the Extropy movement, the WTA has included public and social cocnersn regarding ethics and misuse of rapidly-advancing technology in its manifesto, as seen by the Transhumanist Declaration adopted in 2009. [H+ about ref].

I speculate that the Extropian movement was shaped by political and technological radicals of the 1980s,

The WTA -- and in particular, the focus on ethics -- I assume to have been shaped by political events of the time -- 1980s, 19990s; therefore ... Watergate? Vietnam War? ---> //__**MORE ON THIS IN BOSTROM'S PAPER???? HAVE NOT READ**__ **YET**// --> Useful piece here, though does not explain HWY these were created. I beleiev from the earlier sections of the paper that they were founded on the thoughts emerging from Asimov, Clarke, and other writers of the time. See page 7 -- though times of these authors is not eplicitly stated there. Unknown then if accurate chronology. --> Important for Bias.
 * Postwar thought shaped by the eugenics programs (and revulsion of those) following WW2. Technology became the poster-child for a brighter future, rather than genetics.
 * "In the 1970s and 1980s, many organizations sprang up that focused on a particular topic such as life extension, cryonics, space colonization, science fiction, and futurism. These groups were often isolated from one another, and whatever shared views and values they had did not yet amount to any unified worldview."[14]
 * Page 14, Very important. The Extropy Institute served as the "distribution" in the early days of the "second" transhumanist wave in the 1990s?
 * "Max More wrote the first definition of transhumanism in its modern sense, and created his own distinctive brand of transhumanism, “extropianism,” which emphasized the principles of “boundless expansion,” “self‐transformation,” “dynamic optimism,” “intelligent technology,” and “spontaneous order”"[p.15]
 * Corroborated, origina and purpose of the WTA.
 * "David Pearce has also developed his own distinctive flavor of transhumanism based on an ethic of hedonistic utilitarianism." [p.16]
 * Point at end of page 16; why did more specified groups emerge, did something happen to necessitate their existence? Still unknown..
 * See page 17; this now starts to get into movements at the time. Rise of bioethics following medeival ethics following Nazi horros.
 * So it seems following the creation of the bioethics region, thaT further admonishment and restriction -- eg social conerns -- about transhumanism came from the back-and-forth between ideas launched by literature (Asimov, Clarke, etc.), which were then discussed en-masse by Extropian forums, which were then picked-apart by ethicists. Which were then taken-up by pro-transhumanists and incorporated or addressed in future relevations. [p. 18]
 * Made it to page 22... Pages 18 -- 22 ... These seem specific examples of important writings by authors whose words sparked further discussion and important ethics considerations. //__**skipped**__ **these**//
 * Pages 22+ are in regards to 21st-century transhumanism, and in particular the critics and bio-conservatives of this day and age. I wish I had mroe time to go into this one, but it will prove invaluable.

UPDATE This content will likely change too, since I'm sortof redefining my topic... which now looks like it focuses on the era of smartphones, starting in 2000 with the release of the Ericsson R380 [wiki smartphone ref], though which really took-off in America in 2007 with the first iPhone [Japan had a head-start on PDAs in 1999, though not widely distributed outside that country]. ASSUMPTIONS, BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TIME AN HOUR BEFORE CLASS TODAY TO FILL THE FULL ASSIGNMENT; [ From Memo18] Without having read specific articles on the subject,
 * iPhone released in USA in 2007.
 * Popular due to multi-touch surface? [wiki].
 * "networking" a feature at this time but not the main "sell" of the product.
 * PDAs in prior years had some limited email cpacity -- tech already existed since 2000?
 * early UIs evolved into OS systems in later years
 * my own observation (and some articles on this?) that by 2014 smartphones have become widespread in culture.
 * used not just for work though. lots of folks playing games, accessing Facebook/Twitter. Not just email.
 * Need articles fro this.
 * Maybe a TED talk on this? Go back and look at Eglash's class...
 * Some negative views taken by journalists and memes regarding the obsession of folks with phones. Have own cycnicsms and observations on the subject too.
 * As per Robin Williams skit in 2008, regarding Twitter and human contact... teenagers and young adults using phones extensively. As such, my assumptions that we have come to rely on this technology. Why?
 * boredom?
 * No, there must be some kind of social forces and politics/movements that have shaped this.
 * Affordability of phones has improved the distribution of this technology
 * Some article read at one point discussing how nearly a 1:1 ratio for number of phones on plane tot number of people?
 * Netwrking websites -- Facebook, Twitter -- used in Politics?
 * Ghana, Egypt riots?
 * Occupy movements?
 * Information dissemination -- now key? back in 2011...
 * THIS is a "force" ? Or a noted "result" that has been due to an underlying force...
 * New "linkedin" app, jobs...
 * Networking now used for jobs too? Market applications...
 * 2000-2014... Assumed forces that shaped this period...
 * Rise in communication technologies
 * Due to something? Some force...
 * Political uprisings
 * info shared via web, mobile and networking-website-technology
 * Ghana, Egypt, Syria, Occupy...
 * Public become fed-up with tyrannical regimes?
 * Education had improved? Awareness?
 * War and conflict in the Middle east...
 * Tensions with Israel, Russia (Hungary?), Benghazi?
 * Concerns of "involvement", shifting political ties and factions
 * Popular science and fiction?
 * Distribution of science / articles / education, public more aware, fuels scifi [video game article ref]
 * Also fuels the military and research regimes?
 * Exoskeletons, prosthetics benefit...
 * Rise of the Feminist movement...
 * YesAllWomen, NotAllMen,
 * More recent, HeForShe
 * Epidemics, natural disasters
 * Katrina, Swine Flu, now Ebola...
 * Greater need for medicine, relief and rebuilding efforts...
 * Shaping the need for response, care for other countries (ongoing?)

__ Concerns __ ... So is this different from the Memo 18 -- Historicizing? "Historicizing" seems to be focusing on ten events and ten-events-in-one-year -- whereas this is just listing the forces that shaped my chosen "period"?

Again, this one may be better left until after I have done the Annotations and Zotero. It should provide a better historical context and understanding, however, of the transhumanist movement.

Information taken from , the Zotero snapshot of the version used in this paper.// ////

//.. IS this looking for a "history" or a "what political/social/environmental factors amde this possible in this time-period"? ... I'm going for the latter, though I think a brief history may be of some use regardless (especially for my edification).// //// // // //// //, //

__**SUPER IMPORTANT PROBLEM. MUST PICK A TIME-PERIOD TO FOCUS THESIS ON. WHAT i CALL "SECOND-WAVE" TRANSHUMANISM OF 1980-2002, OR 21ST-CENTURY TRANSHUMANISM. THE 'DECLARATION' ON H+ IS FROM 2009. DXHR IS 2011. HOWEVER THOUGHTS DIVERGE AND ENNUMERATE AFTER 2002. TOO MANY SEPERATE THOUGHTS AND CRITIQUES TO FOCUS**__ **WELL???**// Prof. says to look at the overlap. This will give narrower field of search. Except still confused by this. Overlap of "what is human" ..... need defs and leading-edge comments on this debate. DO I EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO THIS??? Not yet. Can I get it? Unsure. Necessary, otherwise I'm just echoing past comments. ---> My claim is that, due to technology, humanity has become a low-level networked intelligence. We now depend on this tech for our ways of life. As such, need to focus on the ethics of THIS debate???? Which are not exactly central to transhumanism [yet?]. Unless.... --> My thoughts are that defs of "humanity" need to be changed to incorporate this network of technology and info-sharing. As such, ethics and question of "humanity" do need to be brought-up -- for future thought and policy. __**ERGO,**__ cHANGING my topic to not need to include the "past" ethics/concerns of bioconservatives? I don't need to address their concerns? Proving that "technology is not playing with god" is not necessarily linked to my topic, unless... so networking is not "playing with god" because we already subconsciously take it for granted? Building on communication practices of bygone eras? Evolution of communication?

