Memo28+--+Describing+Organizations

Thomas Solley STSH 4980-01 Senior Thesis Costelloe-Kuehn 10/13/2014 10/15/2015

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__ Memo 28 -- Describing Organizations __ .... I don't actually have a template or Frame for this one -- but I assume it follows a similar guideline to the others for this week; "200-400 words describing an organization you may have already (or will be) observing as a part of your study. Focus on an analytical perspective." Shouldn't be so hard, right? Though I'm not exactly sure what "organization" to be "observing" -- possibly the H+ movement, however I have not had luck finding a "central hub" of their discussions as of yet. I suppose that "RPI" could be one -- though it seems to large and diverse to really suffice either. How about ..... [REDACTED]. Let's just leave this one for now and move on.

What kinds of organizations do I expect to see in my study? Groups -- memes, profiles, that fit within the image-construct of "social values" -- student groups and clubs, maybe? We don't have any that i know of here -- though a club would be an excellent example of an organization. All of the clubs on campus are student-run, as-is the student body/student government. Yet student clubs on campus -- while they attract certain mindsets, call to certain values and expertise -- they still contain such a diversity of opinion and background and implementation...

Not a student club then. How about Facebook -- what does it, as an organization, show? Well, I don't know a hell of a lot about that, actually. I can tell you what minds Facebook markets-to, but that isn't the same thing.

What of the H+ community -- the H+ website (Worldwide Transhumanist Association)? I have not yet found (or begun searching) for a place that contains all their ideas... While the Declaration and About on their website < http://humanityplus.org/> contain info regarding their "organizational" goals and ideals... Is that something I can review? Yet I must -- that is the purpose of this exercise. Very well then.

Prior to this assignment -- and even now -- I have been under the impression that the "transhumanist movement" is a multi-factioned group, with differing opinions and views -- lacking a clear direction, political power/representatives, or worldwide understanding. While the H+ group is perhaps the most "large" and "public" group I am aware of, there exist others as well -- the Extropians, the Stanford Transhumanist Association, and more which I haven't heard-of but believe exist. While the H+ group has public conferences and outreach.. I can't say i'm aware of any other transhumanist group which does.

H+ participates in conferences (hum1), has local chapters, has paying members (?) [are they a political party? No... I'm sure I would have heard of that by now] (hum2)... Their conferences and magazine seem the most prominent methods of "local outreach" (apart from online forums) -- however, it does not seem like they represent a "united front" for Transhumanism, and do not meet to debate-with a "united front" of Bioconservatives. Which disappoints me. I was hoping for more of that. However, this approach seems to make sense -- this is a diversified movement. Perhaps I expected it to be run as more of a company... They do funnel funding to R&D, but I don't really see how their efforts actually shape "what getting the future right means." Sure, conferences can collect diverse opinion together, maybe share some perspectives -- but are they drafting policy at these? Or merely re-shaping public opinion? --> I fail to see the connection between their efforts and politics. ... I wanted more of an analysis from this, not sure of the direction.

Edits from class; --> This was supposed to be "telling a story", which did not actually happen here.

__Notes .__ Organisation? Organization?

 