Humanity+ 2012 Conference, December 1st in San Francisco
This year's Humanity+ conference is near:
The Humanity+ conference in San Francisco takes place on December 1-2, 2012 at Seven Hills Conference Center at San Francisco State University. ... Revolving around the theme "Writing the Future", the conference will explore the world of media and communicating Transhumanism. ... Speakers include multi-award winning science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, acclaimed biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, designer and theorist Natasha Vita-More, futurist Jamais Cascio, science fiction author David Brin, philosopher and proactionary principle advocate Max More, national best selling author Sonia Arrison, artificial general intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel, and more."Writing the Future" focuses on communicating how emerging and converging sciences and technologies are the tools for designing our future, based on the advances in robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, human enhancement, brain-computer integration, regenerative medicine, and radical life extension.
The future and its many narratives, both written and spoken, are is created by people of the present. In many cases, notably the biomedical realm, the intrinsic costs of pioneering technological research mean that the rate of progress is strongly influenced by public enthusiasm for its goals. This creates a dilemma, in that the public are often ambivalent (at best) concerning such goals, even when by any rational standards they should not be. Should those involved in such work therefore understate their goals when writing proposals and addressing a general audience, making them less "scary" and thereby attracting funds to make initial progress?