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Mar. 24th, 2008 @ 07:38 pm Test Your Techno Tolerance


You Score as a Transhumanist-Biotech

Transhumanist Transhumanists believe that humanity can and should strive to attain higher levels of physical, mental, and social achievement through the use of technology. They seek to extend human capabilities and improve the human condition through technology- supporting the quest for immortality, the conquering of death and disease, the amplification of human intelligence, and the capabilities of the human body.
Transhumanists recognize that over time and with technological advancements, man will realize new possibilities for society and human nature and achieve a posthuman condition (becoming more than human). Societal change is an important consequence of technological progress.
Because of this passionate trust in technological advancement, transhumanists generally see all technologies, as long as they don't jeopardize the non-corporeal consciousness of a person, as being beneficial both to society and to the happiness and advancement of the person. Transhumanists see benefit not only in technologies that address medical necessities, but also aesthetic or recreational demands. They support advances in cybernetics, genetic engineering in clinical settings, embryo design, and other technologies that allow individuals to take control of their biology, and the human species to take control of evolution.
Transhumanists can be either hard-technology oriented--more inclined to add microchips and machines to their lifestyle--or bio-technology oriented--preferring the softer, more natural advancements and modifications that are made available.
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Your Results


You scored as a TB

73.5% of people also scored as TB



Other Results


7.3% of people scored as BC


1.2% of people scored as BL


0.1% of people scored as LU


0.6% of people scored as TC


17.3% of people scored as TP





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Apr. 26th, 2007 @ 03:44 pm badges!
from order of the science scouts...
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Apr. 18th, 2007 @ 10:47 am Cynicism
Current Music: S. Zellenga
A friend sent me this...
BTW, let me tell you how the next couple days of news is going to go

- martification and heroification of all victims, each and every one an above average person
- some tenuous link between the shooter and heavy metal
- minor debate about gun laws
- more shots of young girls hugging each other
- hunt and persecution of The Scapegoat
- hindsight wrapped in Obvious Truth That Is Self-Evident clothing
- the hunt for more Local Connections by each and every news outlet
- Dr. Phil and Oprah hop on the bandwagon with tinkly piano music
- other universities and colleges spending gajillions on something that has a very low probability
- that money being wasted/squandered/pilfered, and the ensuing B-list scandal
- zillions of animated gifs created and posted to honour those killed as missed, never forgotten, loved, by those who barely knew them
- some unrelated B-list news event is pushed to the fore because by this time, really, everyone's tired of hearing about it and needs time "to heal"

to which I'd add

- crass speculators scoop up domain names like vatech-carnage.com and try to sell them on eBay with pitches like "GREAT name for MEMORIAL SITE development!!!"
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Apr. 17th, 2007 @ 11:38 am Scandalous
Retired RCMP staff sergeant Ron Lewis (my father-in-law) has been all over the news recently.
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Apr. 15th, 2007 @ 05:54 pm Post Mortal Syndrome
Current Mood: interested

Can science find a way to defeat death? Will it offer humans the gift of potentially endless, healthy life - and if so, at what cost? Will people spared the curse of ageing, and even of mortality itself, become inhuman - or more human than ever? And who or what will control this perilous boon? Government or corporations? 'Faith-based' caregivers? Organised crime? Or individual choice?

Post Mortal Syndrome is an exciting blend of thriller and science fiction, with a poignant love story at its heart.

Starting on Monday, 16 April 2007, Post Mortal Syndrome will be published every week day, five days a week in tasty, bite-sized chunks you can enjoy in a few minutes. Come back every day for another stimulating chapter, and be part of Australia's first ever online serialisation of a novel.

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Apr. 12th, 2007 @ 03:08 pm Building a better monster
I recommend the latest c-realm podcast where KMO interviews Ben Goertzel.


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Mar. 31st, 2007 @ 09:25 pm Hurts to be green
Current Mood: contemplative
vector: [info]mistressse7en

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Mar. 27th, 2007 @ 09:54 am Oldest mammals
A bowhead whale was estimated to be 211 years old at the time of its death (plus or minus 16%). I don't know of any reason to think whale cells are substantially different than human cells so this may indicate a possible human life expectancy.
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Mar. 26th, 2007 @ 03:07 pm AI in VR
I find it interesting that Novamente is reorienting its business to develop virtual agents for MMOGs like World of Warcraft and Second Life. I wonder how many others are thinking along similar lines?
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Feb. 16th, 2007 @ 02:00 pm Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
Current Music: Aphex Twin
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Feb. 9th, 2007 @ 08:28 pm Eternal embrace


I wonder who they were and what their story was...
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Feb. 3rd, 2007 @ 12:56 pm XID: a simple system for secure internet identity
Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Shades of Beauty
I think the web can be taken to the next level with a simple design for distributed secure identity I call XID (eXtensible IDentity).

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Feb. 3rd, 2007 @ 12:19 pm Strange relations
Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Pete Namlook
While researching the strange relation between random matrix theory (quantum mechanics) and the Riemann Hypothesis (pure mathematics) I stumbled across another unexpected relation. I would wager that math prof Nina Snaith and electronica musician Caribou (fka Manitoba) are siblings. My evidence:
  • in her thesis Nina thanks NSERC for support and her parents for the math genes
  • Caribou's last.fm profile mentions he studied math at the U of T and is the son of a McMaster mathematics prof Victor Snaith
  • Nina is presently a lecturer at the U of Bristol in the quantum chaos group
  • Caribou is presently a Ph.D. student at Imperial College London
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Feb. 3rd, 2007 @ 10:52 am Keith Henson in custody
Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: Boards of Canada
On 26 Apr 2001, Keith Henson was convicted of "interfering with a religion", a misdemeanor under California law, for picketing outside Scientology's heavily-armed, razor-wire enclosed base outside Hemet, CA. Fearing death threats he fled the US to Canada but was unable to acquire official refugee status has been on the run ever since. In the #virus IRC channel he mentioned a couple times that his current location was the Mortmain Mountains. I just got news this morning that he has been taken into custody. A blog has been set up as clearing house for information pertaining to his arrest.
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Jan. 31st, 2007 @ 08:56 pm new Puppy
Current Music: Mythmaker (of course)
Skinny Puppy's latest Mythmaker is a seamless continuation of The Greater Wrong of the Right. Dark and complex, it is sure to please old and new fans alike. Most excellent.
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Jan. 26th, 2007 @ 09:14 pm Lucifer recommends
2 movies: Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth
and one RSS feed aggregator: Google Reader. You can share stories.
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Jan. 24th, 2007 @ 07:56 pm Mr. Deity
Current Mood: amused
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Dec. 31st, 2006 @ 09:35 pm 2006 in review
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: B Tribe
vector: [info]subdermal

1.) Where did you ring in 2006?
Same thing as this year, quiet evening at home in Canmore.

2.) What was your status by Valentine's Day?
Increasingly cynical

3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope

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Dec. 28th, 2006 @ 08:49 pm How I spent xmas eve
Current Music: Kaya Project
I was wondering about the probability of finding a message somewhere in the digits of Pi.

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Dec. 27th, 2006 @ 02:21 pm Extropians quoted
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Cell
I was pleasantly surprised to discover two Extropian colleagues quoted in (relatively) mainstream media.

In the December Wired (p. 46) Robin Hanson answers the Ping question "Is collective intelligence really more intelligent?"
Companies often wonder: Should we consult a broad opinion poll or a blue-ribbon committee? Prediction markets offer a better way. Because these markets reward being right and penalize being wrong, they tend to be dominated by a few experts when the experts know best, and by the masses when the crowd knows best. Either way, you win.
In What We Believe But Cannot Prove, Ray Kurzweil says "We will find ways to circumvent the speed of light as a limit on the communication of information." In the elaboration he says, "The computational neuroscientist Anders Sandberg estimates that a one-nanometer wormhole could transmit a formidable 1069 bits per second."
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