This edition of The Doctor’s Notes deals with three core principles of engenetics.org: Transhumanism, the coming technological Singularity and Superreengineering.
Transhumanism Is the Foundation
Transhumanism (or H+) is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disease and aging. Transhumanism has been around since the 1950’s, but has grown to mean more than the original founders believed it to be.
What makes AI development critical to Transhumanism is the ability to apply advanced intelligent systems… to improving the human condition.
While many transhumanist theorists and advocates seek to apply reason, science and technology for the purposes of reducing poverty, disease, disability and malnutrition around the globe, transhumanism is distinctive in its particular focus on the applications of technologies to the improvement of human bodies at the individual level. It can be argued than everything from contact lenses, artificial hearts to genetic engineering are transhuman in nature.
Artificial Intelligence Is the Key to the Future
One important technology that many advanced Transhuman researchers believe is key to the future of humanity is that of artificial intelligence (AI). While much has been made of the possible evils of AI (Wargames and the Terminator movies, plus a host of science fiction) the reality is not so black and white. Current trends in AI research are divided into two basic categories: conventional AI and computational intelligence.
The major difference between the two is that computational intelligence involves iterative methods such as fuzzy logic and evolutionary computation. What makes AI development critical to Transhumanism is the ability to apply advanced intelligent systems–throughout the range from weak to strong AI–to improving the human condition. This application of AI is especially crucial when emerging sciences such as biocybernetics begin to establish biochemical interfaces between computers and the human nervous system.
The Singularity Is the Catalyst
Which also brings us to the coming technological singularity, or more simply, the Singularity. If one looks at the rate of change in both technological development and intelligence advancements over the lifespan of humanity, there is an undeniable exponential acceleration.
In other words, the time between major discoveries or sociological events gets shorter–much shorter–with each passing year. This acceleration leads researchers to believe there will be massive amount of technological development in a very short period of time, which will be almost instantaneous in evolutionary scales. This "intelligence explosion" as some have called it, is known as the Singularity. The advent of superhuman intelligence (AI) will be a critical part of the overall exponential trend in human technological development.
Through the use of what Dr. M. E. Tabyánan has termed ‘superreengineering’ a wide range of technologies and concepts are being applied to make this possibility a reality.
At engenetics.org, we hold a core belief in embracing the future is develop these technologies to bring about the Singularity. Through the use of what Dr. M. E. Tabyánan has termed "superreengineering" a wide range of technologies and concepts are being applied to make this possibility a reality. Not to be confused with reengineering, a widely discredited business practice in the 1990’s, superreengineering deals with altering the human psyche to prepare it for the Singularity.
Many critics of engenetics.org without any grounds whatsoever state that superreengineering will bring about a complete disaster that is both global and terminal. This is simply not the case. As with any developing technology, there are risks–some severe. But by acknowledging these risks and actively taking steps to manage them, the doomsday scenario can be avoided.
Risk Management By engenetics.org
At engenetics.org, we’re all about avoiding doomsday. By managing the risk that these promising technologies have and combining them with the Mental System™ of engenetics.org, we can bring about the Singularity and improve the human condition.
It is essential that the physical (biological and computer) and the mental (consciousness) halves be brought into a whole. So while the long, inevitable struggle to the Singularity may take another 40 or 50 years, engenetics.org can help improve the lives of everyone right now. Then all of us can walk the path to the Singularity with the sure knowledge that we have all helped bring about the future, beginning today. Ω
Dr. M. E. Tabyánan
Executive Director and Founder
The Center for engenetics.org Studies
