Category Archives: Transhuman

For any new parent, sleep is very important. Not just for themselves but even for their newborn. Studies suggest thata good nights sleepis extremely important for the cognitive growth of infants. And to get a good nights sleep, the mattress plays an important role.

To address this problem, Sameer Agarwal, Swapnil Rao, Aneesha Pillai, and Deepak Gupta founded NapNap in 2017. The Mumbai-based startup is an end-to-end consumer products company, focussed on the global mothercare and baby care segment.

The NapNap Team

According to the founders, its flagship product,NapNap Mat, is a portable baby mattress that mimics a mothers womb using a precise combination of vibrations and white noise to soothe infants and lull them to sleep within minutes.

Based on clinical trials conducted by Harvard Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, USA), NapNap Mat regularises infant breathing and treats apnea among preterm babies by 50 percent.

Sameer comes with over 12 years of experience in Sales and Business Development, Operations and Finance. Before founding NapNap Mat, he co-founded Art Should Tempt and ClassHopr. Swapnil has over 12 years of experience in product development, brand building, and marketing. Before founding NapNap Mat, Swapnil co-founded Mobizon Media and Transhuman Collective.

Deepak has over 12 years of experience in Quality and Systems Engineering. He earlier founded Future Foundry a product design firm. Aneesha brings over eight years in Engineering, Leadership, and General Management. She has an MBA from JBIMS and has previously worked with JP Morgan.

Sameer and Swapnil got the initial idea to start up in the space after one of their friend had a preterm baby. The baby was in distress due to lack of sleep.

Once they had the idea, they reached out to Deepak Gupta and Aneesha Pillai, who were their engineering classmates. The team had been dabbling with product design and they got together and decided to engineer the product based on the scientific data.

The four of us built the first few prototypes and did the initial round of testing in the market before hiring our first employee. Once we had the market acceptance and the product was flying off the shelf, we didn't need to try hard to attract great talent, says Sameer. They are now a team of 16.

While there are a number of mattress brands in the country, the concept of a vibration-therapy-based baby bed is new in the Indian ecosystem.

So, creating a new category and educating the masses about the benefits of using a NapNap Mat was one of the biggest hurdles faced by the team in the initial months.

Apart from this, consumer product companies require high capital infusion and its even higher when someone creates something totally new and deploys resources towards R&D as theres no reference point. So, managing capital initially to create an MVP in the market was quite a challenge and required lot of planning, says Sameer.

When the baby is still in the womb, it gets accustomed to the sounds and vibrations of the mothers body processes, and when the baby is born, it is suddenly in an unfamiliar territory.

Any little change in temperature, movement, and unfamiliar sound makes the infant feel extremely uncomfortable, and the baby reacts by crying due to distress, and hence finds it difficult to fall asleep.

The product works best for babies up to one year old. The startup claims the mat improves breathing, boosts sleep, reduces crying, reduces colic, it is travel friendly, and safe. It can be used in strollers, car seats, cribs, activity mats, bassinets, etc.

The NapNap mat

Indias mattress market is estimated to be worth Rs 10,000 crore, according to media reports. Startups like Cuddl,SleepyCat, Wink&Nod, and Sunday Mattress are all taking sleep seriously and are using advanced tech and raw materials to build their products. There is also The Sleep Company and Sequoia-backed Wakefit operating in the space.

Horizontal marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and ShopClues also offer branded and unbranded mattresses.

With an ecosystem of smart, inter-connected products, NapNap is redefining how technology and data will enable parenting in the future. NapNap is leading this change by solving one parenting problem at a time. It works with single mothers and gives them a platform to generate wealth in all forms (not just money), says Sameer.

The NapNap Mat is ISO 9001-2015 certified and is also certified by a CPSC-approved lab, and considered safe for 0-2 year old babies. It also meets British safety standards for babies.

The startup claims to have scaled 10X in the first year of its launch. Its average order value is Rs 2,000, and its ARR is Rs 2 crore, with gross margin of 66 percent.

NapNap, which has six products in the pipeline, is available on all online marketplaces in India, including Amazon and FirstCry. It has also expanded its presence to markets outside India, such as Dubai and Australia, and soon plans to start operations in the UK.

Since we go direct-to-customer, we can manage to keep the MRP fairly lower and still deliver a very high quality product by offsetting channel margins, says Sameer.

NapNap has raised a pre seed round led by ThinQbate Ventures LLP and Hatcher Plus. It is currently looking to raise a seed round.

The team aims to become the biggest baby mattress company in the world in the next few years.It aims to pacify babies across the globe using technology, design, and innovation. It also aims to scale and consolidate the Indian market for NapNap Mat and NapNap Nursing cover.

We aim to push traction in the UAE, the UK, and Australia market, launch version 2.0 of the NapNap Mat, launch Shusher + (white noise device), and also launch peripheral products (swaddle, feeding bottle, and pacifier), says Sameer.

Want to make your startup journey smooth? YS Education brings a comprehensive Funding Course, where you also get a chance to pitch your business plan to top investors. Click here to know more.

Read more:
This startup is ensuring babies get a good nights sleep with its smart mattress - YourStory

On Wednesday, 24 June (7 pm - 8.30 pm, London Time), Luke Mason will be interviewing Steve Fuller about his latest book, Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era. The event, which is part of the FUTURES Podcast series, will be livestreamed but registration is required.

In Nietzschean Meditations, Fuller openly discusses the more transgressive elements of transhumanism, often in ways that transgress the norms of transhumanism itself. In particular, the book considers the nature and extent of the movements commitment to morphological freedom and asks whether the opportunity for immortality should be seized or resisted. In short, what is the new metaphysics of personal identity and the ethics of life and death in a transhumanist world? Those interested in dipping into the book, can do so here:

Visit link:
Livestream event on Steve Fuller's Nietzschean Meditations - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Read: Your professional decline is coming (much) sooner than you think

The good news is that its possible to work on extinguishing the terror of this virtual death by borrowing from techniques used to vanquish the fear of physical death.

The fear of literal nonexistence through death is addressed by many philosophical and religious traditions. Many Buddhist monasteries in Southeast Asia, for example, display photos of corpses in various states of decomposition. This body, too, Buddhist monks learn in the Satipatthana Sutta to say about themselves as they look at the photos, such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate.

Some monks engage in a meditation called maranasati (mindfulness of death), which consists of imagining nine states of ones own dead body:

At first, this seems strange and morbid. The objective, however, is to make death vivid in the mind of the meditator, and, through repetition, familiar. Psychologists call this process desensitization, in which repeated exposure to something repellent or frightening makes it seem ordinary, prosaic, and less scary.

Read: How happiness changes with age

Western research has tested the idea of death desensitization. In 2017, a team of researchers recruited volunteers to imagine that they were terminally ill or on death row, and then to write about the feelings they imagined they would have. The researchers then compared these thoughts with writings by those who were actually terminally ill or facing execution. The results, published in Psychological Science under the title Dying Is Unexpectedly Positive, were astounding: People imagining their deaths were three times as negative as those actually facing it. Death, it seems, is scarier when it is theoretical than when it is real.

Contemplating death can also inspire courage. There is an ancient Japanese story about a band of lawless samurai warriors notorious for terrorizing the local people. Every place they went, they brought destruction. One day they come to a Zen Buddhist monastery, intent on violence and plunder. The monks ran away in fear for their lives--all except the abbot, a man who had completely mastered the fear of his own death. He sat quietly in the lotus position as the warriors burst in. Approaching the abbot with his sword drawn, the samurai leader said, Dont you see that I am the sort of man who could run you through without batting an eye? Calmly, the master answered, Dont you see that I am a man who could be run through without batting an eye?

Link:
The Best Way to Handle Your Decline Is to Confront It Head On - The Atlantic

Written by Karina Tsui, CNN

Today, we can alter our bodies in previously unimaginable ways, whether that's implanting microchips, fitting advanced prosthetic limbs or even designing entirely new senses.

So-called transhumanists -- people who seek to improve their biology by enhancing their bodies with technology -- believe that our natural condition inhibits our experience of the world, and that we can transcend our current capabilities through science.

Ideas that are "technoprogressive" to some are controversial to others. But to photographer David Vintiner, they are something else altogether: beautiful.

Made in collaboration with art director and critic Gem Fletcher, the book features a variety of people who identify, to some degree, as "transhuman" -- including a man with bionic ears that sense changes in atmospheric pressure, a woman who can "feel" earthquakes taking place around the world and technicians who have developed lab-made organs.

Fletcher was first introduced to the transhumanist subculture via the London Futurist Group, an organization that explores how technology can counter future crises. Upon meeting some of its members, the London-based art director approached Vintiner with the idea of photographing them in a series of portraits.

"Our first shoot was with Andrew Vladimirov, a DIY 'brain hacker,'" Vintiner recalled in a phone interview. "Each time we photographed someone new, we asked for referrals and introductions to other key people within the movement."

Redefining human experience

One of Vintiner's subjects, James Young, turned to bionics after losing his arm and leg in an accident in 2012. Young had always been interested in biotechnology and was particularly drawn to the aesthetics of science fiction. Visualizing how his body could be "re-built," or even perform enhanced tasks with the help of the latest technology, became part of his recovery process.

But according to the 29-year-old, the options presented to him by doctors were far from exciting -- standard-issue steel bionic limbs with flesh-colored silicone sleeves.

"To see what was available was the most upsetting part," Young said in a video interview.

"What the human body can constitute, in terms of tools and technology, is such a blurry thing -- if you think about the arm, it's just a sensory piece of equipment.

"If there was anyone who would get their arm and leg chopped off, it would be me because I'm excited about technology and what it can get done."

Japanese gaming giant Konami worked with prosthetics sculptor Sophie de Oliveira Barata to design a set of bionic limbs for Young. The result was an arm and leg made from gray carbon fiber -- an aesthetic partly inspired by Konami's "Metal Gear Solid," one of the then-22-year-old's favorite video games.

Beyond the expected functions, Young's robotic arm features a USB port, a screen displaying his Twitter feed and a retractable dock containing a remote-controlled drone. The limbs are controlled by sensors that convert nerve impulses from Young's spine into physical movements.

"Advanced prosthetics enabled James to change people's perception of (his) disability," said Vintiner of Young, adding: "When you first show people the photographs, they are shocked and disconcerted by the ideas contained within. But if you dissect the ideas, they realize that they are very pragmatic."

Young says it has taken several years for people to appreciate not just the functions of advanced bionic limbs but their aesthetics, too. "Bionic and electronic limbs were deemed scary, purely because of how they looked," he said. "They coincided with the idea that 'disability is not sexy.'"

He also felt there was stigma surrounding bionics, because patients were often given flesh-colored sleeves to conceal their artificial limbs.

"Visually, we think that this is the boundary of the human body," Young said, referring to his remaining biological arm. "Opportunities for transhumanists open up because a bionic arm can't feel pain, or it can be instantly replaced if you have the money. It has different abilities to withstand heat and to not be sunburned."

As Vintiner continued shooting the portraits, he felt many of his preconceptions being challenged. The process also raised a profound question: If technology can change what it is to be human, can it also change what it means to be beautiful?

"Most of my (original) work centers around people -- their behavior, character, quirks and stories," he said. "But this project took the concept of beauty to another level."

Eye of the beholder

Science's impact over our understanding of aesthetics is, to Vintiner, one of the most fascinating aspects of transhumanism. What he discovered, however, was that many in the movement still look toward existing beauty standards as a model for "post-human" perfection.

Speaking to CNN Style in 2018, Hanson said that Sophia's form would resonate with people around the world, and that her appearance was partly inspired by real women including Hanson's wife and Audrey Hepburn, as well as statues of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti.

Related video: Meet Sophia, the robot who smiles and frowns just like us

But with her light hazel eyes, perfectly arched eyebrows, long eyelashes, defined cheekbones and plump lips -- Sophia's appearance arguably epitomizes that of a conventionally beautiful Caucasian woman.

"When I photographed Ben Goertzel, he vocalized how he took no time to consider how he (himself) looked -- it was of no interest to him," the photographer recalled of the photo shoot.

Vintiner saw a certain irony: that someone who was unconcerned about his own appearance would nonetheless project our preoccupation with beauty through his company's invention.

It also served as a reminder that attractiveness may be more complex than algorithms can ever fathom.

"I fear that if we can design humans without any of the 'flaws' that occur in our biological makeup, things will be pushed further and further towards a level of perfection we can only imagine right now." Vintiner said. "Look at how plastic surgery has altered our perception of beauty in a very short space of time.

"If the transhumanists are right and we, as humans, can live to be several hundreds of years old, our notion of beauty and the very meaning of what it is to be human will change dramatically."

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Transhumanism: Meet the cyborgs and biohackers redefining beauty - CNN

Transhumanists believe humans can and should use technology to artificially augment their capabilities.Natasha Vita-More is Executive Director of Humanity+, formerly the World Transhumanist Association, and is one of the co-authors of the 1998 Transhumanist Declaration.

Speaking toExpress.co.ukshe said: We certainly do need to upgrade our biology and Ive been speaking about this for 30-something years.

The fact that our biology is vulnerable. We exist on a daily basis with an incredible vulnerable vehicle, our bodies, that anything could go wrong at any time.

As far as genetic engineering goes weve seen great work done with certain diseases like Tay-Sachs and sickle-cell anemia, certain cancers, certain diseases that handicap us.

Other gene therapies are in the works and there still needs to be far more work in this area and I think most of us will be undergoing gene therapy as soon as it comes online as needed.

Say 50 years from now I think well be looking at alternative bodies and we can see that really growing in the field of prosthetics.

Transhumanists think human lifespans can be radically extended, with many believing ageing can be reversed and death from disease abolished.

Ms Vita-More argued future humans will look to backup the content of their brains as an insurance policy against death or injury.

She asserted: It is essential our memories be stored some place.

Currently our memories are stored in our brain but thats vulnerable. We have hackers all the time in our brains and those are called viruses and disease.

Disease is constantly hacking our neurons so in order to protect that we need to have copies of it, we need to back it up and you see certain industry leaders like Google looking at how to back up the brain.

I see uploading as a necessary technology for not only backing up the brain but as a means for us to go into different environments.

Were currently in this physical/material world, this biosphere, there are other worlds yet to be explored just as were looking at space exploration.

READ MORE:Oxford academic claims future humans could live for thousands of years

Another area is virtual reality, augmented reality, all these other systems even in games to go into games and participate as yourself taking on an avatar or maybe something else.

Asked about those who might object, on religious or moral grounds, to radical life extension Ms Vita-More expressed confidence their arguments would be overcome.

She commented: I think its largely religious but I think it is also innate.

I think the narrative is engrained in culturalization, it seems to be endemic across cultures.

Given that plus the largest percentage of people on our planet are religious that puts a damper on it too. However it doesnt prevent it.

It could be interesting if we see religious doctrines changing a little bit to include life extension and changing as weve seen with divorce.

If you believe an afterlife it doesnt have to happen at exactly a certain time. Maybe instead of 90 as a lifespan maybe 300 if you want to go that route.

So well see a realisation that religions have to keep up with the state of society and their members within that.

Ms Vita-More is also an advisor to the Singularity University and co-editor and contributing author to The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future.

Asked what most excites her about the future she replied: I would like to totally reengineer my body, its not available yet but Id like to have a whole new body thats smoothly integrated not only with narrow artificial intelligence (AI) but with artificial general intelligence and Id like to have a metabrain where Id have AI working with me like a best friend or cohort.

More here:
Humans will be able to replace their bodies within 50 years claims transhumanist writer - Express.co.uk

HBO Max, the new streaming service from AT&T T, +0.36% , is launching May 27, but really takes off in June, with a slew of movies and series some original, others coming over from WarnerMedias many cable channels.

Among the highlights: The long-awaited third season of the millennial comedy/thriller Search Party (June 25); the HBO limited series Perry Mason (June 21), a noirish prequel to the iconic TV lawyer starring Matthew Rhys of The Americans; the HBO true-crime docuseries Ill Be Gone in the Dark (June 28); and all 23 seasons of South Park (June 24).

Theres also a bunch of kid-friendly options such as Adventure Time Distant Lands: BMO (June 25) and new cartoons from Looney Tunes and Popeye (both June 16) and movies, including The Iron Giant, Titanic (both June 1), Ad Astra (June 6), First Man (June 17) and Ford v. Ferrari (June 20).

Also see: What coming in June to Netflix | Hulu

Thats all in addition to the launch-day offerings, which include every season of Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and six originals: Love Life,a romantic-comedy anthology series starring Anna Kendrick; the controversial Russell Simmons documentaryOn the Record; Legendary,a voguing competition series; the kids competition show Craftopia; and new offerings from Looney Tunes and Sesame Streets Elmo.

HBO Max costs $14.99 a month the same as HBO Now or an HBO cable subscription but if you sign up before May 27 you can get a years subscription for $11.99 a month.

June 1

4th & Forever: Muck City, Season 1

Adventures In Babysitting, 1987 (HBO)

Amelie, 2001 (HBO)

An American Werewolf in London, 1981 (HBO)

The American, 2010 (HBO)

Another Cinderella Story, 2008

Beautiful Girls, 1996 (HBO)

Black Beauty, 1994

Bridget Joness Baby, 2016

The Bucket List, 2007

Cabaret, 1972

The Champ, 1979

Chicago, 2002

A Cinderella Story, 2004

A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, 2011

Clash Of The Titans, 2010

Cradle 2 the Grave, 2003

Crash, 2005 (Directors Cut) (HBO)

Doubt, 2008 (HBO)

Dreaming Of Joseph Lees, 1999 (HBO)

Drop Dead Gorgeous, 1999

Dune, 1984 (HBO)

Elf, 2003

Enter The Dragon, 1973

Far and Away, 1992 (HBO)

Final Destination, 2000

Final Destination 2, 2003

Final Destination 3, 2006

The Final Destination, 2009

Firewall, 2006

Flipped, 2010

Forces of Nature, 1999 (HBO)

The Fountain, 2006 (HBO)

Frantic, 1988

From Dusk Til Dawn, 1996

Full Metal Jacket, 1987

Gente De Zona: En Letra De Otro, 2018 (HBO)

The Good Son, 1993 (HBO)

The Goonies, 1985

Hanna, 2011 (HBO)

Havana, 1990 (HBO)

He Got Game, 1998 (HBO)

Heaven Can Wait, 1978

Heidi, 2006

Hello Again, 1987 (HBO)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 2013

The Hunger, 1983

In Her Shoes, 2005 (HBO)

In Like Flint, 1967 (HBO)

The Iron Giant, 1999

It Takes Two, 1995

Juice, 1992

The Last Mimzy, 2007

License To Wed, 2007

Life, 1999 (HBO)

Lifeforce, 1985 (HBO)

Lights Out, 2016 (HBO)

Like Water For Chocolate, 1993 (HBO)

Looney Tunes: Back in Action, 2003

The Losers, 2010

Love Jones, 1997

Lucy, 2020 (HBO)

Magic Mike, 2012

McCabe and Mrs. Miller, 1971

Misery, 1990

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, 2008 (HBO)

A Monster Calls, 2016 (HBO)

Mr. Wonderful, 1993 (HBO)

Must Love Dogs, 2005

My Dog Skip, 2000

Mystic River, 2003

The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter, 1991

The Neverending Story, 1984

New York Minute, 2004

Nights In Rodanthe, 2008

No Reservations, 2007

Ordinary People, 1980

Our Man Flint, 1966 (HBO)

The Parallax View, 1974

Patch Adams, 1998 (HBO)

A Perfect World, 1993

Pedro Capo: En Letra Otro, 2017 (HBO)

Personal Best, 1982

Presumed Innocent, 1990

Ray, 2004 (HBO)

Richie Rich (Movie), 1994

Rosewood, 1997

Rugrats Go Wild, 2003

Running on Empty, 1988

Secondhand Lions, 2003

Shes The Man, 2006 (HBO)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, 2011 (HBO)

The rest is here:
Heres everything coming to HBO Max in June 2020 - MarketWatch