Category Archives: Transhuman

Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that literally means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human.[1] The concept addresses questions of ethics and justice, language and trans-species communication, social systems, and the intellectual aspirations of interdisciplinarity. Posthumanism is not to be confused with transhumanism (the nanobiotechnological enhancement of human beings) and narrow definitions of the posthuman as the hoped-for transcendence of materiality.[2] The notion of the posthuman comes up both in posthumanism as well as transhumanism, but it has a special meaning in each tradition. In 2017, Penn State University Press in cooperation with Stefan Lorenz Sorgner and James Hughes (sociologist) established the "Journal of Posthuman Studies" in which all aspects of the concept "posthuman" can be analysed.[3]

In critical theory, the posthuman is a speculative being that represents or seeks to re-conceive the human. It is the object of posthumanist criticism, which critically questions humanism, a branch of humanist philosophy which claims that human nature is a universal state from which the human being emerges; human nature is autonomous, rational, capable of free will, and unified in itself as the apex of existence. Thus, the posthuman position recognizes imperfectability and disunity within him or herself, and understands the world through heterogeneous perspectives while seeking to maintain intellectual rigour and a dedication to objective observations. Key to this posthuman practice is the ability to fluidly change perspectives and manifest oneself through different identities. The posthuman, for critical theorists of the subject, has an emergent ontology rather than a stable one; in other words, the posthuman is not a singular, defined individual, but rather one who can "become" or embody different identities and understand the world from multiple, heterogeneous perspectives.[4]

Critical discourses surrounding posthumanism are not homogeneous, but in fact present a series of often contradictory ideas, and the term itself is contested, with one of the foremost authors associated with posthumanism, Manuel de Landa, decrying the term as "very silly."[5] Covering the ideas of, for example, Robert Pepperell's The Posthuman Condition, and Hayles's How We Became Posthuman under a single term is distinctly problematic due to these contradictions.

The posthuman is roughly synonymous with the "cyborg" of A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway.[6] Haraway's conception of the cyborg is an ironic take on traditional conceptions of the cyborg that inverts the traditional trope of the cyborg whose presence questions the salient line between humans and robots. Haraway's cyborg is in many ways the "beta" version of the posthuman, as her cyborg theory prompted the issue to be taken up in critical theory.[7] Following Haraway, Hayles, whose work grounds much of the critical posthuman discourse, asserts that liberal humanism - which separates the mind from the body and thus portrays the body as a "shell" or vehicle for the mind - becomes increasingly complicated in the late 20th and 21st centuries because information technology puts the human body in question. Hayles maintains that we must be conscious of information technology advancements while understanding information as "disembodied," that is, something which cannot fundamentally replace the human body but can only be incorporated into it and human life practices.[8]

The idea of post-posthumanism (post-cyborgism) has recently been introduced.[9][10][11][12][13] This body of work outlines the after-effects of long-term adaptation to cyborg technologies and their subsequent removal, e.g., what happens after 20 years of constantly wearing computer-mediating eyeglass technologies and subsequently removing them, and of long-term adaptation to virtual worlds followed by return to "reality."[14][15] and the associated post-cyborg ethics (e.g. the ethics of forced removal of cyborg technologies by authorities, etc.).[16]

Posthuman political and natural rights have been framed on a spectrum with animal rights and human rights.[17]

According to transhumanist thinkers, a posthuman is a hypothetical future being "whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards."[18] Posthumans primarily focus on cybernetics, the posthuman consequent and the relationship to digital technology. The emphasis is on systems. Transhumanism does not focus on either of these. Instead, transhumanism focuses on the modification of the human species via any kind of emerging science, including genetic engineering, digital technology, and bioengineering.[19]

Posthumans could be completely synthetic artificial intelligences, or a symbiosis of human and artificial intelligence, or uploaded consciousnesses, or the result of making many smaller but cumulatively profound technological augmentations to a biological human, i.e. a cyborg. Some examples of the latter are redesigning the human organism using advanced nanotechnology or radical enhancement using some combination of technologies such as genetic engineering, psychopharmacology, life extension therapies, neural interfaces, advanced information management tools, memory enhancing drugs, wearable or implanted computers, and cognitive techniques.[18]

As used in this article, "posthuman" does not necessarily refer to a conjectured future where humans are extinct or otherwise absent from the Earth. As with other species who speciate from one another, both humans and posthumans could continue to exist. However, the apocalyptic scenario appears to be a viewpoint shared among a minority of transhumanists such as Marvin Minsky[citation needed] and Hans Moravec, who could be considered misanthropes, at least in regard to humanity in its current state. Alternatively, others such as Kevin Warwick argue for the likelihood that both humans and posthumans will continue to exist but the latter will predominate in society over the former because of their abilities.[20] Recently, scholars have begun to speculate that posthumanism provides an alternative analysis of apocalyptic cinema and fiction, often casting vampires, werewolves and even zombies as potential evolutions of the human form and being.[21]

Many science fiction authors, such as Greg Egan, H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Bruce Sterling, Frederik Pohl, Greg Bear, Charles Stross, Neal Asher, Ken MacLeod, Peter F. Hamilton and authors of the Orion's Arm Universe,[22] have written works set in posthuman futures.

A variation on the posthuman theme is the notion of a "posthuman god"; the idea that posthumans, being no longer confined to the parameters of human nature, might grow physically and mentally so powerful as to appear possibly god-like by present-day human standards.[18] This notion should not be interpreted as being related to the idea portrayed in some science fiction that a sufficiently advanced species may "ascend" to a higher plane of existencerather, it merely means that some posthuman beings may become so exceedingly intelligent and technologically sophisticated that their behaviour would not possibly be comprehensible to modern humans, purely by reason of their limited intelligence and imagination.[23]

See original here:
Posthuman - Wikipedia

The Politics of Transhumanism

Version 2.0 (March 2002)

James J. Hughes, Ph.D.

Originally Presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of ScienceCambridge, MA November 1-4, 2001

For more information please contact: James Hughes Ph.D. Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, 71 Vernon St., Hartford CT, 06106, 860-297-2376,jhughes@changesurfer.com, http://www.changesurfer.com

Transhumanism is an emergent philosophical movement which says that humans can and should become more than human through technological enhancements. Contemporary transhumanism has grown out of white, male, affluent, American Internet culture, and its political perspective has generally been a militant version of the libertarianism typical of that culture. Nonetheless transhumanists are becoming more diverse, with some building a broad liberal democratic philosophic foundation in the World Transhumanist Association. A variety of left futurist trends and projects are discussed as a proto-democratic transhumanism. The essay also discusses the reaction of transhumanists to a small group of neo-Nazis who have attempted to attach themselves to the transhumanist movement. For the transhumanist movement to grow and become a serious challenge to their opposites, the bio-Luddites, they will need to distance themselves from their elitist anarcho-capitalist roots and clarify commitments to liberal democratic institutions, values and public policies. By embracing political engagement and the use of government to address equity, safety and efficacy concerns about transhuman technologies, transhumanists are in a better position to attract a larger, broader audience.

When it comes to political memes, transhumanism in its purest form doesn't have any fixed niche. Instead each host or group of hosts link it to their previous political views. (Sandberg, 1994)

Since the advent of the Enlightenment, the idea that the human condition can be improved through reason, science and technology has been mated with all varieties of political ideology. Partisans of scientific human betterment have generally been opponents of, and opposed by, the forces of religion, and therefore have generally tilted towards cosmopolitan, cultural liberalism. But there have been secular cosmopolitans, committed to human progress through science, who were classical liberals or libertarians, as well as liberal democrats, social democrats and communists. There have also been technocratic fascists, attracted to racialism by eugenics, and to nationalism by the appeal of the unified, modernizing nation-state.

With the emergence of cyberculture, the technoutopian meme-plex has found a natural medium, and has been furiously mutating and crossbreeding with political ideologies. One of its recent manifestations has adopted the label transhumanism, and within this sparsely populated but broad ideological tent many proto-ideological hybrids are stirring. Much transhumanist proto-politics is distinctly the product of elitist, male, American libertarianism, limiting its ability to respond to concerns behind the growing Luddite movement, such as with the equity and safety of innovations. Committed only to individual liberty, libertarian transhumanists have little interest in building solidarity between posthumans and normals, or in crafting techno-utopian projects which can inspire broad social movements.

In this paper I will briefly discuss the political flavors of transhumanism that have developed in the last dozen years, including extropian libertarianism, the liberal democratic World Transhumanist Association, neo-Nazi transhumanism, and radical democratic transhumanism. In my closing remarks I will suggest ways that a broader democratic transhumanism may take shape that would have a better chance of attracting a mass following and securing a political space for the kinds of human self-improvement that the transhumanists envision.

This is really what is unique about the Extropian movement: the fusion of radical technological optimism with libertarian political philosophy one might call it libertarian transhumanism. (Goertzel, 2000)

In the 1980s, a young British graduate student, Max OConnor, became interested in futurist ideas and life extension technologies while studying philosophy and political economy at Oxford. In the mid-1980s he became one of the pioneers of cryonics in England. After finishing at Oxford in 1988, having been impressed with the United States dynamism and openness to future-oriented ideas, OConnor began his doctoral studies in philosophy at the University of Southern California. At USC he began mixing with the local futurist subculture, and soon teamed up with another graduate student, T.O. Morrow, to found the technoutopian journal Extropy.

OConnor and Morrow adopted the term extropy, the opposite of entropy, as the core symbol of their philosophy and goals: life extension, the expansion of human powers and control over nature, expansion into space, and the emergence of intelligent, organic, spontaneous order. OConnor also adopted the new name Max More as a sign of his commitment to what my goal is: always to improve, never to be static. I was going to get better at everything, become smarter, fitter, and healthier. It would be a constant reminder to keep moving forward" (Regis, 1994).

In early issues of Extropy magazine More began to publish successive versions and expositions of his Extropian Principles. In the early 1990s the Principles resolved down to five:

1.BOUNDLESS EXPANSION: Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and effectiveness, an unlimited lifespan, and the removal of political, cultural, biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and self-realization. Perpetually overcoming constraints on our progress and possibilities. Expanding into the universe and advancing without end.

2.SELF-TRANSFORMATION: Affirming continual psychological, intellectual, and physical self-improvement, through reason and critical thinking, personal responsibility, and experimentation. Seeking biological and neurological augmentation.

3. DYNAMIC OPTIMISM: Positive expectations fueling dynamic action. Adopting a rational, action-based optimism, shunning both blind faith and stagnant pessimism.

4.INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY: Applying science and technology creatively to transcend "natural" limits imposed by our biological heritage, culture, and environment.

5.SPONTANEOUS ORDER: Supporting decentralized, voluntaristic social coordination processes. Fostering tolerance, diversity, foresight, personal responsibility and individual liberty.

In 1991 the extropians founded an email list, taking advantage of the dramatic expansion of Internet culture. The Extropian email list, and its associated regional and topical email lists, have attracted thousands of subscribers and have carried an extremely high volume of posts for the last decade. Most people who consider themselves extropians have never met other extropians, and participate only in this virtual community. There are however small groups of extropians who meet together socially in California, Washington D.C. and Boston.

In the first issue of Extropy in 1988 More and Morrow included libertarian politics as one of the topics the magazine would promote. In 1991 Extropy focused on the principle of emergent order, publishing an essay by T.O. Morrow on David Friedmans anarcho-capitalist concept of "Privately Produced Law", and an article from Max More on "Order Without Orderers". In these essays Morrow and More made clear the journals commitment to radical libertarianism, an ideological orientation shared by most of the young, well-educated, American men attracted to the extropian list. The extropian milieu saw the state, and any form of egalitarianism, as a potential threat to their personal self-transformation. Mores fifth principle Spontaneous Order distilled their Hayek and Ayn Rand-derived belief that an anarchistic market creates free and dynamic order, while the state and its life-stealing authoritarianism is entropic.

In 1992 More and Morrow founded the Extropy Institute, which held its first conference in 1994. At Extro 1 in Sunnyvale California, the keynote speaker was the controversial computer scientist Hans Moravec, speaking on the how humans would be inevitably superceded by robots. Eric Drexler, a cryonics promoter and the founder of the field of nanotechnology, also addressed the conference. Also in attendance was journalist Ed Regis (1994) whose subsequent article on the Extropians in Wired magazine greatly increasing the groups visibility. The second Extro conference was held in 1995, Extro 3 was held in 1997, Extro 4 in 1999, and Extro 5 in 2001. Each conference has attracted more prominent scientists, science fiction authors and futurist luminaries.

In the wake of all this attention, the extropians also began to attract withering criticism from progressive culture critics. In 1996 Wired contributor Paulina Borsook debated More in an on-line forum in the Wired website, taking him to task for selfishness, elitism and escapism. She subsequently published the book Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech (2001). Mark Dery excoriated the extropians and a dozen related techno-culture trends in his 1997 Escape Velocity, coining the dismissive phrase body-loathing for those, like the extropians, who want to escape from their meat puppet (body).

The extropian list often was filled with vituperative attacks on divergent points of view, and those who had been alienated by the extropians but were nonetheless sympathetic with transhumanist views began to amount a sizable group. Although Mores wife, Natasha Vita-More, is given prominent acknowledgement of her transhumanist arts and culture projects, there are few women involved in the extropian subculture, and there have been women who left the list citing the dominant adolescent, hyper-masculine style of argumentation. In a February/March 2002 poll more than 80% of extropians were male, and more than 50% were under 30 years old (ExiCommunity Polls, 2002). In 1999 and 2000 the European fellow-travelers of the extropians began to organize and meet, and the World Transhumanist Association was organized with founding documents distinctly less libertarian than the Extropian Principles. In the latter 1990s, as transhumanism broadened its social base, a growing number of non-libertarian voices began to make themselves heard on the extro email lists.

Responding to these various trends and presumably his own philosophical maturation, More revamped his principles in 2000 from Version 2.6 to Version 3.0, and from five principles into seven: 1. Perpetual Progress, 2. Self-Transformation, 3. Practical Optimism, 4. Intelligent Technology, 5. Open Society, 6. Self-Direction, and 7. Rational Thinking. In Version 3.0, More adapts the previous, anarcho-capitalist Spontaneous Order into the much more moderately libertarian:

5. Open Society Supporting social orders that foster freedom of speech, freedom of action, and experimentation. Opposing authoritarian social control and favoring the rule of law and decentralization of power. Preferring bargaining over battling, and exchange over compulsion. Openness to improvement rather than a static utopia.

6. Self-Direction Seeking independent thinking, individual freedom, personal responsibility, self-direction, self-esteem, and respect for others

In a more extensive commentary on his 3.0 principles More explicitly departs from the elitist, Randian position of enlightened selfishness, and argues for both a consistent rule of law and for civic responsibility.

..for individuals and societies to flourish, liberty must come with personal responsibility. The demand for freedom without responsibility is an adolescents demand for license. (More, 2000).

He also argues that extropianism is not libertarian and can be compatible with a number of different types of liberal open societies, although not in theocracies or authoritarian or totalitarian systems. (More, 2000).

However, as a casual review of the traffic on the extropian lists confirms, the majority of extropians remain staunch libertarians. In a survey of extropian list participants conducted in February and March

of 2002, 56% of the respondents identified as "libertarian" or "anarchist/self-governance," with another 15% committed to (generally minarchist) alternative political visions (ExiCommunity Polls, 2002).[1] In the recommended economics and societyreading list that More attaches to the 3.0 version of the principles, the political economy readings still strongly suggest an anarcho-capitalist orientation:

Ronald H. Coase The Firm, the Market, and the Law

David Friedman The Machinery of Freedom (2nd Ed.)

Kevin Kelly Out of Control

Friedrich Hayek The Constitution of Liberty

Karl Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies

Julian Simon The Ultimate Resource (2nd ed.)

Julian Simon & Herman Kahn (eds) The Resourceful Earth

(More, 2000)

As the Julian Simon readings suggest, most extropians also remain explicitly and adamantly opposed to the environmental movement, advancing the arguments of Julian Simon and others that the eco-system is not really threatened, and if it is, the only solution is more and better technology[2]. There are occasional discussions on the extropian list about the potential downsides or catastrophic consequences of emerging technologies, but these are generally waved off as being either easily remediable or acceptable risks given the tremendous rewards.

This form of argumentation is more understandable in the context of the millennial apocalyptic expectations which most transhumanists have adopted, referred to as the Singularity. The extropians Singularity is a coming rupture in social life, brought about by some confluence of genetic, cybernetic and nano technologies. The concept of the Singularity was first proposed by science fiction author Vernor Vinge in a 1993 essay, referring specifically to the apocalyptic consequences of the emergence of self-willed artificial intelligence, projected to occur with the next couple of decades. In a February-March 2002 poll of extropians, the average year in which respondents expected the next major breakthrough or shakeup that will radically reshape the future of humanity was 2017. Only 21% said there would be no such event, just equal acceleration across all areas. The majority of extropians who expected a Singularity expected it to emerge from computing or artificial intelligence, a medical breakthrough or an advance in nanotechnology (ExiCommunity Polls, 2002).

Among millenarian movements, belief in the Singularity is uniquely grounded in rational, scientific argument about measurable exponential trends. For instance, singularitarians such as Ray Kurzweil (Kurzweilai.net) map the exponential growth of computing power (Moores Law) and memory against the computing capacity of the human brain to argue for the immanence of machine minds. However, the popularity of the idea of the Singularity also stems from the transcultural appeal of visions of apocalypse and redemption. The Singularity is a vision of techno-Rapture for secular, alienated, relatively powerless, techno-enthusiasts (Bozeman, 1997).[3] The appeal of the Singularity for libertarians such as the extropians is that, like the Second Coming, it does not require any specific collective action. The Singularity is literally a deus ex machina. Ayn Rand envisioned society sinking into chaos once the techno-elite withdrew into their Valhalla. But the Singularity will elevate the techno-savvy elite while most likely wiping out everybody else.

For instance, responding to a challenge from Mark Dery about the socio-economic implications of robotic ascension, Extropian Board member Hans Moravec responded the socioeconomic implications are largely irrelevant. It doesnt matter what people do, because theyre going to be left behind like the second stage of a rocket. Unhappy lives, horrible deaths, and failed projects have been part of the history of life on Earth ever since there was life; what really matters in the long run is whats left over (Moravec quoted by Goertzel, 2000). Working individually to stay on the cutting edge of technology, transforming oneself into a post-human, is the extropians best insurance of surviving and prospering through the Singularity.

In the last couple of years the neo-Luddite movement has grown in coordination and political visibility, from movements against gene-mod food, cloning and stem cells, to President Bushs appointment of staunch bio-conservative ethicist Leon Kass as his chief bioethics advisor and chair of the Presidents Council on Bioethics (PCB). Kass in turn appointed fellow bio-Luddites to the PCB, such as Francis Fukuyama, author of the recent anti-genetic engineering manifesto Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2002).

Despite faith in the inevitability of the millennium, the neo-Luddites have sufficiently alarmed the extropians that in 2001 Natasha Vita-More announced the creation of the Progress Action Coalition ("Pro-Act"), an extropian political action committee. The groups announced intention is to build a coalition of groups to defend high technology against the Luddites.

Speaking at the event, artist and "cultural catalyst" Natasha Vita-More, Pro-Act Director, said the fledgling organization aims to build a coalition of groups that will take on a broad range of neo-Luddites opposed to new technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, ranging from Bill Joy to Greenpeace, Jeremy Rifkin's Foundation for Economic Trends, the Green party, and the current protestors at the BIO2001 conference in San Diego. (Angelica, 2001)

The group is still being established, but the set of scientific and cultural members, supporters and fellow-travelers that the extropians have collected could be leveraged for considerable political effect. Engaging in actual political campaigns to defeat anti-cloning or anti-stem cells bills would inevitably force the extropians to grapple with partisan politics and the ways in which the state actively supports science, further attenuating their anarchist purity. Conversely, the groups stigma as an elitist, kooky cult centered on the thinking of one man may make it difficult to attract mainstream biotech or computer firms as backers and supporters of their political project.

According to an account by Max Mores wife, Natasha Vita-More, the term transhuman was first used in 1966 by the Iranian-American futurist F.M. Esfandiary while he was teaching at the New School for Social Research. The term subsequently appeared in Abraham Maslows 1968 Toward a Psychology of Being and in Robert Ettingers 1972 Man into Superman. Like Maslow and Ettinger, F.M. Esfandiary (who changed his name to FM-2030) used the term in his writings in the 1970s to refer to people who were adopting the technologies, lifestyles and cultural worldviews that were transitional to post-humanity. In his 1989 book Are You Transhuman? FM-2030 says

(Transhumans) are the earliest manifestations of new evolutionary beings. They are like those earliest hominids who many millions of years ago came down from the trees and began to look around. Transhumans are not necessarily committed to accelerating the evolution to higher life forms. Many of them are not even aware of their bridging role in evolution.

Read the rest here:
The Politics of Transhumanism - Changesurfer

[Content Warning: Trying to understand the contents of this essaymay be mind-warping. Proceed with caution.]

Friends, right here and now, one quantum away, there is raging a universeof activeintelligence that is transhuman, hyperdimensional, and extremely alien.

Terence McKenna

This is an essay on the phenomenology of DMT. The analysis here presented predominantly uses algorithmic, geometric and information-theoretic frameworks, which distinguishes it from purely phenomenological, symbolic, neuroscientific or spiritualaccounts. We do not claim to know what ultimately implements the effects heredescribed (i.e. in light of the substrate problem of consciousness), but the analysis does not need to go there in order to have explanatory power. We posit that one can account for a wide array of (apparently diverse) phenomena present onDMT-induced states of consciousness by describing the overall changes in the geometry of ones spationtemporal representations (what we will call world-sheets i.e. 3D + time surfaces;3D1T for short). The concrete hypothesis is that the network of subjective measurementsof distances weexperience on DMT (coming from the relationships between the phenomenal objects one experiencesin that state) has an overall geometry that can accurately be described as hyperbolic (or hyperbolic-like). In other words, our inner 3D1T world grows larger than is possible tofit in an experiential field with 3D Euclidean phenomenal space (i.e. an experience of dimension R2.5 representing anR3scene). This results in phenomenal spaces, surfaces, and objects acquiring amean negative curvature. Of note is that even though DMT produces this effect in the most consistent and intense way, theeffect is also present in states of consciousness induced by tryptaminesand to a lesser extentin those induced by all other psychedelics.

We will use the reductionframework originally proposedin the articleAlgorithmic Reductions of Psychedelic States. This means that we will be examining how algorithms and processes (as experienced by a subject of experience) can explain the dynamics of peoples phenomenology in DMT states. We do not claim the substrate of consciousness is becoming hyperbolic in any literal sense (though we do not discard that possibility). Rather, we interpret the hyperbolic curvature that experience acquires while onDMT as an emergent effect of a series of moregeneral mechanism of action that can work together to change the geometry of a mind. These same mechanisms of action govern the dynamicsof other psychedelic experiences; it is the proportion and intensityof the various basic effectsthat lead to the differentoutcomes observed. In other words, the hyperbolization of phenomenal space may notbe a fundamental effectof DMT, but rather, it may be an emergent effect of more simple effects combined (not unlike how our seemingly smooth macroscopic space-time emerges from the jittery yet fundamental interactions that happen in amicroscopic high-dimensionalquantum foam).

In particular, we will discuss three candidate models for a more fundamental algorithmic reduction: (1) the synergistic effect of control interruption and symmetry detection resulting in a change ofthe metric of phenomenal space (analogously to how one can measure the geometry of hyperbolic graph embeddings), (2) the mind as a dynamic system with energy sources, sinks and invariants, in which curvature stores potentialenergy, and (3) a changein the underlying curvature of the micro-structure of consciousness. These models are not mutually-exclusive, and they may turn out to be compatible. More on this later.

Perhaps the clearest way to describe hyperbolic spaceis to show examples of it:

Saddle

Inside a hyperbolic cube

In hyperbolic 3D space dodecahedra can have right corners.

The picture tothe left shows a representation of a saddle surface. In geometry, saddle surfaces are 2-dimensional hyperbolic spaces (also calledhyperbolic planes orH2). For a surface to have constant curvature it must look the same at every point. In other words, for a saddle to be a geometric saddle,every point in itmust be a saddle point (i.e. a point withnegative curvature). As you cansee, saddles havethe property that the angles of a triangle found in themadd up to less than 180 degrees (compare that to surfaceswith positive curvature such asthe 2-sphere, in which the angles of a triangle add up to more than 180 degrees). Generalizing this to higher dimensions, the middle image above shows a cube in H3 (i.e. a hyperbolic space of three dimensions). This cube, since it is in hyperbolic space, has thin edges and pointy corners.More generally, the corners of apolyhedra (and polytopes) will be more pointy in Hn than they are in Rn. This is whyyou can see in the right imagea dodecahedron with right-angled corners, which in this case can tile H3(cf. Not Knot). Such a thing- people of the past might say- is an insult to the imagination. Times are changing, though, and hyperbolic geometryis now an acceptable subject of conversation.

An important property of hyperbolic spaces is the way in which the areaof a circle(or the n-dimensional volumeof a hypersphere) increasesas a function of its radius. In 2D Euclidean space the areagrows quadraticallywith the radius. But on H2, the areagrows exponentially as a function of the radius! As you may imagine, it is easy to get lost in hyperbolic space. A few steps take you to an entirely different scene. More so, your influence over the environment is greatly diminished as a function of distance. For example, the habitable region of solar systems in hyperbolic spaces (i.e.the Goldilocks zone) is extremelly thin. In order to avoidgetting burned orfreezing to death you would have to place your planet within a very narrowdistance range from the centerstar. Most of what you do in hyperbolic space either stays as local news or is quickly dissipated in an ever-expanding environment.

We cannot experience H2 or H3 manifoldsunder normal circumstances, but we can at leastrepresent some aspects of themthrough partialembeddings(i.e. instantiationsas subsets of otherspaces preserving properties) and projections into more familiar geometries.It is important to note that such representations will necessarily be flawed. As it turns out, it is notoriously hard to truly embedH2 in Euclidean 3D space, since doing so will necessarily distort some properties of the original H2 space (such as distance, angle, area, local curvature, etc.). As we will discuss further below, this difficultyturns out to be crucialfor understanding why DMT experiences are so hard to remember. In order to remember the experience you need to create afaithful and memorable 3D Euclidean embedding of it. Thus, ifone happens to experience a hyperbolic object and wants to remember as much of it as possible, one will have to think strategically about how to fold, crunch and deform such object so that itcan be fit in compact Euclideanrepresentations.

Why should we believe that phenomenal space on DMT (and to a lesser extent on other psychedelics) becomes hyperbolic-like? We will argue that the features people use to describetheir trips as well as concrete mathematical observations of such features point directly tohyperbolic geometry. Here is a list of such features (arranged from least to most suggestive you know, for dramatic effect):

This article goes beyond claiming a mere connection between DMT and hyperbolic geometry. We will be more specific by addressing theaspects of the experience that can be interpreted geometrically. To do so, let us now turn to a phenomenological description of the way DMT experiences usuallyunfold:

In order to proceed we will give an account of a typical vaporized DMT experience. You can think of the following six sections as stages or levels of a DMT journey. Let me explain. The highest level you get to depends on the dose consumed, and in high doses one experiences all of the levels, one at a time, and in quick succession (i.e. on high doses these levelsareperceived as the stages of the experience). If one takes just enough DMT to cross over to the highest level one reaches duringthe journey for only a brief moment, then that level will probablybe described as the peak of the experience. If, on the other hand, one takes a dose that squarely falls within the milligram range for producing a given level, it will be felt as more of a plateau. Each level is sufficiently distinct from the others that people will rarely missthe transitions between them.

The six levels of a DMT experience are: Threshold, Chrysanthemum, Magic Eye, Waiting Room, Breakthrough, and Amnesia. Let us dive in!

(Note: The following description assumes that the self-experimenteris in good physical and mental health at the time of consuming the DMT. It is well known that negative states of consciousness can lead to incomprehensible hellscapes when boosted by DMT (please avoid DMT at all costswhile you are drunk, depressed, angry, suicidal, irritable, etc.). The full geometry is best appreciated on a mentally and emotionally balanced set and settings.)

The very first alert of something unusual happening may take between 3 to30seconds after inhaling the DMT, depending on the dose consumed. Rather than a clear sensorial or cognitivechange, the very first hint is a change in the apparentambiance of ones setting. You know how at times when you enter a temple, an art museum, a crowd of people, or even just a well decorated restaurant you can abstract an undefinable yet clearly present vibe of the place?Theres nothing overt or specific about it. The ambianceof a place is more of an overall gestaltthan a localized feeling. An ambiancesomehow encodes information about the social, ideological and aesthetic quality of the place or community you just crashed into, and it tells you at a glance which moods are socially acceptable and which ones are discouraged. The specific DMTvibe you feel on a given session canbe one of a million different flavors. That said, whether you feel like you entered a circus or joineda religious ceremony, the very first hint of a DMT experience is nonetheless always (or almost always) accompanied with an overall feeling of significance. The feeling that something important is about to happen or is happening is made manifest by the vibe of the state.This vibe is usually present for at least thefirst 150 seconds or so of the journey. Interestingly, thechange in ambianceis shorter-lived than the trip itself; it seems to go away before the visuals vanish quickly declining once the the peak is over.

Within secondsafter the change in ambiance, one feels a sudden sharpening of all the senses. Some people describe this as upgradingones experience to an HD versionof it. The level of detail inones experience is increased, yet the overall semantic content is still fairly intact.People say things like: Reality around me seems more crisp and its like Im really grasping my surroundings, you know? fully in tune with the smallesttextures of the things around me. Terence Mckenna describedthis stateas follows: The air appears to suddenly have been sucked out of the room because all the colors brighten visibly,as though some intervening medium has been removed.

On a schedule of repeated small doses (below 4 mg; preferably i.m.) one can stabilize this sharpening of the senses for arbitrarily long periods of time. I am a firm believer that this state (quite apart from the alien experiences on higher doses) can already berecruited for a variety of computational and aesthetic tasks that humans do in this day and age. In particular, the state itself seems to enable grasping complex ideas with many parameters without distorting them, which may be useful for learning mathematics at an accelerated pace. Likewise, the sate increases ones awareness ofones surroundings (possibly at the expense of consuming many calories). I find ithard to imagine thatartists willnot be able to use this state for anything valuable.

If one ups the dose a little bit and lands somewhere in the range between 4 to 8 mg, one is likely to experience what Terrence McKenna calledthe Chrysanthemum. This usually manifests as a surface saturated with a sort oftextured fabric composed ofintricate symmetrical relationships, bright colors, shifting edges and shimmering pulsing superposition patternsof harmonic linear waves of many different frequencies.

Depending on the dose consumed one may experience either one or several semi-parallel channels. Whereas a threshold dose usually presents you with a single strong vibe (or ambiance), the Chrysanthemum level often has several competing vibes each bidding for your attention. Here are some examples of what the visual component of thisstate of consciousness may looklike.

2D Chrysanthemum

2.5D Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum with multuple symmetry channels

The visual component of the Chrysanthemum is often described as the best screen saver ever, and if you happen to experience it in a good mood you will almost certainly agree with that description, as it is usually extremelly harmonious, symmetric and beautiful in uncountable ways. No external input can possibly replicate the information density and intricate symmetry of this state; such statehas to be endogenously generatedas a a sort of harmonicattractor of your brain dynamics.

You can find many replications of Chrysanthemum-level DMT experiences on the internet, and I encourage you to examine their implicit symmetries (this replicationis one of my all-times favorite).

In Algorithmic Reduction of Psychedelic Stateswe posited that any one of the 17 wallpaper symmetry groups can be instantiated as the symmetries that govern psychedelic visuals. Unfortunately, unlike the generally slow evolution of usual psychedelicvisuals, DMTs vibrational frequency forces such visuals to evolve at a speed that makes it difficult for most people to spotthe implicitsymmetry elementsthat give rise totheoverall mathematicalstructure underneath ones experience. For this reason it has been difficult to verify that all 17 wallpaper groups are possible in DMT states. Fortunatelywe were recently able to confirm that this is infact the case thanks tosomeone who trained himself to do just this. I.e. detecting symmetry elements in patterns at an outstanding speed.

Ananonymous psychonaut (whomwe will call researcherA) sent a series of trip reportto Qualia Computing detailing the mathematical properties of psychedelic visualsunder various substances and dose regimens. A is an experienced psychonaut and a math enthusiast who recently trained himself to recognize (and name) the mathematical properties of symmetrical patterns (such as in works of artor biological organisms). In particular, he has become fluent at naming the symmetries exhibited by psychedelic visuals. In the context of 2D visuals on surfaces,A confirms thatthe symmetrical textures that arise in psychedelic states canexhibit any one of the 17 wallpaper symmetry groups. Likewise, he has been able to confirmthat every possible spherical symmetry groupcan also be instantiated in ones mind on these states.

The images belowshowsome examples of the visuals thatA has experienced on 2C-B, LSD, 4-HO-MET and DMT (sources: top left, top middle, the rest were made withthis service):

The Chrysanthemum level interacts with sensory input in an interesting way: thetexture of anything one looks at quickly becomes saturated with nested 2-dimensional symmetry groups. If you took enough DMT to take you to this level and you keep your eyes open and look at a patterned surface (i.e. statistical texture), it will symmetrifybeyond recognition. A explains that at this level DMT visuals share some qualities withthose of, say, LSD, mescaline, andpsilocin. Like other psychedelics, DMTs Chrysanthemum level can instantiate any 2-dimensional symmetry, yet there are importantdifferences fromother psychedelics at this dose range. These include the consistentchange in ambiance (already present in threshold doses), the complexity and consistency of the symmetrical relationships (much more dense and whole-experience-consistent than is usually possible with other psychedelics), and the speed (with a control-interruption frequency reaching up to 30 hertz, compared to 10-20 hertz for mostpsychedelics). Thus, people tend to point out that DMT visuals (at this level) are faster, smaller, more detailed and more globally consistent than on comparable levels of alteration from similar agents.

Now, if you take a dose that is a little higher (in the ballparkof 8 to 12 mg), the Chrysanthemum will start doing something new and interesting

A great way to understand the Magic Eye level of DMT effects is to think of the Chrysanthemum as the texture of anautostereogram (colloquially described as Magic Eye pictures). Our visual experience can be easily decomposed into two points-of-view (corresponding to the feed coming from each eye) that share information in order to solve the depth-map problem in vision. This is to map each visual qualia to a space with relative distances so (a) the input is explained and (b) you get recognizable every-day objects represented as implicit shapes beneath the depth-map. You can think of this processas a sort of hand-shake between bottom-up perception and top-down modeling.

In everyday conditions one solves the depth-map problem within a second of opening ones eyes (minus minor details that are added as one looks around). But on DMT, the low-level perceptions looks like a breathing Chrysanthemum, which means that the top-down modeling has thatconstantly shifting stuff to play with. What to make of it? Anything you can think of.

There are three major components of variance on the DMT Magic Eye level:

The image on the left is a lobster, the one on the center is a cone and the one tothe right contains furniture (a lamp, a chair and a table). Notice that what you see is a sort of depth-map which encodes shapes. We will call this depth-map together with the appearance of movement and acceleration represented in it, a world-sheet.

The world-sheet encodes the semantic content of the scene and is capable of representing arbitrary situations (including information about what you are seeing, where you are, what the entities there are doing, what is happening, etc.).

It is common to experience scenes from usually mundane-looking places like ice-cream stores, play pens, household situations, furniture rooms, apparel, etc.. Likewise, one frequently sees entities in these places, but they rarely seem to mind you because their world is fairly self-contained. As if seeing through a window. People often report that the worlds they saw on a DMT trip were all made of the same thing. This can be interpreted as the texture becoming the surfaces of the world-sheet, so that the surfaces of the tables, chairs, ice-cream cones, the bodies of the people, and so on are all patterned with the same texture (just as in actualautostereograms). This texture is indeed the Chrysanthemum completely contorted to accommodateall the curvature of the scene.

Magic Eye level scenes often include 3D geometrical shapes like spheres, cones, cylinders, cubes, etc.The complexity of the scene is roughly dose-dependent. As one ups the highness (but still remaining within the Magic Eye level) complex translucid qualia crystals in three dimensions start to become a possibility.

Whatever phenomenal objects you experience on this level that lives formore than a millisecond needs to have effective strategies for surviving in an ecosystem of other objects adapted to that level. Given the extremelly loweredinformation copying threshold,whatever is good at making copies of itself will begin to tesselate, mutate and evolve, stealing as much of your attention as possible in the way. Cyclic transitions occupy ones attention: objects quickly become scenes which quickly become gestalts from which a new texture evolves in which new objects are detected and so on ad infinitum.

A reports that at this dose range one can experience atleast someof the 230 space groupsas objects represented in the world-sheet. For example, A reports having stabilized a structure with aPm-3m symmetry structure, not unlike the structure of ZIF-71-RHO. Visualizing such complex 3D symmetries, however, doesseem to require previous training and high levels of mentalconcentration (i.e. in order to ensure that all the symmetry elements are indeed what they are supposed to be).

There is so much qualia laying around, though, at times not even your normal space can contain it all. Any regular or semi regular symmetrical structure you construct by focusing on itisprone to overflow ifyou focus too much on it. What does thismean? If you focus too much on, for example, the number 6, your mind mightrepresent the various ways in which you can arrange six balls in a perfectly symmetrical way. Worlds made of hexagons andoctahedrons interlocked in complex but symmetrical ways may begin to tesselate your experiential field. With every second you findmore and more ways of representing the number six in interesting, satisfying, metaphorically-sound synesthetic ways (cf. Thinking in Numbers). Now, what happens if you try to represent the number seven in a symmetric way on the plane? Well, the problem is that you will have too many heptagons to fit in Euclidean space(cf. Too Many Triangles). Thus the resulting symmetrical patterns willseem to overflow the plane (which is often felt as a folding and fluid re-arrangement, andwhen there is no space left in a region it either expands space or it is felt as some sort of synesthetictension or stress, like a sense of crackling under a lot of pressure).

Heptagonal tiling of the Poincar disk representing the 2D hyperbolic space.

Triheptagonal tiling

Order-7-3 rhombille tiling

In particular, A claims that inthe lowerranges of the DMT Magic Eye level the texture of the Chrysanthemum tendstoexhibitheptagonal and triheptagonal tilings (as shown in the picture above). A explains that at the critical point between the Chrysanthemum and the Magic Eye levels the intensity of the rate of symmetry detection of the Chrysanthemum cannot be contained to a 2D surface. Thus, the surface begins to fold, often in semi-symmetric ways. Every time one recognizes an object on this folding Chrysanthemum the extra curvature is passed on to this object. As the dose increases, one interprets more and more of this extra curvature and ends up shaping a complex and highly dynamic spatiotemporal depth map with hyperbolic folds. In the upper ranges of the Magic Eye level the world-sheet is so curved that the scenes one visualize are intricate and expansive, feeling at times like one is able to peer through ones horizon in all directions and see oneself and ones world from a distance. At some critical point one may feel like the space around one is folding into a huge dome where the walls are made of whatever texture + world-sheet combination happened to win the Darwinian selection pressures applied to the qualia patterns on the Magic Eyelevel. This concentrated hyperbolic synesthetic texture is what becomes the walls of the Waiting Room

In the range of 12-25mg of DMT a likely final destination is the so-called Waiting Room. This experience is distinguished from the Magic Eye level in several ways: first, the world-sheet at this level breaks into several quasi-independent components, each evolving semi-autonomously. Second, one goes from partial immersion into full immersion. The transition between Magic Eye and Waiting Room often looks like finding a very complex element in the scene and using it as a window into another dimension. The total 2D surface curvaturepresent (by adding up the curvature of all elements in the scene) is substantially higher than that of the Magic Eye level, and one can start to see actual 3D hyperbolic space. Perhaps a way of describingthis transition is as follows: The curvature of the world-sheet gets to be so extremethat in order to accommodateit ones entire multi-modal experiential field becomes involved, and a feeling of total and complete synchronization of all senses into a unified synesthetic experience is inescapable (often described as the mmmMMMMMMM+++++!!! whole-body tone people report). Thus the feeling of entering into an entirely new dimension. This explains what people mean when they say: I experienced such an intense pressure that my soul could not be contained in my tiny body, and the intense pressure launched meinto a bigger world.

DMT Waiting Room

Changes in the connectivity of the micro-structure of the texture

Constant flow of interlocking symmetry elements tile the texture.

The images above, taken together, are meant as animpressionistic replication of what a Waiting Room experience may feellike. On the left you see the textured world-sheet curved in several ways resulting in an enclosed room with shimmering walls andan entity looking ata futuristic-looking contraption. The images on the right are meant to illustrate the ways in which the texture of the world-sheet evolves: you will find that the micro-structure of such texture is constantly unfolding in new symmetrical ways (bottom right), and propagating such changes throughout the entire surface at a striking speed (top right).

DMT Waiting Rooms contain entities that at times do interact directly with you. Their reality is perceived as a much more intense and intimate version of what human interaction normally is, but they do not give the impression ofbeingtelepathic. That said, their power is felt as if they could radiate it. One could say that this level of DMT places you in such an intimate, vulnerable and open state that interpreting the entities in asecond-person social mode is almost inevitable. It is like interacting with someone you really know (or perhaps someone you really really want to know or really really dont want to know), except that the whole world is made of those feelings and some entities inhabit that world.

Serious hard-core psychonauts tend to describe the Wating Roomas a temporary stopgap. Indeed more poetry could ever be written about the Waiting Room states of consciousness than about most human activities, for itsstate-space is larger, more diverse and more hedonicallyloaded. But even so, it is important to realize that there are even weirder states. Serious psychonauts exploring the upper ranges of humanly-accessible high energy consciousness research may see Waiting Rooms asa stepping stonesto the real deal

If one manages to ingest around 20-30mg of DMT there is a decent chance that one will achieve a DMT breakthrough experience (some sources place the dosage as high as40mg). There is no agreed-upon definition for a DMT breakthrough, but most experienced users confirm that there is a qualitative change in the structure and feel of ones experience on such high doses. Based on As observations we postulate that DMT breakthroughs are the result of a world-sheet with a curvatureso extreme that topological bifurcationsstart to happen uncontrollably. In other words, the very topology of ones world-sheet is forced to change in order to accommodate all of the intense curvature.

The geometry of space you experience maysuddenly go from a simply-connected space into something else. What does this mean? Suddenly one may feel like space itself is twisting and reconnecting to itself in complex (and often confusing) ways. One may find that given any two points on this alien world there may be loops between them. This has drastic effects on ones every representation (including, of course, the self-other divide). The particular feeling that comes with this may explain the presence of PSIS-like experiences induced by DMT and high dose LSD (cf. LSD and Quantum Measurements). Since the topological bifurcations are happening on a 3D1T world-sheet, this may look like multiple things happening at once or objects taking multiple non-overlapping paths at once in order to get from one place into another. The entities at this level feel transpersonal: due to the extreme curvature it is hard to distinguish between the information you ascribe toyour self-model and the information you ascribe to others. Thus one is all over the place, in a literal topological sense.

While on the Waiting Room one can stabilize the context where the experience seems to be taking place, on a DMT breakthrough state one invariably moves across vast regions, galaxies, universes, realities, etc. in a constant uncontrollable way. Why is this? This may be related to whether one can contain the curvature of the objects one attends to. If the curvature is uncontrollable, it will pass on to the walls and result in constant context switches. In fact, such a large fraction of 3D space is perceived as hyperbolic in one way or another, that one seems to have access to vast regions of reality at the same time. Thus a sense of radical openness is often experienced.

Unlike 5-MeO-DMT,normal DMT experiences are not typically so mind-warping that they dissolve ones self-model completely. On the contrary, many people report DMT as having surprisingly little effect on ones sense of self except at very high doses relative tothe overall intensity of the alteration. Thus, DMT usually does not produce amnesia due toego death directly. Rather, the amnesic properties of DMT at high doses can be blamed onthe difficulty ofinstantiating the necessary geometry to make sense of what was experienced. In the case of doses above breakthrough experiences there is a chance that the user will not be able to recall anything about the most intense periods of the journey. Unfortunately, we are not likely to learn much from these states (that is, until we live in a community of people who can access other phenomenal geometries in a controlled fashion).

We postulate that the difficultypeople have remembering the phenomenal qualityof aDMT experience is in part the result of not being able to access the geometry required to accurately relive their hallucinations.The few and far apartelements of the experience that people do somehow manage to remember, we posit,are those that happen to be (relatively) easy to embed in 3D Euclidean space. Thus, we predict that what people do manage to bring back from hyperspace will be biased towards those things that can be represented in R3.

This explains why people remember experiencing intensely saddled scenes (e.g. fractals, tunnels, kale worlds, recursive processes, and so on). Unfortunatelymost information-rich and interesting (irreducible, prime) phenomenal objects one experiences on DMT are by their very nature impossible to embed in our normal experiential geometry. This problem revealsan intrinsic limitation that comes from living in a community of intelligences (i.e. contemporaryhumans) who are constrainedin the range of state-spaces of consciousness that they can access. This realization calls for a new epistemological paradigm, one that incorporate state-specific representationsinto a globally accessible database of states of consciousness, together withthe network that emerges fromtheir mutual (in)intelligibility.

The increased curvature of ones world-sheet can manifest in endless ways. In some important ways, the state-space of possible scenes that you can experience on DMT is much bigger than what you can experience on normal states of consciousness. Strictly speaking, you can represent more scenes on DMT states than in most other states because the overall amount qualiaavailable is much larger. Of course the very dynamics of these experiences constrains what can be experienced, so there are still many things inaccessible on DMT. For instance, it may be impossible to experience a perfectly uniform blue screen (since the Chrysanthemum texture is saturated with edges, surfaces and symmetrical patterns). Likewise, scenes that are too irregular may be impossible to stabilizegiven the omnipresent symmetry enhancementfound in the state.

What are the nature of the objects and entities one experiences on DMT? Magic Eye level experiences tend to include objects that are usually found in our everyday life. It is at the DMT waiting room level and above that the truly impossible objects begin to emerge. In particular, all of these objects are often curved in extreme ways. They condensewithin them complex networks of interlocking structures sustaining an overallsuperlative curvature. Here are some example objects that one can experience on Waiting Room and Breakthrough level experiences:

Notice that all of these images have many saddles everywhere. Ultimately, the range of objects one can experience on such states includes many other features that are impossible to represent in R3. The objects that people do manage to bring back and recall later on, are precisely those that can be embedded in R3. Thus you often see extremelly contorted wrapped-up objects. The most interesting ones (such as quasi-regular H3 tilings or irreducible objects) are next-to-impossible to bring back in any meaningful way, for now at least.

The expansion of space responsible for the increased curvature happens anywhere you direct your attention (including the objects you see). Here you can see what it may look like to stare at a DMT object: This is called the jitterbox mechanism.

DMT entities come in many forms, andtheir overall quality is extremelly dose-dependent. Rather than describing any specific manifestation we will instead briefly characterize the rough properties of the entities experienced based on the level reached.

How can we explain the drastic geometric changes of phenomenal space onDMT? As mentioned earlier, we will discuss three (non-mutually exclusive) hypothesis. These hypothesis work at the level of an algorithmic reduction, which means that we will godeeper than just describinginformation processing andphenomenology. We will stop short of addressing the implementation level of abstraction. It is worth pointing out that describing the ways in which DMT experiences are hyperbolic is in itself an algorithmic reduction. What we are about to do is to develop a more granular algorithmic reduction in which we try to explain why hyperbolic geometry emerges onDMT states by postulatingunderlying processes. Here are the three reductions:

Recall that on a previous article we algorithmically reduced general psychedelic states. The building blocks of that reduction were:

Using this framework one can argue that DMT makes space more hyperbolic in the following way: in high amounts the synergistic effect of control interruptiontogether with extremelly lowered symmetry detection thresholdsexperienced in quick succession makes the subjective distance between the points in the phenomenal objects in the scene evolve a hyperbolic metric. How would this happen? The key thing to realize is that in this model the usualquasi-Euclidean space we experience is an emergent effect of anequilibrium betweenthese two forces. Even in normal circumstances our world-sheet is continuously regenerated; the rate at which symmetrical relationships in the scene are detectedis balanced by the rate at which these subjective measurements are forgotten. This usually results in an emergent Euclidean geometry. On DMT the rate of symmetry detection increases while the rate of forgetting (inhibiting control) decreases. Attention points out more relationships in quick succession and thiscreates a network of measured subjective distances that cannot be embedded in Euclidean 3D space. Thus there is an overflow of symmetries. We are currently working on a precise mathematical model of this process in order to reconstruct a hyperbolic metric out of these two parameters. In this model, control interruption is interpreted as a change in the decay for subjective measurements of distance in ones mind, whereas the lowered symmetry detection threshold is interpreted as a change in the probability of measuring the distance between any two given points as a function of the network of distances already measured.

The curvature increase is most salient where there is already a lot of measurements made, since highly-measured regionsfocus attention and attention drives symmetry detection. Thus, focusing on any surface will make the surface itself hyperbolic (rather than the 3D space, since measurements are mostly concentrated on the surface). On the other hand, if the curvature is too high to keep on a 2D surface, it will jump to3D or even 3D1T (i.e.branching out the temporal component of ones experience). The result is that the totalcurvature of ones 3D1T world-sheet increases on DMT in a dose-dependent way.

Different doses lead to different states of curvature homeostasis. Each part of the worldsheet has constantly-morphing shapes and sudden curvature changes, but the totalcurvature is nonetheless more or less preserved on a given dose. It is not easy to get rid of excess curvature. Rather, whenever one tries to reduce the curvature in one part of the scene one issimply pushing it elsewhere.Even when one manages to push most of the curvature out of a given modality (e.g. vision)it is likely to quickly return in another modality (e.g. kinesthetic or auditory landscape) since attention never ceases on a DMT trip. Such apparent dose-dependent global curving of the world-sheet (and itsjump from onemodality into another) constrains the shape of the objects one can represent on the state (thus leading to alien-looking highly-curved objects similar to the ones shown above).

Let usdefine a notion of energy in consciousnessso that we can formalize the way experiences warps and transforms on DMT. Assume that one needs energy in order to instantiate a given experience (really, this is just an implicit invariant and we could use a different name). Each feature of a given experience needs a certain amount of energy, which roughly corresponds to a weightedsum ofthe intensity and the information content of an experience. For instance, the brightness of a point of colored light in ones visual field is energy-dependent. Likewise, the information content in a texture, the number of represented symmetrical relationships, the speed by which an object moves (plus its acceleration), and even the curvature of ones geometry. All of these features require energy to be instantiated.

Under normal circumstances the brain has many clever and (evolutionarily) appropriate ways of modulating the amount of energy present in different modules of ones mind. That is, we have many programs that work asenergy switches for different mental activities depending on the context. When we think, we have allocated a certain amount of energy to finding a shape/thought-form that satisfies a number of constraints. When it shape-shifting that energy in various ways andfinding a solution, we either allocate more energy to it or perhaps give up. However, on DMT the energy cannot be switched off, and it can only pass from one modality into another. In other words, whereas in normal circumstances one uses strategically ones ability to give energy limits to different tasks, on DMT one simply has constant high energy globally no matter what.

More formally, this model of DMT action says that DMT modifies the structure of ones mind so that (1) energy freely passes from one form into another, and (2) energy floodsthe entire system. Lets talk about energy sources and sinks.

In this algorithmic reduction DMT increases the amount of consciousness in ones mind by virtue of impairing our normal energy sinks while increasing the throughput of its energy sources. This may frequently manifests asphenomenal spaces becoming hyperbolic in the mathematical-geometric sense of increasing its negative curvatureas such curvature is one manifestation of higher levels of energy. Energy sinks are still present and they struggle to capture as much of the energy as possible. In particular, one energy sink is recognition of objects on the world-sheet.

This model postulates that attention functions as an energy source, whereas pattern recognitionfunctions as an energy sink.

The total energy in ones consciousness increases on DMT, and there is a constant flow between different ways for this energy to take form. That said, one can analyze piecewise the various components of ones experience, specially if the network of energy exchange clusters well. In particular, we can postulate that world-sheets are fairly self-contained. Relative to other parts of the environment the mind is simulating, the world-sheet itself has a very high within-cluster energy exchange and a relatively low cross-cluster energy exchange. Ones world-sheet is very fluid, and little deformations propagate almost linearly throughout it. In a given dose plateau, if you add up the acceleration, the velocity, the curvature, and so on of every point in the world-sheetyou will comeup with a number that remains fairly constant over time. Thus studying the Hamiltonian of a world-sheet (i.e. the state-space given by a constant level of energy) can be very informative in describing both theinformation content and the experiential intensity of DMT experiences.

You can deform a surface without changing its local curvature. (Source: Gauss Remarkable Theorem [seriously not my quotes]). Thus on a DMT trip plateau there is still a lot of room for transformations of the world-sheet into different shapes with similar curvature.

It takes effort and wakefulness to focus on a complex scene with many intricate details. (Reading and trying to comprehend this essaymay itself require significant conscious energy expenditure). For this reason we might say that DMT is an exceedingly effective arouser of consciousness.

One essential property of our minds is that our level of mental arousal decreases when we interpret our experience as expected. People who can enjoy their own minds do so, in part, by finding unexpected ways of understandingexpected things. In the presence of new information that one cannot easily integrate, however, ones level of energy is adjusted upwards so that we try out a variety of different models quickly and try to sort out a model that does make the new information expected (though perhaps integrating new assumptions or adding content in other ways). When we cannot manage togenerate a mental model that works outa likely model of what weare experiencing we tend toremain in an over-active state.

This general principle applies to the world-sheet. One of the predominant ways in which a world-sheetreduces its energy (locally) is by morphing into something you can recognize or interpret. Thus the world-sheet in some way keeps on producing objects, at first familiar, but in higher energies the whole process can seemdesperate or hopeless: one can only recognize things with a stretch of the imagination. Since humans in general lack much experience with hyperbolic geometry, we usually dont manage to imagine objects that are symmetric on their own native geometry. But when we do, and we fill them up with resonant light-mind-energy, then BAM! New harmonics ofconsciousness! New varieties of bliss! Music of the angels! OMG! Laughter till infinity and more- shared across the galaxy- in a hyperbolic transpersonal delight! Its like LSD and N2O! Wow!

Forgive me, it is my first day. Lets carry on. As one does not know any object that the world-sheet can reasonably be able to generate in high doses, and the world-sheet has so much energy on its own, energy can seem to spiralout of control. This explains in part the non-linear relationship between experienced intensity and DMT dose.

Like all aspects of ones consciousness, the negativecurvature of phenomenal space tends to decay over time (possibly through inhibition by the cortex). In this case, the feeling is one of smoothing out the curves andembedding the phenomenal objects in 3D euclidean space. However, this is opposed by the effect that attention and (degrees of) awareness have on our phenomenal sheet, which is to increase its negative curvature. On DMT, anything that attention focuses on will begin branching, copying itself and multiplying, a process that quickly saturates the scene to the point of filling more spatial relationships than would fit in Euclidean 3D.The rate at which this happens is dose-dependent. The higher the dose, the less inhibiting control there is and the more intensethe folding property of attention will be. Thus, for different dosages one reaches different homeostatic levels of overall curvature in ones phenomenal space. Since attention does not stop at any point during a DMT trip (it keeps being bright and intense all throughout) there isnt really any rest period tosit back and see the curvature get smoothed out on its own. Everything one thinks about, perceives or imagines branches out and bifurcate at a high speed.

Every moment during the experience is very hard to grasp because the way one normally does that in usual circumstances is by focusing attention on it and shaping ones world-sheet to account for the input. But here that very attention makes the world-sheetwobble, warp and expand beyond recognition. Thus one might say that during a solid DMT experience one never sees the same thing twice, as the experience continues to evolve. That is, of course, as long as you do not stumble upon (or deliberatively create) stable phenomenal objects whose structure can survive the warping effect of attention.

Subjectively, A says, negative curvature is associated with more energy. Perhaps this curvature happens at a very low level? An example to light up the imagination is using heat to folda sheet of metal(thanks to thermal expansion). Whatever your attention focuses on seems to get heated up (in some sense) and expand as a result. The folding patterns themselvesseem to storepotential energy. Left on their own, this extra energy stored as negative curvature usually dissipates, but on DMT this process is lowered (while the effect of increasing the energy is heightened). Could this be the result of some very very fine-level micro-experiential change that gradually propagates upwards? With the help of our normal mental processes the change in the micro-structure may propagate all the way into seemingly hyperbolic 2D and 3D surfaces.

Perhaps the most important difference between DMT in high doses and other psychedelics is that the micro-structure of consciousness drifts in such a way that tiny Drosteeffectsbubble up into large Mbius transforms.

As noted already, these three algorithmic reductions are not incompatible. We just present them here due to their apparent explanatory power. A lot more theoretical work will be needed to make them quantitative and precise, but we are optimistic. The aim is now to develop an experimental framework to distinguish between the predictions that each candidate algorithmic reduction makes(including many not presented here). This is a work in progress.

In the case of experiential fields such as body feelings, smells and concepts, the hyperbolization takes different forms depending on the algorithmic reduction you use. I prefer the very general interpretation that one experiences hyperbolic information geometry rather than just hyperbolic space. In other words, when we talk about body feelings and so on, on a psychedelic one organizes such information in a hyperbolic relational graph, which also exhibits a negative curvature relative to its normal geometry. Arguing in favor of this interpretation would take another article, so we will leave that for another time.

Gluinga 1-handle is easy on a 2-sphere. Tongue in cheek, stickinga little doughnuton a big ballallows you to grab the sphere and control it in some way. But how do you get a handle on hyperbolic space? The answer is to build hyperbolic manifolds at the core of ones being, by imagining knots very intensely. The higher one is, the more complex the knot one can imagine in detail. Having practiced visualizations of this sort while sober certainly helps. If you imagine the knot with enough detail, you can then stress the environment surrounding it to represent a warpedhyperbolic space. This way yougive life to the complement of the knot(which is almost always hyperbolic!). We postulate that it is possible tostudy in detail the relationship between the knots imagined, and the properties of the experiential worlds that result from their inversion (i.e. thinking about the geometry of the space surrounding the knot rather than the knot itself). A reports that different hyperbolic spaces generated this way (i.e. imagining knots on tryptamines) have different levels of energy, and have unique resonant properties. Different kinds of music feel better in different kinds of hyperbolic manifolds. It takes more energy to light up a hyperbolic space like that, mostly due to its openness. Thisis why using small doses of 2C-B can be helpful to create a positive backbone to the experience (providing the necessary warmth to light up the hyperbolic space). Admittedly MDMA tends to work best, but its use is unadvisable for reasons we will not get into (related to the hedonic treadmill). A healthy combination that both enablesthe visualization of the hyperbolic spaces in a vivid way and also lights them up with positive hedonic tone healthily and reliably has yet to be found.

Relatedly Get a handle on your DMT trip by creating a stabilizing 4Dhyperbolic manifold in four easy steps:

God, the divine, open individualism, the number one, an abstract notion of self, or the thought of existence itself are all thoughts that work as great unifiers of large areas of phenomenal space. Indeed these concepts can allow a person to connect the edges of the hyperbolic space and create a pocket of ones experience that does not seem to have a boundary yet is extremelly open. This may be a reason why such ideas are very common in high levels ofpsychedelia. In a sense, depending on the mind, they have at times the highest recruiting power for your multi-threaded attention.

Beyondmeredesigner synesthesia, the future of consciousness research contains the possibility of exploring alternative geometries for the layout of our experiences. Ones overall level of energy, its manifestation, the allowed invariants, the logic gates, the differences in resonance, the granularity ofthe patterns, and so on, are all parameters that we will get to change in our minds to see what happens (in controlled and healthy ways, of course). The exploration of the state-space of consciousness is sure to lead to a combinatorial explosion. Even with good post-theoretical quantitative algorithmic reductions, it is likely that qualia computing scientists will still find an unfathomable number of distinct prime permutations. For some applications it may be more useful to use special kinds of hyperbolic spaces (like the compliment of certain class of knot), but for others it may suffice to be a little sphere. Who knows. In the end, if a valence economy ends up dominating the world, then the value of hyperbolic phenomenal spaces will be proportional to the level of wellbeing and bliss that can be felt in them. Which space in which resonant mode generates the highest level of bliss? This isan empirical question with far-reaching economicimplications.

I predict that some time in the next century or so manyof the breakthroughs in mathematics will take place in consciousness researchcenters. The ability to utilize arbitrary combinations of qualia with programablegeometry and information content (in addition to our whole range of pre-existing cognitive skills) will allow people to have new semantic primitives related to mathematical structures and qualia systems currently unfathomable to us. In the end, studyingthe mathematics of consciousness and valence is perhaps the ultimate effective altruist endeavor in a world filled with suffering, since reverse-engineering valence would simplify paradise engineering But even in a post-scarcity world, consciousness research will also probablybethe ultimate past time given the endless new discoveries awaiting to be found inthe state-space of consciousness.

*On the unexpected side effects of staring at a cauliflower on DMT: You can get lost in the hyperbolic reality of the (apparent) life force that spirals in a scale-free fractal fashion throughout the plant. The spirals may feel like magnetic vortexes that take advantage of your state to attractyour attention. The cauliflower may pull you into its own world of interconnected fractals, and as soon as you start to trust it, it begins trying to recruit you for the cauliflower cause. The cauliflower may scare you into not eating it, and make you feel guilty about frying it. You may freak out a little, but when you come down you convince yourself that itwas all just a hallucination. That said, you secretly worry it was for real. You may never choose toabstain from eating cauliflowers, but you will probably drop the knife when cooking it. You will break it apart with your own hands in the way you think minimizes its pain. You sometimeswonder whether it experiences agony as it is slowly cooked in the pan, and you drink alcohol to forget. Damn, dont stare at a cauliflower while high on DMT if you ever intend to eat one again.

P.S. Note onOriginality:The onlymention I have been able to find that explicitly connects hyperbolic geometry in a literal sense with DMT (rather than just metaphorical talk of hyperspace) is a 2014 post in the Psychonaut subredit. To my knowledge, no one has yet elaborated to any substantial degree on this interesting connection. That said, Im convinced that during the days that follow a strong trip, psychedelic self-experimentersmay frequently wonder about the geometry of the places they explored. Yet they usually lack any conceptual framework to justify their intuitions or even verbalize them, so they quickly forget about them.

P.S.S. ExampleSelf-Dribbling Basketball:

Self-dribbling basketball

To the right you can see what a self-dribbling basketball looks like. The more you try to grasp what it is, the more curved it gets. Thats because you are adding energy with you attention and you do not have enough recognition ability in this space to lower its energy and reduce the curvature to stabilize it. The curvature is so extreme at times that it produces constant context switches. This is the result of excess curvature being pushed towards the edge of your experience and turning into walls and corridors.

P.S.S.S.: Exampleon world-sheet bending:

See more here:
The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences: Symmetries ...

We are pleased to announce that Human Purpose and Transhuman Potentialis the winner of the Montaigne Medal (Eric Hoffer Book Awards)for most thought-provoking book of 2015.

Ted Chu also won the prestigious Gold Award from IndieFAB, for Best Philosophy Book of 2014

Ted Chu brings an astonishing breadth of philosophical, religious, and technological reflection to bear on the most important questions we could ask.

Ted Chu is a pioneering visionary whose futurist concern deserves close attention.

In my opinion Teds book is absolutely profound in the way it draws upon a dazzling variety of philosophical and scientific resources in order to place humanity within a cosmic evolutionary perspective . . . it is a one-of-a-kind book within my transhumanist library. Nikola Danalyov, Singularity Weblog

Today we face the imminent possibility of transcending our biological form, of becomingor creatingentirely new lifeforms that will overcome our all-too-human limitations. In Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential, Chu makes the provocative claim that the human race is not only an end in itself, but may also be a means to a higher endand that our true purpose is to give rise to our evolutionary successors. Here are key tenets of Chus book.

In this wide-ranging philosophic work, Ted Chu re-examines the question of human purpose in light of the transhuman potentials that science and technology have now placed within our reach.

Dr. Chu argues that we need a deeper understanding of our place in the universe in order to navigate the daunting choices ahead of us that arise from advances in biotechnology, AI, robotics, and nanotechnology. Toward that end, he surveys human wisdom both East and West, traces humanitys long evolutionary trajectory, and breaks new ground in evolutionary theory.

Chu makes us fully aware of the many risks ahead, but offers an original cosmic vision that provides the courage and the perspective we will need to explore the potentials of our posthuman future.Ted Chus elegantly written and well-researched book has, for me at least, the same status as Ray Kurzweils The Singularity Is Near. Even critics of his Cosmic Vision will find Chus book required reading.

Formerly the chief economist at General Motors, Ted Chu was also chief economist for Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the worlds largest sovereign wealth funds. He is currently professor of economics at New York University at Abu Dhabi. During his 25 years as a business economist, Dr. Chu also held positions as macroeconomist for the World Bank and Arthur D. Little. For the last 15 years, his second career has been conducting independent research on the philosophical question of humanitys place in the universe, building on his lifelong interest in the frontiers of evolutionary progress. As part of these research efforts, he founded the nonprofit CoBe (Cosmic Being) Institute in Michigan and serves as a senior scholar at ChangCe, a Beijing-based independent think tank. Born and raised in China, Chu graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai, and earned his PhD in economics at Georgetown University.

Original post:
Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential | A Cosmic Vision ...

You know what they say the modern version of Pascal's Wager is? Sucking up to as many Transhumanists as possible, just in case one of them turns into God. Julie from Crystal Nights by Greg Egan

Transhumanism (or H+), an intellectual movement, is greatly influenced by science fiction and presents an idealistic point of view of what technology could do for humanity in future, not what it can do; it's all hypothetical.[1] Transhumanism explores the benefits and repercussions of what technology could do for humanity; however, it assumes the technological boundaries are nonexistent.[2]

How plausible is transhumanism? In the 1930s, many sensible people were sure human beings would never get to the Moon and that was just one of many predictions that turned out incorrect.[3] Early 21st century people do not know one way or the other what will be possible in the future. However, the scientific claims of transhumanism still need to be examined critically, because some of these technoscientific prophecies may not be plausible.[4]

While frequently dismissed as mere speculation at best by most rationalists[5] (especially in light of the many failures of artificial intelligence), transhumanism is a strongly-held belief among many computer geeks, notably synthesizer and accessible computing guru Ray Kurzweil, a believer in the "technological singularity," where technology evolves beyond humanity's current capacity to understand or anticipate it, and Sun Microsystems founder and Unix demigod Bill Joy, who believes the inevitable result of AI research is the obsolescence of humanity.[6]

Certain recent technological advances are making the possibility of the realization of transhumanism appear more plausible: Scientists funded by the military developed an implant that can translate motor neuron signals into a form that a computer can use, thus opening the door for advanced prosthetics capable of being manipulated like biological limbs and producing sensory information.[7] This is on top of the earlier development of cochlear implants, which translate sound waves into nerve signals; they are often called "bionic ears."[8]

Even DIY transhumanism or 'biohacking' is becoming an option, with people installing magnetic implants, allowing them to feel magnetic and electric fields.[9] Others have taken to wearing belts of magnets, in order to always be able to find magnetic north. Prosthetic limbs with some level of touch are also now being developed, a major milestone. [10]One notable individual whose received magnetic finger implants is Zoe Quinn; [11] the current scientific consensus seems unclear, although humans are not thought to have a magnetic sense, there is a cryptochromeprotein in the eye which could potentially make humans capable of Magnetoreception, like certain other mammals such as mice and cows appear to be. [12]

"Whole brain emulation" (WBE) is a term used by transhumanists to refer to, quite obviously, the emulation of a brain on a computer. While this is no doubt a possibility, it encounters two problems that keep it from being a certainty anytime in the near future.

The first is a philosophical objection: For WBE to work, "strong AI" (i.e. AI equivalent to or greater than human intelligence) must be attainable. A number of philosophical objections have been raised against strong AI, generally contending either that the mind or consciousness is not computable or that a simulation of consciousness is not equivalent to true consciousness (whatever that is). There is still controversy over strong AI in the field of philosophy of mind.[13]

A second possible objection is technological: WBE may not defy physics, but the technology to fully simulate a human brain (in the sense meant by transhumanists, at least) is a long way away. Currently, no computer (or network of computers) is powerful enough to simulate a human brain. Henry Markram, head of the Blue Brain Project, estimates that simulating a brain would require 500 petabytes of data for storage and that the power required to run the simulation would cost about $3 billion annually. (However, in 2008, he optimistically predicts this will be possible in ten years.[14]) In addition to technological limitations in computing, there are also the limits of neuroscience. Neuroscience currently relies on technology that can only scan the brain at the level of gross anatomy (e.g., fMRI, PET). Forms of single neuron imaging (SNI) have been developed recently, but they can only be used on animal subjects (usually rats) because they destroy neural tissue.[15]

First, let me say that Im all in favor of research on aging, and I think science has great potential to prolong healthy livesand Im all for that. But I think immortality, or even a close approximation to it, is both impossible and undesirable.

Another transhumanist goal is mind uploading, which is one way they claim[17][18] we will be able to achieve immortality. Aside from the problems with WBE listed above, mind uploading suffers a philosophical problem, namely the "swamp man problem." That is, will the "uploaded" mind be "you" or simply a copy or facsimile of your mind? However, one possible way round this problem would be via incremental replacement of parts of the brain with their cybernetic equivalents (the patient being awake during each operation). Then there is no "breaking" of the continuity of the individual's consciousness, and it becomes difficult for proponents of the "swamp man" hypothesis to pinpoint exactly when the individual stops being "themselves."

Cryonics is another favorite of many transhumanists. In principle, cryonics is not impossible, but the current form of it is based largely on hypothetical future technologies and costs substantial amounts of money.

Fighting aging and extending life expectancy is possible the field that studies aging and attempts to provide suggestions for anti-aging technology is known as "biogerontology". Aubrey de Grey has proposed a number of treatments for aging. In 2005, 28 scientists working in biogerontology signed a letter to EMBO Reports pointing out that de Grey's treatments had never been demonstrated to work and that many of his claims for anti-aging technology were extremely inflated.[19] This article was written in response to a July 2005 EMBO reports article previously published by de Grey[20] and a response from de Grey was published in the same November issue.[21] De Grey summarizes these events in "The biogerontology research community's evolving view of SENS," published on the Methuselah Foundation website.[22]

Worst of all, some transhumanists outright ignore[citationneeded] what people in the fields they're interested in tell them; a few AI boosters, for example, believe that neurobiology is an outdated science because AI researchers can do it themselves anyway. They seem to have taken the analogy used to introduce the computational theory of mind, "the mind (or brain) is like a computer." Of course, the mind/brain is not a computer in the usual sense.[23] Debates with such people can take on the wearying feel of a debate with a creationist or climate change denialist, as such people will stick to their positions no matter what. Indeed, many critics are simply dismissed as Luddites or woolly-headed romantics who oppose scientific and technological progress.[24]

Transhumanism has often been criticized for not taking ethical issues seriously on a variety of topics,[25] including life extension technology,[26] cryonics,[27] and mind uploading and other enhancements.[28][29] Francis Fukuyama (in his doctrinaire neoconservative days) caused a stir by naming transhumanism "the world's most dangerous idea."[30] One of Fukuyama's criticisms, that implementation of the technologies transhumanists push for will lead to severe inequality, is a rather common one.

A number of political criticisms of transhumanism have been made as well. Transhumanist organizations have been accused of being in the pocket of corporate and military interests.[31] The movement has been identified with Silicon Valley due to the fact that some of its biggest backers, such as Peter Thiel (of PayPal and Bitcoin fame), reside in the region.[32][33] Some writers see transhumanism as a hive of cranky and obnoxious techno-libertarianism.[34][35] The fact that Julian Huxley coined the term "transhumanism" and many transhumanists' obsession with constructing a Nietzschean ubermensch known as the "posthuman" has led to comparisons with eugenics.[36][31] Like eugenics, it has been characterized as a utopian political ideology.[37] Jaron Lanier slammed it as "cybernetic totalism".[38]

Some tension has developed between transhumanism and religion, namely Christianity.[citationneeded] Some transhumanists, generally being atheistic naturalists, see all religion as an impediment to scientific and technological advancement and some Christians oppose transhumanism because of its stance on cloning and genetic engineering and label it as a heretical belief system.[39] Other transhumanists, however, have attempted to extend an olive branch to Christians.[40] Some have tried to reconcile their religion and techno-utopian beliefs, calling for a "scientific theology."[41] There is even a Mormon transhumanist organization.[42]Ironically for the atheistic transhumanists, the movement has itself been characterized as a religion and its rhetoric compared to Christian apologetics.[43][44] Interestingly the word transhuman first appeared in Henry Francis Careys 1814 translation of Paradiso, the last book of the Divine Comedy as Dante ascends to heaven during the resurrection. [45]

The very small transhumanist political movement has gained momentum with Zoltan Istvan announcing his bid for US president, with the Transhumanist Party and other small political parties gaining support internationally.

The important thing about transhumanism is that while a lot of such predictions may in fact be possible (and may even be in their embryonic stages right now), a strong skeptical eye is required for any claimed prediction about the fields it covers. When evaluating such a claim, one will probably need a trip to a library (or Wikipedia, or a relevant scientist's home page) to get up to speed on the basics.[46]

A common trope in science fiction for decades is that the prospect of transcending the current form may be positive, as in Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel Childhood's End or negative, as in the film The Matrix, with its barely disguised salvationist theme, or the Terminator series of films, where humanity has been essentially replaced by machine life. Change so radical elicits fear and thus it is unsurprising that many of the portrayals of transhumanism in popular culture are negative. The cyberpunk genre deals extensively with the theme of a transhumanist society gone wrong.

Among the utopian visions of transhumanism (fused with libertarianism) are those found in the collaborative online science fiction setting Orion's Arm. Temporally located in the post-singularity future, 10,000 years from now, Orion's Arm is massively optimistic about genetic engineering, continued improvements in computing and materials science. Because only technology which has been demonstrated to be impossible is excluded, even remotely plausible concepts has a tendency to be thrown in. At the highest end of the scale is artificial wormhole creation, baby universes and inertia without mass.[47] Perhaps the only arguably positive depiction of transhumanism in video games is the Megaman ZX series where the line between human and reploids has begun to blur. Defining at what point the definition of the the singularity was met in the centuries long Megaman timeline can be a useful way of illustrating how nebulous the terminology is during a debate.

Follow this link:
Transhumanism - RationalWiki

Transhumanism has received significant media attention in recent times not in the least because the one of the movements leaders, Zoltan Istvan, ran for president in 2016 US elections.

But a British PhD candidate has warned of the darker side of a transhumanist future.

Sociologist Alex Thomas of East London University believes that transhumanism will further enforce a societal obsession with progress and efficiency at the expense of social justice and environmental sustainability. In an article published this week in The Conversation, Thomas argues that unbridled technological progress, in which technology become more intrusive and integrate seamlessly with the human body, could lead to a loss of basic societal values such as compassion and a concern for the environment.

Thomas interweaves examples ranging from new military technologies to powerful enhancement medications, arguing that, rather than assisting humanity, these technologies could potentially lead to a mechanisation of humanity and facilitate a subtle form of authoritarian control.

Read more:
The risk of a transhumanist future - BioEdge