Ever since I discovered SF as a young child I’ve gravitated toward a world-view that I would now call “radical futurism.” Basically what this means is: A perspective holding that advanced technology is likely to lead to dramatic changes in human bodies, minds and societies … including changes and evolutions that may go far beyond what we consider human, and may reveal expansive and critical aspects of the universe we can’t currently imagine.
My little 2010 book A Cosmist Manifesto summarizes key aspects of this radical futurist view on the universe.
This page gathers links to some mostly pretty accessible, easy-to-digest background reading that I feel may be useful for bringing "newbies" up to speed on some of the main currents of modern radical futurist thinking.
When assembling these links I was heavily biased toward articles that were short, punchy and don't require much technical background; but in a few cases I chose articles deviating slightly from these properties, because I wanted to include a certain topic and couldn't find anything sufficiently "short + simple + explanatory" on that topic.
Omission of an article or its author here should certainly not be taken as a negative statement. There is a lot of arbitrariness in any such assemblage.
Nearly all of the authors included here have also written a bunch of other relevant stuff, and/or given a bunch of relevant talks, so searching these authors' names on the Net will dig up a lot of other relevant material.
I thought, for a bit, about assembling these articles (perhaps plus or minus a few) into a sort of “Intro to Transhumanism” text or some such. Maybe that will happen one day. But for now, it's a lot easier to assemble a blog post / webpage … so here goes…
Transhumanism
A classic call for transhumanist action by Max More, the main author of the formal philosophy of transhumanism…
A Letter to Mother Nature
A humorous argument against trans-simianism by some conservative apes:
A Thinking Ape's Critique of Trans-Simianism
The Transhumanist Declaration, a brief list of principles of the philosophy of transhumanism, co-authored by a number of transhumanist thinkers associated with the Extropy Institute and the "World Transhumanist Organization", an organization more recently re-named "Humanity+"
The Transhumanist Declaration
Giulio Prisco and I briefly summarize our Cosmist philosophy of life, the universe and everything:
Ten Cosmist Convictions
Exponential Advance & the Singularity
The classic article by Vernor Vinge from 1993, that introduced the notion of the "Technological Singularity":
The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era
Richard Loosemore and I argue why an "intelligence explosion" leading to a technological Singularity is a plausible thing to expect:
Why an Intelligence Explosion is Probable
Singularitarian wizard Eliezer Yudkowsky briefly reflecting on The Power of Intelligence — and his beautiful, slightly rambling classic essay Staring Into the Singularity written at age 17
Inventor and Singularity pundit Ray Kurzweil summarizes his argument that the Singularity is near, based on studying the exponential advancement of various critical technologies:
The Law of Accelerating Returns
Jose' Cordeiro on the "Energularity", the exponential increase in energy consumption going along with the Singularity:
The Energularity
I argued that we could create a Singularity in less than a decade, with a concerted effort focused on creating advanced artificial general intelligence:
Ten Years to the Singularity, If We Really, Really Try
Max More argues that a gradual Surge is more likely than a sudden Singularity,
Singularity and Surge Scenarios
Futurist John Smart argues that once a species passes its Singularity, it probably vanishes from the sort of physical domain we live in, and enters orders of being more supportive of massive intelligence, such as perhaps the interiors of black holes:
The Transcension Hypothesis:Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations May Invariably Leave Our Universe, and Implications for METI and SETI.
Radical Life Extension & Expansion
Transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom, writing in 2002 on the website fightaging.org, summarized the reasons for trying to eliminate aging quite succinctly:
The Case Against Aging
Bostrom's charming, insightful fable about the value of combating aging:
The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant
Aubrey de Grey, currently the planet's leading advocate of life extension research, argues in more detail why the end of aging is an important thing to be focusing on:
Old People Are People Too: Why It Is Our Duty to Fight Aging to the Death
Aubrey briefly summarizes his notion of the "Methuselarity", as distinct from (though potentially coupled with) the Singularity,
The Methuselarity and Longevity Escape Velocity
Life Extension Magazine's review of Aubrey's book "Ending Aging" gives a quick summary of its main points and themes
Ending Aging:The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime
An article I wrote a couple years ago, discussing some ways that AI can help advance the cause of radical human longevity.
AIs, Superflies and the Path to Immortality
Natasha Vita-More considers how the human body may get intentionally morphed and evolved as technology advances:
Designing Human 2.0
Biologist Joao Pedro de Magalhaes’ reflections on the quest for super longevity, The Grandparents of Tomorrow .. and see also his superlongevity reading list and his whole site senescence.info
Nanotechnology & Synthetic Biology
The first chapter of nanotech pioneer Eric Drexler's classic 1986 popular-audience book on nanotech, Engines of Creation
An Overview of Nanotechnology, from the Foresight Institute
Josh Hall's tantalizing concept of nanotech Utility Fog
Two Indian scientists, Paras Chopral and Akhil Kamma, put together a very clear overview of the emerging field of synthetic biology -- which may be considered a special variety of nanotechnology. — Engineering life through Synthetic Biology
Christian Schafmeister’s uniquely visionary approach to nanotech, based on spiroligomer molecules that are like proteins but with highly predictable folding and other properties very useful for engineering — Building an Artificial Immune System
Ulrich Keiser on the fascinating art/science of DNA Origami
Robert Freitas on his pioneering design concepts for medical nanobots
AI & Robotics
Robotics pioneer Hans Moravec speculates about the future of robotics:
Robots, After All
AI researcher Josh Hall reflects on machine ethics, and the desirability of creating AIs that are not only smarter than people but also more ethical:
Ethics for Machines
Pei Wang's overview of the modern field of Artificial General Intelligence:
Artificial General Intelligence: A Gentle Introduction
David Hanson and colleagues on the greatness and value of closely human-like humanoid robots, written in the context of the legendary Philip K. Dick simulacrum bot — Upending the Uncanny Valley
My slightly technical summary and overview of the Artificial General Intelligence field
My thoughts in 2020 on what major steps still need to be taken to get from here to AGI: From Here to Human-Level AGI in Four (Not All That) Simple Steps.
… and my thoughts on getting From Narrow AI to AGI via Narrow AGI
Mind Uploading & Brain Computer Interfacing
Neuroscientist Randal Koene on the feasibility and desirability of mind uploading (note, he prefers the phrase "substrate independent minds"):
A Window of Opportunity
Neuroscientist Ken Hayworth summarizes (in an erudite, witty, and scientifically sound way) the argument that mind uploading really does comprise a meaningful form of radical life extension:
Killed By Bad Philosophy
In case you die before mind uploading becomes feasible, cryonics may be the best option, as noted by SF author and physicist Gregory Benford in this brief essay:
Considering Cryonics
Giulio Prisco's humorous but heartfelt reflection on the possibility of getting mind-uploaded from the texts and videos one has left behind:
Mind Uploading via Gmail
A brief article I wrote eons ago bout brain-computer interfacing:
Brain-Computer Interfacing: From Prosthetic Limbs to Telepathy Chips
The Global Brain & the Transformation of Society
Francis Heylighen, probably the foremost proponent of the "Global Brain" concept, outlines his vision:
From World-Wide Web to Global Brain
Me and my dad and my oldest son on the Global Brain and the next steps in the global economy,
Some whimsical thoughts about being a neuron in the Global Brain:
I’m Just another Neuron in the Goddamn Global Brain
In Chapter One of his classic book The Transparent Society, SF writer and futurist David Brin summarizes his vision of a future characterized by "sousveillance", in which privacy is gone and everyone watches everyone:
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?
Modern-Day Luddism
It's also worthwhile to know what some of the more intelligent opponents of the development of radical-futurist technology have been saying:
Technologist Bill Joy's classic essay, arguing for halting various sorts of technology development to preserve the Earth for humans in our current form:
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us
A newspaper column co-written by Bill Joy and Ray Kurzweil, urging the government not to release genetic information on dangerous viruses:
Recipe for Destruction
In an interview summarizing the key themes of his book "Enough", environmentalist Bill McKibben argues that advanced technology development has gone far enough:
"We Are Plenty Good Enough"
Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier on The Myth of AI
Existential Risks
Nick Bostrom's classic article on the risks advanced technology may pose to humanity as a whole:
Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios
Hugo de Garis's forecast of a war between pro and anti advanced technology forces:
The Coming Artilect War
The Singularity Institute for AI, a California futurist organization, views advanced AI as a major existential risk; these brief comments by Michael Anissimov summarize some of the reasons why:
Why Is AI Dangerous?
Seth Baum’s in-depth, moderately technical (but still accessible to the patient layperson) analysis of the spectrum of existential risks associated with advanced AI: A Model of Pathways to Artificial Superintelligence Catastrophe for Risk and Decision Analysis
The Ultimate Nature of the Universe
Nick Bostrom gives a brief summary of his fairly compelling argument that we probably live in some sort of computer simulation:
The Simulation Argument: Why The Probability That We Are Living In a Matrix is Quite High
Giulio Prisco argues for the creation of a new spirituality embracing radical transhumanist ideas:
Engineering Transcendence
Euryphysics — My own attempt at a model of the broader universe encompassing human and posthuman and transhuman realities
Weaver and Kabir Veitas’s model of a post-individual post-human radical futurist universe, the World of Views
Some Pretty Good Books
Finally I’d be remiss if I didn’t put a plug in for my own non-technical radical-futurist books as well, beyond the Cosmist Manifesto I already linked above:
“The AGI Revolution" , which verges on to various radical-futurist topics beyond AGI as well
Between Ape and Artilect, a collection of dialogues with other AGI researchers and advanced technologists and scientists on the radical future
A book I edited with my dad, The End of the Beginning: Life, Society and Economy on the Brink of the Singularity
The Path to Posthumanity, with Stephan Bugaj, published way back in 2005 (and incorporating improved versions of various articles I wrote for Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung during 2001-2004, when the late great Frank Schirrmacher was the editor)