Science & Society

Transhumanism- Ray Kurzweil And The Singularity

I've been trying to figure out why "transhumanists" and their predictions irritate me so much.  Perhaps it's seeing humanity reduced to a simplistic engineering problem to be solved.  Or maybe it's the love affair that appears to b ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Sep 7 2009 - 1:38pm

Interlude 3: More Science Webtoons

As a relaxing Friday treat, here are two science-related webtoons from occasionally NSFW  Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.  Fortunately, these two are appropriate for all ages.  We are given the true shape of the universe, and learn deep truths about mel ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Sep 4 2009 - 12:36pm

Hegemony, Technology and the Future: The Theories and Technological Research

Some people believe in fate, others don’t. I do and I don’t. I may seem at times as if invisible fingers move us about like puppets on strings. But for sure, we are not born to be dragged along. We can grab the strings ourselves and adjust our course at e ...

Blog Post - Eric Bock Hyde - Sep 9 2009 - 5:09pm

Problems of Transhumanism- Augmenting Intelligence

One of the favorite themes in transhumanist discussions is considering the melding of human intellect with "machine intelligence" to arrive at superhuman abilities.   Right from the beginning we have a few problems.  We don't really know wha ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Sep 5 2009 - 3:01pm

Nothing Lifts Sales Like Cephalopods

Apparently, for a week in 2006 the UK newspaper The Guardian gave away wallcharts (=posters) as a promotional gambit to drum up readership. It seems the charts were all nature-themed, with a strong marine component and significant cephalopod representation ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 6 2009 - 12:03am

Citizen Science Family Leads To Discovery Of A Lost Bug

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in citizen science was certainly not on the minds of 6-year-old Alyson Yates and her mom, Kate, when they stepped out into their back yard one day to scout for ladybugs. ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Sep 8 2009 - 9:55am

District 9: Private World Government and Our Future

The 2009 movie District 9 is a metaphor for what might be an evolved version of the world federalist government we have today.  Some time before the 1990s, conflicts were mainly fought between nationalized groups.  However the private province of war has t ...

Blog Post - Eric Bock Hyde - Sep 14 2009 - 11:38pm

Science!= Hard?

I ran into an interesting linguistic stumbling block.  I'll call it the "It's science, so it must be hard" frame of mind.  I wrote to some friends and family about this project, saying: I'm launching a satellite for fun, to make mu ...

Article - Project Calliope - Sep 8 2009 - 3:01pm

Ideas And Ideologies

There is little doubt that, in modern times, scientific knowledge is at a peak from any other period in human history.   However, there are also other factors that need to be considered.  50.3% of Americans believe in angels while 49.7 % believe in aliens. ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Sep 8 2009 - 7:09pm

Would You Let A Trainee Operate On You If It Could Be Done Quicker? Apparently, Yes

One of the biggest concerns about president Obama's government health insurance plan is that both quality and waiting lists will suffer in return for broader access.    It turns out patients in the UK, where they already have government-run health car ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 9 2009 - 10:35am