I am back from the Modern Cosmism Conference last Saturday in New York. I will write more soon and hopefully share a video as well, but now I want to congratulate the Cosmism Foundation for the excellent organization, and share the slides of my talk.

UPDATE: The video is online

Minimalist, Open, Extensible Cosmism

Abstract: I will argue that intelligent life among the stars might be advanced beyond our understanding and able to influence space-time events anytime, anywhere, including here and now, steer the evolution of the physical universe with space-time engineering, resurrect the dead from the past, and elevate love and compassion to the status of fundamental forces, key drivers for the evolution of the universe.

Far future generations of evolved, post-biological humans might spread to the stars and join the community of extremely advanced civilizations. This Cosmist vision, based on science, is essentially equivalent to religion and can play a similar role.

I will present the work of the Turing Church, a working group that operates at the intersection of highly imaginative science, technology, and spirituality, to outline a minimalist, open, extensible Cosmist vision based on science but able to offer the emotional benefits of religion without the flaws of many traditional religions. Finally, I will discuss possible options and strategies to offer mental and emotional wellness, based on our Cosmist vision, to a wider audience.