My essay “Christianity and Transhumanism are much closer than you think” has provoked some interesting discussions. Among the most interesting, a discussion about how Hinduist ideas about reincarnation and Christian ideas about resurrection could co-exist.
I haven’t posted for a while because I have been studying and focusing on my forthcoming book, but I want to say something about my current studies and thoughts on physics, divine action, and resurrection, inspired by observations and comments by readers, especially Spud.
I have long been persuaded that there are strong parallels between transhumanism and religion, not only “new” religions but the traditional religions of our grandfathers as well. There are, of course, differences, but I prefer to emphasize the parallels. After some deep reading and thinking, I realize that Christianity and Transhumanism are closer than I thought, and much closer than you probably think.
“[Nikolai Fedorov]’s idea that space travel might be part of a larger transhuman evolution is a familiar one today, from both science fiction and science speculation,” notes an essay titled “Resurrecting Nikolai Fedorov,” by Nader Elhefnawy. “This means not only achieving immortality, but restoring all the people who have ever walked the Earth to life so that they may share the gift as well, making the heaven of the afterlife a physical reality.”
Editor’s note: this delightful short story is a new year present from Stephen Kagan, the author of the mystically beautiful VR/AI novel “Augmented Dreams, the Singularity Palimpsest “. Stephen says: “This story has taken extensive thinking, imagination and meditation to craft. It was inspired by some of your work, beginning with Religion for the Cosmic Frontier, combined with some of Ben’s Manifesto, and some of my conversations with you. My goal was to create the grandest vision I can build for our cosmic future, in some ways beyond even what Stapledon created in StarMaker… Becoming godlike and becoming God…”
Editor’s note: this delightful short story is a new year present from Stephen Kagan, the author of the mystically beautiful VR/AI novel “Augmented Dreams, the Singularity Palimpsest “. Stephen says: “This story has taken extensive thinking, imagination and meditation to craft. It was inspired by some of your work, beginning with Religion for the Cosmic Frontier, combined with some of Ben’s Manifesto, and some of my conversations with you. My goal was to create the grandest vision I can build for our cosmic future, in some ways beyond even what Stapledon created in StarMaker… Becoming godlike and becoming God…”
I think religions that provide hope in personal resurrection – either traditional religions based on the “supernatural” or modern, Cosmist religions based on science, might be our best protection from reckless pursuit of superintelligence and other risky technologies.
Our dear friend Dan Massey is no longer with us. We mourn a Renaissance man interested in everything under the stars, a visionary thinker, a relentless social activist, a scientist, a teacher, and a friend.
Can science resurrect the dead? — an article by eldras, the developer of the awesome, sprawling Quantum Archaeology website. Quantum Archaeology (QA) is the controversial science of resurrecting the dead, including their memories, by means of future science and technology.