Transhumanism: A Breakdown

     So what is Transhumanism anyway and why should you bother to learn such a long syllablous (that's a made up word that means full of syllables like transhumanism or prestidigitation) word?
Transhumanism is the belief that people should take a driving role in their own evolution in the hopes that mankind can reach the singulatiry. The singularity is the point at which our technology has become so complex that it builds on itself at an exponential rate.  Transhumanists hope that the singularity will bring with it advances in medicine and technology that will augment human ability and prolong human life (eventually indefinitely).  There are a number of transhumanist movements and not all of them are technology dominated.  Transhumanist also believe that social, cultural, economic, and political means are needed to have a say in our evolution.  Politics and culture can have a massive impact on our evolution by setting the trends and determining mating habits. While cultural aspects are important in the transhumanist movement technology is the key.
     Over the next few weeks I will focus on where the rubber meets the road in the transhumanist movement; technology.  After all a transhumanist movment is not much of a movement if there is not vehicle by which to guide out evolution.  Technology is this vehicle.  The next blog post will cover Brain Computer Interfaces using the Emotiv Epoch EEG headset.    We will cover the basic technology behind how it works, demonstrate the operation of the device and cover the ethical and moral implications of the spread and maturation of this type of technology to our greater culture.

Wow so I started off a little late and now I am a bit behind. (Who am I kidding I am WAY behind.) Who hasn't been there before?   If only there was something that could make me more efficient. What if there was just some way of thinking that would do it? Or a device that could turn up my intellect the way I turn up the volume on my speakers?

 Over the next few weeks I will be covering technology and methods that attempt to surpass the limit of the human brain.  We will explore the Transhumanist movement to see what the future of the human experience could include.  We will also be doing a number of projects.  We will start with Brain Mapping with an Emotiv Epoch. You have to know what the brain looks like to accurately explore it.  Next we will explore the brains plasticity by adding senses to the human body.  We will be gaining the super power of electromagnetic sensing through the use of magnets affixed to the tips of my fingernails.  Finally the coup de gras, building a device that actually makes you smarter. We will explore tDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stmulation) and build a device that the military uses to increase the learning curve of it's soldiers 2.5 times.  Because when you start off late you have to run twice as fast.