The Modern Cosmism Conference on Saturday October 10 in New York City will be a super must-go event dedicated to a fresh, modern interpretation and formulation of Cosmism. I will be there and give a talk, and if you are in New York next Saturday I hope to see you there!

Modern Cosmism Conference

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2015

Location: New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64 Street, Manhattan, 10023

Register now!

Speakers: Jeremiah P. Ostriker, Ben Goertzel, James J. Hughes, Wendell Wallach, Jay Friedenberg, Randal A. Koene, organizer Vlad Bowen, and yours truly. Other great thinkers and communicators will attend the conference.

Abstract of my talk:

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.

More thoughts here.