The Institute for Religion in the Age of Science presents Our Transhuman Futures.

Conference Themes:

Wearable Technologies and the Quantified Self Human-Robot Interaction and the Future of Human Labor Morphological and Cognitive Enhancements to the Human Base Model Political and Religious Reactions to the Emergent Transhuman

Program Statement and Daily Schedule

To be human is to evolve. Our species’ evolutionary niche is to enhance itself technologically. Humanity’s manipulation of its own development goes to our very roots. We are transhuman at our core.

The digital revolution intensifies our evolutionary transformation beyond anything we have ever seen. The boundaries between ourselves and our tools are being rendered obsolete. It is exhilarating to think through the consequences of experimenting with our own design. It is also frightening to many. This conference explores the near future of our quest to redesign ourselves.

H+ has long since outgrown the narrow domains of scientists and philosophers. It now inhabits engineering schools. It fertilizes computer science programs. It generates highly lucrative business opportunities. Its rhetoric is to be found in biological research, psychiatric and psychological fields, and social engineering experiments. Its agendas inform our cinema, our literature, and our fashion. H+has crossed into the mainstream of our culture.

Each day of the conference will be dedicated to a specific area of interest to transhumanists. These areas are Wearable Computing and the Quantified Self, Human-Robot Interaction and the Future of Human Labor, Morphological and Cognitive Enhancement of the Human Base Model, Political and Religious Reactions to the Emergence of the TRanshuman. Along with keynotes on these areas, ample sessions for participant papers and poster presentations are scheduled. Finally, interest groups centered on specific technologies, art, fashion, and design work will offer many adjunct opportunities for learning and just plain fun .