It seems that traditional cultures have their "eternal verities" - things that seem to be immutably true about fundamental aspects of the human condition. I put the words "eternal verities" in scare quotes because some of these things may not be verities at all, and certainly not eternal ones. And they won't be ...

(Crossposted from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.)  Note: this paper was written for the context of Australia's current soul-searching about its future, but I believe that it is applicable, with very little change, to every contemporary (supposedly) liberal society.  DO WE WANT A TRULY LIBERAL SOCIETY? AUSTRALIA'S ...

(Reposted from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.)  Now and then - much more often than I'd like - I come across a claim to the effect that science is merely "a way of describing the world, among other ways." This bold claim is usually made by an academic in literary or cultural studies, but sometimes by somebody from ...

Getting Things Done: Time management for productivity success and increased focus. Winning at the game of work and business of life. Promo video for Allen's books and lectures. See also www.43folders.com for more innovative (and free) ideas to increase your efficiency.

http://www.ted.com Here's one of those talks that can change your view of the world forever. Starting with the deceptively simple story of an ant, Dan Dennett unleashes a dazzling sequence of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of ''memes'' -- a term coined by Richard Dawkins for mental concepts that are literally alive and capable ...

Cross-posted from Sentient Developments. This article is partly adapted from my TransVision 2007 presentation, “Whither ET? What the failing search for extraterrestrial intelligence tells us about humanity's future.” The Fermi Paradox is alive and well. As our sciences mature, and as the search for ...

A MEDITATION ON THE WILL TO BECOME IMMORTAL... a love letter to science and philosophy that explores the idea of engineered radical life extension and biological immortality... by Jason Silva. www.myspace.com/maxandjason

(Crossposted from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.)  The New York Times review of Michael Sandel's The Case against Perfection by William Saletan gets things about half right, as Saletan says of Sandel himself. In fact, I'd go a bit further and say that Saletan gets things about two thirds right. Saletan is generally correct ...

The life and ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche.

(Crossposted with minor modifications from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.)  (This is the first draft of my final section of my final chapter of my current study of human enhancement technologies. Given that this is the climax, I've allowed myself to write with a bit more of a rhetorical flourish than usual.) Throughout this ...