A character in Ken MacLeod’s 1998 novel The Cassini Division refers to the Singularity as “the Rapture for nerds” (though it should be duly noted that in that novel the Singularity occurs anyway!). This represents a moderately recurrent meme in certain circles – to denigrate transhumanism by comparing it to extreme religious notions. But not all transhumanists consider such comparisons wholly off-base. While transhumanism differs from traditional religions in being based around reason more centrally than faith, it does have some commonality in terms of presenting a broad vision of the universe, with implications on the intellectual level but also for everyday life. And it does present at least some promise of achieving via science some of the more radical promises that religion has traditionally offered – immortality, dramatic states of bliss, maybe even resurrection.
A host of transhumanist thinkers have explored the connections between transhumanism and spirituality, seeking to do so in a manner that pays proper respect to both. One of the most prominent among these has been Giulio Prisco, an Italian physicist and computer scientist, who is the author of the much-read transhumanist/spiritual essay “Engineering Transcendence”, and the leader of the online transhumanist/spiritual discussion group The Turing Church. It was largely due to Giulio’s gentle prodding that last year I wrote my little book A Cosmist Manifesto, summarizing my own views on futurist philosophy, including musings at the transhumanism/spirituality intersection. Giulio wrote a brief review/summary of that book for this magazine. So last month when I decided to interview Giulio for the magazine, it was just the next step in our ongoing conversation!
Giulio has a rich history in the transhumanist community, including a period as a Board member of the World Transhumanist Association (the previous incarnation of Humanity+ [http://humanityplus.org], the organization behind this magazine), and a brief stint as Executive Director. He’s also a Board member of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and the Associazione Italiana Transumanisti. And in addition to his passion for transhumanism, he has pursued a very successful career in science and engineering, including a position as a senior manager in the European Space Administration, and his current work as a software and business consultant.
BEN GOERTZEL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Goertzel
OK, let’s jump right into it! Could you sum up in a few sentences why you think the intersection of transhumanism and spirituality is so important?
GIULIO PRISCO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Prisco
A few years ago I sumarized my first thoughts about the intersection of transhumanism and spirituality in an article on “Engineering Transcendence”, which has been published online in many different places. A few months ago I have drafted a list of Ten Cosmist Convictions, which you have substantially edited, improved and included your great Cosmist Manifesto. These are my convictions about the intersection of transhumanism and spirituality.
In summary: Our universe is a very big place with lots of undiscovered and unimagined “things in heaven and earth” which science will uncover someday, and perhaps in this mysterious and beautiful complexity there is room for spirituality and even for the old promises of religions, such as immortality and resurrection.
Or perhaps not: the Cosmist Convictions are not predictions but objectives that we may achieve sooner, later, or never. I don’t know if superintelligence, uploading, immortality and the resurrection of the dead from the past will ever be technically possible. But I think these concepts are basically compatible with the laws of fundamental physics, and contemplating these possibilities can make us happy which is a good and useful outcome in itself.
Perhaps our wildest transhumanist dreams will never be achieved, but we should do our best to achieve them. Even if death is unavoidable and irreversible, we can still be happy by seeing ourselves as a small part of a big cosmic computation which, in some sense, exists beyond time, has existed, will exist, has existed in the future, will exist in the past… Death is not really a big deal, but we must do our best to cure and conquer it and become immortal… or die trying.
I am a theoretical physicist by training, and my worldview is strictly materialist with no room for the supernatural. Actually, I am quite a pragmatist and a positivist: I don’t know, or care, what “Reality” is, let alone “Truth”. I only know that, under certain conditions, some models give better predictions than others and help building more useful machines. Therefore I value scientific and philosophical views not on the basis of their “objective truth”, whatever that is, but on the basis of their utility. I don’t have problems accepting my own interpretation of spiritual transhumanism, because I don’t have conflicting a-priori metaphysical convictions.
Following William James, one of my favorite thinkers, I think a spiritual worldview based on the contemplation of transcendence can help us living better, happier and more productive lives, which is what really matters. But transcendence must be something that we build for ourselves, with science and technology.
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http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/02/08/technological-transcendence-an-interview-with-giulio-prisco/
http://vimeo.com/17779362 VIDEO CON GIULIO PRISCO
VEDI ANCHE: http://guide.supereva.it/controcultura/interventi/2010/04/umanesimo-scientifico-intervista-a-giulio-prisco
http://vimeo.com/16587980 VIDEO TRANSVISION THE FIRST DAY
