"Transhumanist Day" in Second Life

Submitted by Hoza on June 5, 2006 - 3:28pm

I'll be honest... I don't know how to present this info. To just touch the surface of this topic seems to do it injustice, however, to dig deeper into researching what "transhumanism" is all about (or Wikipedia: Transhumanism) would take far more energy than I have inside me to allocate to that end. However, I'm not against bringing up a huge topic and pointing you in a direction with a pat on the butt... "go get 'em, kiddo!" So here goes the gentle pat...

There's a new island opening up in Second Life called Uvvy Island. If you're a SL junkie, that might mean something to you, but for me, it's not the point where my interest takes hold. Here's where I learned a new word: "The opening event (Wednesday June 7, 2006, 2 pm EST) will be a 'Transhumanist Day' dedicated to promoting the transhumanist worldview and outlining its scientific and philosophical roots." Umm.. a transwhat?

So let's dig a little deeper into what a transhumanist is: (from the first link above)

Transhumanism is a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively early phase. [read more here]

See what I mean about dropping a huge topic and then running like a chicken?? Here's where I start running... If you're more interested in the concept of "transhumanism" and you want to take part in the Transhumanist Day in SL, you'll find everything you need to know from the Uvvy Island opening announcement (same link as above). This will also be a voice-enabled event sponsored by Vivox, but you'll need to get that set up ahead of time if you want to participate... details for Vivox/SL support is here. If you're a SL user and you like voice chat tech, you'll want to get Vivox support turned on anyway. It's really cool tech that I saw in-depth at GDC and have yet to discuss here. In fact, you can call out from the game (I know, it's not a "game") to users of Skype-like services. Nice. But I digress...

So, I'll try to dig further into the whole transhumanism thing and see if I can muster more opinions on the subject. It's intriguing, to say the least. Run back here to post comments about the event if you go, please! Love to hear reactions. (I'm going to try to hit it, too.)