February 24, 2005

Links for Feb 24/05

The Revolt Against Human Nature (Christian Post)
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. writes in the Christian Post about the "frightening" potential for transhumanism and the potential reshaping of humanity.

Cyborgization, Revisited (Tech Central Station)
Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes in Tech Central Station of why he's grateful for cybernetic technologies. [People tend to get all warm and cuddly with biotech when they clue into the fact that it will save their lives or those of their loved ones.]

No Gene Is An Island (NeoFiles)
Howard Bloom In Conversation with R.U. Sirius

Creatures Frozen for 32,000 Years Still Alive (MSBNC)
Deep-freeze bacteria could point to new methods of cryogenics while providing insight into the sort of biology that might exist on Mars and other planets and moons.

The Genetic Insurance Racket (Reason)
Ronald Bailey wonders if genetic testing will destroy the insurance market.

A Universe of Sounds (Technology Review)
A new radio telescope array has been developed by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the University of California at Berkeley that will shed some cosmic noise, and give scientists a better view of one million stars scattered throughout the universe.

Space Colonization: The Quiet Revolution (Space.com)
An initial step towards the creation of mass transit beyond our planet is the emerging public space travel market.

Unintelligent Design (NY Times)
Jim Holt just slams ID.

The Giant Tortoise's Tale (Guardian)
In the first of three essays written on a recent journey to the Galápagos Islands, Richard Dawkins considers one of the extraordinary creatures that helped inspire Darwin's theory of evolution

To Know Science is to Love it (Nature)
Bolstering support for the field remains a thorny problem

Moving Stem Cells Front and Center (NY Times)
Hans S. Keirstead might be the Pied Piper of stem cells - and not just because he makes rats walk.

The Unexpectant Father (Globe & Mail)
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning that a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. He cannot claim theft, however, the ruling said Wednesday, because the sperm were the woman's to keep.

1 comment:

  1. Just read your article on "Bladerunner Brilliance". A well made movie, but hardly the epiphany you describe. It is easy to sound profound when you are making sweeping statements about creation and life in general but I find the concepts behind Blade Runner to be pretty much incomprehensible, and pretty much irrelevant. Maybe thats just me.... My personal favorite would be Johnny Mneumonic, though I do have to admit the acting was waaaay better in Bladerunner....the concepts were simpler, and more realistic in "Johnny". You make a better soldier by ...how? Building him like God from the ground up like in Blade Runner, or for that matter, "Universal Soldier", or with real technology like in Bill Gibson's "Johnny Mnumonic". Build stronger bones with that chemical which triggers bone growth instead of fat cell growth....build stamina with gene splicing....build speed with "Chiba implants (whaterver they are but I bet somebody has an idea!)" Build power with steroid patches or other chemicals which trick the body into developing differently than usual.
    "Johnny" was just a short story in Bill Gibson's collection of short stories in the book "Burning Chrome", which dealt with dozens of other issues...such as "what do you do with ex-fighter pilots when they retire, and are no longer "jacked into" their machines?
    Not quite sure WHAT a trans-humanist actually is, but I SUSPECT that Bill Gibson is one.

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