Archive

Lincoln Cannon, president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, interviewed with Hank Pellissier of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology on the subject of Mormonism and politics. Two Mormons, Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, are campaigning for President of the United States, with Romney currently favored for the nomination. In recent days their faith has been derided by some as a “cult.” Although Mormonism began in America, and has over 14 million followers internationally, the average American knows little about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

On 13 October 2011 at 4pm eastern, Giulio Prisco will speak on Transhumanism and Religion at Manhattan College in the Rodriguez Room (Miguel 311). Robert Geraci organized the speaking engagement. Giulio’s speech will be a revised and expanded version of the talk he gave on “The Cosmic Visions of the Turing Church” at the Transhumanism and Spirituality Conference 2010. More information is available on Giulio’s blog.

The Mormon Transhumanist Association has appointed Marcus Flinders to the office of general counsel. Marcus is the Founding Attorney of Marcus Flinders Law Firm and specializes in corporate and business law as well as tax planning and litigation. He also has over fifteen years of experience as an entrepreneur and businessman. Marcus holds a BS in Philosophy from Utah Valley University, a JD from Valparaiso University, and an LL.M in Taxation from the University of Denver. Marcus served a mission to Cote d’Ivoire for the LDS Church, is married and has three children.

The Mormon Transhumanist Association has added several member blogs to those aggregated on our web site home page and blog page, as well as to our feeds and social network broadcasts.

Here are the newest additions:

Doe Daughtrey’s “New Age Mormon Pagans: Mormonism and the New Spirituality“

James Carroll’s “Amateur Scriptorians“ and self-named blog

Micah Redding’s “Eminent Human“ and “American Bedouin: King of the Anarchists“

Noah Heninger’s “Finding Mormonism“

Here are the oldies but goodies:

Allen Leigh’s “Convergence of Science and Religion“

Brad Carmack’s “Thoughtproduct in the life of . . .“

Bryant Smith’s “Words from the B Side“

The Mormon Transhumanist Association will hold its next conference in Salt Lake City on 6 April 2012. In past years, the association has sponsored the Mormonism Engineering Conference 2009 and the Transhumanism Spirituality Conference 2010. The Mormon Transhumanist Association Conference 2012 will be the first conference focused explicitly on both Mormonism and Transhumanism. Speakers will include Lincoln Cannon, President, and Chris Bradford, Vice President. Other members of the association and invited speakers will also present. Membership in the association is not required to attend. Additional details will be provided later.

Transcendent Man: A Conversation about the Future with Ray Kurzweil, produced by NCM Fathom, Ptolemaic Productions, and Therapy Studios, will be simulcast to select movie theaters nationwide from Lincoln Center in New York City on August 3rd, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, 6:00 p.m. Mountain, and 8:00 p.m. Pacific (tape-delayed).

To buy tickets to a screening near you, watch the trailer, or get more information, please visit NCM Fathom here.

The Turing Church Online Workshop 2 will be scheduled in November or December 2011, date TBD, with a format similar to the Turing Church Online Workshop 1 on November 20, 2010.

As last year, the Workshop will explore transhumanist spirituality and “Religion 2.0″ as a summit of persons, groups and organizations active in this area.

We hope to see all the panelists and participants in last year’s workshop, and also many more new faces. Fully interactive participation will be free, invitation-only. If you wish to participate, please request to join our mailing list and/or our Facebook group.

Salt Lake City is a new addition to the Singularity Institute’s Summit locations. In March of 2011, with the support and encouragement of Rob and Oksana Brazell, the Singularity Institute held a small event at the Salt Lake Country Club for members of the Young Presidents’ Organization and World Presidents’ Organization, focusing on advanced and highly beneficial medical technologies that seem rarely used or little known. The high quality of the audience and their enthusiastic reaction encouraged organizers so much that the Singularity Summit SLC was born.

The Mormon Transhumanist Association has appointed Brad Carmack to the office of secretary. He was also recently elected to the association’s board of directors.

Brad graduated from the JD/MPA program at BYU in April 2011. He majored in Biology, performed clerk assignments for Justice Joel Horton of the Idaho Supreme Court, and worked as a teacher’s assistant for human resources law, biodiversity, management ethics, and bioethics. Brad is author of “Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective,” available on YouTube and in PDF at [bradcarmack.blogspot.com].

For more information about the Mormon Transhumanist Association, visit [transfigurism.org].

H+ Magazine today published a second interview with Lincoln Cannon, president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. In this second interview, Lincoln explains why he considers Mormonism to be the most Transhumanist among major world religions. He also addresses questions about scriptural interpretation, parallels with other religions, and the problem of evil.