Videos

This presentation explores epigenetics—the study of how environmental factors and experiences alter gene expression without changing DNA sequences. The speaker explains the mechanisms of DNA methylation and histone modification, illustrating how diet, stress, and even famine can leave heritable marks across generations. Drawing on research from the Dutch Hunger Winter and NASA’s twin study, she demonstrates that our ancestors’ experiences literally live on in our cells, shaping everything from metabolism to memory formation.

A second-generation Mormon transhumanist reflects on growing up in the MTA community and calls members to move beyond speculation toward active engagement in building Zion. The speaker reads from the Mormon Transhumanist Affirmation and challenges listeners to consider what stands between them and their divine potential—whether better health, education, or charity. Drawing on Richard Bushman’s concept of “irradiant Mormonism,” the talk encourages members to leverage their diverse talents in service, career, and charitable giving, pointing to resources like 80,000 Hours and Effective Altruism for practical guidance.

This presentation proposes that Joseph Smith believed his firstborn son Alvin held special rights to the golden plates because Joseph saw himself as fulfilling the biblical levirate law—raising up seed to his deceased brother Alvin, who had been present when Moroni first appeared and died shortly thereafter. The speaker uses abductive reasoning to argue that Joseph’s marriage to Emma was itself an adaptation of this ancient practice, making their union spiritually polygamous from the start. This hypothesis offers explanatory power for several puzzles in early Mormon history, including Joseph’s outsized expectations for his firstborn son, his need to marry Emma before obtaining the plates, and the later development of proxy work for the dead and plural marriage.

Giulio Prisco explores the speculative physics and technology that might one day enable the resurrection of the dead, using his ancestor Eduardo Scarpeta as a personal example. Drawing on concepts from string theory, higher-dimensional physics, and the film Interstellar, he imagines future beings with access to the fourth spatial dimension who could scan information from the past and restore individuals to life. Prisco frames technological resurrection not as imminent but as a far-future possibility—one that invites hope rather than passive waiting, much like early science fiction inspired the eventual reality of space travel.

James Carroll presents the 2018 statistical report for the Mormon Transhumanist Association, revealing 794 total members with 73 voting members. The report analyzes membership trends, website traffic, and social media engagement, noting that interest has shifted from web to social platforms. Carroll also shares results from a survey comparing MTA demographics to Pew’s Religious Landscape data, finding that members are predominantly middle-aged, highly educated, male, and politically liberal compared to Mormons in general. He concludes by discussing the organization’s need to clarify its purpose—whether to focus on growth or providing services to existing members—and calls for strategies to engage the next generation.

James Hughes reflects on the addictive nature of genealogy research, the quantum uncertainty of ancestral connections, and what it means to venerate our ancestors in a transhumanist context. Drawing on his personal experience with misattributed paternity cases and genetic testing, he argues that after just a few centuries, most genealogical connections become statistically hypothetical—yet this dissolution of certainty can be liberating rather than distressing. Hughes suggests that our duty is not to preserve a fixed genome or set of values for future generations, but to be responsible stewards of civilization while embracing the radical differences our descendants will inevitably embody.

The speaker presents a speculative fiction concept exploring a future Mormon practice of “redeeming the dead” through technological resurrection. In the story, a man named Scott Cahoon dies in a car accident and experiences a near-death vision where he encounters his ancestors stretching back through human evolution to single-celled organisms. Upon awakening in the year 2432, he learns that a future religious community has been systematically resurrecting their ancestors by compiling their life data—a technological fulfillment of genealogical work. The narrative serves as a transhumanist myth, offering a telos that combines traditional religious themes of ancestral connection with emerging possibilities for digital preservation and resurrection.

A therapist who practices dialectical behavioral therapy, the speaker examines his own resistance to technological resurrection despite being drawn to Mormon transhumanism. He applies dialectical thinking to death itself, proposing that death might be both monster and friend—something to be overcome in certain contexts while also serving important functions. Drawing on acceptance and commitment therapy, Buddhist philosophy, and the Gaia hypothesis, he suggests that the real problem may not be death itself but our fear of it and our clinging to narrow definitions of life and self.

In this presentation, the speaker contends that Christ’s command to “raise the dead” should be understood as a literal call to collaborative action rather than mere verbal faith. He outlines a “resurrection by family history” thought experiment: historians develop increasingly detailed and accurate models of deceased persons, with future technologies—perhaps including “quantum archaeology”—eventually producing reconstructions practically indistinguishable from the original individuals. He addresses philosophical objections about identity, continuity, and copies, arguing that technological resurrection is consistent with both Mormon theology and the Church’s longstanding genealogical work.

Michaelann Gardner reflects on how intergenerational trauma—passed down through her alcoholic grandfather and great-grandfather—continues to shape her family’s struggles with emotional vulnerability and security. Rather than fleeing from this difficult heritage, she argues that redemption comes through embracing one’s particular history: “We live in details, not abstractions.” Using Beyoncé’s Lemonade as an illustration, Gardner contends that healing emerges when we connect ourselves to our past and to each other, transforming inherited pain into strength for future generations.