Discoveries - Researchings - Visions - Understandings

Monday, August 17

Richard Mathew Stallman: Copyright vs Community (in 12 Parts)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

QUALITY RMS VIDS!

Richard Stallman giving speech about copyright vs community. That's the last part of the video! Hope you enjoyed RMS speech and learnt sumfin. Still if you wanna know more about him and the Free Software Movement jump onto:
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.fsf.org
http://www.sorbaioli.org/free-software
Oh and i forgot to mention another site during his speech:
http://defectivebydesign.org

Free Software Foundation

Richard Stallman's Personal Home Page

Richard Stallman

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richard Stallman the creator of GNU and Free Software Movement giving a speech on copyright vs community and ethical issues about it. Just note there is silence for 34 seconds so plz wait!

While Richard Matthew Stallman (RMS for short) was interested on giving a speech about this topic, his main background was the development of the GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement. Now I won't be providing much detail as i don't have time. But links are provided to those who are interested:
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.fsf.org
http://www.fsfeurope.org
http://fsfla.org/svnwiki

RMS gives a speech on various other topics. "Copyright vs Community" is just one of them. I recommend you visit:
http://audio-video.gnu.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/bfb72

An article in Wikipedia defines further info on Free Software and has list of progs classed as Free software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Sof...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Sof...
http://www.sorbaioli.org

And and one last thing in his speech he mentioned apart from the speech "Copyright vs Community" is the operating is called Linux (or GNU/Linux as RMS prefers to call it). It is just another operating system compared to a Mac or Windows, but the huge difference is that it is released as Free Software (as like the 4 Freedoms), which Microsoft or Mac OS don't offer. Linux (or GNU/Linux) comes with many different 'distros'. 'Distros' are just like different flavours of the GNU/Linux OS. Now there are literally thousands of distros which i can't possibly list all of it here but you can find it in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_... and http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html#F... Many users who are new to Linux and fret "Oh no I'm gonna have to delete Windows before i try it out!", don't worry! Many distros come with a LiveCD version. LiveCD means you download GNU/Linux, burn it to a CD, reboot the the machine, and you'll be booting it without EVER having to install it in your hard drive. In other words you're booting from the CD and running it ENTIRELY on the CD. And when you're done, you remove the disc, reboot the machine, and you'll be booting to Windows unharmed! To anybody asking me which Linux i use, I use Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com) and PCLinuxOS (http://www.pclinuxos.com), coz it has heaps of drivers (many which are released under a proprietary licence sadly) and all my hardware works out-of-the box.

EDIT: athinasios has just uploaded the same video with Greek subtitles on his channel. Any Greeks having difficulty in understanding English can check it out at http://youtube.com/athinasios

Sunday, August 16

Postgenderism: The Genetic Singularity

Part 1

Script:

My name is Hera. I'm told that I'm lucky to be one from of the last generations of naturally born humans. Genetic modifications were introduced to humanity for the greater good of all, for the elimination of imperfection, I'm told. But I do not feel lucky, because when I was born my mother died. The
complications that occured during my birth were too severe for the doctors to save her. I was forced to grow up without her, and the feelings of guilt continued to haunt me to this day. I did not want this same butden to befall my own future children, so I made a personal vow to never let such a thing happen.

The miracles of science have transformed maternity for the better. The artificial womb has made the violent way of giving birth a thing of the past. Our first child was recently born from a ResurTech Industries exowomb; A baby boy, Ganymedes. We are so fortunate to be living in the light of a new age.

---

I wrote Hera's story as fiction, but the situation it illustrates is based in current scientific fact. It is now 2009, and the creation of artificial wombs is already at an advanced stage. The information that I've come across while working on the story is mind boggling, and it has lead me to understand why this subject is so ambiguous.

"So why has relatively little attention been paid to research that could lead to a major change in reproductive capacity? In fact, much work goes unpublished because of the uproar it might create among activists, politicians, and religious figures for its social implications." -Colleen Carlston, Harvard Science Review, Fall 2008

The fact that scientific progress has been downplayed on purpose is extremely disturbing. This very same article goes on to explain the driving force behind the development of artificial wombs and their broader implications for global society.

"Beyond imagining new world orders, there are also some pragmatic reasons for why artificial wombs might be employed." -Colleen Carlston, Harvard Science Review, Fall 2008

The new world order could revolve around a genetically reengineered human being. Artificial wombs could bring the birth of a new man. Creating "designer babies" would be far easier with artificial wombs. The transhumanist movement openly calls for a posthuman future in which ALL traits of human biology are subject to change, this includes gender.

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a subgroup of the World Transhumanist Association, recently published a white paper entitled "Postgenderism: Beyond the Gender Binary."

The title says it all, as the paper goes into detail about how a gender Singularity is not only possible, but also desirable.

"Postgenderists contend that dyadic gender roles and sexual dimorphisms are generally to the detriment of individuals and society. Assisted reproduction will make it possible for individuals of any sex to reproduce in any combinations they choose, with or without 'mothers' and 'fathers,' and artificial wombs will make biological wombs unnecessary for reproduction."

Postgenderism, transhumanism and some forms of radical feminism have much in common. This report mentions many radical feminists such as Shulamith Firestone, Donna Haraway, and Judith Butler whose views were labeled "cyberfeminism" and "technofeminism" as they advocated for the eventual use of cybernetics and artificials wombs. These things would supposedly bring women greater freedom by removing the pains of childbirth. Ultimately women would also be freed from the "burden" of raising their own children. This would allow them more time to succeed, and gain equality in the workforce.

The report goes on to say that men would also benefit from altering their gender traits. The genetic predisposition toward aggression could be altered to make males more placid, thus making them less prone to injury.

"If the Left program of social reform is to succeed, Singer argues, we must employ the new genetic and neurological sciences to identify and modify the aspects of human nature that cause conflict and competition."

Part 2

SCRIPT:

Changing genetics is not enough, creating the ultimate postgender human requires changing the brain itself. The gendered human brain could be rewired to fit a postgender blueprint.

"but only the blurring and erosion of biological sex, of the gendering of the brain, and of binary social roles by emerging technologies will enable individuals to access all human potentials and experiences regardless of their born sex or assumed gender."

Yes, the technological means to these bizarre ends are being developed. They have been in the works for a long time, and we are now confronted with material like this which illustrates the postgender goals which have fueled research from the very beginning. Transhumanism has taken old postgender ideas and built upon them with the description of far more advanced technologies.

"trans- or post-humans would at least be able to transcend the limitations of biological sex and would eventually be able to transcend the biological altogether into cybernetic or virtual form."

The fact that we already depend highly on virtual worlds, especially in terms of satisfying sexual desires is also mentioned. Virtual sex is touted as being safer, easier, and more customizable than traditional human relationships. The gender binary is slowly eroding as people blend their sexual identity with avatars of a different gender and often a different species. The ultimate revolution in virtual sex would occur when artificial intelligence could simulate the erotic response of a human, making virtual sex indistinguishable from the real thing.

"But the final liberation from dyadic, gendered, heteronormative relationships will likely come about through use of drugs that suppress pair-bonding impulses."

Why would anyone actually put such bold remarks down in writing? Why is the erosion of dualistic gender being sincerely explored by the scientific establishment? Is there a collective subconscious desire to merge the two sexes into one?

(END SCRIPT)

Part 3

The Unified Universॐ - particleion

Question?
Should the Human race abandon it's dual sex?

We would also appreciate any feedback good or bad lets us know what you think.

www.TransAlchemy.com

Co-created By Aaron Franz (ADDTV)
http://youtube.com/addtv

Narrated by:

Melissa Karnaze
http://mindfulconstruct.com/

Postgenderism: Beyond the Gender Binary pdf
http://ieet.org/archive/IEET-03-PostG...