transhumanism is a huge field encompassing many topics and arguments. concsiousness, what does it mean to be human, bio ethics, genetic modifications, nanotechnology, science, future technologies, spirituality, information technology, biopolitics, medical improvements, body enhancements, human computer interaction ... the list goes on

the World Transhumanist Association defines transhumanism as :

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. We formally define it as follows:

Technocalyps is a three-part documentary by Frank Theys on the idea of transhumanism

the documentary can be downloaded at greylodge.org, and they describe the parts as :

[quote]
Part 1: Transhuman
Part 1 gives an overview of recent technological developments (biogenetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, implants, nanotechnology,…) and prognoses made by leading scientists about the impact of these developments in the near future.

Part 2: Preparing for the Singularity
In this part advocates and opponents of a transhuman future are weighed against each other; prognoses are done when we can expect the transhuman revolution and how people are preparing for it already now.

Part 3: The Metaphysics of Technology

whilst looking for the original posting and thread of Erik Davis' nettime-l posting on "Philip K. Dick's Divine Interference", I came across an interview by Erik with DJ Spooky from 2003. the closest I came to the PKD post was a later reply to the thread - I can't seem to find the original post though. maybe it had a different title. anyway, the DJ Spooky article is interesting - he speaks about some of his projects, the artist's relationship to working whilst on psychedelics (& how he doesn't do this), the culture he grew up with, his multi-faceted collection of projects : music and DJing, sound art, installation, sculpture, painting, video remixing and the mixology of images, but he mostly identifies as being a writer. he also speaks about his style of writing, creative commons, artificial scarcity amongst other things.

:::

Erik Davis : "You first got on the map doing music and DJing. You've done sound
art, installation, sculpture, painting. You've been working lately
with video remixing and getting into the mixology of images. But in
many ways you still define yourself primarily as a writer. Why is it
important for you to stay tied to the world of writing?"

DJ Spooky : "At the end of the day, you still want to communicate with your fellow
human beings. Otherwise it becomes a subjective implosion."

Erik Davis : "Yeah, but some people would say that images are now a better form of
communication, that text isn't a very good form anymore. It's too slow, for one thing."

DJ Spooky : "It is, it's all that. In fact it's kind of retro. But that's cool,
too. That's why people wear bell bottom jeans. You can always
squeeze something out of the past and make it become new."

Erik Davis : "But for you, it is about communication."

DJ Spooky : "It's a puzzle you set for yourself. Being at a crossroads like this,
and being uncertain which direction to move, is actually a good
thing, because it makes me question everything a lot more. Why do I
want to write, why do I want to make a track, why do I want to do
this installation? They're all hobbies, which keeps the fun. If I
were a dead serious artist guy, who wanted to just strictly be in all
the right collections, and network the gallery scene, that's easily
done. Same with the DJ circuit. But by being a hobbyist, a kind of
flaneur or somebody who jumps around, it keeps things fresh and new.
I can only imagine what kind of mentality most people must have
doing one thing all their lives. But I guess because I grew up with
books, I've always wanted to write one, to add my own book to the
bookshelf in my mind or something."

:::

other finds / bookmarks to self for further reading :

Is Mark Dery an Absolute Idiot? - an email from DJ Spooky

"an interview I did with Roy Christopher, the fellow who
edits www.frontwheeldrive.com an e-zine that focuses on "New Science
and new Media." In the dialog I talk about stuff like William
Gibson's loa computer loa programs versus John Shirley's "city
avatars" (John Shirley wrote a classic cyberpunk novel called "City
Comes a Walkin'" that influenced Gibson big time, and the different
uses of digital media in the two novels speaks volumes about how
people can perceive the uh... "Africa Within" of Mchluhan's Gutenberg
Galaxy of text and electri-city) and alot more stuff. "

:::

a 1997 thread about Gnosis and Stahlman by Erik Davis, who intros it with :

"Though as usual Stahlman waxes grandiose, his recent post about Wired,
Heaven's Gate, and modern gnosis is quite intriguing. Though I do not draw
the historical lines of causality and control as tightly as he does, the
basic drift of his connections point to much that gurgles beneath the
surface, and shows once again that his "hermeneutics of suspicion," for all
its excesses, is a vital thread in this debate."

:::

hermenaut journal

"Hermenaut, an irregularly published journal of philosophy and pop-culture, has been described as "a zine that gives voice to indie intellectual thought," "a scholarly journal minus the university," and "a sounding board for thinking folk who operate outside the ivory tower." Founded in 1992 by a rag-tag group of outsider intellectuals, Hermenaut uses the tools of philosophy, sociology, and critical theory to explode the received notions of academia and the hipster demimonde alike."

:::

TERENCE MCKENNA VS. THE BLACK HOLE - Terence on Death and Dying post by Erik Davis.

... "some excerpts from interviews that I conducted with
McKenna in late October and early November last year, in
preparation for a profile that will appear in the May issue of Wired. For
obvious reasons, I have chosen selections concerning his feelings about
death and dying."

:::

Posthuman Condition 4 post :
Remote Control - Erik Davis ponders wireless technology and the erosion of place.

:::

The Davis-Stahlman-Dialogue

"[In this e-mail dialogue Erik Davis, an independent writer in Francisco,
who also contributed to Wired Magazine replies to Mark Stahlman,
New York who wrote several pieces for Information World and worked
on Wall Street, how jut finished his Big Picture of 'The English Ideology'
behind Net-Pravda) The thread goes along the main lines of ecology movement
vs ecofascism, the viability of pattern recognition vs conspiracy theory,
or simply with which kind of assembled subjectivity we could enjoy the puzzle
stadium without crashing against the millenial time-wall."

:::

Acoustic Cyberspace

a " transcript from the lecture at "Xchange On-air session" Riga, November 1997
edition by Diana McCarty and Ted Byfield
pubished in net audio issue 'Acoustic Space' http://xchange.re-lab.net
real-audio version available at http://ozone.re-lab.net/festival/erik_d.ram "

:::

name.space threads ???!!??!

Finding my old bookmark files has made me nostalgic for the early computing days when everything was new and exciting and full of possibilities. One of my favourite magazines back in the early 90s was Mondo 2000. It was hard to get - only a few places in Brisbane stocked it, actually only two that I recall and even then it was occasional. By the time I got round to subscribing to the magazine it had finished being published and I lost my subscription renewal to the cause so to speak. At the time, it was cutting edge and the full gloss images and interviews with leading thinkers made it a great read. R.U. Sirius who was the editor of the mag has a podcast these days and can be found around mondoglobo.net. Here's a collection of links to mondo 2000 stuff:

mondo articles from the well (link updated : original link broken 25/09/2008 : http://www.well.com:70/1/Publications/MONDO )