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Future Israeli Transhumanists Conference

Started by Infernity , Oct 24 2005 10:10 AM

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111 replies to this topic

#31 Blablaman

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 08:21 AM

What needs to be agreed upon to make this happen:

Location, time and a rough list of issues to discuss.

In my opinion the location has to be somewhere in Gush Dan, the time needs to considered after we hear everyone's schedules and David, being the originator of this idea, should tell us what he has in mind concerning the content of the meeting.

#32 indigodawnlight

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 02:13 PM

I'm from Gush Dan. Lots of spare time. Don't know jack about the topic.

#33 ilia

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 02:33 PM

Hi, It's great to see the Israeli chapter gathering momentum!

The first order of matter perhaps should be the establishing of a combined Israeli immortalist/transhumanist group. After the initial meeting of "hard core" activists, we could do something bigger, perhaps invite some researchers working in the field (e.g. Profs Gerson, Levitsky, Gepstein, or others) or do some more serious publicity.

I might suggest Bar-Ilan as a meeting place and let's say the beginning of January as a tentative date?

#34 Blablaman

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 03:50 PM

Ilia:

I'm not sure if that's what you meant, but even if not...

It is my opinion that publicity in the traditional sense will not do us much good.

There is a very good reason why most Transhumanist/Immortalist organizations work almost entirely through the Internet and that reason is the irrelevancy of most Transhumanist ideas to the daily life of the average citizen. The technology is simply not there yet.

So even if we do manage to get some traditional style publicity and attention, it will quickly dissapear, especially in an eventful country such as Israel.

What we need to focus on is the preparations for the time when our ideas become relevant. The average person in the street, even if exposed to our ideas in a favorable context, will forget them and do nothing about the issue. We need to draw attention not from the wide public but from the people who will be at the helms a generation from now. That is, relatively young, smart, knowledgeable people with activistic tendencies.

I apologize again but I'll probably not be able to reply consistently(if at all) during the week.

Eli.

#35 Infernity

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 06:21 PM

I'm from Gush Dan. Lots of spare time. Don't know jack about the topic

Nothing to know but the fact we are planning to have in the future an Israeli conference... It will obviously take more than a month to organize this, so do not worry...

Eli, January seems awesome, I think.

Listen, I really hope I'll be able to attend, on regular chromosomes, I wouldn't be allowed to just attend something where I know no one, but perhaps my parents shall let me go if I'll stay at my family and know that Daniel is there, will have to keep an eye on me haha. After all, I am not even 15 :\

You'll have to consider that I am still a high-school girl, and I can't let myself miss classes, so I must find a holiday, otherwise, I just can't attend. I am having my 'Bagroots' this year.

-Infernity

#36 indigodawnlight

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Posted 13 November 2005 - 08:34 PM

What I actually meant is that I know nothing about immortality technologies or sciences.

#37 Infernity

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Posted 14 November 2005 - 02:13 PM

That's ok, I am no master in these things too... All I know is what I read here and the answers I got from people I asked.

Hey guys, one of my friends said he'd love to attend this!!

(for a change hehe)

-Infernity

#38 ilia

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Posted 14 November 2005 - 06:12 PM

Eli,
I completely agree with you. Campuses are perhaps the primary targets. The big question is indeed what and how to publicize. I believe, a conference according to the Atlanta model (inviting local dignitaries, promoting attendance and media coverage) could do wonders for raising the interest in life-extension/life-enhancement research and the associated ideological issues. I think such a conference is absolutely doable and the turnout could be not bad at all (people won’t have to fly across the continent to attend, or hopefully they will

). Some interest of the media in such an event is almost assured. And even a limited and temporary interest is extremely beneficial for the cause.

But before we are able to do this, there is a primary question: what we, as of now, a small activist group can do to raise the interest in the subject? To my mind, translation of brilliant relevant texts to and from the languages available to us is a very promising line of work (most ImmInst members here, myself included, did such work). Naturally, distribution of such materials is another important activity (perhaps even more demanding). And let’s meet already!

By the way, Daniel, congratulations on winning the Immortality Institute essay contest. Right on! [thumb]

#39 Infernity

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Posted 15 November 2005 - 04:33 AM

Ilia, I am not sure about all the visual documentation...........

-Infernity

#40 ilia

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Posted 17 November 2005 - 11:33 AM

Infernity,
I've checked it out. Achen, there is an extension campus of Ben Gurion U in Eilat, giving 3 year scholarships. So I sit corrected.

http://www.bgu.ac.il.../news/news.htm

I think we shouldn't underestimate the power of flyers

DOES ANYBODY SPEAK ARABIC?

#41 Infernity

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Posted 17 November 2005 - 12:36 PM

Well, I can read Arabic, but I can't understand what any of it means... luckily the grade skipping spared me from another year of sorrowfully studying it.

I definitely cannot speak..

Why?

-Infernity

#42 ilia

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Posted 17 November 2005 - 02:05 PM

I would hope to see Arab-speaking members in this forum or perhaps get some materials out in Arabic. I believe Immortalism, implying the absolute valuation of human life, can help promote peace.

#43 dannybelkin

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Posted 17 November 2005 - 04:13 PM

Hi Guys,
I've been away for a while, so just saw this thread.
I'll be happy to help with arranging a meeting, and any other logistical arrangements. I've got connections at tel aviv university or tel hashomer, so if need be we can grab a room there.
There is one advantage of only being ~10 people - less hassle arranging this...

[lol]

Danny

#44 Blablaman

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Posted 17 November 2005 - 05:45 PM

Eli,
I completely agree with you. Campuses are perhaps the primary targets. The big question is indeed what and how to publicize. I believe, a conference according to the Atlanta model (inviting local dignitaries, promoting attendance and media coverage) could do wonders for raising the interest in life-extension/life-enhancement research and the associated ideological issues. I think such a conference is absolutely doable and the turnout could be not bad at all (people won’t have to fly across the continent to attend, or hopefully they will ). Some interest of the media in such an event is almost assured. And even a limited and temporary interest is extremely beneficial for the cause.

But before we are able to do this, there is a primary question: what we, as of now, a small activist group can do to raise the interest in the subject? To my mind, translation of brilliant relevant texts to and from the languages available to us is a very promising line of work (most ImmInst members here, myself included, did such work). Naturally, distribution of such materials is another important activity (perhaps even more demanding). And let’s meet already!

I agree that a conference can do a lot of good, but it's out of our reach.

The big question is, as you said, "what we, as of now, a small activist group can do to raise the interest in the subject?".

The method we use needs to have several charachteristics:
1) It has to be scaleable. That is, it must work both when there is small and large amount of interest in our ideas.
2) There must be a way for a community to form around it.
3) It has to be constantly updating, with an option to easily interact. A site with lots of brilliant articles will not work on it's own because people will read those articles and a week later forget all about them.
4) It has to be on the internet. It's the best way to get attention to a group as small as ours. When we're bigger, offline activities will become more viable.
And more.

One idea I've been thinking about in the last week that is a combination of a blog, a forum and an articles database.

The center of the site will be the blog, where a small(say, 2-5) number of people have posting priviliges and they will keep the blog updated with opinion articles, news updates(on relevant issues of course), book reviews, etc. Overall, they will be providing a coverage of human life from a transhumanist/immortalist perspective.

If you want an example of what I propose, check out http://www.samizdata.net/blog/ . They do pretty much what I wrote above, but from a libertarian perspective. They take the daily news and events and show them from their own point of view, allowing readers who agree with their ideology but dont have the time, knowledge or ability to analyze events to read about those events the way they want it.

The second part of the site should be a forum to discuss related issues and those raised on the blog. This will answer point #2 and will also allow the writers to get better feedback on what they write.

The third part is an articles database, a "library", where everyone can easily access articles translated to (or written in) Hebrew to expand their knowledge and familiarity with the issue more systematically.

This idea answers all the requirements. It allows a place for a community to form(the forum), a center around which this community revolves(the blog), it's scaleable in the sense that even if we have no readers we still accomplish the goal of talking about the issues between ourselves and it is constantly updating, thus ensuring interested people will return to the site preiodically.

#45 liorrh

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Posted 20 November 2005 - 10:12 PM

several thoughts
regarding school
I think the best field of study for an immortalist is the one that generates the most revenue.
Eilat: I'm pretty sure the level of faculty members wouldn't be as high, for practical reasons.
Meeting:January is good for me. I live in Tel Aviv.
Adi - can't your family come with you?

#46 Trias

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Posted 20 November 2005 - 10:21 PM

I would hope to see Arab-speaking members in this forum or perhaps get some materials out in Arabic. I believe Immortalism, implying the absolute valuation of human life, can help promote peace.

Well said, Ilia...

I hope all of the Israeli forum members would agree.

-Daniel S.

#47 liorrh

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Posted 21 November 2005 - 05:20 AM

as long as they speak english :-)

#48 Infernity

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Posted 21 November 2005 - 11:29 PM

Adi - can't your family come with you?

Um... don't know, I will check everything soon. They come back tomorrow's night

I would hope to see Arab-speaking members in this forum or perhaps get some materials out in Arabic. I believe Immortalism, implying the absolute valuation of human life, can help promote peace

Agreed.

-Infernity

#49 ilia

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Posted 29 November 2005 - 11:08 AM

The center of the site will be the blog, where a small(say, 2-5) number of people have posting priviliges and they will keep the blog updated with opinion articles, news updates(on relevant issues of course), book reviews, etc. Overall, they will be providing a coverage of human life from a transhumanist/immortalist perspective

Honestly, I know nothing about web-design. Such a site might be a good idea. But who will create it and how do we direct traffic to it? An average Israeli googler is unlikely to search for "immortalism" or "transhumanism", especially in Hebrew, unless they first read about it in a newspaper or on a poster (I mean no disrespect, only an almost complete lack of interest). And creating a site for 3-5 people, might be not very practical. The existing ImmInst Israeli sub-forum (and its future WTA analogue) seem to be a wonderful solution that may just need our efforts to develop and popularize.

I agree that a conference can do a lot of good, but it's out of our reach.

I would like to believe that it will be one day within our reach. I am currently studying for a PhD at Bar-Ilan History of Science Department (subject: life-extensionism). So, perhaps we could conduct this conference under the auspices of our department. I can think of a few researchers we could try to invite. E.g. here at Bar-Ilan, Dr. Haim Cohen is a world-class gerontologist (published papers in Science and Nature). I am sure we could ask him to present. But, of course, this is for much later.

What is your guys opinion about meeting some Friday morning (~10) at the beginning of January, in Bar-Ilan? On Fridays, we will have the whole university to ourselves.

#50 Infernity

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Posted 29 November 2005 - 12:09 PM

I'll have to check exams, and grr I forgot to ask my parents!! I shall today.
I fear it won't be possible for me in mornings but in Saturday. I can't let myself miss any lesson [sad] . Although I'll try to anyways :/

Guys, Daniel has a birthday in January the 17th... Hehe, if it falls on it, we can also have a small party [lol]

About the site thingie- I can create a blog if you wish... I can make it not look just like a blog, but like a site IF someone will be willing to pay yearly for a Pro .
Check my blog- http://israblog.nana.co.il/168721 . My blog is a regular one.

Once you pay for a Pro, it is much more improved and optional, it can be designed as a site. The reason I prefer a blog rather than a site is only because it is much friendlier and easier to work with.

I'll check it today and come back to you!

-Infernity

#51 ilia

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Posted 29 November 2005 - 01:34 PM

Party is cool. As for missing classes, our meeting will be much more educational [lol]

#52 Infernity

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Posted 29 November 2005 - 03:02 PM

Hehehe, of course [sfty] ... but I don't have exams on it heh.
Friday hmmm, means I'll miss two hours of Lingo, two of History, Literature and Biology. Grr.

Ok, Friday sounds ok I guess. I believe I can attend

few more thingies to check and arrange.

Here are what the Pro offers, check it out (that's in Hebrew):
http://israblog.nana.co.il/joinpro.asp

WOW I should post my translations over my blog!

-Infernity

#53 Infernity

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Posted 29 November 2005 - 09:13 PM

YES, dad will come with me [lol]

Once we have a date- I'll advertise it in my school.

-Infernity

#54 ilia

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 12:47 PM

Great! The date is beginning to get set.

I am not completely sure if we should give great publicity to our first meeting. A lot of simply curious people might attend and start asking questions like "why bother?", or "what about overpopulation?" Perhaps, the first meeting should be for the already "converted". On the other hand, we do want to increase general interest.
What do you guys think?

#55 Infernity

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 01:03 PM

I think we should bring as many people as possible to awake cognizance.

-Infernity

#56 caliban

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 01:47 PM

Good luck with this!

One might speculate that you should not run into the usual religious opposition, as Judaism is vigorously life-affirming.

If there is anything that ImmInst can do to help please say so.

#57 Infernity

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 03:15 PM

Thank you Cal.

Ilia, I think David is now in India. He will probably get back till then. [huh]

-Infernity

#58 JMorgan

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 04:58 PM

This has been a pretty exciting read and I'm glad something is finally happening in Israel. I know there are many great people who would join you if only they knew about it.

Now, you people need to watch out... everything you need, whether it's a web designer, someone to speak English, etc, Adi can do it. I can see her being President of the Israeli Transhumanists chapter... umm, if only she has her parents' permission. [wis]

One might speculate that you should not run into the usual religious opposition, as Judaism is vigorously life-affirming.

Yes, as long as you are not seen as actively trying to convert Jews, especially to Christianity, you should be fine. (Hehe, just don't use words like "baptism" and you'll be ok.)

#59 liorrh

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 05:04 PM

whenever is good I'm available, I'm back in the country.
I can probably get a web designer too. and I'm a former web developer.

#60 Infernity

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Posted 30 November 2005 - 05:30 PM

I love designing, just gotta have a corner to create a site... nmnm Lior? heh.

Joel [bl:)] ... Thank you for the loving support hehe, grr gotta finish school already!!! I gotta work on my English... Don't if it's just my English teacher, my grandma and Laz who are finding my numerous mistakes... I better improve it for case they are not (the only ones) [lol]

Yours
-Infernity