Contemporary biotechnologies, and especially emergent technologies, are taking art into wet yet nimble associations with science fiction, science fraction and science fact. Bioart and its subsets are working with genetics, cloning and hybridization, and its practitioners are “co-creators” alongside the gods, stirring up moral issues, and portraying the role of lab-technician, scalpel in hand.

The question of boosting the intelligence of animals other than humans, to the level of self-awareness and consciousness, is one that cannot be considered in isolation from the general process at work in the social and speculative movement known as Transhumanism.

Thousands of scientific studies have examined the possible genetic causes underlying brain/mind disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, violence and criminality, and psychopathy. The more positive side of human behavior, with aspects such as altruism and empathy, has been studied much less – even though these are obviously much more valued from both transhumanist and typical humanist perspectives.

Are we on the verge of totally new social and economic paradigm brought about by the increasing power of computation in our machines?

This week has brought several interesting articles about human enhancement. Although much of this technology is still in the research phase, some tech is beginning to make it to the market.

As Claude Lévi-Strauss famously stated, “animals are good to think.” For the last ten years, scholars have been thinking about animals very seriously, particularly about the place of non-human creatures vis-à-vis the “posthumanities”.

When I first heard that the entire left was selling products under the Occupy name my natural reaction was disgust. I am very critical of liberals because I have experienced their hypocrisy on a firsthand basis.

Science news overview: new neutrino detector taller than Dubai tower, Jupiter's core is liquefying, antimatter sail for space missions, and more.

The universal forces of evolution have acted on organisms to create e.g. metazoan multicelluarity and its attendant specialization of cells, tissues, and organs. Similarly, human social roles are differentiated, and there are many specialized human "organs".

There is no question that new technologies are allowing humans and animals to interact in more profound and novel ways. As a result, we are getting increasingly able to peer more deeply into the psyche of animals and gain a better understanding of how they perceive and engage in the world.

A transcript of a YouTube interview with biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey. Subjects covered include LysoSENS, WILT, and more.

"Involuntary friendliness" is censorship of consciousness akin to removing all the unfriendly words from the dictionary, making it impossible to express unfriendly ideas, which is a premise of language control proposed in the book "1984".

We may have evolved to our current state of intelligence and no further on account of the onset of various maladaptive functional impairments. If this is the case we need to seriously look more deeply into this, especially at the dawn of bona fide cognitive enhancement.

The Singularity to me seems to be a little bit too 'singular'. It seems to assume that all these different technologies converge and take off all at the same pace. Whereas in my view, we're more likely to see a Surge which might trail off, might slow down—in fact, maybe a series of surges.

Time is always in the present, because the moment in which you read this is in the past and the future is only a figment of your imagination so regard the present with nostalgia knowing that a millisecond away, in the future, exists thoughts to think.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. If current trends continue, about one in three of readers will die from cancer. Are there ways to apply today's powerful computers and mathematics to defeat this disease?

For those who are mystically inclined, 2011 is likely a year that is pregnant with significance. In fact, not merely pregnant — the birth of a new aeon is so near that, in the radiance of cosmic time — the new age baby should be sticking its head out of the womb right about now.

in the second half of 2011, I started taking opinion polls concerning the rise of massively intelligent machines ("artilects"), by creating questionnaires. This essay reports on the results of the third such poll.

Creatine is quickly becoming one of my favorite supplements, and not just because of the way it helps me in the gym. It's been shown that creatine can also be used as a nootropic and as a way to stave off potential neurodegeneration.

If the advertiser can manufacture enough classiness for thousands of people with a video camera and some actors, this is probably a more environmentally friendly choice for those after classiness than most of their alternatives, such as ordering stuff in from France.