The call for papers for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) is now open with a deadline of 11:59 pm, March 13. You are invited to submit a proposal for the Transhumanism and Religion Group. The AAR annual meeting is November 17-20, 2012 in Chicago. Below are the call and the mission statement of the Transhumanism and Religion Group. If you do not hold AAR membership and would like to submit a proposal as a guest, please go to the following link and follow instructions:

[http://www.rsnonline.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=975&Itemid=1071]

Call for Proposals

This Group welcomes papers on any aspect of transhumanism and religion and seeks perspectives from a variety of religious traditions. Papers may identify and critically evaluate any implicit religious beliefs that might underlie key transhumanist claims and assumptions. For example, are there operative notions of anthropology, soteriology, and eschatology at play in transhumanist quests? Papers might consider how transhumanism challenges religious traditions to develop their own ideas of the human future; in particular, the prospect of human transformation, whether by technological or other means. Papers may provide critical and constructive assessments of an envisioned future that place greater confidence in nanotechnology, robotics, and information technology to achieve virtual immortality and create a superior posthuman species. We welcome feminist analyses and more overtly philosophical critiques of posthuman discourse and encourage original research.

Mission

“Transhumanism” or “human enhancement” refers to an intellectual and cultural movement that advocates the use of a variety of emerging technologies. The convergence of these technologies may make it possible to take control of human evolution, providing for the enhancement of human mental and physical abilities deemed desirable and the amelioration of aspects of the human condition regarded as undesirable. These enhancements include the radical extension of healthy human life. If these enhancements become widely available, it would arguably have a more radical impact than any other development in human history — one need only reflect briefly on the economic, political, and social implications of some of the extreme enhancement possibilities. The implications for religion and the religious dimensions of human enhancement technologies are enormous and are addressed in our Group. We are interested in encouraging and providing a forum for a broad array of input from scholars, including Asian and feminist. For more information, or to be placed on a very occasional mailing list, contact Calvin Mercer at [[email protected]].

IMAGE: PHOTO OF FUTURE DAY

Future Day is a future-oriented holiday. Events will take place in several locations around the world on March 1st, including Hong Kong and Australia. A virtual event will be taking place in Second Life. Thanks to Ben Goertzel for creating the concept and Adam Ford for his work in coordinating it!

Transhumanism, a small but growing international movement advocating various technologies of human enhancement, has often been lampooned as a pseudo-religion, a "rapture of the geeks" or a "robot cult." Yet those within the movement characterize it as a secular, rational humanist philosophy. Further complicating the matter is the recent appearance of syncretistic, transhumanist versions of various faiths. How should we characterize the movement known as transhumanism? What difference does this make in shaping a Christian theological and ethical response to the movement? Papers may address specific intersections of Christian doctrine and transhumanism, the relationship of faith and science (especially as expressed within the transhumanist movement), or elucidate specific aspects of transhumanism relevant to Christian theology or ethics.

IMAGE: PHOTO OF 2012 MTA CONFERENCE LOGO

The 2012 conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association will be held on 6 April 2012 from 9am to 5pm at the Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake CIty, Utah. The conference is open to the public.

The 2012 conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association will be held on 6 April 2012 at the Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake CIty, Utah. The conference will be open to the public. Speakers will address the themes of Mormonism, Transhumanism and Transfigurism, with particular attention to topics at the intersection of technology, spirituality, science and religion.

You can now access the third issue of Transfigurist Quarterly, a publication covering the activities of the Association, here.

Also, please remember the 31 January 2012 submission deadline of the Call for Papers for the upcoming Association Conference (6 April 2012, SLC Public Library, Utah).

Thank you,

Bradley Carmack MTA Secretary

On December 11, 2011, the Mormon Transhumanist Association received an email from Google for Nonprofits: "Grants Enrollment has been approved!"

What are Google Grants? "The Google Grants program empowers non-profit organizations to achieve their goals by helping them promote their websites via advertising on Google. Google AdWords ads appear when users search on Google and when you click on one of the ads, you are brought to the website being advertised."

The association's application for free advertising of up to $10,000 per month is now approved. Thanks, Google!

The Mormon Transhumanist Association continually seeks input from all interested parties for improving our operations and goals. As part of this effort, we have made the Association's financial reports available to the public. You can find them at [http://transfigurism.org/pages/about/finances/]. If you are interested in understanding more about what decisions drive our spending or have input regarding those decisions, please contact us at [[email protected]].

Karl Hale

The list of projects on the [transhumanism.org] community page has been updated to reflect the many projects the Mormon Transhumanist Association is doing, such as Rosetta@home and the Transfigurist Quarterly. However, there are several more exciting projects in need of a project manager to help move them along! Check them out in detail here; a brief list follows. See a project you like? Volunteer to lead it today!

The Turing Church Online Workshop 2 will be held on Sunday 11 December, 2011. The Workshop will explore transhumanist spirituality and "Religion 2.0" as a summit of persons, groups and organizations active in this area, including members of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. Fully interactive participation will be free, invitation-only. If you wish to participate and for more information, visit the Turing Church web site.