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Bostrom: From Extinction to Transcendence by Paul Gilster on February 27, 2013 At the top of my list of people IÂ’d someday like to have a long conversation with is Nick Bostrom, a philosopher and director of OxfordÂ’s Future of Humanity Institute. As Centauri Dreams readers will likely know, Bostrom has been thinking about the issue of human extinction for a long time, his ideas playing interestingly against questions not only about our own past but about our future possibilities if we can leave the Solar System. And as Ross Andersen demonstrates in Omens, a superb feature on BostromÂ’s...

In fifty years, if not much sooner, half of the roughly 4,500 colleges and universities now operating in the United States will have ceased to exist. The technology driving this change is already at work, and nothing can stop it. The future looks like this: Access to college-level education will be free for everyone; the residential college campus will become largely obsolete; tens of thousands of professors will lose their jobs; the bachelor’s degree will become increasingly irrelevant; and ten years from now Harvard will enroll ten million students.

Hoping to take the commercialization of space to a higher level, a second company has jumped into what the founders hope will be a lucrative emerging market, prospecting for raw materials among near-Earth asteroids using fleets of low-cost robotic spacecraft, senior executives said Tuesday. The long-range goal is to develop an in situ manufacturing capability, harvesting raw materials and building components in space using high-tech mini foundries built around sophisticated 3D printers. "This is about the future. This is about making something happen," company chairman Rick Tumlinson told reporters during a news conference in Santa Monica, Calif. "Deep Space Industries...

The Next 10 Years Are Going To Be Mind-BlowingWe are living in an extremely exciting time in terms of science and technology. Things that have always been considered science fiction are becoming normal day-to-day components of our lives. And while we have been seeing invention after breakthrough over and over in the last couple of decades, this next ten years is going to blow everything else out of the water.The awesome thing about all these scientific discoveries it that they create technology that allows us to make more breakthroughs even faster. Our ability to innovate is increasing exponentially as the...

I DON'T FALL IN LOVE with politicians – the last presidential candidate I voted for with ardor was Ronald Reagan in 1980 – and my heart doesn't break when those I support don't win. Nor am I a party loyalist. As a conservative I vote for Republicans more often than not; for those of us committed to free enterprise, limited government, military strength, and a healthy civil society, there is usually no better option. But the Republican Party isn't the conservative movement. And a GOP defeat doesn't mean conservatism – or the GOP, for that matter – is in crisis....

It has long been understood that there is something peculiar, even paradoxical, about conservatism in America. American conservatism is different from conservatism in other countries, even those countries which were the original source of many other American ideas and ideals, i.e., the countries of Europe. Indeed, the very term “American conservatism” is something of an oxymoron. For most Europeans who came to America, the whole purpose of their difficult and disruptive journey to the New World was not to conserve European institutions but to leave them behind and to create something new, often an entirely new life and even a...

AMERICA NEARS EL TIPPING POINTO December 5, 2012 Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services355 I apologize to America's young people, whose dashed dreams and dim employment prospects I had laughed at, believing these to be a direct result of their voting for Obama. On closer examination, it turns out that young voters, aged 18-29, overwhelmingly supported Romney. But only the white ones. According to Pew Research, 54 percent of white voters under 30 voted for Romney and only 41 percent for Obama. That's the same percentage Reagan got from the entire white population in 1980....

With companies like Google creating self-driving cars and augmented-reality glasses, futurist Ray Kurzweil's predictions are starting to sound much more realistic. Kurzweil, cofounder of Singularity University, became famous for creating the first text-to-speech software. Forbes called him "the ultimate thinking machine." With technology advancing at increasingly rapid rate, and researchers making serious headway into discovering the mysteries of the brain, it seems as if we'll all be reconstituted as a computer someday.

Recently, nature punished us for our fossil fuel burning with hurricane Sandy; ask any science enthusiast, like Meghan McCain. Some people deny global warming exists, but that is foolish. It’s been proven. It is settled science. Globes have been warmed in science labs. And now we’re getting hit with massive hurricanes because… warming. It’s science — you don’t have to understand it, you just have to fear it. If we continue to pump carbon into the air, we will be hit by frequent hurricanes, flooding of the coasts, and men in white lab coats yelling at us and calling us...

Will anything of them remain? That's up to us.On November 8th, the day after the election returns were known, The Mad Jewess posted this 1968 YouTube video. She wrote, "It is the song of the once great America, a nation that is now gone with the wind." I felt much the same way and at times still feel that such is our future; but it will not necessarily happen that way unless we allow it to.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB64vAgIvig?feature=player_detailpage] Video link. Please watch it. Those were indeed "the days" and try as I might I haven't been able to get the song...

Thus the only future I can predict is the one where you go French and surrender. You, and only you can turn this debacle around and me into a false prophet. Sadly, some among you seem to have all but given up. Reading through your reactions in the comments at PJ Media, Breitbart, Hotair and others, I see cries that "the Republic is dead", and even claims—shocking claims, for this Americanophile—to burn the flag because "it doesn’t mean anything anymore".

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln America has forsaken her first love. She has finally, and fully, given herself over to a licentious Lothario with whom she has increasingly flirted since her youth. He is sin – and, notwithstanding full knowledge of who he is and what he intends, with him she has lain. America has tasted the poisonous fruits of lust, pride, passion, and envy – sloth, frivolity, iniquity and entitlement. She has tasted of their sweet deception and...

Mitt Romney wasn't a bad candidate. He ran a fairly strong race. He made a few errors. And he made many good moves. Certainly he was adequate. And he was probably the strongest Republican candidate among the primary field of contenders. That is, he was the best man available to run against Barack Obama. And he did a pretty good job. Obama on the other hand, was a horrible candidate. He was mean and vindictive. He was contemptuous and superficial. He ran on irrelevancies like abortion and a fictitious Republican war against women. He didn't give his supporters any reason...

Minimize your exposure, and batten down your hatches...because the only thing worse that you can do to the Left than denying them what they want, is when they get what they want.....

It is a glorious day The Lord has given us. This morning I extend an honest “Thank you” to the American electorate, for they provided a snapshot of themselves with unusual clarity. Six weeks ago I declared that the election was not a choice between two candidates as much as it was a verdict on us as a nation, and with near ubiquity and persuasive forcefulness that verdict has been rendered. From coast to coast the electorate chose debauchery and an expanding welfare state. (they may not have thought that was what they were voting for, but make no mistake...)...

So that's what it takes to win an election, huh? Lie, cheat, and steal? You should be proud of yourself, Barack and Mitt. As far as I'm concerned both of these traitorous, do-nothing, chicken-shit twits deserve each other. I think it would have been best for America if Obama's and Romney's planes have collided over the high desert somewhere? It's time for a third party!

House Democrats will hold their leadership elections after the Thanksgiving break, a leadership aide announced Wednesday. On an afternoon call with members of her caucus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the party will stage the elections on Nov. 29, the aide said. That date is much later than the schedule adopted by Republicans, who have indicated they'll finalize their leadership slots the week before the Thanksgiving holiday. The distinction has stirred some speculation that Pelosi might be preparing to step down after 25 years on Capitol Hill, and that she plans to use her return in the lame-duck...

I just finished watching a movie (out of free time).. It gave insight to what has become of our society from the "Social Networks"..

Dylan Grice Writes His Most Negative Note Ever: 'I Am More Worried Than I Have Ever Been' Matthew BoeslerOctober 2, 2012 www.investmentweek.co.uk SocGen strategist Dylan Grice is known for being pretty bearish in general, but this could take the cake. Check out the way Dylan Grice begins his latest missive: I am more worried than I have ever been about the clouds gathering today (which may be the most wonderful contrary indicator you could hope for...). I hope they pass without breaking, but I fear the defining feature of coming decades will be a Great Disorder of the sort which...

The bitter tone of the debate over the legality of circumcision has shocked Jews living in Germany and reopened old wounds. In light of what many report are ongoing difficulties, some are now wondering if the country truly wants them. Arye Sharuz Shalicar was looking for a place he could call home. It wasn't an unusual wish. He doesn't wear a kippah and isn't a devout Jew. He grew up in Berlin's Wedding district, surrounded by Turkish and Arab children -- a difficult combination. Later he wore the uniform of the German army during his military service. Then he went...