Flammarion Engraving (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

This talk provides a review of an emerging  “unreligious religion” — Cosmism — that is part of a radical futurist conception of the development of humanity.

Turing Church unlimited – Transhumanist Religions 2.0

New Cosmist religion and spirituality for our boundless future (and our troubled present)

Lead speaker: Giulio Prisco, who will be visiting London for this event.

There will be ample opportunity to ask questions during the meeting, and to highlight alternative views.

About the talk:

The “manifest destiny” of our species is colonizing the universe and developing spacetime engineering and scientific “future magic” much beyond our current understanding and imagination. God-like beings will exist in the future, and they may be able to affect their past — our present — by means of spacetime engineering. Probably other civilizations out there already attained God-like powers.

Future magic will permit achieving, by scientific means, most of the promises of religions — and many amazing things that no human religion ever dreamed. Future God-like beings will be able to resurrect the dead by “copying them to the future.” Perhaps we will be resurrected in virtual reality, and perhaps we are already there.

Cosmist Religions 2.0 based on these ideas can give us the positive optimism and strenuous mood to overcome our current problems and embark on our cosmic journey.

About the speaker:

Giulio Prisco is a writer, technology expert, futurist, cosmist, and transhumanist. A former manager in European science and technology centers, he writes and speaks on a wide range of topics, including science, information technology, emerging technologies, virtual worlds, space exploration and future studies. He is especially interested in the convergence of science, religion, technology, and spirituality.

About the venue:

Room 414, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square WC1E 7HX, London.

Room 414 is on the fourth floor in the main Birkbeck College building, in Torrington Square (which is a pedestrian-only square). Torrington Square is about 10 minutes walk from either Russell Square or Goodge St tube stations.

As desired, coffee and other light refreshments can be purchased from the Costa Coffee shop in the reception area of the building, either ahead of or after the meeting.

The event will be followed by a chance to continue the discussion in a nearby pub – The Marlborough Arms, 36 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HJ

The meeting is free to attend – no charge

Optional background reading:

• Ten Cosmist Convictions
• Transcendent Engineering
• “Yes, I am a believer” — a recent essay by Giulio Prisco
• The Church-Turing thesis
• About the Turing Church

For a pre-meeting airing of some of these ideas, see also this discussion.

Footnote:

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” – Arthur C. Clarke