On Sunday, January 2, 2022, at 1 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time, 4 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, the U.S. Transhumanist Party invites David Wood to discuss his concept of the “transhumanist shadow” – a set of attitudes sometimes found among some transhumanists which are not essential to transhumanism but may hamper the accurate public assessment of transhumanism. The session will explore some of the ways in which aspects of the “transhumanist shadow” may manifest themselves, and what more nuanced approaches are best-suited toward overcoming those tendencies. Moreover, the conversation will venture into how valid criticisms of the “transhumanist shadow” might sometimes be co-opted by some and expanded into less fair attacks on transhumanism as a whole. This session will provide an opportunity to influence transhumanist rhetoric going forward, enabling it to become more robust, both in terms of the quality of the points made and their resilience against external mischaracterizations.
Watch David Wood’s overview video, “The Transhumanist Shadow”, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScLZN1gWzhk.
Watch the previous U.S. Transhumanist Party Virtual Enlightenment Salon of July 18, 2021, with David Wood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Aj7Z6qcnM – where David discussed his new book “Vital Foresight: The Case for Active Transhumanism”.
David W. Wood, D.Sc., was one of the pioneers of the smartphone industry. He is now a futurist writer, consultant, and speaker.
David spent 25 years designing, implementing, and avidly using smart mobile devices, including ten years with pioneering PDA manufacturer Psion PLC, and ten more with smartphone operating system specialist Symbian Ltd, which he co-founded in 1998. At different times, his executive responsibilities at Psion and Symbian included software development, technical consulting, partnering and ecosystem management, and research and innovation. By 2012, his software for UI and application frameworks had been included on 500 million smartphones from companies such as Nokia, Samsung, Fujitsu, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson.
From 2010 to 2013, David was Technology Planning Lead (CTO) of Accenture Mobility, where he also co-led Accenture’s Mobility Health business initiative.
As Chair of London Futurists, David Wood has organized over 200 public meetings since March 2008 on futurist and technoprogressive topics. Membership of London Futurists now exceeds 8,000.
As Principal of the independent futurist consultancy and publisher Delta Wisdom, David helps clients around the world to anticipate the dramatic impact of rapidly changing technology on human individuals and communities. Via Delta Wisdom, he highlights opportunities to apply technology in new solutions to deep-rooted problems.
David’s most recent book (published June 2021) is “Vital Foresight: The Case for Active Transhumanism”. His previous books include “Smartphones and Beyond”, “The Abolition of Aging”, “Sustainable Superabundance”, “RAFT 2035”, and “Transcending Politics”. He was also the lead editor of the volume “Anticipating 2025”.
David has a triple first-class mathematics degree from Cambridge and undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science. He has an honorary Doctorate in Science from Westminster University. In 2009 he was included in T3’s list of “100 most influential people in technology”. He is co-founder of Transhumanist UK and H+Pedia, Executive Director of Transpolitica, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), and sits on the Board of the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies).
He blogs at dw2blog.com and tweets as @dw2.
Become a member of the U.S. Transhumanist Party for free, no matter where you reside: https://transhumanist-party.org/membership/
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