In Preparation For The Singularity, Tomorrow Is Future Day
Meta-holidays are just so commercial now, you know?
Tomorrow is apparently “Future Day,” and n0t just in the same way that today is present day. March 1st is an unofficial holiday for transhumanists, designed to “elevat[e]the human condition” and maybe help us prepare for the robot uprising.
Started in 2012, “Future Day” was created Ben Goertzel and Adam A.Ford of the transhuman nonprofit Humanity + to engender conversations about humanity’s role in a rapidly changing world. Future Day’s website states,
Holidays provide a fantastic way of channeling peoples’ attention and energy.
Most of our holidays are focused on past events or individuals, or on the rhythms of nature. History and nature are wonderful and should be honored — but the amazing future we are building together should be honored as well.
Future Day is a way of focusing and celebrating the energy that more and more people around the world are directing toward creating a radically better future.
If you thought “focusing energy towards creating a radically better future” meant that tomorrow is about flying cars and theme parks on Mars, perusing Humanity +’s website shows their intentions for the holiday are more serious.
The nonprofit’s mission is
developing knowledge about the science, technology, and social changes of the 21st century. We aim to deeply influence a new generation of thinkers who dare to envision humanity’s next steps.
Humanity +’s website also provides the transhumanist declaration, a code of ethics for preserving human dignity, empathy, and well-being in a future unrecognizably altered by technology.
Number 7 of the declaration is especially interesting:
We advocate the well-being of all sentience, including humans, non-human animals, and any future artificial intellects, modified life forms, or other intelligences to which technological and scientific advance may give rise.
Ben Goetzel explained Future Day’s connection to the singularity in a quote on Singularity Weblog where he suggested the creation of more transhumanist holidays, saying “you could have many of them, you could have a ‘Singularity Day’, an ‘Artilect War Day’ for the future war.”
So, yes, tomorrow is unofficially Future Day, and feel free to celebrate, but maybe only if you’re convinced that the human era will soon be ended. If you do decide to get some friends together for a Saturday chat about the inevitable new reality of life after robots, Future Day welcomes you to send them pictures to info@futureday.org or use the twitter handle #futureday.
If you’re not totally convinced that the age of humans will be over soon, apparently today is Back to the Future Day, so you can still celebrate! Just with more deloreans and arguably less science fiction.
(via io9, image via Future Day)
- Mark Zuckerberg, at least, would not be down
- The Back To The Future musical is real
- EmoSPARK is an artificial intelligence system for your home
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