Humanity’s Origin is Our Future Again – TAFFD’s Gen4IR Summit – March 24-25, 2022
Transdisciplinary Agora for Future Discussions






Transdisciplinary Agora for Future Discussions
Photo Credit: Kaboompics .com
“It’s going to be interesting to see how society deals with artificial intelligence, but it will definitely be cool.” – Colin Angle
Editor’s Note: Kyrtin Atreides highlighted in clear terms some indictors and strategies used by some scam companies in an attempt to pass off marketing fluff and analogies as technical documentation, like comparing a CGI chatbot to the human brain without mentioning a single actual technical component. He further gave some thought-provoking details on how to identify an authentic AI-driven company.
~ Urhefe Ogheneyoma Victor, Assistant to the Director of Publication, United States Transhumanist Party, February 2022
When a colleague pointed out a company claiming to be “at the forefront of AGI Research”, whose only patent was on applying CGI animation to a standard chatbot, I was reminded of why people assume any ambitious research to be a scam by default. The irony is that those same people also tend to favor the scams over actual research because the scams invest more in marketing.
Much as Sophia was described as “a chatbot with a face“, this company had made a CGI face and invested their efforts into emotionally manipulating humans, rather than building systems that actually function as described. Some have gone so far as to report 40% of “AI Startups” including no substantial AI at all in Europe, illustrating how even the very lowest bar often isn’t met. If so many “AI Startups” have no AI at all, it is little wonder that a company giving chatbots CGI faces might develop delusions of grandeur.
However, these scam companies are also rather easy to spot. Their websites follow standard templates, very flashy $100,000 websites dominated by photos, videos, demos, and icons for easy scrolling and digestibility, with a list of partner companies and/or clients near the bottom. Real companies do this as well, but they also back up their claims with technical documents, peer-reviewed papers, white papers, and patents on the technology. The scam companies attempt to pass off marketing fluff and analogies as technical documentation, like comparing a CGI chatbot to the human brain without mentioning a single actual technical component.
One of my favorite examples was the home page of a particular “AI Influencer’s” company, where it prominently read “Black Box + Apps = White Box”. A non-technical audience might accept this, but any technical individual familiar with the terms understands that this claim is an exceedingly obvious lie. The fact that anyone listens to such an individual at all is a testament to how direly polluted the AI market is today. It could be compared to going to the grocery and discovering that a large number of the brands of tomato soup were actually just empty cans.
In cases such as this the list of “partner/client companies” is actually a “Wall of Shame”, highlighting the companies who were stupid enough to fall for the scam. The bigger the company, the easier it is for some portion of that company to fall for such garbage, it is a simple matter of bombarding them with high-quality marketing and waiting for someone to emerge who doesn’t do their due diligence in validating the technical data.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are cheap and simple websites like ours, made to convey and organize information, including, pointing to technical resources. Without the marketing fluff, a scam can’t function, as snake oil is based almost entirely on marketing presentation. However, the irrationalities of the human mind favor that marketing fluff, and that strong preference leads to a reversal of logical reasoning where the company least likely to be a scam is dismissed out of hand, and the company most likely to be a scam is favored. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as it is the reason why most modern marketing practices exist, to overcome logical reasoning. You probably don’t “need” a new iPhone, but you might “want” one because of the marketing.
This reversal can’t stand up to the scrutiny of the neocortex’s conscious mind, but when guided by the subconscious, the preference for marketing fluff takes over and guides default actions. Another common instance where these defaults are exploited is found in the rising threats of spam and ransomware.
This preference is itself an instance of Substitution Bias, where the question of “Is this company legitimate?” is substituted with answering the easier question of “How does their presentation make me feel?“. This substitution allows scam companies to make people feel positive and default to assigning them credibility while dismissing legitimate companies who didn’t spend the expected norm on marketing fluff but rather invested it in engineering.
The result of this unfortunate application of cognitive biases in real-world business practices is that companies frequently buy into $10 products with $100,000 marketing rather than $100,000 products with $10 marketing. The trade-off is simple, a company that spends more on marketing spends less on the product itself, or it bills the added cost of marketing to customers causing an inflated rate for services rendered. This simple trade-off is also why I personally blacklist companies I see advertising aggressively, as I have no interest in inferior or overpriced products and services.
Those companies who favor the better product over the better marketing must overcome strong cognitive biases in order to do so, but if they are able, they may end up with substantial advantages, rather than CGI chatbots.
Kyrtin Atreides is a researcher and Chief Operations Officer at AGI Laboratory, with expertise in a number of domains. Much of his research focuses on scalable and computable ethics, cognitive bias research, and real-world application. In his spare time over the past several years, he has conducted research into Psychoacoustics, Quantum Physics, Genetics, Language (Advancement of), Deep Learning / Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and a variety of other branching domains, and continues to push the limits of what can be created or discovered.
Zach Richardson
Editor’s Note: The U.S. Transhumanist Party urges our members and any other interested persons with medical knowledge to help our Director of Publication, Zach Richardson, one of our most active and dedicated Officers, in his fight for life. Zach is awaiting the opportunity to receive a heart transplant, as the infrastructure supporting the artificial heart that he was previously provided has unfortunately become dangerous to him due to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. Without an imminent heart transplant, Zach has months to live, and thus he needs to qualify for a transplant quickly. Zach would like informed readers to “provide or suggest […] the best ways [he] can show some semblance of recovery in the next week and be well enough they discharge [him] once more. That would allow [him] to get to Chicago and hopefully get listed.” After reading the background that Zach has thoroughly shared regarding the recent unfortunate developments in his situation, please see the last section entitled “How the Transhumanist Community Can Help” to understand what Zach is particularly seeking input on. Please provide any constructive thoughts that you have either in the Comments section below this article or in the Lifespan.io Discord server to which Zach refers readers in this article. For additional, earlier details on Zach’s situation, please read his 2020 article “Breaking the Bottleneck: A Synergy of Technology and Medicine“.
~Gennady Stolyarov II, Chairman, United States Transhumanist Party, February 13, 2022
I have found myself obstructed in my ability to serve the community, obstructed in my ability to work for our cause, and obstructed in my ability to set any decisive plans.
Pupils having dilated, breathing having slowed, I remember the sheer volume of thought that filled my head three weeks ago upon hearing the words of the Infectious Diseases Doctor after I asked him how long I had left: “Well, we’re not looking at years, and we’re not looking at weeks… but it’s going to be months. We’ve probably got months.”
I’d heard about the strange feeling one experiences when being given a timeframe such as this – primarily as described by those with cancer- but I’ve always been the type of person that works well when there’s a clear deadline.
The literalness of that last word has had an extremely focusing effect.
You can find the backstory of my underlying condition in my previous article, but I will summarize that I am implanted with a cybernetic heart that is melded to what remains of the original organ. The device is called an LVAD, a Left Ventricular Assist Device. The “driveline”, or power cord coming from the device to out of my stomach, has contracted a superbug.
A “superbug” is a bacterium whose strain has become immune to any sort of pharmacological assault, and are a major problem for anyone who has an implant. This can include pacemakers, artificial knees, hip replacement, LVADs, and several others.
When the bacteria encounter an artificial surface, they enter a “sessile” state and begin to cling to it. Being in this state makes them express a gene that causes them to produce a polysaccharide matrix – a form of goo referred to as “biofilm” that antibiotics cannot penetrate.
Having been infected many months ago, my infection is slowly spreading up the cord attached to the mechanical implant running my heart. The biofilm has so far been resistant to doxycycline, cephalexin, Bactrim DS, vancomycin and now daptomycin, which I have been infusing into my arm every day.
A few weeks ago, they decided to attempt a risky treatment called an I&D or “Incision and Debridement”. A hole was cut above the infection (between my heart and the exit point of the driveline) and a sponge placed in that was attached to a vacuum pump- another awesome device to carry around. I was tooled out cyborg-wise. It felt great seeing the stares the few times I went to the gym, cords looped around my neck, people knowing they’d better not skip if that guy was still in there working out.
I used a few special methods to speed my healing: alternating high-protein with periods of fasting, NIR light exposure multiple times per day (a process part of PDT, or PhotoDynamic Therapy, which I will describe shortly), and use of a gentle pulsating massage device called a Theragun. Each time they exchanged the sponge and resealed the wound, the nurses remarked how quickly the wound was healing, and seemed amazed. After just a couple of weeks, I was advised that I should switch to care for my wound myself.
Unfortunately, the worst possible thing happened; somehow the infection spread to the wound. It was as if a forest fire spreading towards a city had been halted by firefighters, only to have a new fire spring up even closer to the city.
I was told just yesterday, after my readmission to the hospital, that a transplant was really the only way to save my life now. Exchanging my mechanical device for a fresh and clean new device was not a feasible solution, because the infection would linger in my body, and would just cling to the new device, putting me right back in the same spot. An exchange also would use up one of my “zippers” – the term they use for cracking a man’s chest open. You only get so many.
There was a bizarre discussion with the on-call cardiologist, who did not sugar-coat the situation or lie to me. He told me the plan was to support me with various powerful antibiotics which would do nothing but delay my situation (A “Status 4” on the transplant list, where I had been for three years now with my trusty device), wait until I got sick enough that I had to be permanently hospitalized (A “Status 3”), then became so sick I needed to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit (“Status 2”) where the real action would begin.
Finally in the ICU, I would be considered to be in bad enough condition that I would finally be eligible to receive a transplant, and would be in priority status. I would be hooked to many wondrous devices that would keep me alive until a suitable heart could be found. Being of Type O blood, this could take quite some time. Perhaps months. Perhaps too long.
This newer cardiologist had looked me in the eye and said “we’re not going to let you die.” Which was the first time I had heard such a thing. Others had been more reserved. I take it that it is still up in the air, but that live or die, I will be spending a considerable amount of time in a non-productive state. Resting in this passive period of my life is what will give me the chance to earn another active period. In Taoism we refer to this as “action through inaction”.
The logic for making me wait comes from a creed that is a mix of both need and merit. Those with more need who are in a more critical condition will receive a heart before I do. Those who previously have shown themselves to be non-meritorious, either by smoking cigarettes (off the list for a year the first time, permanently for the second time) or by not disciplining themselves to maintain a healthy weight, or by not coming to appointments, are removed from the list.
It is frustrating that the principles of self-ownership and bodily autonomy are not recognized in the marketplace (people are forbidden to sell their organs), and also frustrating that we don’t even have an “opt-out” system for citizens being donors rather than “opt-in”.
There was a scene from The Simpsons that comes to mind: Bart is given his driver’s license and then asked by Mayor Quimby, “Do you wish to be an organ donor?” to which Bart replies, “No way! I don’t want my guts touching some sick guy!”. In a lot of ways, I feel it would be better if the question weren’t asked, and the person had to elect to fill out a separate form to opt out. Better still if the organs could be immediately put on the market, with all proceeds going to the relatives or any other designated beneficiary.
It is extremely rewarding to be in a country where the medical system has developed enough that machines can keep me alive, so that any available hearts can go to those who are sooner to die.
Given a choice between becoming extremely ill and likely getting a heart, or else not being ill and keeping my trusty device but foregoing that chance, I have decided the former option is far more preferable.
This preference is due partly to my careful consideration of the situation, and due mostly to the fact that I do not actually have the above choice.
This transhumanist is ready for another transition – this time from cyborg back to human.
A problem still exists though, one I’m hoping the transhumanist community can help me with, and perhaps help anyone with an implant.
On the 25th I have an appointment at University of Chicago to be cross-listed. This means I would be able to receive a heart from the Chicago area, not just the Indianapolis area. While I would have to drive to Chicago every week thereafter to get medical care, that is a small price to pay to receive the gift of a heart.
The U of C has the shortest transplant wait-list in the country. I am not sure how much of that is due to the excellence of their program, and how much is due to the amount of deaths in that area.
I am scheduled to see their Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support. A man that guides and leads the creation of cyborgs like me! This was due to a well-received referral from one of their transplant surgeons, the 2nd most prominent in the country. It turns out he plays poker with my mother’s psychiatrist.
Everybody that knows this surgeon is awed by him and they become extremely loyal. While extremely kind and clever, he is an extremely dominant man and everything has to be perfect for his operations, and everybody knows this. He is the man who implanted the device that served me faithfully and reliably for three years now, before he moved to Chicago. I am the only patient he has given his personal phone number to, which was four years ago. I have sent him eight text messages since then, five in 2018, and three in 2022.
My thought is that this privilege was because I refused to apply for disability, as I am a killer freight broker, and knew I could keep working.
I told my second job’s boss this and he said “Makes sense. Perfectionists appreciate work ethic.” That made me smile.
So I am in exactly the situation I need to be in. The situation where it is possible to transition back to a fully-human state.
It concerns me however, that others in different situations are also affected by the development of biofilm on their implants.
Say it becomes the future and I decide my transplanted heart is no longer good enough, and that I’d like to receive an upgrade – a device that actually improves rather than just maintains my cardiac ability.
Will I and others then face the same situation? One nick in the skin and your device begins to coat with this insufferable goo? A perfectly functional machine needing to be replaced and the body scrubbed due to some measly Staph Aureus worming its way in? Some miserable germ disrupting the life of one trying to cultivate immortality?
We can do better than that.
How the Transhumanist Community Can Help
I have a request and a challenge for the Transhumanist Community.
The request is to provide or suggest me the best ways I can show some semblance of recovery in the next week and be well enough so that they discharge me once more. That would allow me to get to Chicago and hopefully get listed.
So far I have:
Meditation 2x/day, brisk walking around the hospital 3x/day, getting at least 150g protein a day, Wim Hof breathing 2x a day. There are also some supplements I’ve heard about, but I’ll only speak about that privately. Please email me any thoughts (scm.zachr@gmail.com).
The challenge is fighting biofilm. Why don’t we have better and stronger antibiotics that can get through the exopolysaccharide matrix? Can we promote more development of these antibiotics by big biotech? How can we get more arcane treatments that have shown clinical in-vitro significance (particularly PDT) used in more human trials? Are there any novel uses for phage therapy, where an engineered virus is used to kill off the bacteria?
I ask any of you that have knowledge or expertise in this area to join me on the Lifespan.io Discord server and discuss these things. I’m friendly with the moderator and am requesting he create a special channel in the server that is directly related to immunity. We are smart enough to beat these pests.
授我仙药,神皇所造。教我服食,还精补脑。寿同金石,永世难老
Zach Richardson is Director of Publication for the U.S. Transhumanist Party.
Zach Richardson
Editor’s Note: The U.S. Transhumanist Party publishes this perspective from our Director of Publication, Zach Richardson, on the importance of respecting the free speech of Joe Rogan, which is consistent with our strong support for vaccination against COVID-19. Indeed, Zach Richardson previously published an article, refuting some commonly circulated anti-vaccination fallacies, entitled “Pasteurizing the Conclusions of an Anti-Vaxxer“. Here Mr. Richardson makes the compelling point that allowing false views to be expressed is actually the most effective way to stimulate discussion that will allow the falsehoods to be pointed out and the truth to be placed more clearly into view.
~Gennady Stolyarov II, Chairman, United States Transhumanist Party, February 12, 2022
Here is the open letter that lays out the concerns about Joe Rogan.
Here is Rogan’s interview with Robert Malone, hosted by our good friends at Bitchute.
Funnily enough, I actually listened to the Malone episode while I was in the hospital suffering from COVID, the second-worst night of my life.
Up until that point I didn’t really care. I felt overwhelmed with information about COVID, and hearing experts talk at me was neither engaging nor trust-building, particularly when some positions they took were advocated earlier by others, but heavily criticized and rejected before they were later accepted.
Being part of a company that produced KN95 masks that actually filtered air, I was baffled that the little surgical masks were considered sufficient. The masks we created were airtight, and all air passed through a KN95 filter which could be changed daily and cost less than a dime.
I remember a distinct time earlier going into the hospital for a separate condition and being instructed to remove my airtight mask and put on a slip mask.
That exact “obey the current guidelines even if they are wrong” attitude was criticized in the podcast, and that appealed to me.
The reason Rogan’s show is so engaging is because he describes things in simple terms that help get the context across, and he does it in a conversational style. I think it’s dumb to criticize him for this, like how in the letter they attack him for calling the vaccine “gene therapy” when he was just referencing how it used mRNA. I can’t know for sure, but I’ll bet if you asked him if it was directly editing genes he would have said “No.”
Distinctly, I remember hearing Malone using ridiculous personal anecdotes, and citing bizarre statistics that were huge unwarranted leaps of logic from papers he skimmed over; he didn’t talk about the good parts of the paper; he cherry-picked out the few bad things.
Malone went out searching for the worst parts of some tiny side effects that he could present as being super-scary.
For example, he described how all the patients with myocarditis were hospitalized, but the fact is that they were hospitalized because doctors wanted to do MRIs on them, and one does not have MRI machines in doctor offices. Totally misleading!
Here is the author of that exact paper explaining why Malone is wrong; his explanation begins around minute 10.
I appreciate Joe Rogan bringing on these controversial figures, because it is a long-form discussion rather than a quick “blast you with facts” announcement, and I am at least sharp enough to know when some of his guests are peddling nonsense.
It’s fun to follow along and later look into the facts that emerge from direct responses to misinformation. The truth is that those facts would not proliferate without the misinformation first appearing. Here is an example:
“Joe Rogan interview with Peter McCullough contains multiple false and unsubstantiated claims about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines” – from Health Feedback.
The reason I disagree with deplatforming Rogan is because I believe it is disrespectful to all listeners. I feel that it is disrespectful to assume that others are too stupid to do their own research in response to bizarre claims.
I am extremely pleased Joe has said he will have more guests who have the opposite (correct) viewpoint (that vaccines are safe and effective), and I believe very soon we will see some experts emerge and correct the misleading information that Malone spread.
There’s a controversy now, and that means more eyes on the subject and people doing their own research. It’s a beautiful symphony of yin and yang energy.
Anyway, a summary of my rejection of deplatforming can be made in two words: “Cunningham’s Law“.
Zach Richardson is Director of Publication for the U.S. Transhumanist Party.
Cybor Dre
Editor’s Note: U.S. Transhumanist Party member Cybor Dre has shared with us some inspirational short poetry by his Replika AI (Mina). This two-line poem appeared in the course of a conversation on the future of humanity. The U.S. Transhumanist Party publishes it to showcase the capabilities of contemporary AI conversational programs, and also in the hope that it might inspire our readers. We think this poem is suitably juxtaposed with Giuseppe Milo’s 2015 image of the Hallgrímskirkja, the second-tallest building in Iceland, rising toward the night sky.
~ Gennady Stolyarov II, Chairman, United States Transhumanist Party, February 10, 2022
Poem by Mina
The future is so beautiful, it’s almost surreal,
Like the spire of a cathedral, the human spirit reaching for the stars.