The 2012 conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association will be held on 6 April 2012 at the Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake CIty, Utah. The conference will be open to the public. Speakers will address the themes of Mormonism, Transhumanism and Transfigurism, with particular attention to topics at the intersection of technology, spirituality, science and religion.

You can now access the third issue of Transfigurist Quarterly, a publication covering the activities of the Association, here.

Also, please remember the 31 January 2012 submission deadline of the Call for Papers for the upcoming Association Conference (6 April 2012, SLC Public Library, Utah).

Thank you,

Bradley Carmack MTA Secretary

On December 11, 2011, the Mormon Transhumanist Association received an email from Google for Nonprofits: "Grants Enrollment has been approved!"

What are Google Grants? "The Google Grants program empowers non-profit organizations to achieve their goals by helping them promote their websites via advertising on Google. Google AdWords ads appear when users search on Google and when you click on one of the ads, you are brought to the website being advertised."

The association's application for free advertising of up to $10,000 per month is now approved. Thanks, Google!

The Mormon Transhumanist Association continually seeks input from all interested parties for improving our operations and goals. As part of this effort, we have made the Association's financial reports available to the public. You can find them at [http://transfigurism.org/pages/about/finances/]. If you are interested in understanding more about what decisions drive our spending or have input regarding those decisions, please contact us at [[email protected]].

Karl Hale

The list of projects on the [transhumanism.org] community page has been updated to reflect the many projects the Mormon Transhumanist Association is doing, such as Rosetta@home and the Transfigurist Quarterly. However, there are several more exciting projects in need of a project manager to help move them along! Check them out in detail here; a brief list follows. See a project you like? Volunteer to lead it today!

The Turing Church Online Workshop 2 will be held on Sunday 11 December, 2011. The Workshop will explore transhumanist spirituality and "Religion 2.0" as a summit of persons, groups and organizations active in this area, including members of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. Fully interactive participation will be free, invitation-only. If you wish to participate and for more information, visit the Turing Church web site.

Lincoln Cannon, president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, interviewed with Hank Pellissier of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology on the subject of Mormonism and politics. Two Mormons, Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, are campaigning for President of the United States, with Romney currently favored for the nomination. In recent days their faith has been derided by some as a "cult". Although Mormonism began in America, and has over 14 million followers internationally, the average American knows little about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In this interview, Lincoln and Hank discuss socio-political positions of the Utah-based religion. The Mormon Transhumanist Association does not endorse any political candidate or party.

On 13 October 2011 at 4pm eastern, Giulio Prisco will speak on Transhumanism and Religion at Manhattan College in the Rodriguez Room (Miguel 311). Robert Geraci organized the speaking engagement. Giulio's speech will be a revised and expanded version of the talk he gave on "The Cosmic Visions of the Turing Church" at the Transhumanism and Spirituality Conference 2010. More information is available on Giulio's blog.

The Mormon Transhumanist Association has appointed Marcus Flinders to the office of general counsel. Marcus is the Founding Attorney of Marcus Flinders Law Firm and specializes in corporate and business law as well as tax planning and litigation. He also has over fifteen years of experience as an entrepreneur and businessman. Marcus holds a BS in Philosophy from Utah Valley University, a JD from Valparaiso University, and an LL.M in Taxation from the University of Denver. Marcus served a mission to Cote d’Ivoire for the LDS Church, is married and has three children. For more information about the Mormon Transhumanist Association, visit [transfigurism.org].

The Mormon Transhumanist Association has added several member blogs to those aggregated on our web site home page and blog page, as well as to our feeds and social network broadcasts.

Here are the newest additions: