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The summer edition of h+ Magazine is now live! Cover Stories:

• Designer Baby Controversy
• From X Prize to Singularity U
• Biohacking Arrives
• Legalize Sports Doping?
• Was That a Bot of a Human?
• Chris Conte's Microbotic Art

Features:

• Here Come the Neurobots
• Real Discrimination Against Virtual People
• The Man Behind Biosphere 2
• Everything of the Dead: The Future of Humanity is Zombie
• Life On Mars with Pete Worden

The Mormon Transhumanist Association is pleased to announce the release of a new web site. In our 2008 member survey, members indicated that the most important offering of the association is its web site. The new site provides several improvements:

Humanity+ (formerly known as the World Transhumanist Association) is accepting applications for the position of Executive Director. The Executive Director is responsible for managing the affairs of H+ under the Direction of the Board of Directors, including:

• directing the work of the Assistant Director
• maintaining
• the website fundraising
• managing mailing lists, a newsletter, and member communications
• aintaining contact with chapters and organizing committees, and facilitating chapter growth
• maintaining contact with affiliates around the programmatic agenda outlined by the Board
• representing H+ and transhumanism in the media and other outlets (such as seminars and conferences)

We are pleased to announce that Confreaks has released video recordings of the presentations and panel discussions from the Claremont Graduate University conference on Parallels and Convergences: Mormon Thought and Engineering Vision. The Mormon Transhumanist Association thanks Confreaks for their generous contribution toward furthering Mormon understanding and advocacy of scientific and technological world views.

The Claremont School of Religion, The LDS Council on Mormon Studies and the Mormon Scholars Foundation are pleased to present:

Parallels and Convergences: Mormon Thought and Engineering Vision

A conference featuring keynote speaker Terryl Givens and a panel of LDS engineers

2009 Call for Papers (open to non-American Academy of Religion members) - Deadline March 2, 2009

Transhumanism and Religion Consultation--American Academy of Religion -November 7-10, 2009 annual meeting in Montreal

1809 - 1859 - 2009

1. Monday, 6 p.m., 455 MARB How Darwin's Big Idea Has Improved the Human Condition: Three Vignettes for Discussion Evolution and Modern Medicine - Keith Crandall, Department of Biology Evolution in Forensics, Food, & Conservation - Byron Adams, Department of Biology Evolution and Behavior - Jerry Johnson, Department of Biology
2. Tuesday, Noon, 321 Maeser Building Auditorium The Many Faces of Charles Darwin Daniel Fairbanks, Professor and Associate Dean of Science and Health, Utah Valley University
3. Wednesday, 3 p.m., 455 MARB An Approach to Understanding the Creation Terry Ball, Dean of Religious Education, Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University
4. Wednesday, 7 p.m., 445 MARB On Knowing: The Times and Seasons of Joseph Smith, Abraham Lincoln, and Charles Darwin Riley Nelson, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Brigham Young University
5. Thursday Feb. 12 - 7 p.m. - 3220 Wilkinson Student Center The Legacy of Charles Darwin: Seeking Grandeur in the View of Life Michael Whiting, Professor, Department of Biology, Brigham Young University Birthday cake will be served following the lecture.
6. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. reception, 7p.m. lecture, 377 Clyde Building The Evolution of Charles Darwin: A Bicentennial Celebration Scott Ritter, Professor & Chair, Department of Geology, Brigham Young University
7. Friday, 3 p.m., 445 MARB Darwin and the Human Fossil Record Duane Jeffery, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, Brigham Young University For more information, please see the press release.

The Mormon Transhumanist Association congratulates and expresses support for the new directors of our affiliate, Humanity+. The following five candidates have been elected to the five 2009-2010 board seats:

Sonia Arrison George Dvorsky Ben Goertzel Todd Huffman Mike LaTorra

These three board members will serve 2009 terms:

Patri Friedman Jonas Lamis Mike Treder

All voting members of the Mormon Transhumanist Association are voting members of Humanity+, and were eligible to participate in the election of these new directors.

The board of directors of our affiliate, Humanity+ (formerly the World Transhumanist Association), has announced that Richard Leis has accepted appointment as the Executive Director of Humanity+.

Online journal Re-public invites contributions for its upcoming special issue entitled "Transhumanism?". Is there a new challenge about to dominate our world? A challenge that appears more pressing than the fight against climate change, as demanding as the one against "terrorism" or poverty, more complex than our current questions around bioethics. Are we in a position to redefine, to drastically transform our very human nature? This is a question formed in the last 20 years by an international movement, deriving from a scientific current, advocating that if the human is a result of an evolution process of millions of years time, nothing rationally preempts its conclusion. On the contrary, transhumanism proposes that the convergence of nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information and cognitive sciences provide us with a new opportunity, as well as, the responsibility to collectively participate and assume this evolution: it is, more than ever, possible to "form a better humanity" meaning better health for individuals, longer life expectancy, a more effective control of themselves, through enhanced skills, capacities and capabilities. The special issue will attempt to investigate the influence of transhumanism and the new questions that its poses. Possible essay themes include: Where does H+ stand today in theoretical and political terms? What kind of humanity do we wish for? Can we move beyond the dillema between a uniformed or a diverse humanity? Where are the new limits between prevention and personal freedom (eg. to own or dispose our body)? Which are the formal or informal political practices that can guide the enhancement of human capacities? What is the relationship between H+ et bio-politics? Where do we meet these practices, today, how are they being formed? What can we learn from them? These are some of the questions that touch upon the most sensible aspects of our identity, values, beliefs, questions that can not be abandoned to the decisions of the scientific community, but that they should form the terrain for a public debate on a global scale. Essays should be approximately 1,500 words long. Please submit contributions in any electronic format to: marcroux AT yahoo.com Guest editor: Marc Roux Deadline for submission: 15 February 2008