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Mormonism, like many religions, involves free will and an all-knowing God. The combination of these two principles can lead to serious paradoxes and cognitive dissonance when certain forms of deterministic interpretations are used - see theological explorations of free will. Even scientific attempts at defining concepts like omniscience runs into problems - see Laplace's demon for a problem approaching this classically. While my own views are certainly not flawless, I do feel that as we step away from the deterministic interpretations which were often popular in the century Mormonism arose out of, a more robust approach to reconciling free will and the knowledge of God can be found.

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Mormon Transhumanist Association board member Blaire Ostler and Chief Marketing Officer Caleb Jones will speak at the Sunstone Northwest Symposium in Seattle WA on November 19, 2016.

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It was proposed by the Board of Directors of the Mormon Transhumanist Association to separate the roles of President and CEO to offer greater flexibility to the Association. The President will be at liberty to designate a CEO. The proposal

replaces: “The President shall be the chief executive officer of the Association and shall, subject to the control of the Board of Directors, supervise and control the affairs of the Association and the activities of the officers.” (Article V, Section 6)

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Religion for Peace and Violence

In October 2002, Russell M. Nelson spoke these words:

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The Mormon Transhumanist Association is pleased to announce the results of the 2016 director election. Each year, terms expire for three of the nine seats on the board of directors. This year, the seats occupied by Karl Hale, Carl Youngblood, and Don Bradley expired. The Association thanks Karl, Carl, and Don for the leadership and service they've provided. Voting members of the Association have elected the following three persons to serve as directors for the 2016 to 2019 term:

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The Mormon Transhumanist Association is pleased to announce that it has appointed Drew Ostler to serve as Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer and Caleb Jones to serve as Chief Marketing Officer.

The Association congratulates Drew and Caleb, and thanks them for their willingness to contribute their time and talents to the success of the Association. Below is additional information about these leaders.

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What are we about as members of the Mormon Transhumanist Association? It is clear from past surveys that we have numerous individual purposes and goals, but here is a short description from the MTA website:

The author made the rounds last month for three Mormon Studies-related functions.

A Prince in Provo

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Historian Greg Prince spoke about Mormon history, research and writing when releasing his new book, “Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History.” Prince also has lent his beautiful home to young Washington, D.C. interns. (Benchmark Books)

Wondering if the LDS church has a secret vault in its office building?

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Ground Control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may God's love be with you

• David Bowie, 1947-2016 (Thanks Major Tom!)

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Exercising Our Critical Thinking Muscles

Online forums and social media are great and terrible places to test your critical thinking. As I've written on Mormonism and Transhumanism on Rational Faiths, Exploring Sainthood, and the Transfigurist for over two years, now, as well as interacting on online LDS faith transition and support groups for this same time, I've experienced warm approval, condescending criticism, and a lot of good (if sometimes intense) dialogue.