The Woodstock Film Festival | In a period of exponential technological change, human life is in the process of being irreversibly transformed: in the next 50 years, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and other technologies will allow human beings to transcend the limitations of the body.

Is this evolution inevitable? Will “humanity” survive? Is the prospect of virtual eternal life something mankind should embrace? Transhumanism has been described as the world’s most dangerous idea as well as the movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity.

This panel will look at the perils and promise of a transhuman future.

Sponsored by Terasem Media and Films 
Produced by Sabine Hoffman

Moderator:

James J. Hughes, PhD, Associate Director of Institutional Research and Planning at Trinity College in Hartford, where he teaches Health Policy. As the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, he also produces the syndicated weekly public affairs radio talk show program Changesurfer Radio. He is the author of “Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future.”

Panelists:

Ray Kurzwell
Martine Rothblatt
Wendell Wallach

Ray Kurzwell is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers and futurists, with a twenty-year track record of accurate predictions. Kurzwell has written five books, four of which have been national bestsellers.

Martine Rothblatt, PhD, MBA, is a lawyer, author and entrepreneur. She is the founder of numerous companies, including Sirius Satellite Radio and United Therapeutics. She has cyberscripted pioneering websites including endracism.org. 2B film executive produce MartineRothblatt’s company Terasem Media and Films produces independent narrative and documentary films that raise public awareness and understanding of innovations in human life extension through the geo-ethical application of cyber consciousness and biotechnologies.

Wendell Wallach is a lecturer and consultant at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. He is recognized as one of the leaders in the new field of Machine Ethics and the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong. The book he is presently writing examines what what humans might become through emerging technologies: Cybersoul: Self-Understanding in the Information Age.

related:
The Woodstock Film Festival | “Redesigning Humanity: the New Frontier Panel”
official movie website | 2B