Call For Papers:

Extro 1:

The First Extropy Institute Conference on Transhumanist Thought

San Francisco, California, April 30 - May 1, 1994

Extropianism is a transhumanist philosophy: Like humanism it values reason and sees no ground for believing in supernatural external forces controlling our destiny. But transhumanism goes further in calling us to push beyond the simply human stage of evolution. Where others see difficulties, we see challenges. Where others give up, we move forward. Where others say enough is enough, we say: Forward! Upward! Outward! We espouse personal, social, and technological evolution into ever higher forms. Extropy Institute, and its publication Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought, seeks to promote and develop these ideas, which are summarized in the five Extropian Principles:

• Boundless Expansion
• Self-Transformation
• Dynamic Optimism
• Intelligent Technology
• Spontaneous Order

Extro 1 will be a rich, intellectually invigorating gathering designed to help push outward the boundaries of progress and possibility. It will be both a serious study and a joyful celebration of humanity’s limitless potential and how it will be achieved. Besides presentations of accepted papers, the conference will feature lectures by leading thinkers, panel discussions, the first Extropy Awards banquet, and other events.

Submitted papers should as much as possible exploit interdisciplinary connections, rather than presenting results in a particular narrow subfield. They should be aimed at an intelligent, educated and interested audience that is not necessarily familiar with the detailed background

of any field. Necessary mathematical formalism is encouraged, but detailed proofs of marginally significant results are not. Accuracy, rigor, and rationality are of course expected, but breadth of vision is also important.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of appropriate topics for papers, to give an idea of what the conference is all about:

• Polycentric law and voluntaristic, market-based societies
• Neuroscience and the transfer of consciousness into non-biological media (uploading)
• Artificial Intelligence, genetic algorithms, and neural networks
• Futurism
• Nanotechnology
• Cryptography and technological aids to privacy
• Logic and guides to effective thinking, such as General Semantics, fuzzy logic
• Biostasis
• Philosophy of mind, self, and identity
• Space travel, exploitation, and habitation
• Virtual reality
• Life-extension
• Biological and neurological augmentation
• Idea Futures, Hypertext, and other information technologies
• Transhumanist eupraxophy
• Self-organization and complexity
• Artificial life

Papers must be written in English, must be 5,000 - 12,000 words in length, and must begin with an abstract of not more than 400 words. Papers must include a separate cover page (not part of the paper itself) containing the title, author, postal address, and email address if available. Submissions should not have been previously published or submitted to any journals or refereed conferences or workshops. Accepted papers must be presented at the conference.

Submission deadline is December 15, 1994. Authors will be notified of review decisions by January 15, 1994. Camera ready copies of accepted papers are due back by February 15, 1994 for inclusion in the Conference proceedings.

Please mail four (4) copies of papers to:

Extropy Institute

Extro 1 Conference

11860 Magnolia Avenue, Suite R

Riverside, CA 92503

Questions can be directed to derek@cs.wisc.edu.

Proceedings will be available to conference attendees at the conference, and will be available afterwards from Extropy Institute. This call for papers and other information about Extro 1 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from lynx.cs.wisc.edu in the directory pub/Extro-1. Also included there are the full text of the Extropian Principles, and information about Extropy Institute and the journal Extropy.

Exl Conference Team

David Krieger, American Information Exchange

Max More, Extropy Institute

Derek Zahn, University of Wisconsin

Forward! Upward! Outward!

EXTROPY #11 Summer/Fall 1993

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