“This is a philosophy of boundless expansion, of upward- and outwardness, of fantastic superabundance. It’s a doctrine of self-transformation, of extremely advanced technology, and of dedicated, immovable optimism. Most of all, it’s a philosophy of freedom from limitations of any kind.”

Ed Regis, “Meet the Extropians”, Wired, October 1994.

“Extropians remain die-hard rationalists, resistant to revealed truth of any kind, even if it’s the truth of their own predictions… The Extropians’ is a libertarianism of rare sophistication… [their] vision could turned out to be our best guide through the strange eons to follow.”

Village Voice, December 1994.

EXTROPY INSTITUTE

Extropy Institute (ExI) was incorporated in 1992 as an educational, tax-exempt organization. Like the Extropians e-mail list, ExI was an outgrowth of Extropy (founded in 1988 by Max More and Tom Morrow). We created ExI in order to provide a structure and network that would facilitate the spread and evolution of extropic ideas, values, and culture.

This organizational mission encompasses two aspects which together explain all our activities: (a) Within our existing Extropian culture refining and developing our ideas, working together to transform ourselves into “posthumans” and to evolve a radically new culture free of the irrationalities and limitations of the past. (b) To clearly and persuasively communicate our philosophy of life even to those who are not already attuned to the same ideas and attitudes, in order to influence the broader culture in more extropic directions.

In pursuit of these transhumanist goals Extropy Institute continually seeks new outlets for its members’ energy, ability, and creativity. Complementing our primary publication, Extropy: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought, is our members’ newsletter, Exponent. Exponent carries shorter articles, membership information such as forthcoming meetings, reports on progress of projects and new media attention, and reviews of relevant books, software, and other media.

We hold a variety of meetings, including special events like the Extropy 5th birthday party, monthly Idea Forum discussion meetings and dinner gatherings in the Los Angeles area, weekly lunch meetings in the N. California Bay Area, and impromptu celebrations and outings with extropic themes. As membership grows, local events across the country and abroad are taking place. Spring ‘94 saw an important new development: EXTRO¹ heralded the start of a series of annual conferences where ideas can be explored in depth, and bounced off persons of many different specialties and perspectives. (The main talks from each session can found in

EXTROPY INSTITUTE

13428 MAXELLA AVENUE, #273

MARINA DEL REY, CA 90292

310-398-0375 EXI-INFO@EXTROPY.ORG

For details of membership rates, see p.2, lower right.

Extropy Institute

the Proceedings volume.)

As befits a transhumanist, high-tech subculture, supplementing printed publications and physical meetings is the online Extropian virtual community. The Extropian cyber-community continues to expand, encompassing the main

Extropians e-mail list (now in its 4th year), the ExI Essay list, five local e-mail lists for arranging meetings, parties, and other joint activities, a newsgroup, and now an Extropian presence on the World Wide Web (thanks primarily to Eric Watt Forste and Dave Krieger). Our FTP site makes available past postings to the Essay List, among other items. (See p.58 for information.)

If this issue is your first real contact with extropian ideas, the short version of The Extropian Principles (p.36) will help clarify our shared values and goals. (The full text appeared in Extropy #11) The Principles is intended not as a detailed statement or final word on any topic, but as a codification of some of our shared values and attitudes.

The highpoint of 1994 for ExI was our EXTRO¹ conference. Eighty thinkers turned up hear keynote speaker roboticist Hans Moravec and seven other sessions. Soon after this issue of Extropy goes to press, EXTRO² will draw over a hundred participants to Southern California. The EXTRO conferences bring together

extropically-oriented persons from

around the world to meet, listen, talk with and enjoy one another. The book of the conference Proceedings publishes in-depth papers by the speakers, providing a forum for more extensive discussion than our other publications.

Keynote speaker this year will be Prof. Marvin Minsky of MIT, author of The Society of Mind, long a leading figure in machine intelligence research. Prof. Minsky will present ideas from his new book in progress. Twelve other sessions will cover diverse ground, stretching minds and maintaining the freshness and vigor of extropian thinking. See the center pages for more information. If you can’t make this year’s conference but wish you could attend the largest and most intense extropian annual gathering, be sure to plan ahead for EXTRO³.

Continued on page 36

ExI Directors

Max More, President, Editor of Extropy. more@extropy.org

Tom Morrow, Vice President. t0morrow@aol.com

Simon D. Levy. levy@haskins.yale.edu

Tanya Jones, Treasurer. tanya@alcor.org

Ralph Whelan, Secretary. ralph@alcor.org

David Krieger. dkrieger@netcom.com

Russell E. Whitaker. russw@netcom.com

Council of Advisors

Jamie Dinkelacker, Ph.D.

Prof. Bart Kosko, USC

Prof. Marvin Minsky, MIT

Sharon Presley, Ph.D., Resources for Independent Thinking

31

EXTROPY #15 (7:2) 2nd-3rd Quarter 1995

EXTR$^{2}$

June 17-18 1995, Santa Monica, C

Registration begins at 8.0am on Saturday June 17, with the first session beginning at 9.0am. The Banquet begins at 7.30pm on Saturday night. (Note that this is changed since last issue, when it was scheduled for Sunday night.) Sessions on Sunday June 18 run from 9.0am to around 7.0pm.

Keynote Speaker:

Prof. Marvin Minsky

“The father of artificial intelligence” Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT author of The Society of Mind.

“Why Freud was the First Good AI Theorist.”

Michael Rothschild, author of Bionomics: Economy As Ecosystem, President Bionomics Institute

Chris Heward, Ph.D.: Human Life Extension in 1995 — The State of the Art.

Sharon Presley, Ph.D., Critical Thinking about Authority: Resisting Social Influence and Unjust Authority

Bart Kosko, Ph.D., author of Fuzzy Thinking and textbooks on neural nets & fuzzy systems.

Reilly Jones: A History of Extropic Thought: Parallel Conceptual Development of Technicism and Huma

FM-2030, author of Up-Wingers, Optimism One, and Are You a Transhuman?

Extropian Virtual Community & the Future of the Net: Harry S. Hawk, with Steve Arbuss et al.

Ray Sahelian, M.D.: Deprenyl and Melatonin: The Latest Research.

Tom Morrow, J.D., Trade Dress Protection of Virtual Environments.

Ken Kittlitz, Duane Hewitt, et. al.: A World Wide Web Implementation of Ideas Futures.

Recreating Reality — Redefining Art: Nancie Clark, Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, and others.

Markus Krummenacker: Are Intellectual Property Rights Justified?

We expect to show one or more trailers for documentaries-in-production on extropic themes. A number of organizations and will be displaying their wares.

The 2nd Extropy Institute Conference on Transhumanist Thought

Virginia at The Miramar Sheraton

LOCATION: Our second conference will be held at the elegant and superbly-located Miramar Sheraton in Santa Monica, California. The tower rooms offer an excellent view, though less expensive accommodation is available nearby. The Miramar Sheraton has recently been renovated, and will have a new cafeteria and large outdoor hot tub. Conference attendees will receive about 30% off regular room rates. The beach is a minute’s walk away, as is the 3rd Street Promenade and its large number of restaurants and cafes.

Miramar Sheraton reservations: 310-576-7777

101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

Comments on EXTRO¹:

“Congratulations on an immensely successful Extro 1!!”

“Great job! Wonderful conference!”

“Excellent overall. See you next year!”

“Fine conference — look forward to next time.”

“I was very pleased to have been surprised by hearing some ideas which were entirely new to me. I like that.”

“I loved all of the sessions!”

“The greatest critical mass of thinkers that I’ve ever encountered.”

REGISTRATION: Fee includes a copy of the EXTRO² Proceedings volume, which will be available a few weeks after the conference..

REGISTRATION FEES:	Before Apr 1	After Apr 1	At the door
Exl MEMBERS:	$135	$155	$165
Students/non-profit	$90	$110	$115
NON-MEMBERS:	$160	$180	$190
Students/non-profit:	$95	$120	$125

• You may subtract $30 if you will not be attending the Saturday evening banquet.
• Documentation for special student/non-profit rate is required; thank you.

☐ Please send me information on hotels in the area and accommodation provided by local Exl members. ☐ Reserve me a vegetarian meal for the banquet. ☐ I want to reserve a copy of the conference Proceedings.

Mail to: Extro², Extropy Institute, 13428 Maxella Avenue, #273, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292