Dr. Max More, a futurist philosopher and father of contemporary transhumanism, has been getting a little more active online lately, after a long hiatus.

Extropia Core reports that Dr. More willing be giving a talk in Secondlife the Sunday after next, titled “Unsolved Problems in Transhumanism”.

Here is the blurb:

Max More is back. In his first public Second Life appearance, the founder of contemporary transhumanism will discuss unsolved problems within the movement:

- Communication Strategy: How can we communicate ideas most effectively and rationally, overcoming the typical tension between the two? How does this relate to constrained and unconstrained visions of transhumanism (in Thomas Sowell’s terms)?

- Visionary Horizon: How far should we focus on offering solutions to current problems vs. envisioning longer-term solutions and visions?

- Visionary vs. Practical: To what extent should transhumanists try to be a movement that is organized, integrated, and directed? Should the movement or transhumanist activity concern itself primarily with ideas or practice or both, and should it include a major component that is a practical guide to self-transformation?

- Bridging the Knowing-doing Gap: Both as movement and as individuals, how can be do better to practice what we espouse?

- Organizing: How can we better organize and converse, using the best available knowledge to do so?

- Historical Accuracy and Continuing Honesty: Establishing and maintaining an accurate history of transhumanism; combating Orwellian rewriting of the past.

As always, Dr. More welcomes feedback on his thinking.

The last question may have to do with attempts to brush his early contributions to H+ under the carpet and giving undue attention to pre-transhumanist historical figures, like JBS Haldane, who had proto-transhumanist ideas but did little to get contemporary transhumanism started. We’ll see.

I was introduced to online transhumanism through Dr. More’s Extropian Principles, which I read in 2001. I had read The Age of Spiritual Machines just prior to that, and my thoughts in the area were strongly coalescing. (Another important influence around this time was Yudkowsky’s “What is Friendly AI?”)

What else is there? Well, I dropped by Dr. More’s homepage and noticed that it just got the first update in years, which references that he has joined Facebook, Second Life, and World of Warcraft. Also, he has started a blog.

I’ve been fortunate enough to hang out with Dr. More a couple times in the last year at transhumanist events. Given what transhumanism has become, it’s fascinating to talk to the man that started it all during the 1980s.

“We have achieved two of the three alchemists’ dreams: We have transmuted the elements and learned to fly. Immortality is next.” — Max More, On becoming posthuman

“No more gods, no more faith, no more timid holding back. Let us blast out of our old forms, our ignorance, our weakness, and our mortality. The future belongs to posthumanity.” — Max More, On becoming posthuman

(Also read Dr. More’s Letter to Mother Nature.)