Here is the press release from April 15th helping to build buzz for the Humanity+ UK 2010 conference in London, which begins tomorrow and runs over the weekend. There will also be a live feed of the conference for those who can’t be there in person.

For immediate release:
Unprecedented gathering of futurist and transhumanist thinkers in London

Humanity+ movement comes of age
Record turnout expected for Humanity+ UK2010 conference on 24th April

The UK chapter of Humanity+, an organisation dedicated to promoting understanding, interest and participation in fields of emerging innovation that can radically benefit the human condition, announced today that registrations are on track for record attendance at the Humanity+ UK2010 conference taking place in Conway Hall, Holborn, London, on April 24th.

“Approaching 200 attendees are expected to take part in a full day of thought-provoking lectures, discussions, Q&A, and breakouts, led by a line-up of world class futurist speakers”, said David Wood, H+UK meetings secretary. “Participants have registered from as far afield as Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, and the USA. The Humanity+ movement, previously known as the World Transhumanist Association, is coming of age.”

“Transhumanism is both a reason-based philosophy and a cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition by means of science and technology,” said Max More, founder in 1988 of the Extropy Institute think tank ideas market for the future of social change. “Transhumanists seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its current human form and limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.” Max More introduced the term “transhumanism” in its modern sense in his 1990 essay “Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy”.

“At Humanity+ UK2010, I plan to talk about suffering and how to get rid of it,” commented David Pearce, co-founder in 1998 of the World Transhumanist Association (WTA). “I predict we will abolish suffering throughout the living world. Our descendants will be animated by gradients of genetically reprogrammed well-being that are orders of magnitude richer than today’s peak experiences.”

“There’s growing worldwide interest to debate and understand the dramatic human implications of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and artificial general intelligence,” commented David Orban, recently elected as Chair of the international Humanity+ organisation. “I’m eagerly looking forward to Humanity+ UK2010, where I will be speaking about the Internet of Things, and the Singularity University.” David Orban is also Advisor of the Singularity University.

In addition to Max More, David Orban, and David Pearce, other keynote speakers at the event include WTA co-founder Professor Nick Bostrom of Oxford University, pioneering anti-aging human rejuvenation researcher Aubrey de Grey, human enhancement theorist and media designer Natasha Vita-More, interdisciplinary researcher and science fiction author Rachel Armstrong, cognitive scientist Amon Twyman from University College London, and Anders Sandberg, who is James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. Full details of the event are available at http://humanityplus-uk.com.

Note: Journalists interested to interview any of the keynote speakers, or who wish to receive a free press pass to the event, should contact the H+UK organisation via humanityplusuk@gmail.com.