Giulio Prisco interviews venusplusx.org polymaths Alison Gardner and Dan Massey on sexual freedom, the occupy movement, transhumanism, the singularity, physics, religion and spirituality, and their forthcoming book. LGBT rights and quantum entanglement in the same talk.

Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Thanks to Khannea Suntzu for filming the interview.

Thanks to Khannea Suntzu, David Wallace Croft and Frederic Emam-Zade for recording the videos below, and thanks to the (about 30) participants.

James Hughes

VIDEO 1 - Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Martine Rothblatt

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Frank Tipler

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Remi Sussan

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Lincoln Cannon

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 3 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Brent Allsop

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Dan Massey

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Mike Perry

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

VIDEO 2 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Andrew Warner

VIDEO 1 – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Fred and Linda Chamberlain

Pre-recorded VIDEO talk

Ben Goertzel

Pre-recorded VIDEO talk

UPDATE – Turing Church Online Workshop 2 videos

The Turing Church Online Workshop 2 will be held on Sunday, December 11, 2011, with a format similar to the Turing Church Online Workshop 1 on November 20, 2010, beginning at 9am PST (noon EST, 5pm UK, 6pm Continental EU).

The Workshop will explore transhumanist spirituality and “Religion 2.0″, the convergence of science and religion, highly imaginative future science and technologies for resurrection, emerging science and technologies for immortality, social and memetic engineering.

The technical implementation of the Workshop will be managed by teleXLR8 using the OpenQwaq VR technology. There are a limited number of seats available for those who wish to attend. On Sunday November 27 and Sunday December 4 at at 9am PST (noon EST, 5pm UK, 6pm Continental EU) there will be meetup and practice sessions for speakers and participants.

Some speakers in the pictures above.

Program: Turing Church online workshop 2 | KurzweilAI

Speakers, morning session, 9am PST to noon PST:

• Giulio Prisco
• James Hughes
• Martine Rothblatt
• Frank Tipler
• Ben Goertzel
• Remi Sussan

Speakers, afternoon session, 1pm PST to 4pm PST

• Lincoln Cannon
• Brent Allsop
• Dan Massey
• Andrew Warner
• Mike Perry
• Fred and Linda Chamberlain (pre-recorded talk)

See A Connectome Observatory for nanoscale brain imaging | KurzweilAI.

Ken Hayworth gave a talk and Q/A on How to create a Connectome Observatory of the mouse brain and beyond, in OpenQwaq, on November 13 2011.

New technologies now permit imaging brain tissue at resolutions approaching 5x5x5nm. voxel size, down to the protein level. “This is more than sufficient resolution to determine all the connectivity and the properties of the synapses that are needed to explain the functionality of the brain circuits,” Ken said.

“In 100 years, if we have the technology to bring someone back, it won’t be in a biological body,” Ken said in a New York Times article last year. “It is these scanning techniques and mind-uploading that, I think, will bring people back. This is a taboo topic in the scientific community. But we have a cure to death right here. Why aren’t we pursuing it?”

In the Q&A, participants compared connectome preservation via the chemical brain preservation techniques proposed by Ken’s Brain Preservation Foundation to cryonics.

“If there was really a concerted effort to develop brain preservation technology, it would be easy to have highly reliable hospital brain preservation procedures ready to go in any hospital before the end of the decade. It is all a matter of will,” Ken said.

There are two videos:

VIDEO 1, recorded by Catarina Lamm – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo
VIDEO 2, recorded by Eugen Leitl – Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

UPDATED – See write-ups and videos at:
Ken Hayworth on How to create a Connectome Observatory of the mouse brain and beyond, OpenQwaq, November 13 2011
A Connectome Observatory for nanoscale brain imaging | KurzweilAI

Sunday, November 13, 2011,
at 10am PST (1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm continental EU)
Talk title: How to create a Connectome Observatory of the mouse brain and beyond
Presented by: Dr. Kenneth Hayworth

Several laboratories are now using Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopes (FIB-SEM) to image small volumes of plastic embedded brain tissue at resolutions approaching 5x5x5nm voxel size. The fact that FIBSEM can obtain such resolution is of fundamental importance since at this resolution all neuronal processes should be traceable with 100% accuracy using fully automatic algorithms. A fundamental physical limitation of the FIB ablation process is that this resolution can only be obtained for very small samples on the order of 20 microns across. To overcome this limitation I have developed a technique using a heated, oil-lubricated, ultrasonically vibrating diamond knife which can section large blocks of plastic-embedded brain tissue into 20 micron thick strips optimally sized for high-resolution FIB-SEM imaging. Crucially, this thick sectioning procedure results in such high-quality surfaces that the finest neuronal processes can be traced from strip to strip.

In this talk I will present these results as well as a detailed design for a machine automating this thick sectioning procedure on the scale of a whole mouse brain. An entire plastic-embedded mouse brain would first be sectioned on this machine into a tape containing 500 tissue slabs (each 20 microns thick). The same machine is then used to section each of these slabs into 300 tissue pillars each 15mm long and 20x20microns in cross section. These “pillar tapes” have been carefully designed to allow random access FIB-SEM imaging of any 20x20x20micron sub-volume within the mouse brain quickly and with 100% reliability.

Spreading these pillar tapes among 20 specially designed FIB-SEM machines would create a “Connectome Observatory” of the mouse brain. Similar to an astronomical observatory, individual neuroscience researchers could request time on this Connectome Observatory, and over a ten year period could use it to map out 50 separate brain regions each with a dense reconstruction of 300x300x300microns in volume and trace over 8 meters of the finest projecting axons between these 50 regions.

About the speaker: Kenneth Hayworth is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Hayworth is co-inventor of the Tape-to-SEM process for high-throughput volume imaging of neural circuits at the nanometer scale and he designed and built several automated machines to implement this process. Hayworth received a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California for research into how the human visual system encodes spatial relations among objects. Hayworth is a vocal advocate for brain preservation and mind uploading and a co-founder of the Brain Preservation Foundation which calls for the implementation of an emergency glutaraldehyde perfusion procedure in hospitals, and for the development of a whole brain embedding procedure which can demonstrate perfect ultrastructure preservation across an entire human brain.

OpenQwaq is one of the best 3D applications for telework, online meetings, group collaboration, and e-learning in a virtual 3D environment (v-learning). There are a limited number of seats available, please contact us if you wish to attend. Join our mailing list, our Facebook group, or our Linkedin group.

Suzanne Gildert gave a talk on Hack the Multiverse! on Sunday August 21, 2011, in OpenQwaq. She outlined the basics of Quantum Computing, described the the D-Wave One quantum computer, and explained how to program it. See the D-Wave blog Hack the Multiverse for more. More than 30 participants attended the talk and asked many interesting questions in a lively Q/A session after the talk. For those who missed it, here is the full video coverage:

VIDEO A – 1h 33 min, recorded by Giulio Prisco
VIDEO B – 1h 43 min, recorded by Frederic Emam-Zade, includes 10 min of chat before the talk, taken mostly with a zoom on the viewgraphs
VIDEO C – 1h 50 min, recorded by Jameson Dungan, includes 18 min of chat before the talk, taken from a fixed point of view

The same videos are available on our video channels on Blip.tv, Youtube and Vimeo.

Talk title: Hack the Multiverse!
Presented by: Dr. Suzanne Gildert
Quantum Computer Programmer (D-Wave Systems Inc.)

Abstract: William Gibson famously said: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” The same is true of quantum computing. This mysterious subject is often relegated to ivory tower discussions and shrouded in a language of complex mathematics. Yet there are many people out there who feel an itch to start hacking with quantum computers — a desire to program the very fabric of reality — no matter how early the adoption may seem.

This talk will be a call to arms — I’ll excite you about quantum physics – our deepest understanding of the Universe. I’ll explain why quantum computing is not as mysterious as everyone thinks. And I’ll show you how to become a quantum computer programmer in less than 10 minutes… Join me for an hour of both deep learning and fun, as I proudly stand up for those who are turning an abstract science into a powerful computational resource, and deliver the message that quantum computing is not spooky, it’s just misunderstood.

In the picture above, a lifesize virtual copy of the D-Wave One quantum computer, made by Suzanne.

About the speaker: Dr. Suzanne Gildert is currently working at D-Wave Systems, Inc. Suzanne obtained her PhD and MSci degree from The University of Birmingham UK, focusing on the areas of experimental quantum device physics and superconductivity.

OpenQwaq is one of the best 3D applications for telework, online meetings, group collaboration, and e-learning in a virtual 3D environment (v-learning).

Don’t forget: if you had a Teleplace login in 2010 and you have not participated in teleXLR8 talks in 2011, you need to download the new OpenQwaq client. Also, your old login will only work for our current setup if I invite you again. Repeated: your login of 2010 WILL NOT WORK if I have not invited you again.

The invitation emails sent by the system has the line: “PLEASE SEE http://telexlr8.wordpress.com/openqwaq/help/ for software download links and help”. Repeated: PLEASE READ THE HELP PAGE at
http://telexlr8.wordpress.com/openqwaq/help/.

Please remind me if you don’t receive an invitation. Remember that I NEED YOUR EMAIL to invite you. I may not be able to create individual logins for all those who requested one.

There are 14 shared test logins. Look for them in the mailing list archives or in the Facebook group, and use one if you don’t have an individual login. If before entering the forum you receive a warning that somebody is already using that login, please choose another one.

There is a limit on the number of participants per talk. This means that if the conference hall is full, latecomers won’t be able to enter. Repeated: if there are already too many people the system WILL NOT LET YOU ENTER. Please come on time or even better some minutes early.

Watch on Youtube | Blip.tv | Vimeo

Welcome to the 2011 season! This video shows a teleXLR8 presentation with an embedded video showing some teleXLR8 2010 highlights. This was the second test of the new open source video codecs in OpenQwaq. We tested webcam videoconferencing, video playback and session recording on OSX (Snow Leopard).

The 2011 season will be opened with a talk by Suzanne Gildert on Hack the Multiverse! on Sunday August 21 2011 at 10am PST. Attendance is free but invitation-only, please contact us if you wish to attend. Please see our Help page with a simple video tutorial for first time users.

See also, on KurzweilAI: teleXLR8 returns, featuring quantum physicist Gildert on ‘Hack the Multiverse!’ and Suzanne’s announcement on the D-Wave blog: TeleXLR8 presentation this weekend: ‘Hack the Multiverse: The Talk.’

UPDATE with full video coverage of the talk: Suzanne Gildert on Hack the Multiverse!, OpenQwaq, August 21 2011

Sunday, August 21, 2011,
at 10am PST (1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm continental EU)
Talk title: Hack the Multiverse!
Presented by: Dr. Suzanne Gildert
Quantum Computer Programmer (D-Wave Systems Inc.)

William Gibson famously said: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” The same is true of quantum computing. This mysterious subject is often relegated to ivory tower discussions and shrouded in a language of complex mathematics. Yet there are many people out there who feel an itch to start hacking with quantum computers — a desire to program the very fabric of reality — no matter how early the adoption may seem.

This talk will be a call to arms — I’ll excite you about quantum physics – our deepest understanding of the Universe. I’ll explain why quantum computing is not as mysterious as everyone thinks. And I’ll show you how to become a quantum computer programmer in less than 10 minutes… Join me for an hour of both deep learning and fun, as I proudly stand up for those who are turning an abstract science into a powerful computational resource, and deliver the message that quantum computing is not spooky, it’s just misunderstood.

About the speaker: Dr. Suzanne Gildert is currently working at D-Wave Systems, Inc. Suzanne obtained her PhD and MSci degree from The University of Birmingham UK, focusing on the areas of experimental quantum device physics and superconductivity.

OpenQwaq is one of the best 3D applications for telework, online meetings, group collaboration, and e-learning in a virtual 3D environment (v-learning). There are a limited number of seats available, please contact us if you wish to attend. Join our mailing list, our Facebook group, or our Linkedin group.

We are almost ready to restart the teleXLR8 program with the open source OpenQwaq software. In the pictures I am testing the new open source video codecs with Randal A. Koene, one of the main speakers and organizers of the previous phase. Webcam video works great. For end-to-end testing we have recorded the session and played it back (last picture). We will postpone Suzanne’s opening talk by one or two weeks to make sure everything works well.

The initial release of OpenQwaq was functionally equivalent to Teleplace with the exception of the video subsystem used for webcam videoconferencing, video playback and session recording, because the proprietary video codecs used in Teleplace could not be included as open source. The OpenQwaq development team and 3d Immersive Collaboration Consultants (3dicc) have now integrated the open source video and audio codecs used in the VLC media player, which will be included in a forthcoming release.