[Hplusroadmap] Fwd: Re: [wta-talk] More on that database ...

[Bryan Bishop]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: [wta-talk] MAX MORE in Second Life yesterday
Date: Monday 16 June 2008
From: Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com>
To: World Transhumanist Association Discussion List 
<wta-talk at transhumanism.org>

On Monday 16 June 2008, Hughes, James J. wrote:
> > a(n "official"?) transhumanist
> > database/wiki about how
> > you can be "Human v1.1" today, I wasn't left
> > with any clear idea.
> > Can/will the WTA provide such a database
>
> What exactly would you include in such a database or wiki?

(1) Functional programs that can be used/implemented to upgrade the 
body, or computer interface, or living arrangements, etc. This includes 
physical automation of tasks, biofeedback for monitoring the health of 
one's body, etc.

(2) Tutorials, documentation, information, knowledge, probably a portion 
of Wikipedia that we review/select, such as a majority of biotech 
articles or basic biology articles, a review of physical fitness 
(according to *medical science*, not physicalfitness.gov or whatever), 
that sort of thing.

(3) Community collaboration -- *no* centralization, but a common place 
to 'push' (notify) others of updates, would be very, very nice.

> (Perhaps this is why it should be a wiki, so that it is
> self-defining.)

Sort of. What we need is something long-term and something that can be 
useful even past the wiki fad. So, a little wiki history. Wikis use a 
revision control system so that you can see the changes between the 
articles. There's a whole set of software for revision control systems, 
and *most* wiki implementations ignore them completely. The database 
that we want shouldn't be MySQL or PostgreSQL or whatever, it should be 
normal flat files because we don't want to deal with a lot of crap. :-) 
But, importantly, a wiki interface is still possible. In fact, there's 
a wiki that uses a revision control system under its hood, i.e. a 
separate project. I don't happen to like ikiwiki because of some 
constraints, but it's some working code and to fix it I might have to 
rewrite three or four lines at most. Take a look:
	http://ikiwiki.info/

The template/look-style of it can be changed to look like mediawiki if 
necessary.

> How to get a cochlear implant?

I'd also include how to make one, and then how to convince a surgeon to 
implant it into you, and what that might involve.

> How to get experimental stem cell or cancer vaccine therapies?

And how to do it yourself ...

> What smart drugs to take?

Eh, just reports and science papers, I wouldn't exactly have any 
mandating nootropics stuff in there. We would want to investigate 
erowid.org, I suspect.

> All these things are interesting to our members, but as an
> international nonprofit organization we immediately get into trouble
> with giving advise on these topics since it would be controversial
> and country-specific.

Not so much advising but giving the means/knowledge. Like CD3WD.
	http://cd3wd.com/

> Not that that makes it a bad idea, but a very difficult one to
> implement even if we could attract the dozens of wiki-editors it
> would take to do well.

It's not just a wiki though. It's just a flat file system that we can 
share with each other, so it's even better. This means that if anybody 
wants to contribute, they really just have to drag and drop files into 
folders. This would mean that somebody who, say, already has 
information, could deposit it (donate it) fairly effortlessly.

- Bryan
________________________________________
http://heybryan.org/

-------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________
http://heybryan.org/