From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 10:48:28 MDT
Just a quick note about my recent absence. I spent a lovely week in Novi
Sad, Serbia at a summer university lecturing in their new technologies
course about the big picture, radical technologies, scenario planning
and of course some transhumanism. A very stimulating experience, since
the students (mainly from the Balkans and Denmark) and I had
useful and broad discussions about everything from transhumanist welfare
states to how the image of nature is changed by ubiquitious computing. I
also learned interesting things about cyborg theory and film
interpretation from Gert Balling and had a wonderful brainstorm session
with Milan Cirkovic.
I think the most important experience was seeing the huge potential in
the Balkans. It is a splintered, poor corner of Europe. But cellphones
are widespread, there are intellectuals in the governments and a great
deal of dynamics in the culture - one should not count out isolationist
nationalism, but it is not an unopposed force. We often overlook that it
is places like this truly new projects can be started.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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