Humanity+ Board members set policy goals and oversee their implementation, contributing with their experience and expertise to the WTA's work.

Five Humanity+ Board members' terms expire in January, and one additional member is stepping down. So there will be six seats open in January.

Its time to think about whether you want to run for the Board. Running for a board post, as well as voting in the election, is open to all dues-paying ("supporting" or "sustaining") members of the association.

This coming Saturday and Sunday Humanity+ will be hosting two full days of talks in Irvine California on topics of central interest to transhumanists. For those of you who can't attend there will be a live webcast available from this page:

[http://www.techzulu.com/live.html]

The IEET "Biopolitics of Popular Culture" seminar this coming Friday will also be available through the TechZulu website.

The Humanity+ Summit agenda is available here:

1 November 2009, 6pm at the Sunstone House (343 N 300 W, SLC UT) Steve Pack, BYU biology professor, on the relationship between Mormonism and environmental stewardship.

During this day long seminar we will engage with culture critics, artists, writers, and filmmakers to explore the biopolitics that are implicit in depictions of the future, emerging technology and enhanced humanity in literature, film and television. Speakers (in formation) include SF critic Annalee Newitz (io9.com), futurist and SF writer Jamais Cascio, director Matthew Patrick, TV writer PJ Manney, comics expert Jess Nevins, and transhumanist artist Natasha Vita-More. Registration before November 15: $99 (After Nov 15: $150) Venue: Eon Reality, Irvine, California For more information: [http://ieet.org/bpcs09]

For more information: [http://www.humanityplus.org/summit/] Speakers (information) include:

• Aubrey de Grey on life extension
• Ben Goertzel and Peter Voss on artificial intelligence
• Ramez Naam on advanced search
• RU Sirius on h+ Magazine
• Patri Friedman on seasteading
• Todd Huffman, Randal Koene, and Ken Hayworth on Whole Brain Emulation
• Edward Miller and Joseph P Jackson on the open science movement and post-scarcity
• Alex Lightman and Parijata Mackey on open source medicine
• James Hughes and Sonia Arrison on building transhumanism and life extension as a political movement
• Tyson Anderson and Andrew Hessel on DIYbiology
• Bryan Bishop and Ben Lipkowitz on frabratories Venue: Eon Reality, Irvine, California First 50 tickets are $150, but they get more expensive after that so register early: [http://hplus.eventbrite.com]

”Each in Its Own Sphere in Which God Has Placed It: Are Science and Religious Faith Compatible for Latter-day Saints?“ Lecture and discussion with BYU professor emeritus William Bradshaw. 6pm on 10 October at Sunstone office, 343 N. Third West, Salt Lake City.

Hi Fellow Transhumanists,

I just wanted to let you know that the Fall issue of h+ Magazine is appearing on newsstands now. Its official release date is the 28th, but I was just at a Barnes & Noble in Palisades, NY and Paramus, NJ and they had it out already! All 720 Barnes & Noble stores, as well as many Borders, Books-A-Million and about 550 college bookstores will carry it.

The winners of the 2009 LDSTech Awards that were awarded during the LDSTech Talk were:

Yesterday during conference, Elder Scott provided a phenomenological breakdown of revelation that was refreshing. He spoke of feeling a flash of inspiration, trying to convert his inspiration into words, reflecting on those words and then revising them until the Holy Spirit confirms their truth. I enjoyed the talk and almost completely agree with that perspective.

Some more thoughts about conference: WHY is the porn thing such a big issue? I get why porn is a problem and how it can damage individuals and families. What I don't get is church authorities obsession with talking about it, admonishing men over it, basically beating it to death in every conference for the past several years. Not really sure I have an answer to the question, but I guess I am coming to a few half baked ideas. My personal take on this (which may or may not be worth the hard drive space it's saved on) is that the obsession with porn is the result of some deeply embedded contradictory assumptions held within Mormon belief and culture about the nature of masculinity. In D&C 121 Joseph eloquently articulates the conflict perspective on human nature, and specifically male nature: